Quede en salir al servicio temprano hoy con Sor a las 7. Me desperte tarde porque abuelito trato de despertarme a las 6, pero abuelita le dijo que yo ya estaba en el banyo, cuando en verdad estaba dormido -_- Salimos de todas maneras, a las 7:30 y despues de una hora fuimos a la salida de Terra Nova. Me asignaron como compañero a Jhonny Garces, anciano y precursor soltero de Terra Nova. Tambien sirvio en betel por 2 años. Lo curioso de su caso era que el no escogio a Betel, Betel escogio a el. La surcusal estaba buscando a un hermano con cualidades y entrenamiento particular. Se comunicaron con el siervo de circuito de Jhonny buscando a alguien con esas cualidades, entonces el siervo recomendo a Jhonny. El siervo de circuito le dijo "Jhonny tienes 5 dias para empacar porque vas a betel" y asi sucedio. Me dijo que tenia una hermana sirviendo en el grupo de habla ingles en Poblado, y que ella tenia un accento muy chistoso al hablar ingles. Ahi es cuando me di cuenta que su hermana era la hermana que conosi en la asamblea con el accento britanico, que yo no creia que era colombiana. Jhonny ya va hacer los areglos para que yo puedo dar un discurso en el grupo de habla ingles.

Terra Nova tiene un metodo de predicar que me parecia extraño, y me soprendi que era una sugerencia que esta en el libro Organizados. Cuando se trata de una congregacion que tiene poco teritorio, al ir predicando de casa en casa, cada pareja debe anotar solo las no en casas en un registro. Cuando las parejas terminan su teritorio asignado, intercambian sus registros de los no en casas con otra pareja. Luego en ese mismo momento van a tocar esas no en casas de la otra pareja, para dar otra oportunidad al amo de casa, y parece tener buenos resultados a veces. (Fotos añadidas a Photogallery Itagui)

                    -D.V.

It was pouring rain when I woke up at 630, which usually isn´t the best insipiration for early morning service. However I was about 20 hours behind on service time, so extra sleep wasn´t exactly a luxury I could afford. Fortunately, the rain had stopped by the time I was ready to head out. I was just going to go on my own for a bit, and then meet Daniel at the metro station at 830. But after a short time out on the streets I was joined by Mariluz Alvadan (Photo 90 of Photogallery Itagui) and another pioneer named Blanca. Mariluz said they would join me to the station to pick up Daniel, even though it meant getting to the service group a bit late. It took us a good 15 minutes to find Daniel, which made Blanca slightly grumpy, but Mariluz was super cool about it. On the way to the service group we discussed our dislike for arepas, which is basicly the colombian version of a tortilla except its thicker and you don´t put meat in it. It tastes pretty not good if you dont smoother it in butter and toss a couple chunks of cheese on top. We made it to the service group 15 minutes late. It was very interesting to see the chemistry between my grandpa and Daniel.

Daniel - "Hi im Daniel, whats your name?"

My Grandpa - "Danny´s Grandfathe. You espeaking espanish?"

 Daniel - "Well, no"

 My Grandpa - "Why not?"

 Daniel - "Well what kind of question is that?"

I tried to hide the huge grin on my face as I walked out of the room. There were about 14 of us and we all got sent of to a neighborhood around the corner. The groups are usually divided into 2 teams. Everyone starts at the corner of the street and each team goes in the opposite direction of the other until they meet in the center on the other side of the block. The individual partners do the leap frog method: if there´s already a pair at the following door, you just "hop" over them and do the next available door. If your ringing a bell for a second or third floor, one person stands by the door, while the other backs up into the street so that they´re in view of the balcony, in case the householder pops out through there. I spoke to a woman who is studying with the Jehovah Witnesses. She says she feels like shes backed up against a wall because her husband has been studying for over a year, and she can clearly see all the positive changes he has made since he started studying. But at the same time, shes getting a ton of pressure from her family, and shes hesistant on abandoning the religion her parents raised her with. We spent a good half hour talking while she battled with some stray roosters that kept trying to get into her house. It was a very pleasent conversation, and I really hope that I was able to help her.

