One of our favorite things about visiting Chicago (among with a number of many other things) is the opportunity to have a little taste of Colombia. This week and past weekend Julio and I were in Chicago for interviews and the Midwinter Conference of the Covenant Church (a conference for pastors and leaders). While in Chicago, we stopped in to our favorite Colombian bakery for an arepa de choclo con queso. It’s always fun to connect with other Colombians and share stories about what has brought us to Chicago.

Enjoying a Colombian breakfast

We also had the special opportunity to introduce Colombian cuisine to our friends from Minnesota who were also participating in the Midwinter conference. Julio convinced Chris to try his favorite meal, Mojarra frita (fried fish). We enjoyed conversation as we ate patacones and sipped on mora (black berry) juice. A little taste of Colombia.

Julio is in his happy place and Chris kept saying the fish was fantastic

Then we had the fun surprise during the Midwinter conference of connecting with some friends that we met in Colombia who we haven’t seen in years. Mark Westlind was a Covenant Missionary who Julio worked with in Cartagena during his one-year university internship. Julio learned many things from Mark during their time together and ended up leading the church that Mark was a part of planting as he and his family returned to the States. And then we got to spend time with our friend Jon Arne, a Norwegian missionary we met years ago in Colombia. He lived in Bogota and several times when we were first married we would stay with him and his family when we would visit for meetings. And then there were our friends who are Colombian and now live in Chicago. It was seriously like a big party to be together with these friends. We loved the time to reconnect and share our love for Colombia, the people and the work that God is doing there.

A reunion of missionaries from Colombia