We have arrived in Colombia! The World Race is officially underway, now. I can’t wait to see what all the Lord will show me over this next month here!
To start off, we met in Atlanta for launch. There, we spent a couple more days in sessions, going over some last minute details before leaving. On Monday, 1/7/19, we flew out. We had 2 really long travel days, but they really felt like a week. We hopped around several airports, getting anywhere from 0-4 hours of sleep per day. Even though they were long and made us a little stir-crazy, we did get to spend some good quality time with the Lord, catching up on the reading we fell behind on during launch.
Some of my squad mates had some really cool experiences praying for people on the streets during one of our layovers. One of them was my teammate, John. I honestly am so blown away by how the Lord is moving in his life already. He has grown so much in confidence and boldness. I can’t wait to see the Lord continue to grow this in his life.
We didn’t land in Colombia until Tuesday afternoon, 1/8/19. Immediately upon arrival, I was struck by the beautiful scenery around me. Truly, the plant life around me is BREATHTAKING. From the plane, we could see countless hills and valleys canvassed with an assortment of trees. The Lord’s creation really is stunning.
In order to get to our ministry location in Medellin, Colombia, we had to drive about 45 minutes. Now if you know me, you know I have a history of getting pretty car sick. This was no exception. I pulled my hair back with my WR buff and prayed for survival. Halfway through the trip, my squad leader Madison looked at me and asked if I was ok. I replied, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just need to stop a minute.” But I didn’t want them to make any special stops for me. Five minutes later, our brakes start to smoke (did I mention Columbia has lots of hills?) and we stopped to let them cool down, and I switched to the front seat. I guess Jesus was like, “Nope. You are important enough to stop for.” That was pretty cool to experience for sure. The drive wasn’t super fun for me, but I did realize that I love my hair buff in the process. Take a look:
When we got to City of Refuge (our ministry location), I was (again) struck by the beautiful imagery. I am not one for taking pictures, but just LOOK at this view. It’s so gorgeous that even a bad picture can be stunning.
Absolutely incredible. But the best was yet to come.
We started ministry on Wednesday. We split up in a variety of groups to help out with different ministries. For my group, most of the day was spent planning for the rest of the week, talking about what all to expect. This included playing with some of the children, prayer walks, and even church services. We even got to attend their church service later that night! And wow… Let me tell you! These people WOR. SHIP. They are such incredibly talented people, but they don’t even seem to get bogged down by that detail. They just love to belt out praises to the Lord. It was really inspiring.
After church on Wednesday, my squad split up into two teams: evangelists and intercessors. I was on the intercessor team (much to my excitement; you all know I love to pray for people)! We prayed with great boldness whatever the Lord was bringing to our mind. We prayed and spoke out scriptures to encourage one another with prayer. We even shared some stuff that the Lord had put on our hearts to pray for. As we were praying out on the terrace, it started to rain. This didn’t put a damper on our moods though (that pun was for you, Nick T! Haha); we continue to pray bold prayers. As it was raining, I felt the Lord reminding me that He was “watering the seeds.” I was pretty encouraged to know that the Lord was also speaking to my squad, encouraging them to pray through the rain as well.
When the evangelism team came back, they told us about how their night went. There was even a man who received healing when some of my squad mates prayed for him! I was encouraged and determined that I would be a part of the next evangelism team. And I had my chance the next night!
Thursday night came around and I was PUMPED. I know evangelism has never been something I was “good at,” so I was excited to grow and wanted to see the Lord move. On the walk down to the park, I was praying for our team and that we would encounter people that the Spirit led us to. As we marched on, the song “Hear the Roar” jumped into my head. Suddenly, I had chills. The words were so encouraging to my spirit (especially, “hear the sound of the enemy trembling…” I mean COME ON).
When we got there, we worshipped for a little bit before splitting up to talk to the locals. I kept looking for someone the Lord was highlighting to me, but nothing came up. I ended up eventually joining a group of people who had already started talking to a man who had stopped to hear us sing. As we talked to him, we asked him if he wanted to accept the Lord into his heart. He said yes, and we immediately laid our hands on him to start praying. My squad leader Madison and the translator with us started walking him through the prayer for salvation, and as he prayed, I felt like I needed to give the man a hug. That was really odd to me and I wasn’t sure if it would be ok to just randomly hug this stranger in this country, so I opted for the awkward side hug (lol). After the prayer, HE gave ME a hug (and only me, might I add. Coincidence? I think not)! And let me tell you, it was one of those really GOOD hugs that warms you from the inside. I was overjoyed and couldn’t believe that what I had on my heart eventually came to pass. I later found out that while we were evangelizing, one of the intercessors wrote in her journal that someone needed a hug (again, chills). She was led by the Holy Spirit and given a vision, which LITERALLY HAPPENED as she was writing it in her journal! Woah! I was FLOORED! We saw other people come to the Lord that day, and a few of them even made the decision to seek out a recovery program for their addictions! Glory to God! He MOVES, people!
It’s so crazy seeing how the Lord is working here! And it’s only Week 1! Can’t wait to see what happens next week!
In all things, be blessed!
AG