Afterwards I walked Daniel back to the metro station. On the way back we stopped by a pharmacy to get some vitamins Daniel wanted, only I had absolutly no idea how to translate "zinc" or "magnesium sulfate". I tried explaining what it was used for and eventually we found it, but that took us nearly a good half hour. 

My glasses came in today. Now I finally look like Andres Cepeda on La Voz Colombia :D (google it)

                    -D.V.

Hoy tuve arreglos con Daniel de inglaterra para ir al cine en la tarde. Me toco ir solo en el metro por primera vez. Abuelito dijo que estaba bien porque hay buena seguridad en el metro y uno dificilmente se pierda. Nos encontramos en Poblado, el municipio donde supuestamente viven los ricos y tienen la poblacion mas alta de personas de habla ingles. Segun las estadisticas del grupo de habla ingles de Poblado, hay mas de 700 personas de habla ingles en la cuidad. Poblado se parece mucho a la cuidad de Nueva York, edificios grandes y lujosos, mucho moviemiento por las calles. Fuimos a un mall que era aun mas lujoso que Mayorca. Era una hermosura, y tenia un cine en el sexto piso.

Nos tardamos un rato para escoger la pelicula porque ni yo conocia la mayoria. Escojemos una comedia americana que, segun la calificacion, era apropiada para personas de edad de 12 para arriba. Desafortunadamente, esa calificacion solo aplica a quienes no hablan ingles. Aunque los subtitulos en español eran sanos, no se puede decir lo mismo de el dialogo original en ingles. La traduccion ignoraba por completo las palabrotas. Un hermano colombiano que no habla ingles puede ir a ver esa misma pelicula y no tener ningun problema con ella. Pero a Daniel y yo nos toco salir de la pelicula.

Pero el dia no fue un desprecio. Tuvimos la oportunidad de disfrutar de la cuidad, comer bien, y conocernos un poco mejor. Hicimos areglos para salir al servicio mañana aqui mismo desde la casa, haci abuelito lo puede conocer. Me dio curiosidad saber como el se mantiene en el pais, y entonces le pregunte. El es dueño de un negocio de limpieza pequeño en Londres, entonces recibe un poco de plata cada mes de su negocio. Tiene hermanos en Londres que cuidan del negocio mientras el esta fuera del pais.

Me gustaria agradecer a todos por su animo y apoyo que me dan por medio de sus comentarios y por leer la pagina. No siempre es facil apartar tiempo cada dia para escribir en la pagina. Ni es facil encontrar las palabras correctas para que ustedes pueden mas o menos visualisar lo que es mi vida aqui en Colombia. Pero su apoyo de verdad hace que vale la pena. Si gustarian dejar un comentario, simplemente tienen que hacer lo siguiente:

- Escojan la opcion "Guestbook" en la parte de arriba de la pagina

- Bajen hasta la parte mas abajo de la pagina

- Tengan la bondad de escribir su nombre, un titulo si gusten, y su comentario

Gracias una ves mas, los aprecio y los extraño

                        -D.V.

