Joe McWilliams

We got caught behind some wild fires on the way back from Dallas headed to Lubbock. We were in front of the stopped convoy and eventually had to cross the median and turn around. According to myfoxlubbock.com the fire was contained at about 4 p.m. Monday afternoon, with more than 1500 acres burned. The Texas Tech Mesonet recorded a wind gust of 59 mph near Tahoka and relative humidity’s at or below 15%. Perfect conditions for a wildfire, and our delayed entry into Lubbock. Sure was an adventure though!

Easter break had it's up and downs but overall I had a great time being in Dallas.

On Saturday I spent a whole day mountain biking in Palo Duro canyon with Austin and Brandon. My whole body is sore but it was an absolute blast. Palo Duro is a state park about 2 hours north of Lubbock. The ground suddenly drops down when you get to the rim. I also got to see an old friend from West Texas A&M!

I went on a video escapade today. For some reason the insane wind was inspiring. It may have pushed dust into my eyes and mouth but it created a world that doesn't normally exist. There is so much chaos it's almost exciting. Windy Day from Joseph McWilliams on Vimeo .

A good friend of mine sent me this message the other day: In the dream I was a street kid. The little friends I was running around with were hispanic and all the buildings looked run down, so I'm going to assume I was a Colombian street kid. We met this white couple who told us if we got on this bus, they would take us to where we could sleep inside. (I think I saw on your blog that the kids go in buses to the houses where they can stay, thats probably where this came from.) We got to this 2 story house and it was packed full of kids. Some were setting up mats on the floor, many were packed into mattresses on the floor, and it was really crowded but they had room for us. I snuggled up on the floor with some of my friends, and went to sleep. In the dream I felt really happy and grateful I didn't have to sleep outside, even though the house we were in was crowded. The house in Naomi's dream I sent her a video of a house I filmed for Formando Vidas and...

This year was my favorite trip. I didn't get sick for the first time in four trips. Our whole team was amazing and got so much done during the short week we had. It was really great to see all of my friends there and catch up. We painted several walls to look like a jungle in the drop in center, installed a zip line, visited various ministries around Bogota, and learned so much about each other! The Team in The Jungle I had the privilege of showing a mockup of my new site for them to all of the leaders and the feedback was very positive. I got to stay with the 24 hour care house called the "kiwi house" overnight away from the team. It was a dream come true for an anthropologist. That was one of many opportunities I had to capture parts of the ministry that had never been published to the public. I can't wait to put it all together and launch the new site this year! I can't thank all of you enough for the prayer and financial support.  On the way back t...

Tomorrow I have the opportunity to go to Bogotá, Colombia for the fourth time. I can't thank you enough for all of your support. This trip we will be broken into two groups for most of the time. It's the biggest I've ever been with at 22 people from my church in Dallas. One group will be improving a building called the jungle where street kids can come play. The other will be doing various activities around Bogotá. Some will deal directly with the ministry we are going to see, Formando Vidas, but we often work with other organizations as well. Just before this trip I created a new website for Formando Vidas. On this trip me and a few of my friends that are going with us on the trip will be focusing on getting as much information, pictures, and video to put on the new website. Here are some needs: Safety Cohesion in the group. No camera or equipment failure. Flights and bus rides on schedule. That we can know how to serve the mission team th...