Hello everyone,
Today is our last free day in Colombia so I thought that I would share with you all the various ways I spent my days off and my Sabbath days.
Today is January 29th and I am currently writing this blog in a villa we rented for the night. This place is amazing and was only $12 a piece for yesterday and over night. I will tell you all about this little trip at the end of this blog, but first for how our free days work and then I will tell you them in order.
So we have one free day and one sabbath day each week, like a typical weekend. This month we are blessed to have these two days being back to back. We are allowed to use these days however we want as long as they are used for us to feel rested and then also in a way to help us feel close to God.
Our free day is often referred to as an “Adventure Day”, which can be a slightly controversial topic. On these days off we are allowed to travel to nearby areas to explore the culture we are in and experience the country. This can look many ways, but it is not always excepted by people at home that we would spent however much money on an adventure when we are out here on the World Race and raising support. This was something that took some prayer for me before I felt comfortable, and I do still struggle sometimes in saying yes to Adventures. With that being said, here are how I spent my Sabbath in Colombia!
“Weekend” Number 1: On Monday we went… paragliding!! This one was tough, it took me all week to decide to go and the biggest reason I went was because there was a birthday month special. I felt slightly convicted in worrying so much about finances when God has been teaching me so much about His provision. I am so happy I decided to go!! I have video and pictures from up there, but I haven’t looked at them since I cannot put the memory card into my computer… but the pictures and video exist so I can watch them in the future! We rode in a bus then filled out some paperwork and then climbed so many stairs! At the top of the mountain we waited, some weather came up so some of us had a longer wait but we used that time to get to know one another better and play some games. When it was time to go, there wasn’t much prep time. My Pilot just said run! I ran and my feet were off the ground before I hit the end of the mountain, it was a very smooth take off! I got to take in all of the views of Medellin and was in awe at it’s size!! Then my pilot let me take over control and drive a little! I did some spins and turns and we flew with the birds!! After wards we rode back to the foundation and ate dinner here.
The next day we went to a café to blog and wifi. We were there for over five hours and as you will see in the blog I will post soon, I was fasting from social media. Well, I still am but will post the blog when the fast is over. I ended up posting two blogs and a vlog that day and I also downloaded some audio bible, this will come in handy on our bus ride!! We ended up staying there past dinner time and then needed food, but the restaurants were pricy. That was my first time in a store in Colombia. We went to a dollar store and got snacks and then made our way back to the foundation.
“Weekend” Number 2: Day one of this weekend was spent relaxed. In the morning I stayed back at the foundation until after lunch time. I spent an extended time with God in the morning and organized my stuff a bit as well. I even attempted to take a nap! I still haven’t successfully napped during any free time… After lunch when our group was ready to go we went to Pergamino, a popular area where we go for wifi. The café was so adorable and cozy and we pretty much dominated the upper floor. Julia came with us to the café as well and I loved being able to get to know her! She is a volunteer at the City of Refuge from the USA as well and only arrived one week before us. She was able to do exactly what we were doing and connect with friends and family back home. When it was almost time to go home we also went to go get ice cream and it was the first time I had eaten ice cream on the race!
The next day we went to the gondola and got to see so much of Medellin!! I happened to be in a car with some of the musical men of our squad and they sang songs the whole way up and it was quite entertaining!! At the top there is a little town with shops and a nature park. We walked on a road to a waterfall and then jumped in! We saw some locals jumping so we knew it was safe and I took some time but decided to do it. The water was FREEZING! It was such a shock it made my face hurt, but I still jumped in three times anyway. Seriously this trip was so needed and I felt so revived after it! If you don’t know, I love swimming!!
“Weekend” Number 3: It is now Wednesday January 30th so I am able to actually write the summary of weekend number three. Like I stated above I began this blog in a villa, which was our overnight trip for the weekend. We went to Guatape, a really big rock. It is a touristy town and there was a town center with shops and restaurants and it was just so awesome! The first day we traveled to our villa then walked to Guatape and climbed the rock! It was over 650 steps to the top and exhausting, but so worth it! The view of the winding lake below and mountains was breath taking! God really showed off! When we climbed down we went grocery shopping after riding in a tuck-tuck for the first time and that’s where my grocery store video that I will share later was mainly filmed. Then we went back and the girls spent some time in the hot tub and then all of use went swimming in the lake and some of us jumped off a high jump. As I wrote above I love swimming so I was pumped, but we didn’t know what kind of creatures lived in this huge and deep lake so we ended up getting out rather quickly. Then we got back into the hot tub, a few of us stayed in for hours! It was great just to chat and grow in community while being in warm water, especially since our showers here are cold water only. We ate a dinner full of meat and veggies that night too!!
The next day we went hung out in our villa in the morning. I had such a great quiet time on the pontoon at the dock! Kristen, my TL, and I went on a kayak trip and had some intentional conversations and a little bit of worship time too! Then we all gathered our things and made our way into town. We explored and found a place for lunch and then explored some more, looking into little shops along the way. We got some smoothies, which were actually pretty much just juice, and then headed toward the bus. We arrived back in Medellin and had to take a taxi and crammed 5 of us in there! I kneeled on Kelly’s lap… sorry Kelly! When we made it back to the foundation we had some free time so we walked to a burger place for dinner. Then picnicked on our floor/bed.
All of those “weekends” were great and all were restful in their own way!
I hope you enjoyed reading about how “weekends” can look in Medellin, Colombia!
Today is February 2nd and we are officially at our first debrief of the World Race, so expect a few blogs in the next few days!!
