An update on ministry in Medellin, Colombia.
I am part of a team that has been working at a private Christian school one day a week. The school is located in a poor neighborhood known for drug wars. The students who attend are sponsored by people from Colombia and all over the world. Last week we cleaned the school inside and out to prepare for the students returning from winter break. We will be working with the kids this week and next. Spiritual warfare is a concern for this ministry. When we got to the school, the first thing we were told was, “Don’t step in the blood.” This neighborhood experiences a lot of vandalism, including throwing blood on buildings. The first thing the workers at the school had my team do was disburse around the school and pray for each area.
I want to share about another awesome ministry I was blessed to partner with last week. The second largest displacement camp in Colombia is about a 25-minute drive from our ministry host site. Colombia is the top country in the world for internally displaced people. This means that people living in one part of Colombia had to flee to a different part to avoid war, violence, etc. This village is a 0 on the Colombian poverty scale, which runs from 0 to 6. We drove up the mountain and were dropped off at the entrance to the village. From there we walked to the compound run by our ministry host. From the top of the mountain, you have a beautiful view of Medellin. We filled our backpacks with food and were led by our Colombian missionaries from house to house through the village to distribute food. The houses are made of every material you could think of, and the roads are rough and unpaved. Trash and waste are everywhere. The village is on a steep mountainside, so it was challenging to walk up and down for hours with a heavy backpack. We played and talked with children along the way. We invited the children to a program that the church puts on every Saturday. In this village, there are men who are in charge and watching. Nothing happens without their consent. Many children in this area are victims of abuse, including sexual abuse. We stayed overnight at the compound. The next day some of us went throughout the village, rounding up children. About 400-500 kids attended the program. We sang worship songs and then split up by age groups for games and crafts. At the end the kids were fed lunch. It was heartbreaking how one boy kept begging for more food, and another ate scraps left behind by other kids. I felt blessed to be able to serve the physical and spiritual needs of these kids and their families.
We have a unique opportunity coming up this week. Our squad leaders and ministry coordinator arranged an opportunity for our squad to visit a local public school. We will be teaching classes about words, identity, sex and substance abuse prevention, and setting goals to achieve your dreams. There are over 300 kids in the school, and they are ages 10-16. My role will be intercessory prayer, which I have been learning so much about the past three weeks. We have been given permission by the principal to pray with the kids too. I am excited to see what God does with this opportunity, including the possibility of a future partnership between the school and the foundation.
Recklessly love and be loved,
Em
