Thursday in Bogota: Continuing out work, deepening friendships

February 20

Buenas tardes, Grace Church Family:

A short note from the Church of the Divine Savior parish in Bogota. Our work is progressing, sometimes with slight difficulty and other times smoothly. All hands are on deck each day—we arrive here at 9am, have a “coffee break,” then a short prayer service and next it is “hi-ho” off to our assignments! The ladies of the church make us a wonderful lunch each day. Today it was chicken broth, spaghetti with red sauce and chicken, plus Italian bread. The folks here have embraced us with much love, even though in many ways we have disrupted their daily routine.  Some of us have even had a small amount of tutoring in Spanish- I wish I had more! 

Hasta luego,

Ruthanne Pearson 

From Steve Viggiani:

Thursday night in Bogata – tired after another long but wonderful day at the Divine Savior.  Under Jim Pearson’s direction, we’ve spent a full day+ re-wiring the chapel in the basement of the church – it was slow going but by day’s end we were almost done.  Meanwhile, Ellie, Molly, Emily and Eva were painting the inside of the shelter we’ve built off the back patio to house the church’s new washing machine – everything looks great and the washer will be installed tomorrow!  

I could list a half dozen other major projects that we’ve undertaken here, but I must say, as satisfying as it’s been to lend a hand here, the real reward has been getting to know Father Jose and the Divine Savior community – tremendous people who have welcomed us so warmly, and who are doing such important work in their community.  It’s been a privilege working alongside them  -- and a daily treat to enjoy their hospitality, complete with wonderful home-cooked meals and lots of coffee and hot chocolate!  

Tomorrow, Friday, is our last day at Divine Savior – truly seems like we’ve just arrived but  it will be great to get back to Boston too – save some snow for us!