Day 2 of the district assembly was just as great, if not better than the first day. My grandpa stayed home again. They tore out one of his teeth yesterday with no anastetic, so he wasn´t a very happy camper. We went in the pick-up again, but this time Argi rode in the back with Mateo. I tried to swap with him but he insisted on going in the back. He said "You don´t want to go back there, trust me". Once at the hall I met up with Daniel and some brothers that go to my hall. One of the brothers, Rodolfo Alvadan introduced me to a young pioneer who goes to the chinese group and seems to be pretty fluent with it. Rodolfo suggested that me and him should make service plans since they´re teritory is in a good area. So we swapped numbers, and I really didnt see him after that. Me and Daniel were sort of a tourisjkmn bghyy bbvbhmn   ddcfbgnb  kijuu  nmjhjuy bvncb ujj bnbn v vbgj   jn gmbnb fb7mulmj bnvhfjfhgkbn  dohglj nnmb  bhhgnjuyuigjnhm cfvtuirii  hjitgel7 v nmbnn  ,uhh vvbgyt nbmjjhh6jgjik. Sorry my cousins kid took over the computer. Anyways me and Daniel were sort of a tourist attraction. Brothers would hear us speaking and english and would just stare at us with a big grin on thier faces. We got to meet plenty of more brothers and sisters. During the program they touched on local needs for the circuit. Aparantly one of thier biggest issues is with attendence. The Circuit Overseer said " Nothing should get in the way of you attending the meeting, not work, or rain, or the big game between Colombia and Panama. I got a good laugh out of that one. During the lunch break, Daniel metioned that there was a english special day assembly in Bogota in a couple weeks and he invited me to go with him. Its about 8 hours by car, so we´re gonna fly. And we´re planning to go to the branch and spend about a week over there. I´m just waiting on the green light from El Padre. So far, it looks good. I wonder if itl help if I get a petition going or something :D.

                -D.V.

Quede en ir con Tio Arji  para la asamblea a las 7. Luego el resto de la fam, menos abuelito iban ir en taxi a las 8. Abuelito tenia una cita medica esa mañana para sacar residuo de una muela entonces no fue para la asamblea. Como Argi no tiene auto, hizo areglos con un hermano que tenia una trocka puequeña. Fue super incomfortable, en especial para Argi como iba en el medio, pero por fin llegamos despues de media hora. El salon de asambleas es hermoso. Aunque ya tiene 22 años parece como si fuera recien construido. Me soprendio que el estacionamento era super puequeño, no cambia mas de 30 carros. Tampoco habia ninguna regla contra entrar ni reservar asientos antes de las 8. En el auditorio habia lugar para 1500. Tenia muy pocas luces porque contaba con ventanas imensas en cada lado. Converse un rato con una hermana, y despues de que ella percibio mi accento gringo, me dijo que en su congregacion habia un hermano de habla ingles. Al poco tiempo ella me introdujo a Daniel. Automaticamente pense que era americano pero me soprendi al escuchar un accento que solo habia escuchado en la tele. Daniel era recien llegado de Londres, y el unico español que sabia era "mucho gusto" y "chevere". Habia varios hermanos colombianos ahi que entendian ingles, pero yo fui el unico que pude entender el accento britanico de Daniel (gracias Doctor Who). Daniel es un precursor de 30 y pico años que ha visitado a 25 paisas paseando y sirviendo donde hay necesidad. Pero parece que de todos los paises que ha visitado, le ha encantado mas Colombia, y piensa quedarse por un año. Asiste a un grupo de habla ingles en el municipio de Poblado y quedamos en ir a predicar la semana que viene. No quiero dar detalles pero la asamblea esta excelente! Y Argi y Sor hicieron muy bien con los puntos sobresalientes. Habia 4 candidatos de bautismo y una asistencia de mas o menos 650 personas. En el intermedio, Daniel y yo conosimos a mas hermanos, incluyendo a Tyler un hermano canadisiense que ya lleva 3 años aqui y se va a casar la semana siguente. Tambien conosimos a una hermana morena quien dice ser paisa (colombiana) pero no quise creerla porque tiene un accento britanico al hablar ingles mas fuerte que el de Daniel. Dijo que su maestra de ingles era de Londres y se quedo con el accento de ella. NI reconosi su voz cuando la entrevistaron en la seccion de la tarde. Tuve la oportunidad de conocer bastantes hermanos y tomar buenas notas durante el programa. Fue un dia genial!

                -D.V.

Yesterday I went with uncle Argi to pick up Mateo from school. He asked how I was adapting to Colombia. I told him that I really liked it here, but there are some days when I miss home, but at the same time, I don´t let those feelings get in the way of enjoying my time here. He told me I had a good atitude and that this was good training for bethel life. Then he told me the story of how he ended up in bethel.

