Friday in Bogota

Friday morning, our last day, we again went out on the streets near the hotel to share.  There are a tremendous number of people walking around in the area and you can almost always find someone who will stop and talk.

The bus picked us up at 3:30 p.m. and took us downtown so we could visit Monseratte, a mountain that dominates the city center of Bogotá. It rises to 10,341 ft above sea level, and there is a Catholic church (built in the 17th century) with a shrine.  The hill is a pilgrim destination, as well as a tourist attraction. In addition to the church, the summit contains restaurants, cafeteria, souvenir shops and many smaller tourist facilities.  All downtown Bogotá, south Bogotá and some sections of the north of the city are visible facing west. Monserrate can be accessed by an aerial tram, a funicular (cable railway) or by climbing, the preferred way of pilgrims.  

We took the cable railway up about 4:30 p.m. and there is an amazing view of the city.  After everyone had visited the sites, we all paused to pray for the people of Bogota, and, specifically those who made professions of faith during the week.  

We stayed to watch the sunset and see all the lights come out in the city and then rode down the mountain in the aerial tramway.  It was a great end to a wonderful week.  Now we wait to see how God moves in the hearts of the people and how he grows Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva, Bogota.

Monserrate and Friday in Bogota

I realized that my blog about what we did on Thursday didn't include our "outing" to Monserrate on Thursday evening.  Monserrate is a mountain that dominates the city center of Bogota.  The summit rises to 10,341 feet.  There is a 17th-century church and shrine built at the top.  In addition to the church, there are restaurants, souvenir shops and other tourist attractions.  The mountain can be accessed by aerial tram, cable car or by walking up 1,500 steps.  All of downtown Bogota, south Bogota and some sections of the north part of the city are visible facing west.  We took the cable car, the only option available after dark.  Not liking heights much, I'm glad it was dark so I couldn't see just how far up we were.  The views were worth the trip.  

We changed things up on Friday and instead of sharing one-on-one on the streets near the hotel, the vans took us to La Candelaria, a historic area in downtown Bogota.  I worked with Eric Hahn, and we were able to talk to three different people.  One young girl said she was a Christian, but didn't have a church.  

On Thursday afternoon, we went to Casa Betsalem, an orphanage in Bogota that was founded and is run by a Christian couple. There are 26 kids living in the orphanage, which is in a three-story house.  

There are bunk beds in the bedrooms and the girls sleep two to a bed--the children range in ages from 16 to 9 months.  It is amazing what they do with such a small space; it was very organized and the kids were very well behaved.  The children gave us a tour of their home and then we shared a snack with them.  After Peter, Lexie, Leanne and Stephen taught them "Jesus, Messiah" (in Spanish), Troy shared his testimony and the gospel with them.  We were hoping to be able to go to the park and play soccer with them (the teams brought new soccer balls), but it was raining.  Please pray for these children and for the couple who runs it--their financial needs are great, but they continue to trust God to provide.