On August 1 I left my beloved Bolivia for a short
adventure. I arrived back in the USA,
hung out with friends, ate the sub sandwich that I had been craving for the
past 11 months (Firehouse Subs’ club on a sub…yum!), and spent the night with
my best friend in a borrowed house. Day
2 I went to the beach, ate another one of those subs, and went dress shopping
for an upcoming wedding. I scrambled to
repack that night at the office, because early the next morning I was off to
Colombia!!
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| Crowd gathered for Evangelism in the Plaza |
Nick and Allie (who spent most of the summer with me) along
with John and Natalie (2 of 3 of my bosses’ awesome teens…who also spent a lot
of the summer with me) and I headed to Bogota, Colombia to check out CIN’s
ministry there. The rest of the team
joined us the next day. We joined the
youth group of our local church partner for evangelism in the plaza, I shared
at youth group, we took part in Sunday church service along with a large group
of soldiers who have been handicapped fighting rebel groups, went to a giant
outdoor Christian concert (may have eaten a horse hotdog while there), and then
we really got to work!
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| Me sharing at the Youth Service |
The local church has a school in the neighborhood of
Potosi. Most of these children are not
able to go to any other school and few are able to eat outside of the breakfast
and lunch provided by the school Monday through Friday. A large house sits directly across the street
where drugs are run. Often, the people
of this house grab neighborhood children, give them a packet of drugs and tell
them to wait on a certain corner for someone to come and exchange it for
money. They are not allowed to
refuse. This is the daily life of these
children. (Learn more about sponsoring one of the students through CIN at Child Sponsorship)
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| CIN Team at the Women's Rehab farm |
Then we went to the church’s rehab centers. In the morning we shared in worship,
testimonies, a devotional, and then lunch at the women’s farm. In the afternoon we
went to the men’s farm. Nick shared some
of his testimony and some stories of triumph from some of our boys here in
Bolivia and then we got a grand tour. I
loved seeing how each farm was tailored to its inhabitants. At the men’s farm they explained that the
weekends are the hardest for them, so they take turns to make sure that there
are people praying 24 hours a day from Friday to Monday. Both farms use the same curriculum, which I
also love. The vast majority of it is
focused on really learning who we are to Christ and who Christ is. When we REALLY understand that, He is completely
free from hindrances to heal us. The
program takes 9 months…the same length of time that it normally takes God to
create a new life! Being at the farms
really made me miss camp (the juvenile detention center where I worked
before).
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| Nick sharing at the Men's Rehab farm |
On my last full day we went high into the mountains once
again, this time to the church’s retreat center. The church uses it every 3 months for what I
would liken to revival meetings. It is
also available to rent for any organization as a retreat center and they are
slowly adding elements to make it an extreme sport center. The girls painted the front building,
caretaker’s house, and pool railings while the boys painted the worship center.
The boys got to play a round of paintball while the girls opted to help clean
up, and then we all hiked to a waterfall.
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| Team and Colombian hosts on the hike to the waterfall |
The team stayed two more days, going to CIN’s Colombia Life
Center safe house (for the wives and children of pastors who have been martyred
by rebel groups) and back to our partner school in Potosi to do some more
painting. I ducked out early in order to
make it to my dear friend’s wedding back in the States!
In all, I loved Colombia.
We had the perfect first team and I was absolutely THRILLED to see my
Colombian friends once again. It is a
country of extreme need, and I’m honored that God used me even for a couple of
days there. The church has so much to
do, but I can easily name one now that is doing everything it possibly
can. Please support CIN’s ministry in
Colombia. Or really any ministry in
Colombia that you know is doing God’s work.
There is an overwhelming amount of spiritual battle and healing to be
done.
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| The church that CIN partners with in Colombia |
Finally, while I loved Colombia, I actually cried several
times while there…and I NEVER cry…because I was so homesick. I had never been homesick before, but I had
never traveled since officially calling Bolivia home. If God spoke anything to
me while I was there, it was the reassurance of my call to Bolivia. And I thank Him for that!
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