I’m gonna be real for a second and just say that the world race is hard. For one, you are never guaranteed that there will be toilet paper in the bathroom, therefore sometimes you have to hold your poop in for 2 days. Not only that, but when you do finally get to poop, the toilet will probably get clogged so you have to flush it with a bucket of water multiple times, and more after that. And also, doing laundry is pretty dang hard because not only do you have to wait for your clothes to dry for at least a day, but it will also probably rain so then the drying process will have to restart and then your clothes don’t smell clean anymore. The best part is that I am avoiding taking showers because of how so freezing cold the water is, so cold that every time you step under it, your breath is literally taken away.
But WOW do I love Colombia.
One of my biggest take-aways this month is getting to witness God changing the hearts of the people around me, specifically 6 special people that decided to begin a deeper, personal relationship with Him. The neighborhood that we were evangelizing in, most of the people living in the area know who Jesus is and are Catholics but don’t know what a personal relationship with Jesus is.
This is Andres, a 14 year old boy living with his grandma. He goes to school and wants to join the Colombian military school next year. He grew up going to a Catholic church, really just living a life of religion and going through the motions. As soon as we told him that there is so much more, that you can have a personal relationship with Jesus, that there are no works that you can do to make God love you more, his heart was stolen by the Him! We prayed over him and he accepted Jesus in his heart, to a deeper level.
This is Maria Camargo. She is a very sweet women who takes care of her son and values her family with a passion. When we asked her if she wanted to step into a deeper relationship with the Lord, she showed this deep joy on her face. She had been so worried about her family that she wasn’t able to experience peace and joy. When we prayed over her and as she prayed to accept Jesus into her heart, the Holy Spirit gave her tears of joy that we get to experience with her.
This is Francisco Mandoza. He decided to accept Jesus into his heart because he knew there was something in his life that he was missing. Across the street lives his mother, Dora Salazar. She told us all about her past with her son, that he has had a tough life trying to provide for himself because he has been stuck in the mud of laziness. She is so loving to pay for his housing and the hard work that she does to provide for him and her grandchildren, opening the bottom floor of her home at night for a garage. She is such a glorious example of showing His love to those around us.
This is Marina. She welcomed us into her home where she told us about her life as just being full of attending church but knowing that there is more. She decided to accept Jesus into her heart, to begin a new chapter of her life with Him. We also prayed for healing over her hands because of arthritis and over the years the pain in her back and knees has been growing so it is difficult to work around the house. But, she continues to trust that nothing on this earth is going to last.
The last two women are sisters, Mara and Carolina. (They didn’t want a picture because they were in their pajamas). Mara has a 1 year old son, Migual Angel, but the entire family lives together. They live in a broken home where most of the children all have different fathers (which is very common in Colombia) which has created a corrupt definition of what a father should look like. They also attended a Catholic Church but mostly did because it was tradition. They were so willing to allow Jesus to entire their hearts, accepting to having a deeper relationship with Him. Pray that Jesus would help them know that a Father is not anything like their earthly fathers.
Something that I learned about my time in this neighborhood is the amount of hopelessness that is around. People are so willing to listen to what we have to say because a lot of them are either involved or have someone close to them who is involved in drugs, drinking and gangs. Jesus had us step into this neighborhood exactly on His timing, I am so humbled that Jesus chose me to be His vessel.
Prayer Requests: Keep these new family members in your prayers. That they would get to be a light to the people around around them and that Jesus would continue to give them the desire to grow into a deeper relationship, daily. Pray for the other people in that neighborhood that we talked to, that Jesus would captivate their hearts and understand that this life is not our own.
