Construction Begins! (For Us)

One project while we are here is to work at a church where they have been praying for people to help build the next level of the church, literally. Today I decided to put some of our pics into a video instead of typing it all out for you.

Cali Construction Day 1 from Dave Foshee on Vimeo.

This church has grown to the point where they need more space. The bottom floor is kind of like a garage type area. They dug out the sides to put footers down in the ground about 8 feet so that they could build up. After pouring the footers they then have been pouring the concrete supports that will give them the second and third floor. The second floor will be a balcony and the third will be classroom space for small groups for kids and adults.

Much of the time it is only the pastor that can build it because most others work during the day. It was a JOY to serve alongside these highly passionate people. There were two teens there that were so on fire. I would look over at them during the course of the day and they would have their eyes closed and be praising God or praying to God. Instead of being out playing or running around, they are working with us. This is their church family and they clearly love God with all their hearts, mind, soul and strength.

Pray for us tomorrow! God is answering prayers here. Steve and Genell arrived safely and are with us now. God is moving here. He is good.

 

On a Plane. No snakes. : ]

 

Yesterday, we spent most of the day on the plane. We went from Minneapolis to Miami and then to Bogota. The plane above is the international leg (Miami to Bogota). There were free movies to watch (I watched Star Trek Into Darkness.) and the food (below) was pretty amazing. Again included. Very nice.

The dessert was very good! International flight was a very nice thing! After we arrived at Bogota, we went through Immigracion.

One of the most obvious things we noticed was that Ingles was not the primary language anymore. Note that English is below Spanish on the signs! It was very humbling. Worldview = Expanding!! We went downstairs to get to our Domestic flight (Coneccion). We had to stumble through a smatter of espanol to get directions to the flight.

The flight from Bogota to Cali was a good flight. I thought I would get to blog a bit and read. But instead I got to talk with Estella. She was traveling with her nephew to Cali and then to smaller city. The funny thing is, I learned all about this without her knowing more than five words in espanol! In fact, from Miami to Bogota and then to Cali, there were not that many people that I encountered that knew english. Estella (means star) and her nephew, Camilo, and I had a good talk and I was so humbled on how little I knew in espanol and how lost I was in the conversation. She was patient with me and they laughed at me a few times. This is her below.

We arrived uneventful! God walked us through. Below is a photo of Cali from the airplane. It is a city of 2.7 million people. Muy largo!

The plane was full (as you can see below). We got off the plane in Cali and claimed our luggage. Since Cali was a smaller airport it was easier to navigate. And, all of our luggage arrived at the same place and at the same time!

We meet up with Vince, who picked us up from the airport and we went back to his house. Lastly, for this night, we took this picture below (add me) as we loaded into the van and headed to their house. We were exhausted! On the way we had a light snack that Alyson had prepared for us. It was refreshing to have some fruit!! I think travel food makes you appreciate the simple things!

These days are long and full with lots of pics! I will do my best to keep them short, but make sure you go and look at the previous posts to make sure you haven't missed one!!

Buenos noches!

 

Off We Go!

 

Got up this morning really early! And didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Imagine that!

Got to the airport and was checking in and ran into Ron Keysor! We went through security (fun) and made it to the gate at 5:10 am. As we boarded, we ran into the rest of the Minneapolis crew, Bill and April Hodge. Got on the plane and took this photo right before takeoff.

 

On our way to Miami for the first leg of our trip!

More later!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Packing!

Hello all,

Thought I would give a heads up!

Today I have been packing and getting ready to leave. It is an interesting balance. I need to get this done so I can spend time with my family before I leave.

They made me a little note envelope to give me 15 days of sunshine in my day.

If you were one of the ones that said you would pray for me on this trip, please remember my family as well. I have never been away from them for this long and having them brought before our LORD as often as possible is a good thing!

So thank you!!

Tomorrow I leave for Minneapolis and VERY early on Wednesday morning, I get on the plane for Miami. Meet up with everybody else and then on to Cali.

Pray for us!

Will write again soon and keep you posted.

Here is a picture of my daughter rolling my clothes for me as I packed. : ]

A Week Out

Hello again!

I now have all my shots done. Glad I met my deductible already!! Those are spendy!

In case you were wondering, that means I've had Hepatitis A and B (and a booster), Tetanus and a Typhoid shot(s). Yes, me! The human pin cushion! Got in tacks you would like me to pick up?

In case you have not had these in your life, let me tell you. As you would expect, the Hep A & B are not bad. Barely notice them. The Tetanus burns as bad as it did when I was a kid (almost). The Typhoid was almost warm feeling when I got it. But it also caused me to be the most sore in my arm in even into my back a bit. So there ya go. Just what you wanted to know today. Go forth and spread the word! : ]

Aside from some small things, like deodorant and other weird things like that, I'm ready. Don't get me wrong! I'm not packed. But I think I've got everything I needed to have to be ready. It is so exciting!

It is strange to be away from Alissa and my girls that long. It has raised my level of awareness in every moment with them. Audrey has it marked on her calendar.

Then I think, what is God going to do? How can HE use this?

And I think, I can't wait.

Cali Update

Hello!

Wanted to give an update on where I'm at in regards to the trip.

The airplane tickets were purchased last month and they got them for about $100 or so less than they thought! Given God the glory!

After the price adjustment, my balance left was $698.60. (Again, praise God for this! God has used you awesome people to get me this close to the goal.) I am so grateful to God for this coming together. I have been praying that it would all come together.

This morning I called Extreme Nazarene and made a payment. I had been given some monies from my congregation and needed to get it in. So! I am happy to let you all know that after that payment, I had only $250.00 left for the trip. And that just blows my mind.

Really. Those of you that know me well, you know that I am not great at accepting gifts. I know what that is and I am working on it, but I am still overwhelmed at gifts and acts of generosity. They are hard to accept. And so, I have had a lot of practice in graciously accepting gifts lately because you have all blessed me, GOD has blessed me through you all. So thank you God! And thank you for listening to God's prompting.

The story doesn't end for today, yet. I have more to tell you!

I got a phone call from a friend this morning. They live on a very tight budget. Very tight. He has a second job to support his family. He was calling to see how I was and ask me a tech question.

We were sharing some details about our lives and I told him how much I am looking forward to this trip. He asked me when we leave and I told him about how I was just about to call make the aforementioned above payment. And let him know how God had blessed me with this trip and I only had $250.00 left. We chatted some more. And then we got off the phone.

About 30 minutes later, I got a call back from my friend. He had been praying and felt led to send me a check for the last $250.00!! I didn't/don't know what to say. God IS so good.

I'm sitting here as I type with tears on my cheeks because I am humbled by God's care and provision. 

My trip is fully funded. Praise the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! The great I AM!

So VERY humbled by God right now. Thank you, God!

Not too Late

Hello again!

Some of you have mentioned that you wondered how I was doing toward reaching my goal of $2100.00. I wanted to include this information in this post so as of this date, if you thought that you missed your chance to help, you haven't. : ] 

I am about $800.00 away from my goal. It is not too late to give because I had set the August 1st deadline in order to have the money for the airline ticket to Cali, Colombia. Half of the cost of going is the airline ticket! Wow! The rest is for everything else. So that, once we get there, our expenses are relatively low. 

I also wanted to update some information that we received about the trip. 

We will be more specifically assisting with the expansion of a small church in the neighborhood of San Judas. Also, we will be participating in an event with one of the cell groups of the Cali Church, "Casa de Oracion." 

Please remember to keep us in prayer!

Lastly, I thought you would enjoy this video that I made for District Assembly about the Cali trip.