Sometimes it takes me awhile to process things. It has been 8 days since we arrived at our new ministry site here in Ecuador, and almost exactly two weeks since we left our ministry site in Colombia. The Race is weird sometimes and completely skews my concept of time. Where am I? How long have I been here? When am I picking up an moving again? These are the struggles of a nomadic life, I guess. But because of that time warp, I am just now able to sit down and write about everything that happened last month in Colombia.
I had been looking forward to Colombia for a long time. I was excited about possibly getting to see my friend Maxi from Argentina who now lives in Bogotá, I was overjoyed to be back on the South American continent (finally), and I couldn’t wait to experience a country that so few people get to see. And then we got our assignment.
Yes, my team was going to Colombia, but not the mainland. Turns out there’s this little tiny baby island in the middle of the Caribbean that is “close” to Nicaragua but actually owned by Colombia. It’s called San Andrés.
I couldn’t believe it. The island of San Andrés was pretty much the exact opposite of everything I had been praying for. I was confused as to why God would send me so far away from the place I had been looking forward to for so long. It was a weird mix of emotions–sadness that I wasn’t going to get to experience mainland Colombia, but excitement to spend a month on a Caribbean island that is only 10 square-miles in size. I guess God did answer one of my prayers; I wanted to go to a part of the world that most people never experience, and that’s definitely what I got.
Little did I know that the island of San Andrés would give me what is quite possibly my favorite month on the Race so far. First off, that place is absolutely beautiful. We were constantly surrounded by examples of God’s exquisite creation. The beaches were of perfect white sand, the water was inexplicably clear, and on numerous occasions we were swimming with tropical fish in their natural habitat. (Side note, once we were sitting on the beach and saw a manta ray swim by. Number one, How was the water that clear that we could see it from such a distance? And number two, IT WAS A MANTA RAY.)
snorkel snorkel snorkel
Aside from all that, San Andrés was also an incredible blessing to me spiritually. As an island, its economy is heavily based on fishing, meaning I was constantly surrounded by boats, nets, anchors, and all sorts of nautical things. You may not know this about me, but I love nautical images and metaphors. The Bible is chalk full of them: “fishers of men,” “loaves and fishes,” walking on water, the whole book of Jonah…you know, all that. And the Lord was constantly reminding me of Himself by surrounding me with physical representations of those images I adore so much. I loved it.
(Here’s a video of the sermon that first inspired my love of nautical metaphors. I recommend you watch it after you read this post. It’ll change your life.)
However, what really, really made our life on the island so special was the people we met there. We spent the month working with two different churches, one led by Pastor Ricardo and the other by Pastor Arnold. We were there to serve, but I know they blessed me more than I ever could them. These two church bodies welcomed us in as family, took care of us, and poured into us. They let us preach in their pulpits and teach their youth groups, but the biggest impact was the friendship we shared. Those people…Oh, those people…
This is what youth ministry looks like
It’s funny, I haven’t had a hard time leaving too many places on the Race so far. Like I was saying earlier, we’re constantly moving, so it’s hard to put down roots for too long. But when we said goodbye to these kids, when they gave us friendship bracelets “so we would never forget them” (as if that’s even possible), when we embraced them at the airport the day we left…I felt like a part of me was staying behind with them. I’m actually tearing up as I write this, just thinking of how well they loved us and how much I miss them. Praise the Lord we have the promise of Eternity, where I’ll get to play with these kids on the beaches of Heaven and in water even clearer than the Caribbean. Thank you, Jesus, for that promise.
Yeah, Colombia was not at all what I had expected; it was so much more. What’s crazy is that two months ago I had never even heard of the island of San Andrés, and now a part of my heart will stay there forever. Sometimes God gives us the opposite of what we want, but He keeps showing me that He knows what He’s doing.
I wish I had more words, but for this particular month I feel like I need to just show you all what I experienced. Here is a recap video put together by my teammate Mel Jo, which gives a great representation of beautiful San Andrés and our ministry there. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. ¡Dios te bendiga!
