South American Journey - Days 4& 5

I like Buenos Aires. It is a big city, a lot of heritage and culture. There are monuments everywhere! It is summer time and I love the trees. There are a lot of good restaurants and the people appear to be warm and friendly.

Above is one of my favorite spots during our visit. Its a park named for Jose San Martin the general who led Argentina to be free of Spanish rule. I like this broad walkway that is covered with a canopy of trees.

The 'Casa Rosada' (Pink House) is the Argentine version of the White House, the working office of the President of Argentina.

A significant part of the city's heritage is the tango, a dance that was born in this neighborhood in the southern part of the city where poor imigrants from Italy and Spain lived in the late 1800's. Interestingly, I read that 60% of the people have Italian heritage.

The tragedy is that for a city with a population of 14 million, there are many, many lost people here. The have the semblance of religion, but I doubt there is a genuine faith and comitment to Christ.

"Not everyone who says unto me, Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of the Father in Heaven."

Matthew 7: 21

South American Journey - Day 3

Day three was spent in Buenos Aires looking around and doing some shopping. Mostly we just relaxed.
It looks like Charlotte is studying something very hard. It is a puzzle book!

Our room is on the top floor and we have a patio attached to the room. This afternoon the temperature was around 82, but there was a gentle breeze and it was very pleasant. No, I am not praying, I am trying to read and not go to sleep! Charlotte took the picture.

The people here are serious about their meat! This was a grill in a mall food court. Last night Charlotte and I ordered a rib-eye steak that was 500 grams. After thinking about it we realized that it was one pound of steak so we decided to share!

The British have a long relationship with Argentina. The bell tower in the distance is a memorial to a major immigration of British in the early 1800's. However, the Faulkland Islands War soured that relationship. In the foreground is a memorial to those who died in the war over the Faulkland Islands (which Argentina calls Malvinas Islands).

So, Argentina built their memorial to those who died in that war directly across from the clock tower built in honor of the British many years before.

Another impression I have of Buenos Aires is they have a lot of beautiful trees. Here are more of the huge trees with large trunks, similar to the one we mentioned yesterday.

For years Argentina struggled through political turmoil. Then there was the Faulkland Island War. Fortunately, Argentina is fairly calm and there is a relatively good standard of living for many.

I am reminded of Psalm 46: 9-10

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire.

Be still and know that I am God; I will be exhalted among the nations, I will be exhalted in the earth.

South American Journey Day 1 & 2

Charlotte and I will be traveling through Argentina, Uruguay and Chile for the next three weeks. I hope to post some pictures on a regular basis that will give you some idea of what we are experiencing.

We flew from Richmond to Miami on a small American Airlines jet. Note the gate agent watching the captian as he went through his preflight procedures.

When we left Richmond it was cloudy with a light rain. As the altitude increased we went through multiple layers of clouds.

The nice thing about flying is that no matter how cloudy and rainy the weather is on the surface, if you can get high enough you will always find sunshine.

It reminds me of the phrase from Psalm 19:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

We flew through the night landing in Buenos Aires at 7:30 AM. When we got to our hotel, our room was not ready, so we found a side walk cafe and I enjoyed a good cup of coffee!

Out hotel is located across the street from the Plaza San Martin which commemorates the exploits of General Jose San Martin who was the key military leader in liberating Argentina, Peru and Chile from Spanish rule in the early 1800's.

At the center of the park we found this ancient tree. I have no idea how old it is, but I do wonder about some of the history it has seen.

A nice treat to being in the southern hemisphere in February is that it is late summer here. Today the temperature was near 80 degrees with bright sunshine. It was a beautiful day in the park and lovers were out enjoying the weather and each other.

Psalm 19 concludes saying:

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.

More tomorrow!

Colombia Journey Part 4 - Faces

I am always fascinated with people and their stories. Here are some faces that are a good representation of the people we met.

Pastor Edward and his wife from Manizales Baptist Church.
Children of street peddlers that spent their days just outside our hotel room.
Santiago
Daniel, a new school teacher helped me with items I did not understand during Sunday worship.
Three year old daughter of the minister of worship.
One of he children at Manizales Baptist.
Another of the children at Manizales Baptist.
Angela, whose husband is the worship pastor's wife.
Worship pastor at Manizales Baptist and his daughter.
Daniel, their son.
Indigenous teenager who was running a shop in a local mall.

Most of the people pictured are believers. Some of them are not. They are all precious in the sight of God.

¹² “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? ¹³ And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. ¹⁴ In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

Matthew 18: 12-14 NIV

Colombia Journey Part 3

On Sunday we made it to church. After a weekend of the Festival with all of its commotion I was needing to spend some time with a group of believers. We found the Manizales Baptist Church.

