February 2008

February 2008: Twenty-nine days (so long, I know…yay leap year!) filled with some very familiar feeling activities and some very foreign activities. There was that well-known feeling of tiredness when you wake up, the sound of a group of string players, the face of our director Darrell, the taste of grilled meat. On the other hand I experienced deep conversations completely in Spanish, the huge thing it is to celebrate the principal’s birthday, the sight of flatlands rather than the mountains I live in. There are so many things I would love to elaborate on, but I’m afraid I would loose my audience if I filled that many pages with words! Instead I would like to elaborate on few of them…

This month we started in earnest our work at the Colegio Americano Menno, the school where we spend most of our time. Amy and I are in charge of a new endeavor, a music group composed of students. We have eight string players and three wind players, and we are practicing twice a week. I have enjoyed this immensely because it gives me a chance to connect with the students in an area that I love. Our final concert will be at the end of May for the Mother’s Day celebration, which conveniently falls during the time my parents will be in La Mesa!

We also have had several visits from the United States recently. One was from our director, Darrell, and the other from Melina’s family (the Hunsbergers) from Pennsylvania. Darrell’s visit was simply to check in and see how we are all doing. It was great to see him again and to have conversations like we did in Chicago. The time spent with the Hunsbergers was also good. Melina’s mother is Argentinean, and they prepared an asado, (grill) for all of us. It was the first time I’ve had grilled meat since I was home.

A very incredible thing has happened gradually in the last three weeks. Spanish has started to click in my brain! Right around Valentine’s Day I realized that I was actually understanding the entire message of what people were saying. Before it was only words and phrases, and I would usually guess on the whole meaning, but recently it has started making more sense. This has led to some amazing discussions that didn’t happen earlier because of the language barrier. I praise God for this development!

Overall it has been a really amazing month and I wish to thank everyone yet again for your prayers. You may have heard about the tense situation we had in Colombia a few weeks ago involving Ecuador and Venezuela, and I would appreciate your prayers for a peaceful resolution with these countries and the guerrillas that continue to terrorize the Colombian people.