Hi everyone! This is just a quick update on the last couple days as I officially launched on my World Race on Monday! Yay! So excited. So I just wanted to give a quick update while I have a few minutes at the cafe where I can soak up some Wifi. I promise to give some more details and pictures soon.
When I woke up at 1:00 am on Monday, I knew that it was going to be a long day…but I was still so excited to head out on this journey that I had been preparing for and waiting for so long. We were told to meet in the hotel lobby at 3:00 am, packed and ready to get on the shuttle to the airport. A few of us decided to walk across the street to Waffle House at 2:00 am to grab one last meal in the States; I treated myself to the All Star meal, of course, and I did not regret it. We boarded the plane to Ft. Lauderdale around 7:00 am and landed there at around 9:30. We then had about an hour to get boarded onto our plane to Medellín, Colombia.
We touched down at about 1:30 pm, but by the time we got everyone through immigration, exchanged money, bought local sim cards and an ice cream cone for myself (it was amazing), we left the airport a couple of hours later. Then we began our journey to the bus station. We started out on a shuttle bus into the city, which took about an hour. Then we got taxis to the domestic airport which was across the street from the bus station we needed to get to. A couple of nice policeman outside the airport told us that this was the most economical option to get to the bus station, and it was pretty inexpensive. However, it was a little but difficult because of all our heavy luggage, which hardly fit into the tiny taxis. We finally made it to the bus station after the taxis dropped us off and gave us directions to walk with all of our stuff for about five blocks, and it just so happened that a bus was getting ready to depart to our destination in just a few minutes, so we were #blessed in that. We got on the bus pronto and headed toward Armenia at around 6:00 pm.
After almost eight hours of riding along, including one half hour stop where we enjoyed some yummy bread, arepas, chicken and sodas together, we arrived at our stop just outside of Pereira, Colombia. We hopped in the car with our new hosts, Eyson and Karson, and they drove us to our new home: Filandia, Colombia. Once we arrived, they showed us around our HQ for the month – a small, quaint house with plastic furniture and five rooms. This is the ministry site where they teach and entertain several kids who live here in Filandia. Eyson and Karson are all about children´s ministry! They are passionate about growing up a generation that will set a new tone in the culture of Finlandia, one of love and grace and true expression of the Father´s heart for His people. Apart from after school ministry twice a week and children´s church on Sundays, the couple also works with three farm schools nearby. There, they teach English, religion (Bible studies), and physical education. We are all so stoked to work with those kids! We are going to check these schools out tomorrow, so I will be able to tell you more about them later. However, we met a few of the kids who come to the ministry house during the week today, and they are all so cute! I will be sure to get some good pictures with them soon, don´t worry! I look forward to sharing more with you soon once we get to know the kids and our hosts better. So excited for what God is doing in and through us this month! Thanks for your continued prayers and support, make sure you subscribe if you have not yet!
Peace and love,
Reece
