Bogota Campaign, Part 1

Hayden, Stephen and I flew out Friday afternoon, June 17, arriving in Bogota at 7:30 p.m.  The temperature difference between San Salvador and Bogota is like night and day, so we bundled up for the 50 degree weather as best we could.  The hotel shuttle was there to pick us up and we were checked in and ready to eat dinner before 9:00 p.m.  We had a lazy Saturday morning, exploring the area around the hotel and walking to the mall for lunch.

Guillermo, Rodolfo and the team of 9 from Costa Rica picked us up at the hotel about 3:30 Saturday afternoon to go to the Alsacia neighborhood, even though the team from Blue Springs, Missouri, wasn't flyiing in until 11:00 p.m.  The schedule for the week was for us to hold a kid's club in the Alsacia neighborhood Sunday through Tuesday afternoons, so we sepnt Saturday night passing out invitations to everyone we saw.  The Costa Rica team set up face painting; there were balloon animals, popcorn  and the trampoline was there, as well.  Alex's wife and Karem had a registration table to enroll kids for the 3-night event.

Wednesday in Bogota

Wednesday morning we returned to downtown Bogota and continued sharing one-on-one on "Seventh" street.  David told everyone that, if they wanted to get souvenirs, they should take advantage of the artisan markets that are along the street.  

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Wednesday night we drove to the south part of the town to set up the family festival in the area called "Kennedy."  As you can see the park is huge, there are apartment buildings everywhere and people are walking everywhere.  This park and the surrounding area reminded everyone of El Salvador.  There were so many kids, we ran out of popcorn and balloons.  It was an amazing evening with so many great conversations and so many professions of faith!  

Happy 24th Birthday, Vida Nueva

I've probably written about the church's birthday celebrations before, but decided it was time to highlight another year.  Here in El Salvador it is common practice for churches to have an annual birthday celebration.  Just like in the life of every individual, a birthday celebration seems to be a good way for the church to look back and see God's faithfulness over the years. 

This year's celebration spanned the entire month, with interviews of individuals, couples and families who have been part of the church.  Today, David Aguilar, hotel campus pastor, interviewed Pastor Julio and Pastor Steve.  If you've ever seen these two together, you know just how much fun it was too watch the interview.  Believe it or not, they started the church when they were 26 and 28 years old, respectively.  As I said, a look back over the 24 years reveals God's plans and His faithfulness.  Because no respectable birthday celebration would be without them, there were balloons, confetti, cake and also a great message from 2 Corinthians.  

We are Vida Nueva!

  

Beautiful Day for a Campaign

After fighting the weather the last three nights, it was beautiful all day!  The morning at the school was excellent--we visited 13 classrooms.

We were able to visit the neighborhood and lots of kids/adults showed up at the family festival.  Lot's of decisions made the perfect end to a beautiful day.