First weeks in Colombia

Some days, I’ve felt like it is taking me forever to adjust to life here in Colombia. Then I realize I’ve only been here for 2 weeks, and in those 2 weeks I’ve helped out at the Other Way (the ministry drop-in center), Club de Amigos (a Bible club started by one of Formando Vidas team), and another unrelated drop-in center called La Buena Semilla. I’ve also had a general orientation, gotten lost, visited “the farm” (24 hour care), gone bowling downtown, attended two staff meetings, and spent a day sick. In addition to all that, I’ve met almost all the staff, a DTS team of 8 from Kona, Hawaii, and a team from Venezuela. Oh, and I had a tour and brief orientation of Luz y Vida, and am now in my second week of teaching there.

Luz y Vida means light and life. It is designed for kids who come from at-risk backgrounds and are currently unable to attend a regular school for academic and or behavioral reasons. Because of that, it has really small classroom sizes. While one of the goals of Luz y Vida is for kids to be ready to transition to a normal classroom, the even greater goal is to teach kids to walk in a personal relationship with Jesus.

Right now, I’m mainly with a group of four second graders ranging in age from 9-11. I partner with the first grade teacher who has four 1^st graders, so sometimes our classes combine to do things together. As of right now, our schedule is still very hectic. The kids have had 6 days of school, and I’ve only been there for 4 1/2 of them (I stayed home sick the second day and spent half a day this week applying for my id card). We’ve been doing evaluations to find out where the students are academically, going over rules and expectations, and doing some fun activities with the kids. I still feel rather lost since I wasn’t around when they did their planning prior to the start of the school year. There are ups (when all the students in my room are actively engaged and following directions) and downs (when I’m breaking up fist fights and trying to find students who left the room without permission), but overall, I think things are off to a pretty good start.

Keep me and my kiddos in prayer! I need patience and wisdom in dealing with discipline problems, and creatively coming up with educational activities with fewer resources than I’m used to.