I feel like the counseling school is something that should be require for life. These two weeks we have been looking at the walls we build in our heart, why, and how to build the “wall of salvation.” It’s such good information, but between all of the application in our notebooks and pastoral time it hits home too.
This school is wonderful! Last school was kind of stressful for all of the staff, but this is like a breath of fresh air for us. There are problems and many things to work on for sure, but it’s just like the house is filled with the presence of God, with safety for openness, and a desire to grow.
Today I was thinking about how blessed I am with the community I get to live in. I have some wonderful friends that are equally passionate about missions (although in different areas of society). There are the kinds you laugh with, cry with, and hold accountable. It made me think of the proverb, “If you walk with the wise you will grow wise.” The proverb doesn’t say don’t hang out with any one but wise. What it does say is “walk” with with wise, like spend your time and let yourself be influenced by the people who are walking in the same direction, the people who are on a path towards God. These are the people we grow with, learn with, we essentially walk with spiritually. Another reminder how God meant for us to live in community, and with good reason.
Story: Desteni and I had to go fix some paper work in DAS (where we go to register our visas and stuff like that). My temporary ID says I’m a male. But they had my real one ready! I was so excited, it feels like I’m official now. But as soon as the lady left the office I noticed the little, bold “M.” Out-loud I said, “Des! I’m still a man!” Then I realized that there were three English speaking men outside of the office, listening. Even in English I don’t communicate what I mean!
Chech out some new pictures from this summer.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Saturday, July 7, 2007
FARC
I have finally finished the first week in the counseling school. We have notebooks to do each week that take up all of our time. I think I used all of my creativity in the first week, who knows where my inspiration will come from next week? But it will be so good. We are having great classes about how people build walls of rebellion or rejection. I love the counseling school because the classes are great, but the school is set up so there is a lot of time to personally process all that you're learning. I'm so excited!
I need to update about the situation in Colombia. One of the biggest rebel groups is called the FARC. It claims to be "for the people" but it actually is a pretty violent group against the government. They kidnap many people, and the numbers are growing. Just recently 11 of 12 politicians that had been kidnapped about 5 years ago were killed. The FARC played it off saying that they were killed in a military attempt to rescue them, but, again, that they really are trying to protect the people. There was no military presence involved thought, these people were just outright murdered. In response to this, Thursday there were peace walks in all of the major cities in Colombia. People came out to pray carrying the Colombian flag to show the government and the world that FARC is violent and does not have the people's support. This group has done a lot of damage, there is not a person in Colombia that has not been personally affected, either in their own family or in the family of close friends. One of our neighbor's wife was kidnapped and they paid ransom for five years only to find out that they had killed her in the first month and continued to make money off her. Please continue to pray for this situation and wisdom for our government.
I need to update about the situation in Colombia. One of the biggest rebel groups is called the FARC. It claims to be "for the people" but it actually is a pretty violent group against the government. They kidnap many people, and the numbers are growing. Just recently 11 of 12 politicians that had been kidnapped about 5 years ago were killed. The FARC played it off saying that they were killed in a military attempt to rescue them, but, again, that they really are trying to protect the people. There was no military presence involved thought, these people were just outright murdered. In response to this, Thursday there were peace walks in all of the major cities in Colombia. People came out to pray carrying the Colombian flag to show the government and the world that FARC is violent and does not have the people's support. This group has done a lot of damage, there is not a person in Colombia that has not been personally affected, either in their own family or in the family of close friends. One of our neighbor's wife was kidnapped and they paid ransom for five years only to find out that they had killed her in the first month and continued to make money off her. Please continue to pray for this situation and wisdom for our government.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
At Home
I'm back in the states! My best friend got married last weekend... So now I have pretty pictures, funny memories of line dancing, and a lonely feeling. It's so good to be with family and have some time to rest but I think I'm getting tired of the resting part. It's good for a while but then I start to get lazy. Tomorrow I get to share at my church and my dad and I are going to team preach on Sunday, it's fun to be able to teach without a translator although it's kind of scary too. Having that other person standing by me is kind of like a security blanket. My family is going to back to Colombia with in a week for a visit which should mainly be fun, possibly a little challenging for them with the language. I’m so excited to share my world with them and to spend some more time talking and being goofy.
I'm really excited about the next semester. I'm doing the counseling school... which doesn't exactly teach you how to be a good counselor. We do have classes on family systems and counseling but most of the time is really spent crying... which I'm a pro at. In the three months we spend at the base, we learn about counseling by working through things in our own lives and healing, then we use the classes as well as the personal experience to teach and counsel on outreach. I think I’m ready for it even though I expect to be an emotional roller coaster some weeks.
Thank you for all of the prayers during outreach. It has been amazing to see how God has taken care of us in little and big ways. One thing’s for sure, we were never alone! But more than just being with us, God really empowered us with courage, creativity, opportunities, and unity that couldn’t have come from us. But even the little things we needed, like a mother’s hug when we were sick or money for medicine, God provided too. I guess that’s what makes the Christian life so exciting, you never know where or how you’ll see God, but you know it’s going to be something extravagant and perfect.
