Life continues to go on in Bogotá. God continues to do great things here through the joys, difficulties, and frustrations. I am still convinced that God has called me to this city for a specific purpose. I have really enjoyed meeting so many new people and having many amazing experiences. He continues to give me opportunities and connections around the city. Colombia, like so many countries, is in need of a spiritual revival. There is a lot of distrust, injustice, and corruption here.
ECA and PE Update
There are only two months left in the school year – it has flown by! I am currently teaching American football to the 5-12th grade guys and handball to 2nd-4th grade. The soccer tournaments still continue. The 8th grade girls won the middle school girls championship. The middle school boys and high school girls will have their championships in the next two weeks. Right now the guys’ staff team is 3-2-2 and is in a three-way tie for 2nd place in the high school tournament.
One highlight was receiving a new PE office right before Holy Week break! The new one is probably at least five times bigger than the previous one and is so much better in many ways. I can say that I have changed a lot as a teacher and person. I have grown in confidence, being firm in discipline, and doing things more efficiently. I still desire to spend more time with the students and pray about how God would use me to encourage them and speak into their lives. One thing I can work on is focusing on the positive things with the students instead of pointing out the negative.
Surprises
This past month has had some interesting surprises. One of them was winning Goleador (top goal-scorer) for the soccer tournament I played in with City Harvest Church. Our team finished in 2nd place out of three teams. The foundation gave me a trophy, medal, and a gift card. It still makes me laugh because I am not that good of a player, but somehow I scored the most goals of all the players on all three teams. It was awesome playing with the team, getting to know them, and learning how to play soccer in Spanish (it seems more natural in Spanish than in English).
Another surprise (this one was not-so-pleasant) was being robbed at knifepoint this past Monday. The guy acted like he was trying to be helpful and then all of a sudden grabbed me, put a knife to my chest, and told me to give him the money. Thankfully, after everything was done, he only ended up taking 18 mil (about 7-8 dollars) and my camera and spared my ID card, credit card, and phone. I am thankful for God’s protection and grace because it could have been a lot worse. It was a very humbling experience and now I can relate with people here who have been robbed. I have had some anxiety going places now, but I can say I am thankful for the experience. I have to be more careful and aware.
Shaken
One unexpected and pretty cool experience was feeling my first earthquake several weeks ago. I was in a classroom when I felt the back of my chair move and then the floor started moving back and forth. It was crazy that we could feel it in Bogotá when the epicenter (around 6.2 magnitude) was five hours away. I am not exactly sure what God has been up to, but it feels like God has been shaking me up spiritually in the past few weeks and doing a lot in my heart and with my attitude. At the same time, God has been stirring up desires and longings for things I have been waiting for and praying about. As I hear about all the crazy things going on in the world and the persecution of Christians, I am asking God to use me to save others. I am enjoying the adventure!
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” – 2 Cor. 5:7
“Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.” – Prov. 4:25
En Cristo,
Jonathan
ECA and PE Update
There are only two months left in the school year – it has flown by! I am currently teaching American football to the 5-12th grade guys and handball to 2nd-4th grade. The soccer tournaments still continue. The 8th grade girls won the middle school girls championship. The middle school boys and high school girls will have their championships in the next two weeks. Right now the guys’ staff team is 3-2-2 and is in a three-way tie for 2nd place in the high school tournament.
One highlight was receiving a new PE office right before Holy Week break! The new one is probably at least five times bigger than the previous one and is so much better in many ways. I can say that I have changed a lot as a teacher and person. I have grown in confidence, being firm in discipline, and doing things more efficiently. I still desire to spend more time with the students and pray about how God would use me to encourage them and speak into their lives. One thing I can work on is focusing on the positive things with the students instead of pointing out the negative.
Surprises
This past month has had some interesting surprises. One of them was winning Goleador (top goal-scorer) for the soccer tournament I played in with City Harvest Church. Our team finished in 2nd place out of three teams. The foundation gave me a trophy, medal, and a gift card. It still makes me laugh because I am not that good of a player, but somehow I scored the most goals of all the players on all three teams. It was awesome playing with the team, getting to know them, and learning how to play soccer in Spanish (it seems more natural in Spanish than in English).
Another surprise (this one was not-so-pleasant) was being robbed at knifepoint this past Monday. The guy acted like he was trying to be helpful and then all of a sudden grabbed me, put a knife to my chest, and told me to give him the money. Thankfully, after everything was done, he only ended up taking 18 mil (about 7-8 dollars) and my camera and spared my ID card, credit card, and phone. I am thankful for God’s protection and grace because it could have been a lot worse. It was a very humbling experience and now I can relate with people here who have been robbed. I have had some anxiety going places now, but I can say I am thankful for the experience. I have to be more careful and aware.
Shaken
One unexpected and pretty cool experience was feeling my first earthquake several weeks ago. I was in a classroom when I felt the back of my chair move and then the floor started moving back and forth. It was crazy that we could feel it in Bogotá when the epicenter (around 6.2 magnitude) was five hours away. I am not exactly sure what God has been up to, but it feels like God has been shaking me up spiritually in the past few weeks and doing a lot in my heart and with my attitude. At the same time, God has been stirring up desires and longings for things I have been waiting for and praying about. As I hear about all the crazy things going on in the world and the persecution of Christians, I am asking God to use me to save others. I am enjoying the adventure!
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” – 2 Cor. 5:7
“Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.” – Prov. 4:25
En Cristo,
Jonathan