Last Saturday was a day I hope I never forget. It was my teams first full day with our ministry hosts, Pastor William and his wife Christina. God led us to places I never thought I would go and showed us things I never thought I would see.
My alarm was set for 7:30 A.M. moments before it went off I woke to a rooster’s crow. I took a moment to take in the beautiful view from my window overlooking all of Medellin and to thank God that he had brought me here. Around 8:00 A.M., breakfast was served by Christina, a simple but delicious meal of pork sausage, tortillas, and fresh squeezed juice.
During launch a former racer told us that we would need to prioritize serving our hosts and honoring the work they are doing in their communities. He said this would require us to be flexible in the coming year. He jokingly shared with us how one month his team was asked to be a “drama team.” “That won’t be me,” I thought.
9:00 A.M.: My team met up with some of the young adults from the church to practice a skit that they are planning on having us perform for everyone in the neighborhood. Even with the warning from the former racer, I managed to amaze even myself with how quickly I put my foot in my mouth. The night before when our host William asked if we had any acting experience, I jokingly told him that I played the lead in my second grade play. Somehow that was translated into, “I went to school for theater.”
12:00 P.M.: Lunch is served. Christina served us a hearty potato soup with a side of rice, fried plantains, and chicharron (deep fried pork) all meant to be incorporated into the soup. Delicious! Food is different here in Colombia than I was expecting and much different than the United States. Breakfast and dinner tend to be small and so far have consisted of an arepa (thick corn tortilla) and a small amount of meat or eggs, while lunch is the largest meal of the day. What has surprised me the most is the lack of heat in Columbian food and the lack of produce. I had always just assumed that everyone south of the U.S. embraced chilies, but that really isn’t the case here. I’m also amazed that with a climate so hospitable to growing fruits and vegetables, they don’t eat more of them. Street vendors sell avocados 3 for 1,500 pesos which is just a little over 50 cents in the U.S. but that is still more expensive than the rice, beans, and potatoes that make up the base for most of their meals.
1:00 P.M.: Off to the radio station. That’s right, the radio station! When a local D.J. and friend of Pastor William, Monica, heard that he would be hosting a group of missionaries from the U.S., she saw it as an answer to prayer. She invited us to come to the station for a thirty minute segment to briefly share our testimonies and answer a few questions about why we have come to Columbia and how we have found our salvation in Jesus. Monica’s radio show is able to be heard in close to 6 million homes in the Medellin area and is also available on line in the U.S. and Canada. We have no way of knowing exactly how many people were reached that day but I know the Lord was present.
3:00 P.M.: Time for some bus ministry. Most of us were told as children not to talk to strangers. Kid’s, that’s pretty solid advice, so listen to your parents. For adults however, that’s pretty terrible advice. Talking to strangers is one of my favorite things and something I am looking forward to doing on a daily basis over the next eleven months. Every person you encounter is unique and every person has their own story. You never know what you can learn from someone, and you never know what they can learn from you until you start a conversation. I have to admit I was still a little nervous when I was asked to stand and share my testimony with a bus full of strangers. None of them spoke our language, they were already giving us funny looks, and though I love talking to strangers, the idea of sharing something as personal as my testimony with them was still pretty new to me. Thankfully two of my teammates are fluent in Spanish and were able to translate as we all stood up one by one and shared how God had brought us here. To my surprise the reception was incredibly warm. Some asked questions; others asked for prayer, and they were all interested in why these six strange Americans were on their bus.
4:00 P.M.: Time for a little community outreach. We met up with another local Pastor, Diego and his wife Olga. They asked us to walk with them through the neighborhood where their church is to meet the neighbors. Columbia works off a class system. Areas and the people that live in them are ranked on a scale of 1 to 6, with 1 being the poorest of the poor and 6 being the wealthiest areas. The 1 and the 2 areas far outnumber the others, and there is only one 6 area where the cities wealthiest residents live. Rank determines how much the residents pay for taxes, utilities, and tuition. The area around the church is either a 1 or a 2 and is filled with government subsidized apartment buildings similar to the projects back in the states.
As we walked through the neighborhood, a group of children flocked to us. They were pretty excited to see Americans and more excited to find out we had candy. We shared with them why we had come to Columbia and shared how God had been working in our lives. Many of them had heard of Jesus, but I don’t think that any of them really had a relationship with Him. The look of awe on their faces when we told them that they could speak to Him through prayer told the story.
As we continued our walk through the neighborhood we came across a woman sitting in her open window on the first floor of an apartment building. She seemed excited to see Diego but was a little apprehensive of the rest of us. She shared that she was suffering from diabetes and a number of other health issues. The doctors have been struggling to ease her pain as her condition continues worsen. She is now completely blind in one eye. When we arrived at her window her eye was a deep shade of red and was causing her a great amount of pain. Diego told her why we had come to Columbia and asked if we could pray healing on her eye. As a team we prayed over this woman three times. Though God did not use us to restore her sight that day, right in front of us her eye cleared up to a light shade of pink and her pain had subsided. It was incredible to be in that place where I believe God performed a miracle. God answers prayers in his own time and in his own way. I know that He was with us that day in that moment, and I have faith that he will continue to heal this woman.
6:00 P.M.: We began our walk home. There aren’t many traditional bus stops here in Medellin. You typically find a street corner on the bus route and try to flag down the bus that is going wherever you are headed. Not having much luck we began to walk up the hill towards Pastor William’s home where we are staying. We soon came upon a park where the local drug addicts hang out. Most of the people in this area are afraid to go into the park. William felt lead that we should go into this park, where most of the locals dare not go to minister, and share our testimonies. The addicts hang out from sun up to sun down and rely on petty crime to feed their addiction. Many of the men in this park have been struggling with addiction for most of their lives. Some of them now in their late thirties or early forties have been using drugs since the age of 8 years old. As a community, Medellin has given up on these men and they have very little hope that there is a life outside of this. Being men and women of God, we know that Jesus would not give up on these men, so we didn’t either. Through God all things are possible, so we will not abandon hope.
I think the men in the park were a little confused to see our group of two local Pastors, their wives, a few members of their congregations, and six strange Americans strolling in. We quickly drew a crowd and were surrounded by about thirty addicts. We welcomed them into our circle and began to share with them our testimonies. Many of them had questions for us about our own struggles with substance abuse and other vices. We spent close to an hour sharing with them and answering questions. Towards the end we prayed over each of the men. One of them, a 15 year old boy named Kevin even asked to receive Jesus into his heart.
7:30 P.M.: We arrived back at William and Christina’s home where she prepared us a small meal of pork sausage, crispy potato strings, and melted cheese all stacked on an arepa. We spent the next few hours as a team reflecting on our day and thanking God for allowing us to be a part of it. Our first day with our ministry hosts was absolutely incredible. So much happened within that first day, God put us straight to work spreading His love and sharing his word. It’s exciting to think that this is just the beginning of our Race and the beginning of living a life on mission.
