More Ministry and Fun in Colombia

Hey everyone! Well, it´s about that time to move locations again. So, tomorrow morning we will head out to do ministry at a finca (farm) for boys, and then move to our next location in the evening. This time we will be staying at the YWAM Medellin base.

Ministry last week continued to be great, though I was out of commission all day Saturday with the 24 hour stomach bug that has seemed to plague three-fourths of the team. Even though I would have rather been doing ministry, I really feel like God had other plans for me for that day. I did a lot of praying for the team while they were gone, and for those sharing their testimonies. I have learned that sometimes your ministry for the day is just to pray for your team members.

This week we have done ministry in the neighborhood of the Bible College dorm, where we are staying, and some of the girls on our team were able to go to a girls´home and minister to eight girls, ages 10 - 14, who had either been living on the street or were prostitutes and had been rescued from that. I was one of the few that were not able to go, but the ones that did said it was so heart-breaking to hear the stories of girls who had started prostitution at the age of 6.

As far as cultural things go.....the Colombians don´t see white people (otherwise known to them as gringos) very often, so everywhere we go people stare and us, and even ask to take a picture with us! It was really funny at first when people would approach us and ask us to take a photograph for them, and just when you thought you were going to use their camera to take the picture of them, they put their arm around you and someone snaps the picture. I am sure in some of those first pictures many of us have the weirdest expressions on our faces, but now we just have fun with it. Driving here is crazy, and we definitely pray while travelling all the time. The best way to describe the driving is a cross between Atlanta rush hour traffic with New York City driving, all at the speed of the German Autobon. I really do not understand how there have not been more accidents here (we have only seen 1 fender-bender). It is crazy to the point that people will pass in a no passing zone on a curve of a mountain road when they can´t see around the corner. We have been lucky to have some great bus drivers, who drive defensively, and just make some smart decisions.

And while I may not be proficient in speaking Spanish yet, or even understanding it, I have definitely been immersed in it. It makes me laugh when people here ask you if you speak Spanish and you say no, so then they continue to talk to you in Spanish anyway. I may not fully understand, but I am able to pick up a few words that they say, so I am enjoying that. Plus I think they think I am funny too when I speak to them in English. But, I can tell you that I have learned very quickly how to order ice cream in Spanish - no problems there in saying that one!

Well, I hate to close, but I need to for now. I will update again as soon as I can based on internet availabilty at the YWAM base or an internet cafe. In the meantime, our team prayer requests are below.

Prayer Requests:
* Health - the stomach bug is still affecting our team
* Injuries - we have had a few random injuries (Joe injured his thumb during team game time one night, then fell off a seesaw at park ministry and cut up his arm - yeah, he keeps me busy with the First Aid job I am responsible for)
* Continued team unity
* Continued safe travel

Please feel free to email me any prayer requests you may have, as I am praying for each of you. Thank you for continuing to read my blog and your support of me. I pray that God may bless you for your faithfulness.