The church is not particularly impressive looking, but there is a lot going on inside.
The worship service started with an extended period of singing contemporary praise songs. As you can see the praise time included a group of interpretive dancers. The songs were interspersed with prayer times and scripture readings.Everyone participated actively in the praise time, including seven year old Santiago.
Then came the offering. Interestingly, after the offertory prayer led by the pastor some of the elders of the church stood at the front with baskets and people came forward and placed their offerings in the baskets. By the way, the pastor's wife, is standing behind the pastor in the gray dress.
At one point a man who is supported by the church as a missionary among some indigenous people shared a brief testimony. He told a powerful story about how God had worked in his life.
The highlight of the service was the sermon by the pastor. He was articulate, biblical and actively engaged the congregation. I did not see anyone looking bored or sleeping.
We were wondering how things would work out for Charlotte since she does not understand Spanish. The pastor's wife enlisted July (pronounced Julie) to interpret. July spent several years growing up in California. She now works as an interpreter for several local companies.
The church has the practice of providing lunch for anyone that comes seven days a week. On Saturdays and Sundays they will have as many as one hundred stay for lunch.
The youth were having a good time while they waited for lunch to be served.

We were a bit concerned when we heard that the services usually last about three hours. Honesty, it did not seem long. We found ourselves engaged. It was a wonderful worship experience.

Visiting the church was a highlight for me. First, it was good to be with a fellowship of believers. Second, we met many beautiful people. Third, there were several people there whose lives have been radically transformed by the gospel. Finally, it was exciting to be a part of a dynamic church that is making a significant difference in the lives of people.

I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”

Psalms 122:1

"For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Matthew 18:20

Colombia Journey Part 2

On Friday morning we flew over to Manizales. It was a short 40 minute flight due west from Bogota. Manizales is also located in the mountains at only 7,000 feet. They have a small airport, you can see that the runway is sloped upward.

The city has approximately five hundred thousand residents and is located along a mountain ridge. The main street is on top of the ridge, when you get off of the main street you will go down hill.
The picture below was taken from inside the state government building. It is a national historical monument and represents 19th century architecture. In front of the building is the plaza, Simon Bolivar, which includes a statue of the man-condor. Beyond that is the central cathedral in town.
We had heard that the 'Feria of Manizales' (Manizales Fair) would be going on that weekend. What we did not realize was that it would dominate everything going on over the weekend. While getting around we saw four different concert venues. There were parades, bull fights, beauty contests and streets set aside for street peddlers and crowds everywhere!
This picture was taken outside our hotel. Every afternoon the street was turned into a pedestrian mall. The crowds started picking up around 5 PM each night and continued until after midnight.
Manizales is home to six different universities. Pictured above is the National University. Located nearby is the University of Caldas. About five minutes away is the Catholic University.
The church with the floating cross and the red brick stair stepped apartment building seemed to be primary landmarks for me as we traveled around town.
The University of Manizales has several classroom buildings with a courtyard in the middle. It looked welcoming. We learned that there are fifty thousand students attending six different universities in town. Regrettably, it was vacation time so we were not able to meet many students.

Manizales is a nice city. In spite of its size, five hundred thousand, it feels much smaller. The mountain setting was also very attractive. It is in the heart of Colombia's coffee triangle so there is always a good and inexpensive cup of coffee available. The people are known for being among the friendliest in Colombia and we found they lived up to their reputation.

We met the Pastor of the Manizales Baptist Church (subject of tomorrow's blog) and he said that the city is known for being religious. But, he believes there are a lot of churches and superficial spirituality and yet most of the people are lost and without hope.

"When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things." Mark 6:34

Colombia Journey

Charlotte and I are traveling in Colombia this week. Our first stop was in Bogota, a city of eight million people.

Bogota is located in the Andes mountain at an altitude of 8,000 feet. This picture was taken from Monserrat, a park on a mountain with a great view of the city.
On top of the mountain is a beautiful Catholic church that is still decorated for the Christmas season.

This journey includes retracing some of my roots. I first moved to Bogota with my family when I was six months old. My parents were missionaries in South America for thirty six years. My dad started the Iglesia Bautista Central (pictured above). They started meeting in a room over a bar. In time the bar went out of business but the church thrived. Today, the church is surrounded by high rise buildings and has no parking space.

On the wall, inside the building is a picture of the building as it looked when my family left Bogota to move to Barranquilla a city on the northern coast of Colombia.

Inside the building looks much as it did fifty years ago. The organ in the choir loft on the right looks like the organ my mother played when we were there.

The Colegio Nueva Granada is the school I attended during my kindergarten year. The curriculum is all in English. Today it is considered one of the best schools in the city.

It has been good to reconnect with my Colombian roots. I am thankful for the heritage I have from growing up in this environment. I have some wonderful memories from this period of my life. I am also keenly aware of the legacy that my parents left behind. It also makes me wonder about the legacy I will leave behind some day. I am reminded of a line in a song we used to hear, "May those who come behind us find us faithful."

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every thing that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrew 12: 1