Beginning wk. 6

We have crossed the half-way point and are now finishing up the last four weeks of filming the movie in Colombia.  It has been quite an adventure, living in a place that 2 years ago was not even safe enough to visit.  A lot has changed in two years, and we are living proof that God is really healing the land of Colombia from it's history of bloodshed and violence.

What more can I say?  We live right outside of a very small town at the base of the mountains.  The townspeople now "know" us and like to chat with us when we're in town, whether it be for grocery shopping, playing a game of fútbol, stopping by one of the many bakeries or getting a cool juice drink.  It is very hot here and there is no air conditioning.  We take very cold showers every day as there is no option for hot water, but that works out well with the heat anyways.  There is an army base right outside of town, and lots of soldiers everywhere.  We are getting used to seeing huge guns casually sported around town.

As far as the movie goes, we are ahead of schedule with the filming, and may be able to head back to Bogotá before we thought.  The days are often hot and long, but the rewards great as the scenes are coming out so beautifully!  After we leave for MN, the team here will edit the film and work on everything that goes on with putting a movie together.  We hope it will be out by spring, 2012. :)

Yesterday was a free day, which we get once a week.  Elijah and I were invited up to the mountain farm of a couple who have helped with the movie: Don Luis and his wife Doña Orpha.  They are a very warm and interesting couple, who are former teachers from southern Colombia.  They live in a quaint wooden home on the edge of the mountain.  Half of their living space is open air,  with a big shaded patio where you can view the myriads of hummingbirds whizzing through the house or the toucans resting in a fruit tree nearby.  At night, the stars over the mountains are brilliant, with no pollution or lights to dim them.  Luis and Orpha grow cacao, the chocolate plant, and showed us how they produce their own chocolate step-by-step.  We then enjoyed a cup of steaming hot chocolate paired with cheese and sweet bread.  It was so fun!

I'll have to add photos later!

Ciao!

End of wk. 2

Sometimes I look down and my growing belly and up at the cloud crowned mountains and can't believe we're here~  But each new day and it's experiences prove that yes, we are living this adventure.

My days have been quite different than Elijah's the last couple weeks. He has been filming every scene from the movie for about 12 hours a day at different locations around the mountains.  One particular day that stands out, the film crew and actors accompanied the Colombian military up a mountain for a 45 minute hike only to reach the sound of gunfire and bombs going off!  The soldiers threw their helmets at the film crew and everyone crouched down low. Thankfully, it was just a practice zone for the military, but they said it felt like they were in a war!  Elijah said the guys loved it!! They each got to shoot one of the machine guns into a target and one of our guys got to light a grenade....  Yikes..

Elijah has been seeing myriads of exotic birds every single day and absolutely LOVES it. Colombia is truly the land of birds.

I am personally thankful that I have mostly stayed around the finca that we're staying at.  I teach my 1st grade student twice a day and spend the rest of the time reading in a hammock, swimming and going on outings up to the mountain to view the filming or down to the nearest village to shop for groceries, observe the locals and once to watch a local dance competition.

Baby has been more and more active. Yesterday for example, after eating a couple bananas (no, one doesn't do it for me anymore), baby started kicking like crazy. I think he/she REALLY likes bananas!

Please pray for us as we're here.  There are certainly challenges to being pregnant in a foreign land, and I would appreciate any prayer support that I can get!

Ciao!

Colombian Movie-Making Adventure Begins!

We are here, just like that, moved from quiet suburbia, MN to quiet plains-near-the-mountains, Colombia. Here is a snippet of our recent adventure:

Day 1:
Arrived in Bogotá at night after a grueling day of flying~ My bag has been lost in the system and so I've been wearing the same blue capris and black shirt for the past 5 days...We were picked up by a friend here and delivered to his family's home in Chapinero Alto (a lovely part of Bogotá) for a good night's sleep.

Day 2:
We slept so well~ Bogota is in the mountains and very cool~in the 60's.  It was a nice relief after Minnesota's humid summer!  We took a walk, noticing the thinner air as we huffed and puffed a little walking up hill.  We exchanged $ and met a friend, Jon Captain, for breakfast at a place that specializes in "comida llanera" --Food of the plains. Elijah had tinto (a small cup of strong coffee), scrambled eggs, arepa con queso (a thick corn pastry with cheese inside) and an empanada.  I had strong hot chocolate (a common breakfast drink), scrambled eggs & arepa con queso.  We stopped at a little drogueria (drug store) on our way home so that I could pick out some essentials that were in my lost bag.  Shortly thereafter we left in a truck for Cubarral, a town in the plains, on the edge of the mountains, where we'll be based for filming.  We wound through the mountains for 5 1/2 hours and drove through some especially interesting tunnels that were dripping a disturbing amount of water onto our car! We arrived at the farm in the evening and went to bed.  It is much hotter in Cubarral than Bogotá and our room felt like a hot coffin. After a mini-melt-down (literally) we found a fan to use and slept very well.

Day 3:
Elijah and the lighting & sound guys worked on setting up all the camera equipment and lights and figuring it all out before filming day.  I had my first reading lesson with a 1st grader that I'm tutoring.  All the teaching materials that I had packed to use with her are still in my lost bag... so we had to improvise a bit.  I also took a dip in the farm's beautiful pool... such a nice addition to a hot place, especially since it's overlooking the gorgeous mountains.

