Hey hey! Long time no blog… that’s my bad! It has been such a fun past few weeks and I am so excited to tell you more about it! This post will mainly be about how I have been spending my days off! If you haven’t read my latest post, it gives a good recap of what ministry looks like here in Colombia. I recommend giving that a read!!
Before I dive into sabbath and adventure days, free time on ministry days have been amazing too! It’s been such a blast getting to know everyone better and we all truly feel like a family. I absolutely love living in community! My favorite moments are at night when we are all in the living spaces just goofing off (including wrestling) and laughing together. We love movie nights and late night sweet treats that other races make to share! We recently got news that we will never be all squad in another country again, which broke a lot of our hearts. We have loved being together and it will be hard to never be in this same living situation again.
On my days off, I prefer to leave the foundation. If that is walking down the road to a coffee shop or taking the metro across the city, I will do it! Some of my favorite adventure days is when there is a loose plan for the day, but nothing is set and stone! The first adventure day, a few of us walked down the road and wandered and ended up finding this ‘hole in the wall’ coffee shop that had just opened! It was the perfect spot to chill and enjoy a drink. We also wandered more and found a statue garden! The most recent adventure day was about the same. We walked to two different markets, found some Colombian things, and then spontaneously took a taxi (which none of us have ever done before) to Comuna 13 (a neighborhood/district in Colombia that is known for graffiti tours, outdoor escalators, and vibrant colors!) and we wandered there and found a rooftop restaurant to eat at. Then, we took an uber to the cable car station… but were dropped off at the wrong stop and had to figure out how to get where we wanted without paying for multiple lines of tickets. After lots of replanning, we make it down one line, transferred to an another line twice, and took the metro with one ticket. That was a wonderful surprise which our wallets all enjoyed! Another thing that my squad has been taking advantage of is Uber! It costs significantly less here in Colombia than it does in the states. We could take a 6 person uber 30 minutes away and it be only about 2ish dollars per person. Crazy. We have utilized the metro as well, which is so fun for me because Iowa does not have anything like that!
Some other adventure day activities have included visiting a castle, getting ice cream, going to an amusement park, and getting food at Pergaminos. Pergamino is a restaurant that our squad has discovered! We all LOVE it. I have been 3 times already if that tells you anything (and it’s 30 minutes away…). Last week, I also did something crazy! I went paragliding! I actually did not tell my family that I was doing this until after! I sent some videos and let them see it on my instagram first! A group of us racers took a van about an hour away and spent the day on the top of a mountain! We played games, chatted, had some lunch, and hung out on a hill while waiting for everyone to go. Towards the end, the clouds came over us and we were in it for a long time! It was a long, but great day.
Other fun things to note would be that my racer best friend, Kyah and I started a podcast! It’s called “The Harvest Diaries” on Spotify! We have recorded 3 episodes so far (not all are posted at the moment) and have planned 3 more as well! It has been so fun to put together and spend some of our free time on that. I also joined the worship team for a Sunday (or two?) at the local church. Rehearsal was a little tricky because of the language barrier but I got the hang of it eventually. Church service went so so well and it was so fun to get back into playing again. I loved the songs they chose and had a blast singing in Spanish!
Anyways, it’s been SO amazing here! It’s going to be hard to say goodbye next week. I cannot believe our time is almost up! Thanks for taking the time to read!
Miss you all!
Ellie
Oh, my goodness, how neat to know you have free time to do so many fun things. The paragliding sounds scary, but I’m sure it wasn’t as scary for you as it was for those of us reading your blogs. I’m grateful for your safety.
Praying for your continued enthusiasm for your mission trip.
Sending you love, hugs, and more prayers.
Ginny
What an awesome adventure!! Enjoy each moment God has given you in blessings!! Imagine the new friends and adventures coming your way. Prayers for all 🙏🙏.