Pasto, Col

I wrote this on the 10th in my journal, but we haven{t had internet till now.

It is amazing how wonderfully we have been taken care of here every place we go. We have had so many awesome experiences and never really have had to go for long without the necessary stuff like running water, good bathrooms, showers, brushing teeth, etc. Yeah I have worn these jeans for 10 days in a row and they probably are covered in many strange strains of bacteria, but we are so well taken care of and have absolutely nothing to complain about. {When I sent you without purse, or scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said NOTHING[

POPAYAN, COLOMBIA
We spent one night there. It was great. One of the hermanos is in the military and had the Colombian Army send in enough mattresses and pillows for us all.


The house is huge, but seems to have a whole lot of people living in it. Their business is making cheese, so there is a cheese shop attached. I really liked Popayan and I wish I could have walked around the town a little more, but we werent there for long. That night (the 9th) we had a nice long meeting there in the living room, about 25 of us. They are so hungry for the Word of God there. The people have many exciting stories...for example, one sister works for the government and has been taken by FARC twice...a great story that will have to wait till later to tell, it{s kind of long. Meeting all these people but being tired from buses, etc, makes me excited thinking about meeting so many believers when we get to heaven, and then we wont be so bogged down by problems like sleepiness or selfishly not reaching out. Our visit means so much but I feel like I dont love enough, really.

PASTO, COLOMBIA
State of Nariño, 2 hrs from Ecuador border
The bus ride to Pasto was about 6 hours. The scenery has changed and we are now quite high in altitude, in this town lying under the active volcano Galeras. This town has some beautiful plazas and architecture. It is also a bit chilly. Arriving we were faced with a sort of a math problem, trying to fit like 25 suitcases plus more than 11 of us into 3 small cars, aughh!! We have been blessed with a palace to stay in, actually a churh with many empty roms. I feel very spoiled having this gigantic place for just us. The believers here are, once again, so awesome and are very excited that we could come. It was a woman form the States who first brought them the gospel bak in 1934, so more visitors from the States is really exciting. Tonight before having meeting on Eph 4 in someones house, we enjoyed a big meal including pasta soup (Pasta in Pasto. This was beyond my wildest dreams since most of the soups we get contain something a bit more questionable) and more broasted chicken.
Tomorrow the Peruvians (R. Chavez and Frank) and Maicol and cousin from Ven will join us. They are travelling all night and all day trying to catch up. Anyway, more will be happening tomorrow, but thats the latest. We are currently very excited to be sleeping on mattresses and to be living out of suitcases instead of backpacks, since we are staying here till Sat..long enough to open up our bags and find what we packed to bring down here.
7-10-08