The first two weeks of ministry this month looked as they usually do: an assigned host, structured days, specific tasks to complete each day and throughout our time with the host.
See my previous blog “A Refugee’s Story” to learn more about my first two weeks in Colombia.
Then AIM asked us to do a week of unstructured ministry, an “ask the Lord” week, where our only guidelines centered around safety. A handful of the squad ended up in Cartagena; a beautiful Caribbean beach town on the northern coast of Colombia.
We were taken to our apartment that I had booked online earlier that week and were surprised by what we found. It was in a suspicious looking neighborhood with a colorful night life and seemed a little scary at night. After traveling all day (several delays on our flight) we were so ready to just sleep. We crawled into bed and prayed the Lord would show up in our short time in this city.
The next morning we woke up and planned to go to the beach. As we left the complex, Janine saw a beautiful white cat. We stopped to pet her and exchanged pleasantries with her owner. We went about our day, looking for God’s interruptions. As we left the neighborhood, it wasn’t as scary in the daylight and we realized it was a lower income area and knew the community needed the Lord.
At the beach, we spoke with about a dozen or so vendors who stopped by our umbrella. We asked them about their families, and if they knew Jesus. We prayed for a bunch of them, too. While this was interesting, it felt like a feeble attempt at ministry outside of our normal parameters.
We went home that night and saw the cat’s owner again. We struck up a conversation with her, and learned her name, Esther. We discovered that she believes in Jesus and hosts a small church in her home. We stayed and talked and learned more and more about this sweet woman through my broken Spanish translations.
She dreams to add a third floor to her small home to host her church and start a musical group. She wants an elevator so people who have mobility issues can attend church. Esther also feeds the people in her community. She invites them to her house, meets their physical needs, and then attends to their spiritual needs as well.
We returned to Esther’s house every morning to pray for her and her family. One day, her pastor walked by and so we met him and prayed for him, too. He was so excited to meet us that he invited us to speak at an impromptu church meeting. On our very last night of world race ministry we sat in Esther’s home, and Paige delivered her testimony. Janine shared about the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness all over the world, and we prayed with the church. They prayed for us too and we held hands and felt the beautiful weight of the unplanned ministry Jesus had led us to.
We arrived at the apartment, a little worried about the neighborhood, but we gained a family and we’ve been blessed by their faith and prayers
That same night, just as we were heading backed up to our apartment, the man who owned our unit called us over to his house. He had attended the church meeting and excitedly invited us into his home to meet his “Cristiano” daughter. We went inside and met Yairith, a 23 year old and the only Christian in her family.
She told us how the Lord had gotten ahold of her as an 8 year old girl and connected her to a prayer and outreach group. She told us how as a child she volunteered in this group to pray for her community, participated in outreach groups, prepared food to share with the impoverished, and more.
She told us that God had captured her heart and she wanted nothing else but Him. She told us how she’s been praying for her family’s hearts for years and how intensely the Lord is pursuing each of her family members.
She told us how incredible it is to travel the world to tell people about Jesus and how she wishes she could do the same. She told us the Lord will continue to bless us for our obedience.
She prayed for us- asking God to rain down fire in our hearts, to give us strength as we return home, and to bless each family member and friend who supported us this year. She prayed for our future and for protection over us. She prayed with fervency that I haven’t heard in a girl her age the whole race- a fervency that I long to have in my prayers too.
We ended the night with pictures and Facebook friend requests and lots of hugs. This sweet girl brought home the entire purpose that we had when coming to Cartagena. Getting to know her and her community reminded us that no matter how things look on the outside, God always has bigger plans for us than we can imagine.
Our apartment may have been in a shady area. There may have been prostitutes and drugs around. BUT there was also a community of Jesus’ disciples trying to make their world just a little bit brighter.
If we hadn’t gotten to play on the beach, drink lots of good coffee, and take fun pictures, the trip would still have been complete and lacking nothing. The connections we made, and the encouragement we were able to give impacted so much more than we thought.
All it took from us was obedience to be interrupted. And God showed up, like he does-
Every.
Single.
Time.