I'm really excited about the next semester. I'm doing the counseling school... which doesn't exactly teach you how to be a good counselor. We do have classes on family systems and counseling but most of the time is really spent crying... which I'm a pro at. In the three months we spend at the base, we learn about counseling by working through things in our own lives and healing, then we use the classes as well as the personal experience to teach and counsel on outreach. I think I’m ready for it even though I expect to be an emotional roller coaster some weeks.
Thank you for all of the prayers during outreach. It has been amazing to see how God has taken care of us in little and big ways. One thing’s for sure, we were never alone! But more than just being with us, God really empowered us with courage, creativity, opportunities, and unity that couldn’t have come from us. But even the little things we needed, like a mother’s hug when we were sick or money for medicine, God provided too. I guess that’s what makes the Christian life so exciting, you never know where or how you’ll see God, but you know it’s going to be something extravagant and perfect.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Ending of Outreach
My outreach is over. I got dengue and it all went down from there. Dengue is a mosquito transmitted disease that makes your blood really thin, gives you a fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and makes food disgusting. For more fun facts please refer to Desteni's site desteni.blogspot.com/ I was getting weak enough that I had to return to Medellin by airplane. That left one leader with four students, and then our last leader got dengue too. We must have been the sickest team in the history of YWAM Medellin! I'm getting better, I even ate some crackers and jello today. But please keep Lorena in your prayers because she is too sick to travel home just yet.
It has been pretty crushing to have to cancel our last church and come home early. Our students will finish the last week working in our houses for displaced kids and the leaders will rest and recuperate in the base. But even though the end was a downer, we loved our time on outreach. We did a lot more work than in my outreach. We did a variety of things: camps for the youth, mini-schools, classes for new Christians, VBS for the kids, started a town wide youth group with three different congregations, and lots of teaching. It was a wonderful time and I think we did some good things in places as well as saw our students grow up a lot.
The countdown until I'll be in the states has started! 6 days!!!!! And my best friend gets married in only 10! Life just keeps flying by!
It has been pretty crushing to have to cancel our last church and come home early. Our students will finish the last week working in our houses for displaced kids and the leaders will rest and recuperate in the base. But even though the end was a downer, we loved our time on outreach. We did a lot more work than in my outreach. We did a variety of things: camps for the youth, mini-schools, classes for new Christians, VBS for the kids, started a town wide youth group with three different congregations, and lots of teaching. It was a wonderful time and I think we did some good things in places as well as saw our students grow up a lot.
The countdown until I'll be in the states has started! 6 days!!!!! And my best friend gets married in only 10! Life just keeps flying by!
Monday, May 28, 2007
Crazy Leaders
Changes have happened in our team. Now Lorena, my best friend who is my age, and me are the team leaders! Our original leader, Desteni, got really sick from a misquito transmitted disease and had to return to Medellin. Another one of the students had malaria, and even though she got better it was too high a risk for her to go to the next location that is known for having malaria as well. So now we are a team of 5 people.
Lorena and I are so excited! God must have a lot of faith in us to let us be responsible for three weeks of outreach! It's going to be a good challenge for us. But we also need a lot of prayer so that we make good decisions and pastor our students well.
Last week and this week we have been in the same church. We are working with all age groups, but a lot with the youth. This week we're starting a city-wide youth group that the youth pastors of three different churches want to continue with after we leave. It's really exciting to start something that has so much potential and to get different churches working together!
God has been so faithful with us! Even though we've had some big challenges we've also really seen God do some cool things with us. One night we were suppose to have a church meeting, but we really didn't want to have it because Desteni was leaving and I was suppose to preach but hadn't practiced with the other girl who knows a bit of English. Maybe it wasn't the most missional minded thing to do, but we prayed for rain so that people wouldn't come and we would have more time to prepare. And it started raining, but then stopped and we were all frustrated and scrambling. Then it poured for a good two hours and only about 10 people came to the church, so we had a good time of worship and a devotional and that was all. God has been so good to give us rest when we need rest and strength when we need strength, creativity when we need creativity and always a lot of work for us to do. God is good.
Lorena and I are so excited! God must have a lot of faith in us to let us be responsible for three weeks of outreach! It's going to be a good challenge for us. But we also need a lot of prayer so that we make good decisions and pastor our students well.
Last week and this week we have been in the same church. We are working with all age groups, but a lot with the youth. This week we're starting a city-wide youth group that the youth pastors of three different churches want to continue with after we leave. It's really exciting to start something that has so much potential and to get different churches working together!
God has been so faithful with us! Even though we've had some big challenges we've also really seen God do some cool things with us. One night we were suppose to have a church meeting, but we really didn't want to have it because Desteni was leaving and I was suppose to preach but hadn't practiced with the other girl who knows a bit of English. Maybe it wasn't the most missional minded thing to do, but we prayed for rain so that people wouldn't come and we would have more time to prepare. And it started raining, but then stopped and we were all frustrated and scrambling. Then it poured for a good two hours and only about 10 people came to the church, so we had a good time of worship and a devotional and that was all. God has been so good to give us rest when we need rest and strength when we need strength, creativity when we need creativity and always a lot of work for us to do. God is good.
