Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Boom, Roasted.

Hola everyone!

It has been so long since I have written that I do not even know where to begin.
We have been to two carribean islands which were both good and different in their own way. We are currently back in Cartagena, and I am very glad to be back in the city.
Our plans have changed slightly since I last updated you guys. The Baranquilla team is now going to Baranquilla this weekend, and only spending three days there. Instead of going to Baranquilla for a month, we are going to Santa Marta for a week and a half, and we will be spending more time in Cartagena.

Our ministry time has been really great. Our team is usually on the same page, and we work well together. Most of our ministry has been working with children and doing street performing. We have all been looking for ways of us to bless the people we are staying with, and ways to encourage the missionaries that are here for the long haul. The food here is awesome. The people in colombia really spoil us ¨Gringos¨. We have been able to go to some amazing beaches in our down time, and we were all really sunburned for awhile. I think our hosts felt sorry for us because we were so miserable after one paticular day at the beach.

Although this trip has not been easy, God has really been teaching me a lot. He has been teaching me about a daily and real sacrifice of my life, about a daily diving into his word, about a daily surrender to HIS will, and a daily choice to have a good attitude and a remembering of why I am here. I have come to admire and respect the missionaries that are here forever. They have such a heart for hurting and lost people that they are willing to give everything. Giving everything always sounds good on paper, and even to say out loud, but when it comes down to real life, it is much more difficult. I keep asking myself if I have what it takes to do this; to be a missionary for the rest of my life. To sacrifice being close to my family, my southern culture, the USA comfort, my time, and my desires. I have wrestled with this thought for awhile, and I always seem to come back to the same simple solution: What I have witnessed here in Colombia, and what I now know about the character of God, I cannot turn my back on. So, whatever God has me do, whether that is returning to college and living in the States, or whether that is living in the jungle for the rest of my life...I will do it, because I refuse to settle for second best when it comes to my relationship with God. I want whatever God wants.

Adios Amigos!! Until I write again!!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Our Time Is Short

Hola from Colombia!

Sorry It has been so long since my last post; we have been super busy.
Colombia is amazing!
When we first stepped off the airplane onto Colombian soil I was immediately soaked from my own sweat. We drove about thirty minutes to the YWAM base, ate lunch, and had a short meeting. I´m not going to lie, I was pretty miserable. I was missing the Salem base, I felt like I had the flu, I had been use to weather of around sixty degrees, and I didn´t understand a lot of what was going on. I am pretty sure that my team mates were feeling a lot of the same feelings from looking at them.
My room is shared with four other girls and is possibly the hottest room in the house. Every night I wake up three or four times to go splash cold water on my face. Also, I share my bed with tiny black ants that thankfully do not bite...yet. The food here is delicious. We have been most blessed to only have a couple girls get sick from it. God has really been looking out for me because I have been doing great with the food.
Our ministry consist of the same sort of work every day. We go out in the mornings and perform a program for people around the town, and pray for them, and in the afternoon that is usually repeated. The heat is sometimes hard to handle, but it is definitely bareable. There is a cool breeze sent from heaven pretty consistently which makes the muggy air feel much better.
The people here are so accepting and excited to have us here... Many of them are giving me spanish lessons at night after we are done working.
Next week we will be going to the Island of Bocachica, so I most likely will not be able to get on the internet, or the week after that because we will be going to another village. I am really excited to see what God is going to do, and I thank each and everyone of you who is praying for our team. Please continue to do so! It is greatly needed!
I´m sorry if this is all in very bad or simple grammar, as a result of always having to speak in spanish my english has become really slow. I mean, not to say I am fluent in spanish by any means...it is just that my mind is slow right now.
I love you all and I miss you!
God bless.