I will declare my choice to the nations

Psalm 67

May God be merciful and bless us. May his face smile with favor upon us.
May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere. May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you. Let the whole world sing for joy, because you govern the nations with justice and guide the people of the whole world.
May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you. Then the earth will yield its harvests, and God, our God, will richly bless us. Yes, God will bless us, and people all over the world will fear him.

This passage in Psalms is really interesting to me. I have been reading and studying from the Old Testament a lot and it seems very odd to me that a God that was only for the Jews would want the whole nations to praise him. I mean really how did God govern all the nations that were killed by the Israelites with justice? It just does not make sense to me. Although, this psalm could have been written to help bridge the Old Testament with the New Testament.

I´m very thankful for this psalm because it supports Jesus´ teachings in the New Testament. What would our world be like if Christ had never come to earth to die for us? I really don´t think I would be alive, because I would have been born a Gentile, and God would have probably led the Jewish nation to kill my Gentile family, right? Now that Easter is over it makes me more thankful to be in a different nation. I mean after what we just celebrated with Christ´s resurrection and all, he specifically told us to ¨…go and make disciples of all nations… Matthew 28¨, ¨Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone… Mark 16¨, ¨Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations... You are witnesses of all these things… Luke 24¨, ¨Do you love me more than these?¨ Peter replied, yes I love you.¨ ¨ Jesus said, then feed my lambs… take care of my sheep…then feed my sheep… then Jesus told him, `follow me.` John 21.¨ Being in Colombia has made me realize and has confirmed my calling, which is simply to go to the nations.

A song that I have been singing in my head for the past few days...

I will declare my choice to the nations, I will shout for joy in the congregation. I will worship God, worship God, all my days. Those who love the Lord are satisfied, those who trust in Him are justified. I will serve my God all my days. When the nations crumble, the Word of the Lord will stand. Kings may rise and fall, but his love will endure. Though the strong may stumble, the joy of the Lord is strength to my soul. I will not be shaken, I will not be moved, I will not be shaken.

Faith like a Child... Fe como un niño

About that time the discliples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, "I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea." "Beware that you don´t look down on any of these little ones, for i tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father."
One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. But Jesus said, "Let the children come to me. Don´t stop them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are like these children." And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left. --Matthew 18:1-6,10; 19:13-14--

This past week i was reflecting on a few things, and i came to realize that in both my training in Chicago and also my time spent in Colombia, I have spent with children. In Chicago i worked at Gad´s Hill, a daycare & preschool, in the mornings. I spent my afternoons at a YMCA where i helped school kids with their homework. Also, a major portion of my activities in Colombia involve children. The work i have joined in Anapoima includes many kids. In fact every time i go to the town, i find myself hanging with the kids. This past week Colegio Americano Menno began the new school year. At the school i am helping out 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. The school is filled with 500+ students. As i was reflecting i was thinking "Wow! I am spending way too much time with kids, when i return i´m not going to be able to communicate with adults." Then i realized that i too had been blessed to have lived in a home with 3 wonderful sisters, and my home in Colombia also includes 2 new sisters whom i have appreciated very much. So then i realized that God has prepared me for my time in Colombia throughout my whole life. Later that evening i happened to be reading in Matthew and i came accross 2 different passages where Jesus was encountered by children. So now i finally got it, God wanted to teach me to not only interact with the children but to be like them, to take after them, and to be vulnerable just as they are.

