Cold Showers and Evangelism.
Both are staples of our lives here in Colombia, and both get easier with time.
It’s been 3 weeks since we arrived here in Colombia. Some things are about as I had expected: the sun is hotter, the language is different and the landscape is breathtaking. Other aspects, however, have differed vastly from my expectations. The ministry work, the culture and the impact that Colombia has had on me has blown me away.
The ministry we’re with for the month, Ciudad de Refugio, is absolutely incredible. From their self sustaining building and micro-businesses to their evangelical outreach in the community, they pass every test with flying colors. Their focus is around homeless ministry and rehab for addicts, but what they do is so much more than that. Together, we’ve scoured the streets of Medellin inviting kids to VBS, teens and adults to our Friday night worship sessions and church, and even homeless and addicts to become part of the recovery program here. Not to mention the presentation we were able to give to kids at a local high school and the church services they hold on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
This just scratches the surface. I won’t bombard you all with every detail, but I wanted to touch on the highlights of this month thus far.
Agua Panela y Pan
No only is agua panela (put simply, sugar water) a staple of Colombia, and the Antioquia region specifically, but it is our foot in the door for homeless ministry. Every Wednesday and Thursday, a group of us goes to two different areas of Medellin that are consumed with homelessness and drug addiction. We bring agua panela y pan (sugar water and bread) with us and hand it out to those in need. It’s difficult for me to explain the experiences, but I will try my best.
As we drive up on Wednesdays to the center of Medellin, there are hundreds of using drug addicts and homeless individuals crowded together in a block or two. Both sides of the street are filled with hundreds of men and women. Most are smoking crack, drinking alcohol or smoking weed. The women and transvestites are prostituting themselves and a few people have stands set up where they are selling the aforementioned drugs to benefit from the addicted persons. I have never seen a sight as heart stopping as this. As we walk through the crowds of people sitting on the ground using drugs, we look to find those coherent enough to speak to- most aren’t. We inform them that at the end of the block, just a few dozen yards away, we are giving away agua panela y pan. Some run there, some ignore us and others just want to use this invitation as an opportunity to talk with us. We pray over them with translators if they accept, we tell them about the recovery program and most importantly, we listen.
The stories that we hear break my heart every time I think about it. These people have been hurt so many times to the point where all they can do is numb themselves to their tortured emotions. That’s how they end up here.
The return on this activity seems low from a tangible perspective. No one comes back with us, few people come to the program the next day, and no one has given up drugs while we’re there to my knowledge.
However, there have been many people to receive salvation. There have been many people that have heard the story of Pastor Douglas and the Ciudad de Refugio multiple times. There have been many people that end up at the ministry seeking freedom from their addictions later down the road.
The way it’s described at the ministry is that we are drops of water on rocks. You never know where each drop is going to go on their hardened hearts.
I wish I could show pictures of this or explain it better but I’m unable to. The smell and sight alone is enough to make you fall to your knees. Smoke and uncleanliness pierces our nostrils the second we step out of the van. What we hear from them, downright breaks our hearts. It’s tough, but there hasn’t been anything more PERSONALLY rewarding that we’ve done than the agua panela outreach. These people need love and we do our best to show them and love the least of us, just as Jesus did (Matthew 25:40).
Manantiales
Second in significance for me, was our time at Manantiales. As many of you saw on my Facebook page, I was able to spend 2 days in a “0” neighborhood. Neighborhoods are government ranked from 0-6 in Colombia, with 0 being the poorest of the poor and 6 being the wealthiest. Different groups of us were able to spend 2 days each in these neighborhoods, as well as an additional Saturday.
For background: these neighborhoods are run by a few bad hombres at the top. Police are not allowed to come unless they’re called by them, or they will die. People have to ask these guys permission before they rob others, or they will die. We are not allowed to go unless our organization asks permission, or we would die.
Manantiales is a subsidiary of Ciudad de Refugio. They are a beacon of light in a very, very dark community. They have a children’s program that has a few hundred attendees every week. These families receive food, supplies and support from the organization for sending their kids to this program. However, these neighborhoods are made up of wooden and tin shacks compressed together along the side of a mountain. Most is inaccessible by vehicle. We hiked, with an average of 60 lbs on our backs throughout these neighborhoods to provide the supplies to these families. For hours, we baked in the hot Colombian sun and went door to door speaking with these families, making sure their kids would be attending the program the next day and most importantly, delivering them the supplies they needed. It was a humbling experience. The buildings that these people lived in pale in comparison to most Americans’ sheds. Our lawn mowers and weed eaters live in nicer conditions than these families.
The next day we taught the kids. They were broken up into age groups and I had the opportunity of assisting with the very rambunctious 10-12 year olds. These kids are rebellious in nature due to their life conditions, but we were able to keep them involved and educated. Manantiales does a fantastic job with some fantastic people. We taught the kids the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish (Matthew 14:13-21) with activities, a lesson and reflection time at the end. We do many VBS days each week at the Foundation, but this was by far the most amount of kids I have experienced so far.
Our incredible squad mentor Teresa was able to bring two adolescents to Christ, and I was fortunate enough to have been a part of a boy named Daniel’s, salvation. He was 14. I shared my testimony with him, we discussed his life and at the end of the conversation he accepted Christ. He has been a part of the program for 3 years and had never considered accepting Jesus until Teresa began talking with him about it. It was a beautiful experience.
High School Presentation
The third and final activity I’ll quickly highlight was our presentation to a local high school. Our leadership team and squad-mate, Michael, prayed and worked their way into a local High School’s principal’s office and convinced her to let us speak to a dozen or so classrooms for 2 hours. That is a story in and of itself. We spoke about the World Race, Ciudad de Refugio, the Power of Words, Identity, Future, and Prevention. I had the privilege to speak on our Identities in Christ to a classroom of 11th graders. The most miraculous part of it all, for me, was that a group of the students from my classroom came to our worship night at The Foundation that night, the youth program the next day AND church on Sunday.
Seeing the fruit of our labor doesn’t always happen, but when it does it is one of the most rewarding experiences. Two of the students that came even accepted Jesus and a few others actually got up and sang for us. It was a beautiful experience.
~Side note- one of the girls from the high school asked if she could sing a song in English if we promised not to laugh. It was “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra. As a big Frank guy myself, that was the coolest singular experience to date.~
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It’s not easy what is being done here. Our squad sleeps on the ground every night, showers without any type of warm water, works from 8:30 am-8 pm almost every night and takes part in dozens of activities that take us out of our comfort zones. From knocking on doors for hours a day sharing about the ministry, to VBS, to the activities mentioned above and everything in between, we are doing our best to live our lives for our Father in heaven and spread the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ with the power of The Holy Spirit. I know I personally have already been dramatically affected by those I’ve been able to influence, and it’s only the beginning of week 4. It has been an absolute honor serving next to my squad mates and doing the Lord’s work. I can’t wait for what is in store for us each and every day for the next 10 months.
We leave Medellin on Feb 8 to head to Ecuador where we will break up into teams all over the country. My team has the privilege of working with Inca Link in PortoViejo for month 2.
Thank you all for your prayers and for keeping along through this incredible journey.
See below for a few of the photos taken on the trip thus far. For those unsubscribed to my blog PLEASE follow me by clicking here.
Thanks and God Bless
