Cathedral de Sal de Zipaquirá

Browsing through my external hard disks, sorting movies and images, browsing the internet, I have arrived to the day - August 19, 2014, when the participants of World Apostolic Congress on Mercy in Bogota Colombia held their fourth day of the congress down inside the world wonder - Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá outside of Bogota. Here is a nice short video I found on Vimeo beautifully depicting the mystery and sacredness of this inspiring place. Check it out:

Catedral de Sal from H. Paul Moon on Vimeo.

Maria Madre Del Buen Pastor

One of my favorite presentations of Our Lady in Bogota numerous churches. Revisiting today in my heart and mind and in prayer to Mary, Mother of the Good Shepherd, as I get ready to arrive tomorrow to my mission in Kiabakari to continue relentless quest of fulfilling the Lord's Will and the Vision of Divine Mercy in Kiabakari. Praying for all of you at the feet of Our Lady in that church in Bogota in my spirit and asking for your kind prayers for my safe trip back home and for God's Mercies and Blessings for the challenges that lie ahead of me there.

Our Mother of the Good Shepherd, pray for us!

Mission Town - Images

Came back home late last night, woke up this morning to do some post-production work on pictures I shot yesterday with that little excuse of a camera. Hard to get anything decent out of these pictures, especially those shot in low light conditions. Anyway, here they are - images from the pilgrimage up the Monserrate, then La Candelaria, the Cathedral, Museum Botero mixed some street graffiti and busy city life caught on camera while sitting in the back seat in the car. Enjoy!

Mission Town

Today is the mission town day. After yesterday trip to Laguna de Guatavita, the entire day today I am going to spend in the city. First, going up the mountain to the Shrine of Monserrate, the true spiritual powerhouse of Christian Colombia. I will pray for all of us and our intentions there.

Then, La Candelaria (the Bogota old town)

and so forth. Time permitting, perhaps some museums on the way.

I am not going to return to the apartment any time soon, as we found out there is no water in the entire building - thing that astonished my hosts as they said it never happened before. Probably I brought some bad luck? To me it does not make for a tragic circumstance as one can wash in a bottle of mineral water or do the toothbrushing with coca-cola or something like that. But to my hosts this made them considerably upset.

Okey dokey, my tiny camera ready, battery charged, memory card emptied. My bag pack ready with the essentials. Sneakers on and off I go. See you soon here later tonight. God bless us all!

Laguna De Guatavita

Yesterday, instead of going up the mountain to the Shrine of Monserrate, we decided to go first out of town. It took some time to buy and activate the local simcard with data plan, but thanks to my two angels Adriana and Stella who were my guides in the trip, things went rather smoothly. I can't imagine how I would get in terms with the salesmen who knows only Spanish and my Spanish is close to zero.

The weather yesterday was not apparently at its best, nevertheless we had a nice drive up the Andes towards Guatavita town on the lake Tomine, some 70 km from Bogota. It was drizzling so we were unable to see much there. I asked my guides to go up the mountains to Laguna de Guatavita, a sacred place for Muisca ancient people. That place was and still is the powerhouse of spirituality. I wanted to go there to pray for the success of the upcoming Congress on Mercy and for all intentions - mine and of my friends. This trip included quite significant physical effort on my part. It was the day after arrival to Colombia, so jet lag was still there and the altitude of the Laguna - above 3,000 meters a.s.l. meant an extra difficulty. These two factors and the fact that due to my weight and health issues I am not a good climber, all added up to the flavor.

Looking Forward To WACOM 2014

A very good morning indeed. I have just succeeded to register myself online for WACOM 2014 (World Apostolic Congress On Mercy) which will take place in Bogota, Colombia in August this year (check the news on Facebook and YouTube). I was blessed to attend the previous two Congresses - in Lateran Basilica in Rome and in Łagiewniki-Kraków. And I am very happy and grateful to Merciful Lord and people of good will who enabled me to get ready for the third Congress. I will participate in this important event as the national coordinator of WACOM in Tanzania.

I am deeply grateful to my friends who found a good connection and airfare at Swiss and those who helped me with partial payment for my air ticket to Europe and then to Colombia. I am deeply grateful to His Excellency Bishop Michael Msonganzila who supported the journey with remaining two thirds of the airfare and gave his blessing for the endeavor.

I am deeply grateful to Almighty and Merciful Lord for the chance to give testimony to the world about the Divine Mercy devotion and spirituality in this part of the universe. I am looking forward to reconnect with Divine Mercy Apostles from various countries whom I met in the previous two Congresses.

I commend the spiritual preparations for the Congress and the Congress itself to your kind and generous prayers, my dear readers. May Lord's Will be done in all of us and in everything we undertake in His name. God bless us all in this holy time of Lent!

Official website of WACOM Colombia - registration online

Successful registration

WACOM 2014

Anyone who wants to join me on the journey to Bogota, Colombia in August 2014 for the World Apostolic Congress on Divine Mercy (WACOM 2014), especially pilgrims from Tanzania, please, contact me on my email through the contact page on WACOM website (click here). So far, I was blessed to attend the congress in Rome and in Kraków. I won't make it to Australia this year in October. but surely I would love to take part in Colombia in two years time. Let's go together!

My ID from WACOM 2008 in Rome