Psalm 32:8

La Mesa, Cundinamarca, Colombia, is a town filled with so many lovely people. I often have asked myself ¨What am i doing living so close to the equator where the temperature is in the 90´s with high humidity most of the time?¨ The relationships that i am forming make everything worthwhile and i quickly forget about my ¨not liking hot weather.¨ I have had a wonderful time so far and have done so many cool things. I´m going to attempt to explain what i have been doing so far.
I arrived in La Mesa on Friday, November 2nd. We were welcomed by a meal prepared by our host families. The pastor´s wife gave each of us a different Bible verse. The verse i received has been an incredible comfort so far. ¨The Lord says I will guide you along the best pathways for your life, I will watch over you.¨-Psalm 32:8- My family is made up of 5 people, Martin(dad), Elsy(mom), Andres(18), Ana Maria(9), and Stephanie(8). The first night home was a bit overwhelming and sort of an awkward evening. By the time we left the meal at the church and arrived at home, it was fairly late. Hardly any socializing/getting to know you, happened that evening. My first 2 days consisted of walking through the town getting to know where things were located. We also went to the youth group for the 1st time, and attended 2 our of 3 church services. We introduced ourselves to the church by talking and by sharing a song that we had prepared. We sang ¨Great is Thy Faithfulness.¨ My first work week i spent going to the school and meeting the teachers and some of the students. The school is called Colegio Americano Menno, and there are 500 students from Kindergarten to 11th grade.That week was their last week of school and the school was having their time of festivities. Each class prepared something special like a performance, and all the classrooms were decorated in different themes. We definately got to see the creative side of the school. In that week i also got to go to Anapoima. Anapoima is the next town down the mountain where my host parents, Martin & Elsy, are ministering and working at planting a church with some communities of families. Anapoima is a resort town and many people from Bogota have their vacation homes there. It is also a town where there is a lot of money, but there is also the exact opposite which is poverty. There are two communities which are located at the edges of the town. Falling of the cliff is a very real danger. There are many families that live all together and in some cases there are eight people living in one room. Each community is one big family so if something majot happens to one person, it affects everyone. Martin and Elsy have been working with these families and teaching them the gospel. There are two women who were baptized and this Sunday another lady will be baptized. There are many children so we are hoping to begin some english classes for the kids and adults too.
The first week we did many things for the first time but we also worked on our relationships with our families and getting to know them on a personal level. I got to know my family better at times when we are all around the dinner table, as well as when we are playing games together. It has been great interacting with my family and learning their stories.
I had only been in La Mesa a week and i had the chance to go on an eight hour trip to Garzon which is in the department of Huila. There were about 25 people who went, and we stayed at a church in the town. The church had planned revival meetings that weekend, so we helped and participated in those services. The team that went also prepared skits in the parks, and we did some evangelism throughout the town. It was pretty cool at how open people were to talking, and the interest to study the Bible was very high. The hour of skits in the parks brought in many people, both old and young. At one of the parks there were some soldiers that stopped and watched the presentation. Most of the people that watched the skits stayed for the whole time. The response of the people saying how much they liked the skits, and thought it was cool that people did those things was very encouraging to the team.
I am also taking Spanish classes twice a week, and am writting a lot of Spanish. Our group is also teaching some English at the comedor( a soup kitchen for kids) which is a project of the church. We have also gone on some school trips with different clubs at the school. I also spend some of my time translating for some of my fellow group members.
My time over all has been a blessing, and i am continually learning new things every day.

i figured that it's probably time for me to blog...

So i have been thinking a lot about stuff, just everything. I always find myself thinking so i guess that's a good thing. So i just spent 5 days at home. My time at home was good. It was not fun at times, a bit overwhelming, and i also found myself asking where my time had gone. Although it was great because God spoke to me in a way that i did not expect. I found Him asking me to love Him with all of my heart. I have to fall in love with God and i'm not sure if i have yet. Now as i leave for Bogota tomorrow morning, i find myself wanting to love God, and figure out what it means to be a child of God. So that is what i am working on.

Now i am in Miami and these are just random things i am thinking about...
When i was home it was cold. The one night it was in the 40's... yesterday, i spend the day in the beach. I believe that it was 86 degrees out, and i got a tan. It's crazy how different the temperature is wherever you are in the world. Oh and i just checked the weather in Bogota, and it will be in the 60's and high 50's this whole next week.
Last night i went to the Lighthouse which is a small church downtown. The church was great and so homie. The speaker spoke about the Samaritan woman at the well, and he said that we need to take the monkey suit off. He also said that we need to ask the questions, and face the truth, like Jesus asked the questions and the Samaritan woman had to face the truth. This morning i went to a spanish church, which was a lot of fun. The speaker started the sermon by playing the music to Mission Impossible. He said that our mission is not impossible but instead is possible.
Traveling can be tiring. Getting here was quite adventurous for some of us. Rachel had some unfortunate happenings. Both of her suitcases had a painful experience getting here to Miami. Today we spend the afternoon "fixing" them, but we decided that only one was fixable and it would be better if she just replaced the other one. After eating at a Cuban restaurant, we 5 were off to find a suitcase. Walgreens was in sight, so we went in, and found a suitcase! We were happy, and walked out of the store all talkative and joyful. Then.... it started pouring, so we walked home in the rain soaking wet! It was quite the experience. I am so thankful for the friends that i have made that i can enjoy these experiences with, even if it means walking home wet.

