Colombia
Last Full Day of Ministry Brings us to the Industrial Center of Antiochia
On our last full day in Colombia, Saturday, we traveled up the mountain towards the airport for a ministry opportunity in the town of Rionegro. The Medellin authorities, fearing that manufacturing would add to the already problematic pollution in the valley, have zoned this area as the manufacturing center for the city (especially since it is so close to the airport). It had none of the characteristics of an old-fashioned factory town. Instead, it was a modern, growing, and vital area with an odd mix of the typical Colombian buildings (stucco or brick with corrugated metal roofs cobbled together to … Continue reading
Read more »Friday Takes Mission Team Deep Into Colombia
On Friday, the team loaded up the bus for a trip to Hispania, a small village about 3 hours south of Medellin. The trip was a beautiful, but nauseating mountain drive through an almost alien landscape. We stopped for breakfast along the way at a rustic road-side restaurant and arrived in Hispania at about 10:00 am. We met Pastor Jairo who has worked as the only evangelical pastor in this farming town for 30 years. Our first stop was at the public school where Jairo’s wife was on the staff. We did our presentations before the assembled children and staff … Continue reading
Read more »Thursday a Day for Fun But Still a Time for Ministry
Thursday morning, the team awoke bright and early to pick up our YWAM leaders, two of the older boys from the home (Elias and Miguel) as well as the three boys that we have been reaching out to for the past two-and-a-half years (Oskar, Felipe, and Estevan) and go over the mountain to the same water park where we went last year. Because we had another ministry opportunity that night, we could only stay at the park for four hours so the team crammed in all the fun they possibly could (wearing themselves out in the process). We then got … Continue reading
Read more »Wednesday Spent Visiting Public Schools
After the success we had last year in visiting a public school, we requested an opportunity to do this again and we were NOT disappointed. On Wednesday morning, the entire team visited a school near the YWAM orphan home. We gave our presentations to hundreds of kids and their teachers. This was the first opportunity for some of our students to present their testimonies outside of the “friendly” confines of the orphan home. Amanda, Kayla, and Ben each did a great job. As usual, when we were done, the kids of the school mobbed the members of our team (they … Continue reading
Read more »Tuesday Spent Hanging with the YWAM Orphans and Engaging in Gospel Conversations
One of the regrets we had from last year’s trip was that we didn’t get an opportunity to spend more one-on-one time with the orphans. So this year, we deliberately scheduled an entire day to play and interact with the children. Because of the schools being in double sessions, we had different kids in the morning than in the afternoon. In the morning, we had several of the older boys with us who wanted to play sports so we split up with part of the team playing soccer and basketball with the older boys and the other part of the … Continue reading
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