well, i preached in spanish. and it went really well. i had to write it out, which i was not excited about, but i didn't trust that they would be able to understand me, so i gave in and wrote it. this church is a very participatory church, and in the middle of the sermon i posed a question about jesus as king and people had a lot to say, responding to what i said and such, which was nice. they said they want me to preach again before i leave for zambrano, which means within the month...not sure if thats gonna happen. good to feel affirmed, though.
on saturday evening we (we meaning erin and johan and leady) dreaded alejo's hair (while i was sitting on the couch editing and translating my sermon). good times. there are a few pictures of that, as well as me translating a sermon instead of helping. :(
the weather has been wonderful the past three days...FINALLY. we had like 15 days straight of rain. no joke. it seriously rains every day. so this weather has been a blessing. yesterday after church i had a picnic with jess and janna, which was wonderful, and then i watched amara so they could have a date. its so great to hang out with babies every once in awhile. and today we attempted to have some of our conversation time outside - not everyone is as excited as i am about sitting on the grass, but they made it through and i was thrilled to be outside. :)
this past week we talked about the armed conflict. really interesting. had some great speakers and learned a ton about the conflict - heard from someone who used to be an active member of the armed conflict, which was really interesting and learned a lot. also heard from some displaced families and saw some incredible organizations working with displaced families and such. i think a lot of us felt really glad to be able to try to comprehend a bit more of whats going on, even though its all so confusing and connected in crazy ways its impossible to actually understand it logically.
ricardo esquivia, the man who will basically be my boss on the coast, was in bogota here for a day or two and i met him for a good 3 min. haha. exciting to meet him, though. one month and i'll see a lot more of him.
since it's holy week, we're talking about the role of the church in society. looking forward to what we're gonna hear. already had some interesting conversation about our understandings and perceptions within the group this morning. holy week is a pretty big deal down here and most people i know don't have work, but we're still meeting. :) thursday morning we're leaving for ibaque, another city a few hours away. one of the seed members will be placed there, and we're going to be visiting the church she'll work with and visit some of the programs going on there and such, as well as attend some good friday/easterish things. not sure what the whole plan is yet. they say holy week is much more active in the pueblos, so we're getting out of the big city to experience it, i guess.
my church is having a maundy thursday service on wednesday and we'll wash feet and such, which i'm looking forward to seeing how they do things. changed it for leady, alejo and i, so we could be there. and...no worries...we moved basketball to tuesday. i was thrilled. they love me. haha. i am really sad i only have 4 more weeks of playing basketball. we have so much fun.
anyway, time to go. looks like a game of settlers before we watch the final game tonight. i haven't kept up at all or watched any of the games, but a few of us thought it would be fun to watch. go big ten! :)
happy easter...hope you all have wonderful weeks and weekends with family or friends, wherever you are, celebrating and relaxing. i love you all. YOU'RE SO GREAT!