moving day/the DOOR van

i love weekends! so today i woke up at 8 a.m. and quickly ate because today was the big moving day for Krista [our director, but really is the DOOR (another program through mennonite mission network) director.] so 4 of us RADers went along with Brian (our downstairs neighbor, and the assistant director for DOOR) and hopped in the DOOR van and headed to Krista's old home. As we were turning to get onto the highway we saw a cop behind us. We kept going and then Brian saw the lights and the cop had pulled us over. I realized i did not have my seatbelt on so i quickly snapped it on. Two cops came up to our van, one on the driver's side and the other on the passenger side. The cop talked very harshly to Brian and told him to put his keys on the roof. Brian put them on the dashboard and the cop sternly said, "Give them to me." This seemed odd to me because i have never heard of a cop asking someone to put their keys on the roof, it was weird. So then the cop asked for liscence and registration. The cop had said that the car screened to be a stolen vehicle. Brian tried to explain that the van was owned by DOOR and that he was the assistant director. Earlier in the spring the van had been stolen but was later found. Krista had previously been pulled over and had gone to court to defend herself and that the van was found and it was not stolen, the court people had said that they were going to change the vehicle's status, but obviously they had not done this yet. Brian called Krista on the phone while the cop was present and the cop decided to let us go. When he decided to let us go, we saw a tow truck pull up behind the cop's car. It was ridiculous that the cop had already called a tow truck to take the van away. As we were driving away, Brian made a comment that he was surprized that we were not arrested and on our way to jail. So we got to Krista and Jim's home and started the moving process. It was really unfortunate that they lived on the 3rd floor of the house, it definately made things more challenging. Oh the staircase was pretty narrow and had some turns as well. We got things moved out and into the Uhaul. Our assembly line made moving the furniture and boxes much easier. So we filled the truck and Rachel, Caitlyn and i hopped in the van with Brian and headed to the new home, which is visible from our house. When we were a block away we saw flashing lights, and were being pulled over by another cop! Now we were all laughing and saying how ridiculous this was. The second cop came up to the window and was much more pleasant. He was very friendly and asked for license and a registration. He was very understanding and just asked Brian to get the status of the van changed. Then he let us go. We eventually finished moving all their stuff into their new home, and finished of the process by eating pizza together for lunch.
The whole being pulled over experience made me question some things. It made me wonder why the first 2 cops were so rude and mean. The second time we were pulled over the cop was much nicer. The first 2 cops were also white, and the second cop was hispanic. Also why did they choose to screen our van? it is an older van but was it because Brian is black, and was accompanied by 3 white girls? Did Brian fit the status as a thief of a vehicle? i don't know it's something to think about...

i don't really know how to title this....

so these are some things that stuck out from reading Blue Like Jazz...

"There are plenty of things that are true that don't make any sense. I think one of the problems Laura was having was that she wanted God to make sense. He doesn't. He will make no more sense to me than i will make sense to an ant."

"I don't think you can explain how Christian faith works either. It is a mystery. And i love this about Christian spirituality. It cannot be explained, and yet it is beautiful and true. It is something you feel, and it comes from the soul."

"There is something quite beautiful about the Grand Canyon at night. There is something beautiful about a billion stars held steady by a God who knows what He is doing. They hand there, the stars, like notes on a page of music, free-form verse, silent mysteries swirling in the blue like jazz."

"I lay there under the stars and thought of what a great responsibility it is to be human. I am human because God made me. I experience suffering and temptation because mankind chose to follow Satan. God is reaching out to me to rescue me. I am learning to trust Him, learning to live by His precepts that i might be preserved."

"Loneliness is something that happens to us, but i think it is something we can move ourselves out of...Jesus does not want us floating through space or sitting in front of our televisions. Jesus wants us interacting, eating together, laughing together, praying together. Loneliness is something that came with the fall. If loving people is a bit of heaven then certainly isolation is a bit of hell."

"If we are not willing to wake up in the morning and die to ourselves, perhaps we should ask ourselves whether or not we are really following Jesus."

"God's love will never change us if we don't accept it."

"I think the difference in my life came when i realized, after reading those Gospels, that Jesus didn't just love me out of principle; He didn't just love me because it was the right thing to do. Rather, there was something inside me that caused Him to love me."

"The first generation out of slavery invented jazz music. It is a music birthed out of freedom. And that is the closest thing i know to Christian spirituality. A music birthed out of freedom. Everybody sings their song the way they feel it, everybody closes their eyes and lifts up their hands."

yeah festivals!

So this weekend was pretty good. There are many festivals every weekend in Chicago, and this past weekend there was the World Music Festival, The Celtic Festival, and a Cheesecake Festival. On Saturday i headed to the conservatory with Rachel, Caitlyn, and Kevin. It is only 5 blocks from my house. I went there to hear a musical group from Africa. They were part of the World Music Festival. I really enjoyed their music, it was very distinct in sound, and just so much fun to listen to. At the conservatory there was also a "country fair," going on and on the banner there was a chicken, but in real life there weren't even any chickens there... but they had some ponies that kids were riding. It just made me laugh at how they tried to countrinize(i'm pretty sure i just made this word up, but don't worry it's ok) the city. I also checked out the European fair at the conservatory, and i bought a few things:)After debating forever on what to eat we chose to buy tacos(i know. i, melina ate mexican.) The tacos were 2 stinkin dollars and they were sooo little. I was still hungry but i decided not to buy any more food because we were headed to the Cheesecake festival. It took us quite a while to get there, because it was way out in the suburbs. When we arrived i signed up to get a free cheesecake, but i was dissapointed because we could only get 1 free. I sort of expected it to be more of sampling different kinds of cheesecake. So after a long day we went home, and watched the first half of Annie. Yesterday was church day. I went to a church down the road, and lets just say it was very interesting... Then in the afternoon i went to Megan's ordination. She is the pastor at the Mennonite church next door. The service was beautiful and after the service we ate an amazing Indian dinner. So that is basically a summary of my weekend. oh i almost forgot... yeah Steelers!!! they won as well...