Day 4:

Our first filming day!  We left bright and early and drove to a beautiful finca (farm) in the mountains to film our first 3 scenes.  After 12 hours of takes (with some breaks due to a sudden thunderstorm) we only got 2 of the 3 scenes done. But they are BEAUTIFUL. We watched the footage later and we were all in awe.  Elijah is working with a lighting guy and sound guy, and the three of them make an awesome filming team.  The makeup artist is fabulous, the directors/script writers inspired, and the actors were well practiced & incredibly patient with all the takes we took.  Two Colombian military "guarded" us all day and also brought weapons & clothing for us to use as props/costumes in the scenes. They were very careful to doubly check that the guns were not loaded!! I took aim at a couple trees with a 9 millimeter... it was really cool. haha. 

We will film 6 days a week for the next 8 weeks.  We hope to get all the 90+ scenes filmed in that time.  Here's to our Colombian adventure! :)

Jehovah Jireh--God Provides

I remember singing this song in church as a child, totally oblivious to what the words meant. I just liked the rhythm of the tune.  It went like this:


Jehovah Jireh 
My provider 
His grace is sufficient 
For me, for me, for me 
Jehovah Jireh 
My provider 
His grace is sufficient for me

My God shall supply all my needs 
According to his riches in glory 
He will give His angels 
Charge over me 
Jehovah Jireh cares 
For me, for me, for me 
Jehovah Jireh cares for me

So it's one thing to sing the words as a child when everything you need is provided daily for you by your parents. I was blessed to have this reality as my life.  But it's another thing when you're an adult. On your own. With baby bills (and the baby isn't even here yet).  And other random expenses.  Today we got a bill in the mail~ more than expected.  I started crying because I'm pregnant and emotional.  But Elijah pointed out that in the last 2 days we unexpectedly made just over that amount in random photography jobs we've done.  

So yeah.  Jehovah Jireh.  He means it.  His character cannot change.  God takes care of His children.  And the birds (Matthew 6:26).  Sometimes in unexpected ways.  But may I have the eyes to see when He is taking care of us.  No more crying little bird. God provides. 

Risk

It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, "Always do what you are afraid to do."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Take calculated risks.
That is quite different from being rash.
George S. Patton

We are embarking on a season of life that I am kind of afraid of... We are branching out on our own in business, without the support of a steady salary to depend on... It's sink or swim and in this economy I see a lot of sinking ships.  

But God is leading us on this journey and it seems like this is the current path that we are supposed to take. To me it feels like jumping off a cliff to hang glide over the deep wide ocean without any island to land on in sight.  And just when we think we're going to sink into the depths of the sea with the sharks, a gust of wind picks up, we keep sailing and God provides again. 

We have a baby coming. We are supposed to be responsible. But hopefully Baby will see that his or her Mommy & Daddy are taking risks; doing what we're afraid to do to hopefully reap a reward that is far greater than playing it safe.  We're not going to lead a normal life. But we're going to lead a full life. 

Our plans: Colombia

Many people have wondered what in the world Elijah and I are up to next.... This is understandable, as we seem to move every 3-6 months!!! Well, another trip is in the works~ Here's a little about what we're doing next:

Earlier this year we were praying about returning to Colombia. Elijah has had this country on his heart for many years now, and we just haven't known the right time to return. About the time we were praying, we received an email from a missionary family in Colombia, asking us to consider coming down to help them make a movie.  More specifically, Elijah would take the role of "Director of Photography."  This would be a completely new role for him, and something very exciting, for sure. We prayed about it, and sure enough, felt peace to go!

We will be in Colombia from Aug. 1st until Oct. 4th.  We are not staying longer because we have several weddings to photograph in the fall that we need to be back for (and because we're having a baby, of course).  We will fly into Bogotá, but will spend much of our time on a mountain outside of the city. The group will be renting a farm and will have a Canadian chef making the food.  There will be a pool at the farm... sounds like a little piece of paradise.  :)  I will also have a small role tutoring the director's daughter in reading.

So anyways, we're leaving but we will be back in the fall! We ask for your prayers for safety, health & inspiration while we're away!

Hasta Luego!

Oh Happy Day~

Loren Cunningham~ The founder of Youth With a Mission (YWAM) more than 50 years ago... I had always wanted to speak with him personally & thought that I would get that chance when I spent 3+ months in Kona, HI, where he lives.  But alas, it wasn't until I was back in frigid Minnesota that I actually got to meet him! Thank you, Loren, for the legacy that you have left, and the common vision that is burning in so many of our hearts: To know God, and to make Him known~

Lovely Friends//lovely food

Our last weekend in Hawaii, we had the privilege of spending time at Josh & Miho's house ~ We thought we knew how to make sushi before witnessing the production of this amazing Japanese meal, made by Miho!  We enjoyed discussing photography, art and everything in between! Thank you for blessing us with such a fun evening! 

Good Gifts

God gives good gifts to his kids~ I've always read that ... you know, that He won't give you a stone if you ask for a loaf of bread or a snake if you ask for fish... Well I asked for a place to live~ didn't get too specific, but what I *envisioned* was this:  renting part of someone's home, maybe an elderly person or something; must have a kitchen; near Elijah's work; nature/outdoors would be a bonus...

We didn't know where to find such a place. From Hawaii I scoured the internet ... the closest I got was $850/month in a crummy part of town surrounded by parking lots.

But then God provided this:  A mostly furnished walk-out basement, part of an older couple's home, near Elijah's work, with a kitchen, and a beautiful view of trees, turkeys, deer & the MN River.   Here is God's gift to us:

The Guys

These guys were so much fun in the Studio~  Enjoy some more photos!