Where does one begin to explain an experience that was only
six months long but felt like 5 years stuck on fast forward? I guess the only place one can truly begin is
at the beginning, but that may take awhile so I guess I’ll start midway.
A new friend shared in his sermon a few days ago that good
does not mean easy, but it is good. This
friend, Gabriel, shared how his journey of obeying God meant uprooting his
family from their family home in South Texas and travelling 8 hours north to
the YWAM base in Tyler Texas, but it was good, whilst really challenging,
because it was God directed.
I, too, have this same opinion… people have said that it
looks like I am having a good time in America and at first I struggled to grasp
this concept of “good” because good in my eyes, until recently, meant that I
was enjoying my time… when in fact it had been one of the hardest, most life
stretching times I have experienced to date.
But when discovering this new meaning of good, I would have to agree
with Gabriel. My time in America has
been and is good! God has been doing so
much work… in me and around me! Whilst I
cannot see all the work God is doing at this very moment, I do know He is
working!
So going back to Colombia and beyond…
My time was amazing, but challenging. I, with my team mates (totalling 14 of us)
were the last team (from the Young Peoples Discipleship Training School at
Youth With A Mission Denver –YPDTS at YWAM Denver) to depart America. We flew from Denver International Airport to
Miami, to Bogota, Colombia. When we
arrived in Colombia, we boarded a bus and drove 8-12 hours north to the city of
Pereira. This city is known as the city
of South America, and also the world, that trains up Satanists and produces the
most prostitutes from South America.
While we were here we mainly focused on street ministry – evangelism in
the plazas, helping local churches, ministering with the children and youth,
feeding the homeless and doing a lot of prayer walks.
We also met some amazing people while we were here. A few of the special people we met are:
Yury, Sebastian, Steve, JD and Juan Diego, who were the main
people ministering with us and translating for us (from YWAM Pereira):
Yury:
Sebastian:
Steven:
Juan Diego:
Jesus David (JD):
Sara and Tati (two girls that I met at a youth group that
have a thirsting love):
Lina is a young lady we met on our first day of ministry,
but she ended up becoming more like a sister to us than just a friend:
(Left to Right: Emery, Kelci, Kara, Alex, Lina, Jenna, Maria)
Lilo, Meir, Carolina, Saudi, Kevin, Josue, Natalia, Laura,
and several other people we met (who were from youth groups, churches, YWAM
Bogota, etc.) whilst we visited and did local outreaches and evangelism in
Pereira and the surrounding cities.
There were plenty of other people who impacted our lives in
Pereira, but after celebrating Christmas and New Years, and spending just under
two weeks here, we packed our bags, boarded the bus again and travelled back to
Bogota, to fly down to Leticia.
The majority of our time in Colombia was spent in
Leticia. This city is the southernmost
city in Colombia, the capital of the Amazonas region and borders Peru and
Brazil with the Amazon River running through it.
While we were here a lot of our time was spent helping out
with an organisation called Medical Ministries International (MMI). This ministry focuses on providing medical
care to some of the poorest nations around the World and making a long term
relationship with the nation and its people rather than just short visits.
In helping with this ministry, the first week and a half was
spent taking fliers out to surrounding villages of Leticia, Colombia, Peru and
Brazil and doing a bit of evangelism at the same time. We then spent a few days cleaning the school
up and getting classrooms set up for 1000+ people to be examined daily. The next two weeks, as we could not speak
Spanish, we were put in charge of children ministry… providing activities for
the children, whilst their parents waited in line, and collecting them when
they (the children) themselves needed to be examined or have surgery.
During this time, we also got to take a few afternoons to
travel over to an island, just a stones throw away from the Leticia dock, in
the Amazon River, called Fantasy Island.
Here we made friends and spent time playing mud soccer, doing dances, dramas,
plays/skits, and just spending time with this forgotten island. A lot of the villagers here provide for their
family by making dug out canoes and providing a taxi service to people wanting
to go up and down the Amazon, to Peru and Brazil, as well as fishing and
selling their catches.
Our last week in Leticia was spent in a little village,
accessible by travelling up the Amazon River only, called Santa Sofia. Here we spent a lot of time connecting with
the locals and building long term relationships.
After 5 weeks in Leticia, we flew back up to Bogota and
spent the last few days helping YWAM Bogota with building a sewerage canal and
placing the pipes inside the trench, as part of their ‘Children at Risk’
program (
http://www.childrenatriskcolombia.org/)
and cleaning their facilities where they hold children activities and provide
accommodation periodically.
This was the five months I spent with YWAM Denver’s YPDTS of
2012. I have learnt many things and God
has shown me so many things and done such an amazing job. A lot of revelations and a lot of ideas for
the future… and now is where I’m starting to walk out in the missions He has
called me to. Missions like making
Denver home, doing Phase 2, also known as School of Ministry Development (
http://www.ywamdenver.org/school/schoolofministrydevelopmentphaseii),
and being a missionary. I do not know
how this will look yet, I don’t know if I will ever know before I get to each
phase of the plan God has for me, but I do know He loves me.
There is so many more stories of that I can share during my
time away, and some day I hope to, but for now I am obeying God in what He
tells me to do and this involves me getting better in my psychological health. In doing this, as my update letter describes,
I am doing a school called
The School of
New Beginnings (
www.schoolofnewbeginnings.org)
and this is just one step in which I’m hoping to know God more, and be restored
and able to carry out the full calling God has called me to do, as part of His
Kingdom of World changers and Kingdom shapers!
Thank you so much for all your support, love and care. I love you all and miss you heaps and hope to
hear from you all. Please keep the
people of Colombia in your prayers, and may God bless you good.
Until next time,
Kara
