Hey family and friends! Well it’s only been 5 days and the Lord has been so good! Let’s get the formalities out the way lol…
-I’m in Cartagena, Colombia working with a organization called Youth With A Mission (YWAM). They are in 180 countries.
-We do have beds to sleep this time around so we are embracing it with a grateful heart.
-Nothing beats a cold shower any day in Colombia.
-I think their fried fish may be a strong contender to my parents… It is delicious.
-Try walking 5-7 miles a day in the heat with 3 meals a day. Shedding the pounds away people.
-As must as I love smelling delightful bug spray and sunscreen has been my perfume while my Colombian friends smell soooo good. I think I compliment just about every other person that walks by me.
-Speaking of walking by me the men have no shame how beautiful they think you are. I think I’ve gotten more compliments in a day about how beautiful and natural I look than I have in a years time in America… But as we are walking home one night a guy walking pass me and whispers a sweet nothing in my ear. That was completely awkward lol.
-My Spanish is coming along. They told me “You learn quickly.” When you recognize that one of the youth is having a full conversation with you in Spanish and you’re staring back at them like a deer caught in headlights…you learn fast lol. If my Spanish professors ever read this… Thank you. Thank you very much!
-Many probably know I love dancing especially salsa even though I have no clue of the technicality of it. One of the ladies ask where I’m from and I give her a good Georgian hospitality smile and say Georgia! She says you dance like you can be Colombian. That might’ve been he best thing I heard all day lol.
-Lastly, a lot of people thought I was Colombian considering how one guy completely ignored introducing himself to me because he thought I was one of the girls that worked with YMAM. He was so apologetic.
This already looks like a lot to read so I’ll make it quick and to the point.
On our second day we went to clean up the canal that was filled with all kinds of trash and waste. Had quite the smell. Along with doing that we made lemonade for the locals that were walking by. As we are cleaning you recognize a mixture of a lot of confused and grateful faces. They become even more confused when you offer free lemonade to them lol. When they recognize its not a gimmick they open up and ask, “Why are you doing this?”
Are you ready?
We share our heart in wanting to just bless people, engage in conversation, and ask if they wanted prayer for anything. Some people stopped everything and wanted prayer right there with little care as to who saw it.
My squad mate Kelsey and I are talking about having faith in God healing people and as we are finishing up our conversation a guy walks up pulls his glasses off and points to his eyes while having a full conversation in Spanish and we have no clue what he is saying.(deer caught in headlights moment lol) Kelsey thinks he saying “we have the same blue eyes,” lol and the Holy Spirit quickly says his eyes are bad. He has cataracts and needs surgery. I share with Kelsey and ask him if he wanted prayer. He quickly agrees. Now I know my limits so we get one of our squad mates to interpret for us. He shares with Lila how his eyes are bad and he needs surgery to get them fixed. We pray healing for him. After prayer He told us as he was walking He asked the Lord for a blessing today and little did he know we were that blessing.
Who would’ve thought cleaning up a river and giving free lemonade out to the locals would open doors for God to answer prayers. They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I’d like to change it up a little bit and say when God sends people with lemons in their life, add a dose of sugared prayer and give them hope in that iced sweet lemonade is coming for them on a hot day.
My encouragement for you and I is that serving others isn’t rocket science. You never know what a simple gesture of love can do for someone. Don’t be so quick to ignore the person you walk by everyday or you sit next to at work every morning. Your one minute conversation could mean a lifetime of peace for them.
Go give people some of that sweet iced lemonade that only you can give! Iced water works too lol. I know with this Colombian heat and humidity any beverage would be heaven sent for me!
Until next time! Love you all! Stay tuned for videos and pictures coming soon!
P.S.A. We are still short of being fully funded. $7,000 away from that. Do you want to hear more stories like this? By September we have to raise $13,000 and I’m about $2,500 short of that! Share this with everyone you know! Thank you to all who have joined the journey. If you want to continue making monthly donations you are more than welcomed.
