Colombia Day One: Morning of Music

My Compassion trip to Colombia was at the end of February and I am finally making time to share some of my experiences with you!

Let me just start by saying, before you leave for a trip, you have every intention of taking tons of photos, jotting down lots of notes, and hoping to remember so many details about all that you experienced. Since this was my second Compassion trip, I knew things would be a bit different.

But on this trip, I actually took less photos than on my first trip. Don't worry, I still have plenty to share. I really wanted to connect with the children on this trip, and not just be capturing moments on my camera.

One thing I am really happy that I did do on this trip was capture more moments on video! Since we arrived in Colombia late in the afternoon on Saturday, our first visit on Sunday morning was to a local church, just outside of Barranquilla. The really good news is this church is one of the church partners, so some of the sponsored children would be attending this service also!

Are you ready to see some of what we experienced that first morning? You are in for a treat!

So here is the pretty incredible thing about technology...while in Colombia, I was always three hours ahead of the time zone at my home. Since I knew we would be heading back to the hotel after the service on this morning, I was able to send these videos to my son. Then he was able to share them at our own church service in California that same morning! It was a great way to share a bit of what I was experiencing with my church family back home.

This was just the beginning of our week in Colombia, and I have a lot more to share!

Compassion in Colombia

What do you think of when someone mentions the country of Colombia?

I would have to say that most people don't have a very positive view of Colombia. This was very evident to me whenever I would share about my trip to Colombia. A lot of people were very concerned that I was traveling to Colombia, and that I was traveling without any other family members.

But I have to tell you, I fell in love with the country and its people!

We learned quite a bit about Colombia and the work that is being done through the local churches in partnership with Compassion while we were there for our week. A lot of positives to contradict so much negative. Lots of smiling faces which show me that God is working and making a difference in the lives of so many children and their families.

Compassion has been working in Colombia since 1974 and is currently serving more than 62,200 children through 235 child development centers. (Source: Compassion Colombia Facts)

While we were in the country, we were given a pretty neat little pamphlet with some interesting facts that set Colombia apart from many other countries in the world! In fact, do you know that:

• Colombia has 733 species of amphibians which makes them #1 in the world
• The world's largest emerald mine is in Boyaca, Colombia
• Colombia has 1200 rivers and 1600 lakes
• Hakim valve, gas powered iron, pacemaker, and contact lenses for babies are a few of the inventions that have come from Colombia
• 1515 species of birds live in Colombia

Over the next few posts, I will be sharing more about our week in Colombia, visiting the local churches, and helping you see that God is working in these communities to help more people know about Him and the love He has for each one of them.

Tackle It on Tuesday: Homemade Pizza Sauce

This past week I tackled - Homemade Pizza Sauce

One thing my family loves to eat is pizza, especially homemade pizza! We keep our pizza pretty basic: homemade pizza dough, homemade pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, little bit of cheddar cheese, and Parmesan cheese.

On the day that I have made up a batch of sauce, of course we will have pizza that night for dinner.

Homemade pizza and pizza sauce

I bet you are wondering how I freeze up the rest of that pizza sauce. So glad you asked! I take individual snack size bags and put in about 1/4-1/2 cup of sauce. I just kind of eyeball it, no magic here. Then all of those individual bags, I place them in one big freezer bag.

Homemade pizza sauce, ready for the  freezer

Then that one big freezer bag hangs out in my freezer with all of that wonderful pizza sauce, ready for the next time we have homemade pizza. One nice thing about storing the pizza sauce in those individual snack size bags? Makes thawing quick and easy. 

Yes, we do like to get pizza from our favorite pizza place in town. But having the ingredients on hand for homemade pizza makes it do-able to have a homemade dinner in about an hour. 

To tackle this week - Letters from Scrap Fabric

One project I have pinned is to make Letters from Scrap Fabric. Since I have quite a bit of scrap fabric, I thought this would be a good way for me to use up some of my scrap fabric and make a fun project to sell to earn money for my next Compassion trip.

Letters from Fabric Scraps project

Think this is something you would like to purchase? Be sure to like my Facebook page, Gifts from Our Little Corner, where I am selling homemade items to earn money for my Compassion travels. Then check back next week to see how I tackled this project!

What project are you working on this week?

Compassion trip to Colombia

When we first started sponsoring Lina almost four years ago, I never thought about the possibility of ever visiting her. But now that I have been on one Compassion trip, the Compassion travel bug has bitten and I know that if God wants me to go, He will provide the way.

Be sure to 'like' my Facebook page, Gifts from Our Little Corner

To help me earn money to pay for a future trip, I have started posting things for sale again on my Gifts from Our Little Corner Facebook page. All of the items are handmade by me and I am donating ten percent of each sale to Compassion's Unsponsored Child Fund.

Hand knit dish cloths are my favorite!

Knit dish cloths are my favorite to use in the kitchen! I love working on these a little bit at a time, ten rows here, ten rows there. Right now I have at least five of these completed and ready to sell.

Need a baby shower gift?

Flannel baby blankets and wash cloth sets are another thing I like to sew and have on hand. These make wonderful baby shower gifts.

Need a bit of spring color in your home?

I also like to find some fun projects on Pinterest to try, like these Spring Burlap Bunting sets. Most of the time, I have a lot of the supplies around my home. So not only am I able to use up some of my supplies, but I am able to create some items for others to use and/or display around their homes.

So be sure to 'like' my Facebook page so you can see what creations I have for sale to help me earn my way to another Compassion trip. I sure would appreciate it!

Compassion Around the World

Quick! How many countries does Compassion work in?

If you said 26 countries, you are right! And the Compassion web site has a great spot for you to learn more about each one of the countries where Compassion is working to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

Where does your sponsored child live? Does your sponsored child live in Colombia like our Lina?

By visiting this link (Colombia facts), you can find out when Compassion started working in Colombia and the number of children currently registered in Compassion programs at local churches in Colombia. But that is not all, each country page has information on the country’s history, education, religion, culture, holidays and festivals, sports and games, typical foods, greetings, and country facts and figures. Here is an interesting fact about education in Colombia, the school year runs from February to November!

Maybe this would be a great year for you and your family to learn more about the country where your sponsored child lives! Maybe find a recipe or two, add a craft project, learn a few phrases, find the country on the world map and you have yourself a great unit study!

Buenos dias!!