Day 76 in Itagui (TWO)

Saturday night my ankle flared up. I was doing fine on it, to the point where I didnt even have a limp. But I took a nap saturday evening before my "suprise" going away party, and when I woke up my foot was purple and swolen. It was more painful to walk on than when I first injured it. It was almost impossible to dance, but I managed. Everyone said thier goodbye speeches and I got 5 thank you letters. One of them, from a 10 year old girl, actually made me a bit teary eyed, haha. 

Sunday morning I was a bit concerned about my ankle because I was planning on walking to my talk in Poblado. But I just took a couple painkillers and soaked it in hot water and I was able to deal with the pain. I wanted to get to the hall 30 minutes earlier since I was the only one with the key to the Kingdomhall. I did arrive at Poblado 30 minutes early, but then I got lost for 20 minutes. I called about 5 different brothers for help, but they either didnt answer, or I just didnt understand thier directions. I was so relieved when I ran into a group of sisters on the way to the hall. By the time I got there was a crowd of about 30 people waiting to get in the hall (my bad).

We started a couple minutes late, which was probably also my bad. I made a sincere effort not to make any faces when the brother opened up the meeting in english. His accent was extremely thick but I was impressed with his excellent effort. I was also impressed with the great attendance of about 60. As for my talk, I never expected it to come out as good as it did, that was 110% holy spirit, and everyone loved it. The Watchtower was conducted by Don, a brother from Florida, and it was music to my ears to hear proper american english again. He opened up encouraging everyone to comment, and not to worry about pronunciation, which I thought was a nice touch. I couldn´t understand half of the comments but Don did a good job of keeping things simple and understandable. After that meeting, I was further convinced that this is where I want to be.

After the meeting, about 10 of us went out for dinner to a mall close by. We sat and ate and talked for about an hour. Most of everyone went thier seperate ways after that, but me, and Dan from U.K., and Leidi from Florida went to meet up with another group at an even bigger mall. It was a really nice mall, it even had bumper cars and a artificial snowroom for snowball fights and snow angels. I had a awesome time. It was a great last weekend in Colombia. (Photos added to PhotoGallery Poblado)

Today me and my grandpa hit the streets of Medellin. He wouldnt stop complaining about the crime, and the noise, and the traffic. But I absolutly loved it. Too bad I didn´t get to go with the Poblado crew. I just love the big city vibe for some reason. I love the constant movement, the noise, people playing music in the streets, the wierd statues. These days are going by too soon. (Photos added to PhotoGallery Medellin)

                                                -D.V.