Colombia, Oh Colombia..

COLOMBIA UPDATE!

We stayed in Medellín, Colombia and it was another all squad month. It was my favorite month so far! We served at Fundacion Ciudad Refugio (which means City of Refuge) working with the drug addicted community, children and youth, Venezuelan refugees that now live in Medellin, visited the elderly in a nursing home, helped in the kitchen, participated in women’s Bible studies and their church services. A little piece of my heart is still in Colombia.. It was for sure the hardest place to leave. I love everything that this ministry is about and felt really connected to our host, Rebekah. One night we were having dinner with Rebekah and a few other people that lived and worked there. As Rebekah was talking, I heard the Lord say “You need to be under her wing and learn from her.” I don’t know exactly what that means yet, but I did talk with her after about it. She told me about a 3 month internship program they have and said they would love to have me come! I even over heard Rebekah say “I’m talking to our next missionary.” So we will see what the Lord does after the Race, but one thing I know is that He has promised that I will be back soon. Which almost made it harder to leave because I’m not sure how soon “soon” is or the duration of my next trip, but I am dying to go back..

On Wednesday nights and Thursday mornings, the ministry goes to an area they call the Bronx, where they serve pan (bread) and agua panela (sugar water) and minister to the people there. One team goes out and another team stays back to intercede for the others while they’re gone. Before going out Wednesday night, we were told that it would be heavy spiritually, but I don’t think we could really prepare for what we saw. We saw people doing drugs completely out in the open and out of their mind. We saw these black tents and were told that that’s where they sold the drugs. We were told not to stand in front of them because we would hold up the traffic and upset the drug dealers. Although there was so much darkness around us, we all felt so safe. 

Two people from our time there stood out to me. One girl was 14 years old living on the streets and was addicted to drugs. The reason why this girl stood out to me was not only because she was so young, but because the youth I was walking with knew her. She was actually in a program through the foundation years before with the girl I was walking with. It completely broke my heart.. All the pain that this young girl must be facing with no family to support her, who knows what being done to her on the streets. 

But there is hope..

Another guy we saw had a trash bag on as a shirt and his pants basically falling off. He was walking way bent over and at some points you would see him scooting around on his butt. We approached him and tried to talk with him. He wasn’t talking much at all. We started to pray for him and by the discernment of the Holy Spirit sensed that this man had a legion of demons inside of him. Rebekah said that he reminded her of the scripture of the demon possessed man that lived in the cave in Mark 5:1-20. While we were praying, he kept saying “bitter.” Like he was bitter with God and the church.. I don’t really know. We prayed to cast the demons out but to no avail.. That we saw. I left feeling so sad and so heavy spiritually. I knew God wanted to heal this man, but we didn’t see it happen before our eyes. This was the first time that I had an experience like this with a person we knew was demon possessed. I was confused at why there wasn’t breakthrough.

But there is hope… 

There’s hope because of Jesus. At the Bronx we also pass out flyers with information about Fundacion Ciudad Refugio and the address, in hopes that they will come and enter their program. Their program has an insanely high success rate and I’ve seen it first-hand. A lot of the people that work at the foundation are actually people that have been through the program and have experienced freedom. It’s absolutely amazing! So that tells me two things: Jesus truly transforms people’s lives when they are willing and there is hope no matter what you’ve done or what has been done to you. Jesus is in the business of using murderers, adulteresses, prostitutes, tax collectors, persecutors of the church, and many more. He can use you too! 

UP NEXT: Quito, Ecuador

Right now, We are serving at Hacienda El Refugio in Calacali, Ecuador (a small town outside of Quito.) It is a training and retreat center which facilitates deeper relationships with Jesus through nature and outdoor adventure. It is breathtaking here. We are doing construction on a little cabin right now where pastors or individuals can come retreat and be refreshed in Jesus. So while we are building, we are praying for the people that will come after. 

More to come in Ecuador later..