~Day 2~
The alarm sounded bright and early Tuesday morning. We did our devotions and began to dress. I decided to take out my "adorable" braids as they were giving me a headache! All who know me know that I have very curly, thick hair and let me just say that taking out little teeny braids all around my head did not help my case!
The alarm sounded bright and early Tuesday morning. We did our devotions and began to dress. I decided to take out my "adorable" braids as they were giving me a headache! All who know me know that I have very curly, thick hair and let me just say that taking out little teeny braids all around my head did not help my case!
Here is your evidence! :)
After I quickly washed my hair to calm it down, we headed up to the executive lounge for some breakfast. Today we were going to meet the girl Kimber had been writing to for several years. She lived right in Cartagena so supposedly someone from Compassion was going to come pick us up at the hotel and take us to her project to meet her. Well, we had set a meeting time of 8:30am before we left the US but ever since we had arrived in Colombia we had been unable to make contact with them. It was about 8:27am that morning before we received a confirmation call. We quickly headed downstairs to wait out in the lobby for their arrival. We were so relieved when about 8:45am a white van pulled up and out hopped the project director and the translator. After everyone was introduced, we packed up and headed to the project. It was about a 20 minute drive through the heart of Cartagena to the project. On the way we chatted with our translator, who we soon learned had also been a sponsored child in Compassion's program.
We finally pulled up in front of a small 2 story building crammed in between other houses. We walked in and headed to the upper level. The project director motioned for us to go into the room all the way at the end of the house. It was dark but as soon as we opened the door 20 or so young girls shouted "welcome". Once we all had entered the room the crowd parted and Luz (Kimber's girl) came forward and wrapped each of us in a hug I shall never forget. We were all in tears and you could feel the love surrounding us. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures since Kimber had the camara on her neck during the embrace.
Soon they motioned for us to sit down in the plastic chairs they had set out. One of the teachers then gave us a welcome speech.
Then some of Luz's classmates had prepared a dance for us to watch. Luz even try to dance with them for a while :).
Luz is the young lady in the back.
After the dance they did a skit. Unfortunately it was all in spanish and our translator had a hard time translating fast enough for us to understand. The main gist was that a mother and her two daughters had come to visit the doctor. The 12 year old daughter was pregnant (we later learned that it is pretty common in Colombia for girls to have their first baby between the ages of 11-14)and they all were desperate. A young man visitor came and sat down with them and soon began to explain to them that there was a Doctor who could heal their souls and their bodies. He then proceeded to share the gospel with them. In the end the whole family accepted Jesus as their Savior. It was a touching story of how the gospel is shared in Colombia.
After the skit Luz's pastor came and said a couple of words of thanks and then proceeded to pray over us and thank the Lord for us. It was another moving moment I shall never forget!
We next got a tour of the facility and brief outline of what a normal day at the project looks like.
Kimber and Luz in the front!
Isn't Luz just beautiful!?
The tour over we headed back into the project's van to go visit Luz's home (which was about 10 minutes away).
Our translator. His smile was the best! It lit up his whole face! His love for the Lord and his faith was inspiring and such a blessing to us during the 2 days we got to spend with him. By the end we felt as if we were leaving a close brother behind. Amazing how the unity of the Spirit can do that, isn't it?
Kimber and Luz...again :).
We soon pulled up in front of Luz's house. It was a single story dwelling and contained a small "garage", den/dining room, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. And it was pink :)!
Here's a brief look into their kitchen...
I can't say that the poverty really surprised me but what did surprise me was how much this house was worth. We asked our translator and he said that Luz had a very nice, big house that was worth about $200,000...in American dollars! Most Colombian's only have a one room dwelling so Luz's house was considered lavish...hard to believe.
After we said "hello" to her mother and looked at some of Luz's prize possessions, we headed to the mall to do some sight seeing and shopping. The mall was HUGE! It was 2 levels and looked in every way like an American mall (if not a little bit better). That was pretty surprising to me.
We soon stopped for lunch.
While we were eating Daddy tried to teach Luz a trick you can do with your pen or straw.
She did finally figure it out and I think she had fun!
After lunch and some more shopping we decided to explore the city. Our first stop was the ancient walls. These walls were built around the entirety of the old city to protect from invasion on the sea front. They were massive!
From below...
...on top...
...and above.
Daddy next to a cannon on the top battlements.
This is my favorite picture of the day! It was quite windy up on top.
If you can read Spanish you can find out why this wall was built :).
We descended from the wall and then daddy challenged Luz to a game of "futbol" or soccer. He borrowed a ball from a young boy playing there and they had a great time (even though it was 90 degrees out).
Now that we were done exploring the wall we decided to take a walk through the streets of Cartagena. The streets were busy but there was plenty of people on the sidewalks as well. The architecture in Cartagena is absolutely stunning! A lot of is left over from when the Spanish ruled and you can definitely tell!
