Colombia:
This month has been good and it has been hard but I am sure I will look back over my time and be able to say that about every month.
This month we lived in Medellin, Colombia at a homeless shelter and rehab program. This facility offers a lot of progams to help the surrounding community. This is a brief overview of some of the programs offered at Ciugad Refugio.
Church: Wednesday night, Saturday night (just for the homeless), Sunday morning
Homeschool: program is offered to children who can not attend school so that they can receive an education.
Men and Women Drug Rehab Program: a intense program to help people overcome drugs and find Jesus.
Homeless Shelter for Men: men from the street can come and stay get some food and sleep for the night. Men must come in clean and their first month is free. After the first month they pay a little to help offset the cost.
Manantieles Program: Saturday morning (is a Sunday School program for the youth and woman’s Bible study).
Nursing Home Ministry: Go visit and encourage the residents.
I have enjoyed ministry this month. I found it was hard to connect with people here because it was all squad month so we were all together and they had our teams rotate through helping with the different ministries instead of sticking with just a couple. My favorite things we did this month was the nursing home, delivering food sacks to families in Manantieles, and help in the kitchen.
So this month has also been hard after being here around 4 or 5 days my asthma flared up due to where I was living and because it took awhile to get the right inhaler I was in pain and could not talk well for about a week afterwords. As I am getting over that I started having problems with my stomach and went almost a week with that before I finally talked to my Dr and got something to treat it. I have also had more down time than used to in life (I am used to like a day or half a day a week). And we get at least 4hr. a day at this ministry plus our Sabath day (since we work on Sunday) and a day to go exploring. Don’t get me wrong down time is good I just not used to so much in my life. I also struggle with the language and can not communicate well. So for the first time in my life I have been really struggling with homesickness. I mentioned this in a message to a friend the other day. They responded with truth that was so encouraging to me. It like it something you like know or like maybe have heard and it is somewhere in your head but not something you are thinking about currently….so the reminders of truth are so precious. She told me to pray harder in those moments and to remember that God is my Father and wherever He is that is home. That was such a comfort and peace to my soul. Yes I have left my friends, family, coworkers, church, pets, etc to minister oversee for a year. And as hard as that is because I miss my familiar life it was such a comfort to read those words “God is my Father and wherever He is that is home”. You see I knew in my head that God is everywhere all the time. So I knew He was here but the part “that wherever He is is home”. That was a like huge weight lifted and I felt so much peace. You see I love serving and helping people that is my heart, a passion, and a love of mine. But with the language barrier (and here they are not as nice to one not knowing their language as they are in Haiti). That I have felt like I have not been able to serve or minister the way I like to. Even though I might not be able to minister the way I am used to it is ok as long as I do not lose focus of who I truly want to live and serve with my life. He will break down the barriers and allow people to experience Him and His love through me as I rest and lean on Him to give me strength to let my light shine for him to His children. It was also so comforting to read those words “that wherever He is that is home”. Because I have felt so far from my physical home. I have felt like a foreigner here and like I do not belong. But the truth is none of us who believe are foreigners to God. We are all His dearly loved children – related – brothers and sisters in Christ. So here it may feel like it is not home because it not like my physical home I am used to with all of my favorite people. But the truth is it is home because Christ is in me, I am His Child, and I want to live for Him. And the people here wether they know my Father in heaven or not are still His children and He wants them to grow or come to know Him personally. So each month wherever I am, I am home because I am ministering to people who may know or not know my Father but they are created in His image and loved by Him just as I am.
