People to know...

I'm going to try something a little bit different this time. In honor of all the Kierkegaard and Buber that I have been reading these days, I will assume for the minute that my life is more relational than sequential, and I will relay the events of my life in categories of the people that I have lived it with for the past month. Who remembers life in chronological order anyway? Now, this list is not conclusive by any means, there are far more people in my life than I will write about, but these are a few of the newcomers I would like to introduce you all to.

First and foremost, there is Mr. Wesley McKain.

Wes was a very good friend of mine in college, but we've never actually lived together. He spent so many nights in our apartments studying you could say that he might has well have, but the fact remains, this is the first time I've ever actually lived with the guy, and I must say, it's been great. He and I seem to think in very similar ways, and we have had one too many late night conversations as a result (I fell asleep while writing this). He works at Luz y Vida as a teacher's assistant, or as a personal tutor, but he probably won't be an assistant for long. Wes has an almost unnatural desire to learn Spanish. He will stay up late with flashcards and lists of verbs, write down every word he doesn't know from a meeting held in Spanish, talk to every stranger he meets, and as I write, he is in a four-hour-long intensive Spanish course he attends every week. He's a dear friend, and I am extremely blessed to have him here with me.

Wes and I have been spending a lot of time with two other young men, one from England and the other from Australia. Their names are Luke and John, respectively.

The four of us will go out to explore different parts of the the city from time to time, and I'm sure we are quite the sight to see. Still, four is much better than one, and the added safety is nice when walking the streets of Bogotá at night.

We four are actually part of an even larger group of "monos" that work here at Formando Vidas. There are 8 of us in all. The aforementioned four, plus Ryan, Adrienne, Liz, and Abbey. We have started meeting every Sunday night to share meals and get to know each other. This newly formed community is another very welcome addition to my life.

We 8 celebrated Wes's 23rd birthday together, taking him out to a Chinese restaurant in the rich part of town, where we all reveled in food that was not rice and/or beans. A few days later we got together again to attend a peace rally held in downtown. Those of you that keep up with international news may have heard about it. Tens of thousands of people were there, packed into the central plaza, and among them were eight rather conspicuous gringos. We all wore shirts that said "I am Colombia" and took part in chants that started off with "Who are we? Colombians!" No one seemed to mind the obvious lie, least of all, us. It was enlivening to see all of those people uniting together to make a political statement of peace.

As if this weren't enough, we have all made it a point to become more culturally sensitive by learning how to Salsa and Merengue. One of the ladies that works at Luz y Vida gives us lessons every week or so, and we practice in Liz, Ad, and Abbey's new house out in the western parts of Bogotá. We added even further to our growing Colombian credibility by attending our first soccer game in the national stadium. It was a Bogotá team, Santa Fe, against a team from Argentina, and I'm proud to say that we won 3-0. For those of you who have been to a serious soccer game, you know the intense amounts of energy that exudes from die hard futbol fans. There was a whole section of the stadium that literally did not stop jumping the entire game (over 2 hours) and screamed all sorts of Spanish vulgarities at the other team...in unison. Well...now that I think about it, they did settle down a bit when the riot police broke into their midst and began to beat them senselessly with nightsticks. But it didn't take them long to redirect their vulgarities to the police and renew their unending hopping.

Then there was the team of YWAMers that came to Colombia all the way from Kona, Hawaii. This was the same team I translated for in the jungle, but the fun didn't end there. They spent a month here in Bogotá, helping us out a lot, and visiting other ministries in their spare time.

I traveled with them to a million places around the city, many of which I had never been to before, but my favorite by far was a community called La Perseverancia. This mountainside community is known for being extremely dangerous, and when we were walking there, several complete strangers told us to turn around. Not the most encouraging omen. When we got there, however, we found a quaint little community with a spectacular view and about a hundred little kids to enjoy the natural beauty with. We rock climbed, played games, and hiked to a waterfall/pool of crystal clear mountain water. I don't have to tell you that it was one of the best days I've had since being here.

Perhaps the second biggest highlight for me, personally, was the circus. Yes, that's right, the circus. But not just any circus, the Mexican circus. It's a lot like the normal circus, except everyone dances more than usual and everything is in a ridiculous, flamboyant Spanish. Oh, and Mickey Mouse was there for some reason.

That whole team was so welcoming and loving, and the goodbye was a tearful one (after the traditional party games and salsa dancing, of course). They meant a lot to me, and I grew unusually close to many of them, so I feel like I ought to thank them by name.

Amanda, Heather, Renee, Marcia, Martin, Nate, Kat, Rebecca, Zach, Mary Beth, Emily, and Felicia, I love you all and you will be missed greatly.

Last but not least on my list of amazing people is Mary. Mary is my new hero in life. Mary is 63 years old, and she has 11 grandchildren. She also lives in the most dangerous place in Bogotá. Let me explain.

Mary works with me at Luz y Vida as the resident art teacher. Several years ago, she felt God calling her to work with streetkids in Colombia. She spent a few years in Spain learning the language, and then came here to work with Formando Vidas. This, however, is not her only job.

I may have already mentioned this area, and if so, allow me to expand on it. Cazuca is an area in the far Southwest part of the city, and it is one of the poorest. At last count, 76% of the population was under the poverty level, and the majority of the people that live here have been displaced by the violence that has torn apart this country for the last 40 years. This area, up until recently, has been completely run by paramilitary groups and gangs. Only in the last few months have the police made any sort of headway up into the hilltop community. Mary has, every Saturday and without fail for the past year and a half, visited Cazuca to work with the children that live there. As soon as she felt it was safe enough, I began to tag along. On one of these Saturdays, Mary, her friend Gonzalo and I were walking to the top of the hill, when she told me we were going to buy a house.

I thought she was kidding.

She now lives in a blue house at the top of Los Altos de Cazuca, alone, but happy. She is planning to start a drop-in center for the kids there, and I hope to help as much as I can. I still visit her every Saturday, and greet her at the door at school every morning. Like I said, she is my hero, er...heroine, and I am constantly inspired by her courage.

Things are picking up speed as far as school goes. I am teaching Math and Science to all of the classes, and I am responsible for the administration duties of the youngest class. It's a big load, and thus far I have been drowning in it, but hopefully things will calm back down into some semblance of a routine. That's all for now. Thanks for listening (reading)!

Tyler