It was 3 weeks into our mission trip. Pastor Willy told us that we will spend 3 days in San Pedro, the small town in where we started our hike to the waterfall. We didn’t know too much about what we would be doing, but we left that town with a new family.
Since we are a big group of 14 and our Pastor, we slept at the church. And since there was no showers at the church, we were graciously taken into 3 family homes in order to shower and have breakfast in the morning. Alejandra and her family welcomed the 6 of us with open arms. It was also the first time in 3 weeks that we got hot showers! What a treat! After showers, we had an amazing breakfast over conversations to get to know each other better.
What really surprised me about Alejandra, the mom of 3 daughters, is that she is a powerful and devout woman of God! When we went to a home visitation to pray for a family and essentially disciple the family, we got to witness Alejandra allowing them to ask any questions they want and for her to answer them. They asked questions about Halloween, Spiritual warfare, Apocalypse, and how to speak to God. (Side note: The Holy Spirit allowed Brook and I to understand 95% of the Spanish that night! We understood more than we ever have in that time). Alejandra poured out her heart for their kids through her explanations to their questions! We had a good 3 hours of prayer time, sharing testimonies, and learning about scripture. I walked away from that home seeing a glimpse of what it means to be a follower of Christ who ministers and show love to their neighbour! What a heart that she has!
I got to know more about the daughters through doing street ministry with them. We would walk on the streets saying hello to the citizens of the town, asking them if there is anything we can pray for them, and inviting them to come to Sunday service. Through this ministry and the times we had during services, I got to see the hearts of these 3 daughters. They were a beautiful reflection of their mom. How much they love God and pursue Him. This was a family that was serious about each other and God. The 3 daughters and the mom would get up at 5am every morning to pray together. Wow. 5am, every day. That is dedication, that is love.
On the last day, when we went over for breakfast and shower, Alejandra shared her deepest struggle in the hardships she was going through. For all the difficulties that comes with extended family and relationships. I felt so strongly for her. We were all weeping, mourning, carrying each others burden. But it didn’t stop there. It led to prayer. Heartful prayer for one another, calling on God to lift up our families. Alejandra said this was the first time out of all the missionary that have come by that she felt we were family. It wasn’t just her who was feeling this, but each one of us too felt this.
I believe the Holy Spirit appointed us to meet this family, and make us one. It was the first time that our hearts broke deeply when we had to say good bye after the 3 days. Everyone was weeping. Who knew I would be walking away from Colombia and finding new addition to my family! I now know that as Brothers and Sisters in Christ, our God in heaven, we have family around the world.
