My first week and a half of being out on the field with my Team Zeal was quite an adventure. The 5 of us left Training Camp in Medellin, Colombia on bus to head to Cali, Colombia. By the way… it was a super super long and nauseating road but the view through the mountains was incredible. Our team prayed and asked the Lord where to go but we didn’t really hear much. So we then looked at lodging within our budget knowing God has called us having the freedom to choose and Cali seemed the best place for us. Off we went to Cali. A group of 3 girls and 2 guys.
Cali, Colombia was a great experience for my team and I. It was our first week together so that naturally came with it’s bumps in the road. Figuring out each other and the team dynamic began from the first moment on the bus together. Sure, we had all of Training Camp but there were always 15 other people around. Being in this new small group was different. Naturally as humans we slowly begin to trust each other and start working together. Not only that, my team is the only Co-Ed team which came with it’s other boundaries and dynamics. The amazing thing about this team though was the hunger for Jesus. Alex, Jesse, Akelea, and EQ came ready to grow and be changed by Jesus and for Jesus. This simply brought authenticity and vulnerability which allowed us to look differently than most humans. We trusted each other rather than having a guard of defense up. The hunger to see Jesus in our lives and others made a radical difference. That was one of the biggest things learned in this first week as a team. We learned how to share our testimony and life with others to forward the Kingdom of God. Sure.. it was hard and it was scary but there was freedom and empowerment found in the embrace of the Father. Our week in Cali was long.. slow.. but full. At first it seemed like nothing was happening or “God wasn’t showing up.” But two things we learned after looking back was that life is ministry and ministry is life. As well as, life is a marathon not a sprint. Originally we knew we wanted the first day or two to be relaxed but then it seemed to flow into the rest of the week. If we looked at each day in itself it could have looked lame and unproductive but after finishing the week we saw Life! The MORE of God. What we didn’t realize was that God was individually shaping us for Him and each other. We saw how, “wow… we actually had a lot of deep and real talks. We got to know each other and God deeper.” “We saw that we built strong relationships with the locals that took time but at the end there was fruit.” We learned that things are a process. Our days in Cali looked normal. We just figured out how to do daily life in the hostel we were at. We learned how to share a big room.. how to grocery shop.. how to cook.. how to have fun community time… how to have intentionally corporate worship in song, prayer and reading… how to build relationship with your neighbors.. how to figure out the little things in life… By going into each day ready for what God had allowed Him to orchestrate this wonderful and beautiful week. By the end of the week we saw that the hostal was impacted by us “Christians” we like to say, we follow Jesus. We built relationships with the workers and ended up encouraging them. We ended up praying against the demonic and evil that was in the hostal, believing the fruit of our prayers according to John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” We ended up sharing the gospel with other bunk-mates and shared a meal and exchanged contacts. We ended up playing board games with the locals and getting free ice cream which led us to Harry. Harry was one of the guys from the group we played games with and he ended up showing us around town for the next couple days. We shared meals with him, we shared soccer with him. We just simple built relationship with him but never preached the gospel with words even though he knew we were missionaries. On the last day we invited him for lunch and to do ministry with us. We went into town and gave water and bread to the poor and homeless. Long story short.. Harry on our final goodbyes said that he was changed and he wanted what we had. He always knew God in his mind and pray to him for his mother’s health and his but never really grew to know Jesus. He now experienced Jesus on a real and new way. He thanked us and asked us to stay in contact. We were all so encouraged by him. He is a great man. Super hospitable and fun. He was one of the treasures God had for us. Not only was relationship built with the locals, but Team Zeal became much closer to each other ready to live for all that Jesus has.
Looking back we saw how God was slowly building this beautiful picture of what it looks like for life to be ministry and ministry to be life. He showed us that daily life is a process. Colombia was great and much was learned. Jordan Harrington shared this about Colombia and I couldn’t have said it any better.
“Colombia has always had a reputation for drugs, poverty, and crime. Every time the small country had been mentioned, sentences followed along that said, “You must be careful. It’s dangerous.” Though this is true to some degree, my squad and I saw Colombia this month the way that God sees it: A country that carries a warm culture and welcomes many with open arms. Every time we’ve had to find lodging, the Lord showed up in some way through the gift of hospitality that the people of this country carries. We’ve been taken in by “strangers” and have been given food, housing, and long-lasting friendships. We would walk along the streets and somehow connections would arise; we’ve been told by people that we had come across that our home is theirs, even though we had only known them for a few minutes. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve seen the hard parts of Colombia, too. But the good trumps all else because God’s in it. This past month has showed me to run into the fire when God tells you to- no matter what has been spoken about the flames. That He will not only guide and protect us, but send us the sweetest memories along the way. In all, I’ve learned that Colombians aren’t afraid to be intentional with others and this, my friends, is what I will remember this country for. #worldrace #11n11”
We are now in Baños, Ecuador. Doing our first team de-brief for about 3 days with the full squad. Then we head out again in our smaller teams ready to live out life is ministry and ministry is life. 1 country down. 10 more to go!
Thank you guys for your support and prayers! I’m fully funded but there are still other team members who aren’t. Here’s the link to one of my teammates: alexgoad.theworldrace.org if you feel led to give to me I would highly encourage you to give to her or one of the other Squad mates which you can find on the left tab on my profile. Thank you guys so much!