Walking...
La puerta.
La calle.
La ventana.
La edificio.
We soon came upon a flock of pigeons that had gathered around one of the many statues of a famous figure. Our translator bought some corn so we could catch, feed, and play with some of them.
They loved Kimber's blonde hair :). Not really, they just loved the corn on top of her hair :).
This little girl just melts my heart!
A very large cathedral with a clock on top!
Kimber loved the caballos clip-clopping around although they were extremely old and skinny. We could have rode in the carriage behind it but decided we preferred walking (you would too if you saw the way they drove in Colombia!).
Well, our day couldn't last forever. We finally headed back to the hotel and Kimber, Luz, and I went up to our room to grab something to drink while the adults signed all the last minute paper work. While up there we decided to take down Kimber's braids as well. She looked just like me so I didn't feel too lonely ;).
We had to go downstairs before too long and say our final goodbyes. Hugs were mandatory all around :) and then we waved them away.
It was close to dinner time now so we decided to refresh ourselves a bit and then go get some food.
During dinner we enjoyed watching the evening traffic yet again.
Dinner: empanadas (they had that at every meal), sausages, and some sort of cabbage/shrimp salad thingy (only dad tried that).
We closed the day with Thor and slept peacefully until the alarm went off for day 3 to begin.
Learning to delight in Jesus,
Hannah
We finally pulled up in front of a small 2 story building crammed in between other houses. We walked in and headed to the upper level. The project director motioned for us to go into the room all the way at the end of the house. It was dark but as soon as we opened the door 20 or so young girls shouted "welcome". Once we all had entered the room the crowd parted and Luz (Kimber's girl) came forward and wrapped each of us in a hug I shall never forget. We were all in tears and you could feel the love surrounding us. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures since Kimber had the camara on her neck during the embrace.
Soon they motioned for us to sit down in the plastic chairs they had set out. One of the teachers then gave us a welcome speech.
After the dance they did a skit. Unfortunately it was all in spanish and our translator had a hard time translating fast enough for us to understand. The main gist was that a mother and her two daughters had come to visit the doctor. The 12 year old daughter was pregnant (we later learned that it is pretty common in Colombia for girls to have their first baby between the ages of 11-14)and they all were desperate. A young man visitor came and sat down with them and soon began to explain to them that there was a Doctor who could heal their souls and their bodies. He then proceeded to share the gospel with them. In the end the whole family accepted Jesus as their Savior. It was a touching story of how the gospel is shared in Colombia.
After the skit Luz's pastor came and said a couple of words of thanks and then proceeded to pray over us and thank the Lord for us. It was another moving moment I shall never forget!
We next got a tour of the facility and brief outline of what a normal day at the project looks like.
The tour over we headed back into the project's van to go visit Luz's home (which was about 10 minutes away).
We soon pulled up in front of Luz's house. It was a single story dwelling and contained a small "garage", den/dining room, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. And it was pink :)!
Here's a brief look into their kitchen...
After we said "hello" to her mother and looked at some of Luz's prize possessions, we headed to the mall to do some sight seeing and shopping. The mall was HUGE! It was 2 levels and looked in every way like an American mall (if not a little bit better). That was pretty surprising to me.
We soon stopped for lunch.
After lunch and some more shopping we decided to explore the city. Our first stop was the ancient walls. These walls were built around the entirety of the old city to protect from invasion on the sea front. They were massive!
 |
| L-R: Hannah, Kimber, Luz, and Luz's project director. |
We descended from the wall and then daddy challenged Luz to a game of "futbol" or soccer. He borrowed a ball from a young boy playing there and they had a great time (even though it was 90 degrees out).
Now that we were done exploring the wall we decided to take a walk through the streets of Cartagena. The streets were busy but there was plenty of people on the sidewalks as well. The architecture in Cartagena is absolutely stunning! A lot of is left over from when the Spanish ruled and you can definitely tell!
We soon came upon a flock of pigeons that had gathered around one of the many statues of a famous figure. Our translator bought some corn so we could catch, feed, and play with some of them.
Daddy and Luz and our pigeon friend.
Well, our day couldn't last forever. We finally headed back to the hotel and Kimber, Luz, and I went up to our room to grab something to drink while the adults signed all the last minute paper work. While up there we decided to take down Kimber's braids as well. She looked just like me so I didn't feel too lonely ;).
We had to go downstairs before too long and say our final goodbyes. Hugs were mandatory all around :) and then we waved them away.
It was close to dinner time now so we decided to refresh ourselves a bit and then go get some food.
During dinner we enjoyed watching the evening traffic yet again.
We closed the day with Thor and slept peacefully until the alarm went off for day 3 to begin.
Learning to delight in Jesus,
Hannah
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