Colombian Friends

Here are pictures of some of the friends we got to see while we visited Bogota. I've not included everyone... but just a sampling of folks we miss!

Sergio & Olga with their sons. They are missionaries to their own country - working in a very, very poor part of the city.

Amanda, her mom and kids. We stayed with them the first week there.

Some of our old youth group. Above: Arnold and Leidy. Below: David, Juan, Luis.

We stayed with the Vanegas family the last week in Bogota. He is also in full-time ministry (his family too!), "pastoring" our old church, Bible teaching and evangelism.
Sandra & Paola. Two of the young women I used to disciple. They are doing well... both have graduated from uni. and have jobs.

Medellin

A year ago Bill's father moved to the city of Medellin. It is a 45 minute flight from Bogotá (the capital) and is probably the second city in the country. The drive from Bogota to Medellin is safe to do now, but we didn't have the time (8-9 hours each way) to do it.

The main purpose of our visit was to spend time with Dad and Liliana. Here's Bill with his dad reliving some childhood memories in their old "backyard". They used to live in the first floor apartment you can see in the background.

We got to do a little site seeing while there. Including a drive to a village called "Santa Fe de Antioquia". There is an historic bridge there that we used to walk over the Cauca river.

Typical countryside shot:
This picture was taken at a tourist spot that is called "Pueblo Paisa". It has a typical little village square with church. What we liked most about this place was the view. It is located atop a hill in the middle of the city, so you can get a good idea of what Medellin looks like.

Bogota

On our last day in Colombia our friends, Gilberto and Sandra, took us to the old district of Bogota, to the city's birthplace. It has so much character and beauty - the buildings and streets take you into the past, yet the people scurrying around going to school, university and work remind you that you're in the 21st century!

This is the church steeple in the little square where Bogota "was born".

Street going down the hill towards the main plaza and main cathedral of Bogotá.

The Plaza de Bolivar (main plaza). Government buildings ahead, cathedral behind us.

From Bogota to Medellin

Monday, July 30th:This is me standing in front of the hospital where I was treated several years ago. I had a check up MRI done here this morning (7/30)

Across the street there is a mall, built in an old Spanish style - we had a cup of coffee there.

We had a nice time catching up with the Dubberly family over lunch.

Tuesday, July 31

The men Bill used to meet with to study most Saturday nights during the first few years here in Colombia are either married with families now or living in other parts of the world. We got together with three of the families for the afternoon.

Thursday, August 2

This is the view of the city of Medellin from Bill & Liliana's apartment window. Medellin is in a valley - surrounded by mountains on all sides. Very beautiful.

Bogota

Camilo & Brisa (two of our hosts)

We're Here!

We've been in Bogota for 24 hours. Everyone is looking after us quite well and our schedule is looking very full. Will try and take a few pictures in the next days and post them for all to see. Today we ran a couple of medical errands with my health insurance in preparation for my check ups (MRI etc.) next week. It was great to see the city and realize how much we miss living here. Tonight we are off to visit the Bible Institute, tomorrow we'll visit with friends... Bill's speaking about 14 times at least while we are here.

Packing ...

We're packing today... tomorrow we fly down to:
We'll be gone for three weeks... but we do have a couple of cat-sitters lined up!

Last Friday we had one last visit to the beach with our Colombian friends from Talbot... here's Bill and Julian boogie boarding!

The Spectators

Meanwhile, Sonja, Misha and I watched the boys racing around the track....

... but that got a little boring, so we played a couple of games of air hockey.



Afterwards we went out for a treat (see NZ ice cream post) ...
... but some of us needed a frappuccino too!

He tells me this was his very first Starbucks that he didn't have to share!?

Jon's Birthday Present

We took Jon to a go kart racetrack for his birthday (late gift... it was a couple of weeks ago!)
He and Bill raced each other (with a few other strangers)... overall Jon had the best lap times, but Bill managed to sneak ahead of him in time for the finish line!

Let me recommend...

... some New Zealand ice cream! We found this store in the city of Orange this afternoon, with genuine NZ ice cream. The most authentic NZ flavors you should try are: Hokey Pokey, Orange Chocolate Chip and Boysenberry.
We all had Orange Choc Chip, except Misha who had vanilla!

New Zealand Natural

July Newsletter

You can access our letter using the following link:
July 2007 Newsletter

The Hollywood Bowl

We went to hear the Los Angeles Philharmonic perform several classical Russian pieces last night. It ended with a fireworks display timed with the music.

Sonja, Dad, Mum, Bill, Noel (NZer on his way to Guatemala) & Jon.

Trivia: the Bowl seats 17, 376 people!

We arrived early... this section was full by the end of the evening!

STEP 2007: Summer Fun Day

Summer Team Evangelism Partnership

We ended the ten-day outreach efforts with a day off for the team. We went down to Laguna Beach early Monday morning hoping to find breakfast and then spend the day swimming and snorkeling in the ocean. We had a hard time finding a breakfast spot we could all agree on, when the smell of bacon lured us to this delightful little restaurant overlooking the beach. I think everyone was happy in the end!

Then we met up with Paul K. and had a great time swimming, boogie boarding, snorkeling & tide pool exploring. There were several sunburnt bodies at the end of the day!

One of the men in the Spanish church has a brother who drives a Hummer Limo, so he arranged a free ride in the evening for all... a fun way to end a busy, challenging but rewarding outreach effort.

STEP 2007: Outreach

Summer Team Evangelism Partnership

We were trained by Tom to use the Open Air Sketchboards to present the gospel to the children:

We were trained in personal evangelism and how to reach out to children with God's love and truth:

We went out into two hispanic neighborhoods and held children's clubs that included games, songs, memory verses and a Bible story. Parents were also reached on a one-to-one basis as well as with a gospel message in Spanish at the end of each club:

Newport Mudflats Hike

Last Sunday after Jon, Sonja, Bill & I went for a hike in the Newport Bay area. It was interesting... you never really got the sense that you were totally away from civilization as it is located just south of the John Wayne airport, which is the main OC airport. There is actually a lot of wildlife there, we walked about a 2 mile stretch and saw lizards, bunnies, birds & fish. However we only saw a small percentage of the entire area.
Some of our group forgot that we were supposed to be hiking!

Green Thumb ?

After the semester ended I got inspired to try gardening again. I planted herbs, some potted plants and flowers. So far everything is thriving... here are a few pictures:

Back Porch

Front Flower Beds

Independence Day

Jorge & Monica, from Bogota, Colombia, spent a night with us on their way through L.A. to Australia. We spent the 4th of July with them driving around the Palo Verde Peninsula and then down to Seal Beach. We arrived at the Korean Freedom Bell around 11:00Am to discover they were having a 4th of July celebration. So we stayed and heard some speeches (in both languages), saw a flag folding ceremony (the words that go along with this are amazing, I'd never heard them before) and then heard the bell rung 14+ times.

Korean Bell Flag Folding
(You can read the words that accompany this ceremony here, scroll down past the folding instructions and you will find the words)

Jorge & Monica at Whale Watching Lookout Museum

Summer Team Evangelism Partnership 2007

Summer Team Evangelism Partnership

Our team leaders/initiators, my Dad & John Duckhorn (Wisconsin):

The team was composed of people from our local church in Westminster, the Knox family from Tulare, CA and the group from Wisconsin (Milwaukee area mainly):

The folks from Wisconsin (minus John & Dona):