Missionary Gas

Last night was the start of the Catholic festival of the Novenas, and outside houses coloured candles were lit making the narrow streets feel alive. The city's illuminations were also switched on and turned the river Medellín into a vast colourful display of Christmas themes. Fireworks were set off most of the evening, and music could be heard until the early hours. In the midst of all the excitement we were interviewed by a reporter from El Colombiano as to our impressions. Back in the Seminary staff have spent the last week studying rule books. Well that's a bit of an exaggeration because I skipped a couple of days, but one day was spent on the Seminary rules, up to number 90, then part of another on student evaluation forms. The last two days were spent on how to fill in a form to do research projects. The guest speaker on research projects was a very nice wee Christian lady with a voice like Adolph Hitler in a bad mood. Rather unnervingly it carried into the gents' toi...

It will probably get up to 30° C today. Summer is almost here and I write this wearing shorts and a T-shirt. In the shopping centres a wintery Father Christmas doesn't look right, but the flashing lights, 9 foot glittering decorations and Catholic nativity scenes fit in well. Colombians don't do subtle and pastel but, like their flowers and birds, it's strong colours, and preferably big and in your face. Something like 10,000 light bulbs are in the city's decorations with a couple of miles of the river turned into a Blackpool illuminations type of spectacular. I was woken up last night at midnight with the constant sound of rockets and fireworks going off. It lasted for an hour and every part of the city seemed to be alive with exploding lights. Colombians enjoy their displays loud and spectacular, and in that order. Years ago a missionary book was written with the title, Give up your small ambitions. Maybe the title should have been, Give up your small spaces. If you w...

It's not normal, but sometimes at the end of the year, students will present their teacher with a gift to express their appreciation. On Thursday, Olwen's class gave her a blue silvery top with matching jewellery in shiny wrapping paper, mine presented me with a 4 inch cereal bar (unwrapped). However we teachers do not work for the food which perishes nor for the hording up on earth of dangly earrings. Friday was Graduation Day. After five years of study and practice, 14 people with talent, enthusiasm and not too much theology in their heads, were officially named by the Republic of Colombia, as theologians. Nearly all graduates find employment within the church usually starting off as assistant pastors, some are sent to start up new churches, either way they'll be poorly paid and work long hours. When you meet them again they've suddenly matured, are not work shy and dare I say it, have become theologians. It makes it all worthwhile. Photo: What lies ahead for them?

It's the last week of the academic year - lecturers are drained, students are excited and 16 women have been murdered in the city, although these events are not related. For the missionary teacher exhaustion comes about because: He's not supersaint. Can I really teach 2500 years of history, John's gospel in Greek and contemporary hermeneutics? Add to this managing a pan Latin American website and I'm on the frontier of exhaustion. On Wednesday I had to say no to three requests to do additional activities. SFL is his ambient. Each day his working environment is about six variations of Colombian Spanish. Even after years it remains, SFL, Spanish as a Foreign Language. It is one of those things that tires you even without being aware of it, like always working in the heat. Christ's followers are a peculiar people. We live in a Christian community of about 100, most of whom are in their 20s. Okay it's great, but friends shouting to each other between our blocks of f...

There is a man down the road I sometimes talk to. He is of darker skin than normal, of indeterminate old age and likes to converse about Einstein and space travel. He walks everywhere in this busy city and tells me he has a gift from God - he can make traffic lights go red. Skeptics (Olwen) just laugh. Recently an item in the paper caught my attention. Police have discovered 13 home made submarines, including one being constructed 400 miles from the sea. It's not the kind of thing you imagine for DIY in the back garden, unless you've got 5 tons of cocaine to illegally transport to the US. But the most outstanding item was Thursday's article in El Colombiano about Ireland. To appreciate the strangeness of what was written, remember that the quality press in Peru and Colombia reflect these countries' Catholic hierarchy. The article concerned the positive transformation in the Republic's economy and attributed it to the shaking off of Papal Catholicism and the coming o...

It's been a busy week. A tall Argentinian came to show us the latest in Spanish Bible software, there was a scary film by Al Gore on global warming, a more scary resit exam for the NT background class and my last dental appointment. We did Henry VIII's wives and are on to Calvin, not quite so colourful, but they liked his writings. We continue to analyse John's gospel as if it were a film, Olwen took her class to the casino to experience the culture shock visitors feel when coming to church, and this afternoon she's itching for us to join a peace march in the city centre. Next week a couple of Swiss girls arrive for 6-9 months to help with the children's library, the students have organized an end of term barbeque and we must buy some dining room chairs. Missionary work is 95% routine and 5% wacko, it's just at times you're not sure which is which. Photo: Colombia meets Scotland and neither remain quite the same

Colombia's President warned people to moderate their language otherwise lives would be lost. Yesterday I went out to take photographs. Around the corner at some kind of political association the rough looking men immediately scattered when I took out my camera. It's all to do with the local council elections and over 20 candidates have been killed. The voting is tomorrow (Sunday) and bars will be shut, gas isn't allowed to be delivered to prevent superbombs going off and the trains are free. Posters warn that selling your vote isn't an educated thing to do and peak-time TV carries how-to guides about filling in the voting form. It's difficult for politically apathetic Brits to get their minds around the passion, lawlessness and violence of Latin American politics. This is the world of coups, dictatorships and anarchy. Colombia's main trading partner, Venezuela, is undergoing a Castro-style revolution. Southern neighbours Ecuador and Bolivia are starting to desta...