We have been in Colombia for over a week now. We are working with kids in a very poor area in Cartagena, teaching them English but also helping build onto the Youth Center. We have been learning what it looks like for our team to encourage one another, call each other into greatness, but the biggest thing we are working on is flexibility. The area we are in is not safe for us to walk down the street to get our food or water, we have to ask our host family to come with us. Figuring out our budget and trying to buy food for eight people is different, but it has worked out. Our team has enjoyed learning to cook in our very small kitchen and learning local foods to prepare. We have been so blessed by the host family in showing us what to buy and to prepare special Colombian meals for us.
We have had opportunities to hang out with the kids on the street in front of our ministry. We are able to hang right outside the Youth Center to play and talk to the kids. The other night there were about 15 kids just hanging out with us until 9pm, which is not late for most. The area we are staying in has been influenced by drugs and gangs. Our Host and ministry partner, Alex Rocha, when he was younger, used to be involved with gangs and drugs. Since He came to know Christ as Savior, His life has completely changed. He decided to open His own youth center and to encourage the kids in the area to learn English and have church for the kids. So far we have just seen a glimpse of what the Rocha family does to maintain the youth center.
Where we are staying is a very rough and dangerous area. At times, it is hard to see that, we see all these cute kids who want to play with us, yes they are not wearing shoes, and their clothes have holes in them, but dangerous? Alex has not been wanting us to just walk around because he knows and sees how dangerous it is. The other day, we were just up the street from a bad fight, a life was lost. The sad thing is, that happens to be common. My team and I respect Alex for wanting to protect us and his family. I can’t understand the kids, but from what I’ve heard from others, they use adult language and are rough because that’s what they hear and see around them. It is a different culture, but also a rough way of living.
I am learning much in this first month to let go a schedule, agenda, plan. We have been working, but is hasn’t always been concrete. When we teach English, sometimes we are in charge of class, sometimes we aren’t. No one on our team has taught English, which at times can be comical. We are learning to push ourselves in new areas and to have fun with it. Or when we are done teaching English, a flood of kids from the street come to say hello and want us to carry them on our shoulders. When you do if for one, you do it for all. It has been a really sweet time when we get to build relationships with these kids down the street, even though I can only make out when they say their name, we are able to show the love of Jesus and be a friend. The culture here is interesting, babies ride on motorcycles, kids carry their siblings down the street late at night, music is blaring out at all times of the day from multiple homes, most people just hang out their homes, trash is everywhere and people call us Gringos ( a white person ).
I tend to want to capture amazing photos, I haven’t had the opportunity to take much pictures, I don’t want my phone to get stolen, don’t want me camera to be visible, but i want to share with how my experience has been. I have to limit what I take pictures of. We have an “adventure” day every week to see what’s around us, enjoy local things, but also to still be aware of the need of Jesus. My vision for this year is to not post all these amazing pictures of us enjoying our adventure days, but for everyone who is following this blog to understand what ministry we have been apart of and to glimpse into what we have experienced.
Austin and I will be both posting on what we experience, make sure you read both. Even though we are both doing this together, our experiences and what we learn will be different.