Monday, May 14, 2007
The Middle of Nowhere
First of all, praise God that we have had coffee! It seems funny, but it really was like a gift from heaven these last two weeks. And, Des and I discovered that everyone of our teammates likes coffee... why we we made to work together!
BRIGADE: Our time at the brigade went better than I could have dreamed. We had so much impact in that community the three days we were there, it was so hard to leave. My evangelism team worked with many people in the community and left a lot of youth who had made the decision to live for Christ. There is a young pastor there who is conintuing to disciple them. Members from our team also worked in physical therapy, counseling and worship and all were equally pleased with their results.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for protection for us! We were more than protected, our first day there the military and the police ask how we were doing. The police added a special watch so someone was on duty 24-7 where we were working and they even let us use the police station bathrooms so we could shower. God was really looking out for us!
CHURCH 1: Though the first week was wonderful it was even better to be united working together as our team. The first week we did a "mini-campo escuela" for the youth and the second week we worked with families. Again, there was a community-wide response in both youth and families. Time at this church was also a good stretching for Desteni and I. We were both adjusting to our new positions as leaders after being students the last semester. And we both had more speaking responsibilities than we've ever had before (me with the youth and her with counseling families). But now we can say we've personally seen that God is faithful to do more in us than we can do ourselves.
This place we were in, it really is the middle-of-nowhere, otherwise known as El Palmar in Cordoba,Colombia. In this place they peal their own rice, kill their own meat, and take big homemade hats and machettes with them when walking more than 5 minutes out of town. They have more mangos than you can imagine; there are even different kinds of mangos, if you didn't know: cow mangos, heart mangos, sandle mangos, ect. There is no running water and electricity is sporatic. Where we stayed had a dirt floor and we slept in hammocks. I learned to rope cows (although it's easier to aim at the 8-year-olds teaching us), milk a cow, and ride a horse. I called my mom for mother's day/dad for his birthday from a cell phone hooked up to an antena and repeatedly had to interrupt them to chase the pigs out of the house. It was the experience of a life time! I can't help but smile at the memories and thank God that I get to live a life of adventure, it's the best kind!
Right now we're in a "city" for two weeks. Our first week will be working a lot with youth. The second week we'll be with a church plant that has a lot of new Christians. Please continue to pray for unity in our team and that we will bless the churches and communities.
Everyone who has prayed for us, thank you so much! So far on outreach we have been in awe at how God has been answering our prayers with much more than we even ask. We prayed for protection and we had the military and police as personal body guards. We've even asked God for little things we miss, like coffee and salad, and gotten them not just once, but every day afterwards. Please keep praying because, trust me, God hears!
BRIGADE: Our time at the brigade went better than I could have dreamed. We had so much impact in that community the three days we were there, it was so hard to leave. My evangelism team worked with many people in the community and left a lot of youth who had made the decision to live for Christ. There is a young pastor there who is conintuing to disciple them. Members from our team also worked in physical therapy, counseling and worship and all were equally pleased with their results.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for protection for us! We were more than protected, our first day there the military and the police ask how we were doing. The police added a special watch so someone was on duty 24-7 where we were working and they even let us use the police station bathrooms so we could shower. God was really looking out for us!
CHURCH 1: Though the first week was wonderful it was even better to be united working together as our team. The first week we did a "mini-campo escuela" for the youth and the second week we worked with families. Again, there was a community-wide response in both youth and families. Time at this church was also a good stretching for Desteni and I. We were both adjusting to our new positions as leaders after being students the last semester. And we both had more speaking responsibilities than we've ever had before (me with the youth and her with counseling families). But now we can say we've personally seen that God is faithful to do more in us than we can do ourselves.
This place we were in, it really is the middle-of-nowhere, otherwise known as El Palmar in Cordoba,Colombia. In this place they peal their own rice, kill their own meat, and take big homemade hats and machettes with them when walking more than 5 minutes out of town. They have more mangos than you can imagine; there are even different kinds of mangos, if you didn't know: cow mangos, heart mangos, sandle mangos, ect. There is no running water and electricity is sporatic. Where we stayed had a dirt floor and we slept in hammocks. I learned to rope cows (although it's easier to aim at the 8-year-olds teaching us), milk a cow, and ride a horse. I called my mom for mother's day/dad for his birthday from a cell phone hooked up to an antena and repeatedly had to interrupt them to chase the pigs out of the house. It was the experience of a life time! I can't help but smile at the memories and thank God that I get to live a life of adventure, it's the best kind!
Right now we're in a "city" for two weeks. Our first week will be working a lot with youth. The second week we'll be with a church plant that has a lot of new Christians. Please continue to pray for unity in our team and that we will bless the churches and communities.
Everyone who has prayed for us, thank you so much! So far on outreach we have been in awe at how God has been answering our prayers with much more than we even ask. We prayed for protection and we had the military and police as personal body guards. We've even asked God for little things we miss, like coffee and salad, and gotten them not just once, but every day afterwards. Please keep praying because, trust me, God hears!
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