When he was 20 he went to the meeting during the district assembly for those who were interested in serving in bethel. The speaker made the suggestion that everyone that was seriously considering bethel life should pick a buddy, leave home, and serve in a town where theres need, away from family. The speaker said that that would prepare them for bethel life. So my uncle looked at the brother next to him, who he had never met before, and he said "Shall we?". And the brother (I think his name was Wilma) said "Lets go". So they told the bethel speaker that they were going to follow his suggestion, so the speaker, a puerto-rican bethelite from brooklyn gave them both applications for bethel and picked out a town for them.

The day that my uncle and WIlma had decided to leave was only a couple days away. They were going to meet at a bustop. But when my uncle called Wilma to make sure he was ready, Wilma told my uncle to go ahead without him. He said he had some buisness he had to take care of at home, and that he would meet up with my uncle later on. Well my uncle wasn´t to happy about that. He tried to connvince Wilma otherwise, but he didnt seem to have sucess. But my uncle decided to go anyways. So the day had finally came and my uncle left home, went to that bus stop, and to his suprise, Wilma was already there waiting for him. He told my uncle that he wasnt planning on joining him because he was scared, but my uncle had convinced him. So off they went, without they´r families for the first time, to serve where the need was greater.

A year later, Argi was finishing up a long day in service, and he passed by the kingdom on the way home to find Wilma, the coordinador, and another brother he didn´t know, talking in the kingdom hall. When Argi walked in, Wilma told him, with a huge grin on his face "We have a new bethelite". Argi hugged WIlma and congradulated him. But Wilma said " No, not me, you". My uncle turned serious. After adapting to life in that small town, my uncle didnt even want to go to bethel anymore. But, of course he accepted the priveledge. Wilma told him not to worry, that he would be right behind my uncle. So Argi went of to Bogtota, to the bethel branch. For almost many years, everytime new recruits would come in, my uncle would hope to see WIlma there, but he never came. Instead, Wilma became a special pioneer, and now serves as a circuit overseer. To this day Wilma tells the story in his public talks about how Argi gave him that push he needed to follow his goals. His experience showed me how far a little motivation can go, and it confirmed to me that I had made the right desision by coming here.

                            -D.V.

Parece que abuelito tenia razon al no dejarme ir a la ruenion social. Tio Argi se dio cuenta de ese arreglo y va a hablar con la hermana encargarda para cambiar el sitio ( el ni sabia que yo estaba invitado). El barrio se llama el rosario y parece que se esta poniendo super caliente ultimamente. El domingo pasado habia una reunion de ancianos y uno de ellos llego tarde porque no podia salir de su casa por culpa de una valasera en el rosario. Tambien, anteayer mataron a una niña de 12 años ahi. Entonces tio Arji va sugerir que si pueden mover la fiesta a nuestro apartamento o a la casa de otro hermano. Asi todos benefician, yo incluido.

Le asignaron los puntos sobresalientes para Tio Argi en la asamblea. Tia Sor va dar un comentario junto con varios de la congregacion. Y parece que habia lugar para un comentario mas y Argi estaba pensando en usarme. Pero parece que va terminar escogiendo alguien mas a la congregacion para evitar quejas sobre favoritismo :/.

Ya llevo una semana usando el internet en la casa de mi primo Bryner. Me conviene mucho, me puedo quedar el tiempo que quiero y la mayoria de las veces no hay nadie mas en casa. Como es familia no me cobra nada. Solo tengo que llevar su niña a la escuela, y descargar video juegos de nintendo a su computadora a cambio, y no veo ninguna inconveniencia en eso.

                    -D.V.

