In we waltzed to the beautiful city of Cartagena, and were taken by storm. This city and its people captured so many of our hearts this month.
My team “Open Arms” was stationed with team “Tonka” for this past month and what a privilege it has been working with them and getting to know them better!
This month was, more than any other up to this point, one of relational ministry. The focus was simply pouring the love of Christ into children in the neighborhood of San Francisco, which of the 6 economic levels in Cartagena and 6 being the highest, is a 2. This privilege of pouring into these little lives was a little different each day some days it was playing futbol with them, other days it was teaching English classes, and still others we would just hangout with them. Due to rival gang activity we were told not to mention in certain places where we were living. Most of the children in these neighborhoods were at a very young age exposed the violence and corruption that drug trafficking brings. During the three weeks we lived in San Francisco there were 4 murders.
Having lost a close family member to violence or living with constant violence in their home. One boy we worked with had lost his father to murder and his grandfather to jail. One of the girls on our ministry team had a little girl ask if she would be her mother, saying that her mother didn’t love her. The hardest thing I experienced was hearing a young girl scream bloody murder several times a day almost every day. Being powerless to help her has made me stop and truly evaluate my belief in the power of prayer. Do I truly use it as the powerful weapon that it is to stand in the gap for those that can’t or don’t know how?
We also helped with a bible program on Sundays for the neighborhood children, and got to start another bible program on Tuesdays before we played futbol.
We were privileged to work with the Alex Rocha Foundation. Alex Rocha and his precious family really inspired me with their example of how a godly family can impact a whole community. They just simply love those in front of them, boldly displaying the love of Christ through their actions, words, and time.
We were also blessed to have two of the awesomest escorts, JJ and Smiley! They took us all over the San Francisco hood! Their joy was contagious, their raps were inspiring, and their dance moves were unmatched! Thanks guys!
This month a large portion of my ministry involvement was in gastric ministry (a.k.a. kitchen patrol), I partnered with 2 other members of the ministry team to feed our 10 other teammates and the Rocha family.
We also got to see some beautiful sites on our off days!
But the most beautiful thing we got to see on our off days was the baptism of my awesome teammate, Haley, in the Caribbean Ocean. What a day!
So, there’s our month in a nutshell, this month has flown by. It is so weird to say, “Goodbye for now South America, and Asia here we come!”
