Day 1 - COLOMBIA

COLOMBIA..........that's right, I'm in Colombia. CRAZY!!! It's outreach time and my outreach for a month is in Cartagena, Colombia. Yesterday was our first day of ministry. It was quite an introduction to ministry. Was quite an example of how we are going to have to be super flexible. I want to write a quick story/conversation I had with a young girl yesterday. IT WAS AWESOME. For our ministry we were giving a program at a local school for the whole day. It was absolutely insane but fun (at times :) ). After our program we went around praying for the students. For one girl specifically, I sat down and started to ask if she had anything I could pray for. She was like, "nope". She basically was like, I don't believe in that stuff. I then asked her what was truth to her. A little confused, I asked, "is it in humans, is it in what you see...."....she nodded yes. Knowing I wasn't going to try and defend my faith....I turned towards her and said, "God has something to tell you, he wants to tell you that there is more....there is more to life. It says in the Bible, if we seek him we will find him. That's a promise. You can't make a decision off of information you don't know. You can't make a decision off of Christian because we make mistakes....we are human. You have to look at the truth...the Bible to make a decision." She was super attentive, slightly wide eyed that God had something to say to her. She then opened up about how her family had been hurt by a Jehovah witness. I was like, "GAHH...that makes me soo angry when I see people not living their faith...when their actions don't follow their words...I totally understand why you don't believe...I would feel the same." Upon getting on her level she super opened up and began to tell me about her family and how she started talking about her uncles funeral....she asked, "Can people be forgiven?"....that was a HUGE open door. We had an awesome conversation and it ended with her crying at the end with a big smile on her face. I got to speak truth into that she was special, unique, and God gave her specific gifts that only she had....he gave her those gifts because he wanted to use her in ways that He can ONLY use her. It was sooooo fun to be able to speak some truths into her and see her face change over the 20 minute conversation. She was a precious young girl. That was like my first legit fruitful conversation while here and it was such a blessing!! I just wanted to share that with all of you.....mind you...all of that convo was in Spanish, ha!!.....

OH...and I got to translate for the first time in front of group of kids. A girl told her testimony and I got to translate it...it was crazy fun!!

GUANACASTE - Bible distribution

Bible Distribution – the main purpose for coming to YWAM base in Guanacaste was to participate in the nation wide project of distributing bibles to every house in Costa Rica!! They will be the first nation to have a bible in every house. SOOOo…this was definitely a new process for me….never had I gone house to house delivering bibles and talking about Jesus to random people…WOW…it was a good challenge but it was super cool to see the reaction of the people. The Costa Rican people (the majority…a select few not) are so hospitable and friendly. Ya know, in the US…if someone were to walk up to your door you most likely would be like no thank you, give off my door step. However, sense we were GIFTING (free) a Bible…they would invite us in to their house for coffee, tea, bread, a full-on meal, or mangos. Generally we would start by introducing ourselves, giving them the bible, the reason why we are gifting them the bible, why a personal relationship with God is so important and how our personal testimony shows the power of it. Then we would ask for a specific prayer request and people would tell you their deepest needs…multiple people broke down in tears in front of you and many accepted Christ. It was definitely a sight to see and something special to be a part of. It was exciting to be bold about my faith and the hope I have in Christ. It helped to get past a fear of men and a fear of knowing the right things to say. A good growing time.

Beach – two days we went to the beach for our free days. The first day…four other girls and I decided to go horseback riding on the beach…gahhhh….sooo amazing. This has been my dream for a while and I DID IT! Always scary when getting onto the horses and your friend looks at you and asks, “So….how do you stop these things?”……nice. Another girl and I took off on our horses down the beach enjoying a nice gallop on the sand….however, the next day we definitely felt the consequences of that J. All worth the pain.

Mangos – basically….it was mango season and we ate LOTS of mangos…which might have possibly messed up some of our systems but totally worth it….they’re my favorite fruit!!

Countryside – what a blessing being in open air…AHH…I love the country. It was such a need transition. We could take walks, play soccer, go for runs and not be scared to be robbed, watch the sunset…..love me some country!!!

This is one of the drama's we do and we did this one after we played soccer with some local kids.

Sofi (on right) and I got to lead children's ministry on Sunday in Guanacaste....here are all our little kids. We did a skit of Elijah on the mountain (I was Elijah)...many songs, and art!!

PRECIOUS!

I LOVE THIS ONE!

Guanacaste was SUPER dry during this time and this is basically what it looked like during bible distribution.

MEETING!

Pretty country sunset

Church service

NIKO

I SURVIVED….also known as a SURVIVOR!!! OH man…you have no idea how slightly scared I was for this week. I can’t give huge details because I swore I wouldn’t say anything….but it was LONG, hard days AND nights. However, I can say that all my comforts were taken away and it’s meant to push you to the limit in order to see how you work in a team, your style of leadership, and how you act under pressure. The biggest lesson learned was fully relying on God throughout this process…it was just a huge giving up of all my rights and trusting that God is my provider and He can get me through whatever challenge. Large lesson!! It was kind of one of the big moments that I truly felt comforted knowing that my support team at home were sending up prayers for me. I am so blessed by each and every one of you.

This was our first night and part of the second :) sleeping arrangments...lots of roots and girls....

Another sleeping arrangment....much better than the first!!!

Part of our many hikes....I'm pretty sure the scenery rivaled with Avatar - all of NIKO was basically in the jungles on the Costa Rican and Panama border.

My team....Me, Sofi (Costa Rican), Kenna, Carly, Nicole (Canada), Jakob (Norway)...TEAM VELOCITY (super lame, I know)....we had a blast and we learned so much!! We worked really well together even though we ended up coming late into the night on hikes.