This morning I did a fusion of early morning service and a slight shopping spree. It was lovely, I spent half of what I would´v spent back home. First I bought a 8 GB USB for about $7(U.S. dollars), which back home that would´v cost me between $15-$20. Later I passed by a building near the park and I bought 2 CDs with a 100 songs each for $1.10 each. In US a album with maybe 15 songs would be what? From $10 to $20 bucks. You can´t beat that. Then after service I went for a eye check up. The consultation was only $5 compared to the $30-$50 price range in the U.S., and they do the same exact thing they would do in the U.S. The more expensive part was the lenses and the frame but it still doesnt even begin to compare with what I wouldv payed back home. The frame and lenses came out to about $110, only because I have "estigmatismo y miopia" in both eyes, whatever that means. Plus they´re scratch proof and they have a special protection to light, for using the computer or Tv or videogames. That easily would have been about $500* back home. To top everything off I got a hair cut for the assembly this weekend. That came out to a wopping $4 ( I wonder if Debbie will match that price.. :P just kidding) Now I can finally fit in with the colombians. My grandpa warned me against telling people I´m american, but it´s not my fault because they can usually tell just by looking at me. If that doesnt give me away, my accent does. I can´t help it.

                -D.V.

Desperte desubicado hoy. Me desperte a las 6:30 de la mañana y habia un sol intenso como si fuera medio dia. La salida era en el apartamento arriba del nuestro, donde Tia Sor. Abuelito me puso a sacar el grupo. El sol era horriblemente intenso, aun siendo las 9 de la mañana. Una de las hermanas me invito a una fiestesita que iban hacer para los jovenes el 3 de noviembre. Lo mencione a abuelito pero no parece que me va dejar ir, porque es "caliente"(peligroso). Eso me frustro un poco porque ya son varias veces que los hermanos me invitan a salir pero abuelito no me deja porque es caliente. Es muy rara vez que los hermanos hacen reuniones sociales, y simplemente me quiero aprovechar de la oportunidad de ensancharme. Entiendo que ciertos areas pueden ser peligrosos, pero ¿que peligro va a ver dentro de una casa con los hermanos? Pero bueno, el sabe mejor.

La cuidad ya esta decorada para la navidad. Pusieron un gran cono de metal en el parque. Y luego una larga cuerda verde todo alderedor para hacer un arbol de navidad artificial. Todas las luces de trafico tienen sus decoraciones que van a alumbrar en la noche. Cada navidad gente de todas las partes vienen a ver los alumbros de Medellin y Itagui. Tambien es la temporada mas peligrosa. Mas robos y mas matanza. Ironico ¿no? Saludos a todos =)

                        -D.V.

I dreesed up as fancy as I could, taking into consideration what I had to work with, and off we went to Medellin for Uncle Melvins baby shower. It was a half hour drive, and abuelito didnt exactly know where it was. We got off at one house nearby because we saw baloons and heard music, but as we got closer, we really hoped we were at the wrong party because they´re were a bunch of guys smoking and drinking by the door. It did turn out to be the wrong adress. Eventually we made it to the right adress. It was a small clubhouse about the size of Cabrera´s living room. There was no music. There were chairs set up against the wall and a table for gifts. They served carrot and lettuce sandwiches with mayonaise as the main course. Then my uncle and his wife started opening the gifts. Now I understand why they never really open gifts at parties back in GA. It gets really old, really quick. "A pair of socks! aaaahh!" "a hat! ooohhhh" "yet another pair of socks.. ahhh" "A pair of pants that probably won´t fit until the baby is about 5... ahh..". There was more life at that velario(open casket showing) I went to a couple weeks ago. Having said the negative, despite the bad job his sister-in-law did at throwing the party, my uncle and his wife seemed really happy and cute together. They would comunicate with each other in sign language and then just chuckle to themselves. It was good to see them. (Photos added to photogallery Medellin). We left after half an hour.

That sandwich just opened my apetite, so when we got back to Itagui we went walking in the park and I ate a giant burger. It was alright. Not as good as the ones Luis would make in Jardin. His had much more cheese, he would toast the buns, and it was for a third of the price compared to the one I had last night. My grandpa said we could go back to Jardin for a burger, but I dont know if he was serious. (Photo added to photogallery Itagui).

Theres no meeting this week because we have our Circuit Assembly this weekend. Uncle Argi is trying to pull some strings so I can go to the pioneer meeting the day before the assembly. And I already offered to help out in any department during the assembly. Can´t wait.

                -D.V.