I speant a lot of time thinking about how will I answer the question "How was the trip?" The truth is- there is no easy answer. Each of the 11 days have their own story. There were so many layers to this trip I can only scratch the surface and share some details and try to paint a picture that God would want all my siestas and amigas to see! I shared with our team yesterday at our ver last devotional that If I had to pick one adjective to describe the trip it would be crazy. It would not just be "good" or "bad" or "awesome" b/c that doesn't quite do it justice. I can't just say "awesome" b/c there were parts of the trip that quite frankly were tougher than I ever anticipated. As I mentioned to my princesses, I so wish I could have had them all in my pocket or along my side to witness everything for theirself...but until then, I will do my best (w/ the help of my journal and of course some prayer) to give a reflection and recap of my experience going to Colombia 2011. **NOTE: right now I'm doing an over view. I do plan to do a breakdown day by day but sheesh that will take awhile. So for now, enjoy a favorite song of mine that I must have heard over 30x this past week from team devotions to camp:
click here
Read on while you listen ;)
To first give a bit of a background...our group was lead by Marc Greer, a staff member and multi-mission trip Jesus Lovin Triathalon doin Warrior :) I actually traveled with him before to Croatia as well. Marc made sure that before we left, we did our best to build group unity as it was going to be imperative for the trip. He also emphasised one word...flexibility. Well, right off the bat we were blessed in both of those areas- we had one heck of a team, I mean truly beyond any expectations you could possibly have for being with a group of people you barely know for 24 hours a day, 11 straight days, with not normal living conditions. We also needed to be flexible before we even left the country as we dealt with over 8 hours of plane delays. This didnt phase our team...we immediately went bold to the throne and prayed we would make it there safely, in one piece and as punctual as possible. We did. Check 1 done and done.
The purpose of the trip had so many different layers as well...which personally, I couldn't quite wrap my little, I mean big, mind around until we were there doing it all. I just pushed my Type A personality to the side and rolled with the paintbrushes...I mean punches. The primary description for the outreach trip was working with kids...sweet, right up my alley! Little did I know, I could have went with a carpenters liscence and fit right in!!
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| more paint on me than the wall?! |
So let me get back to the adjective crazy and explain.
- It was crazy to see how big God is...again. He is always impressing on my heart to show me "look at how big I am, you can't wrap your mind around it" Whether it was through the Andes mountains, the ginomeous Colombian skyline, the amount of people, cars & smog or the amount of rice these people eat- it was crazy!Here He was, in a whole nother continent listening to prayers in Spanish, not paying attention to the cultural diffrences, the haves or have nots- just working in peoples lives the same way I know Him to do.
- It was crazy to see how much faith, true faith, the people we worked with had. Boy can I learn from all of them. In fact, if you pray for me to have one thing...all I want is more faith.
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| He is SO Big... |
- It was crazy how big their avacados were!
- It was crazy how cold it was being so close to the equator?? Well anything less than 80 degrees I typically classify as cold. But really, it was cold.
- It was crazy how quickly my few spanish phrases I learned in 3 years of espanol came back to me, but still how difficult it was to communicate with some people. Wait till I tell you about the buy one get one free kiwi story, or the time I thought I ordered some coffee w/ cream and ended up with cheese & hot chocolate- OH BOY! LOL
- It was crazy to see the children exposed to such darkness in the 'streets' including prostitution which put women on 'display' in the windows of old wharehouse buildings. I have been to Amsterdam & Vegas where prositution is also legal, but the differnce here was the children on the next street over witnessing....I balled my eyes out and reached a capacity limit this day. Writing the blog reflecting on this day will be tough.
- It was crazy to travel with such strong believers...all 14 of us with our own unique stories from all walks of life, all different faith maturity levels, all different cultural experiences and all differenent gifts. I PTL for Andrea and her voice- man can that chic sing a tune! I PTL for Edward & Mike's humor, I PTL for my asian invasion plane buddy Ed and all of our heart to hearts. Who knew 10 years ago when we were both at Club Divine we would be on a mission trip together one day? PTL for that! I PTL for my bonding with Delaney and her quick wit 19 year old awesome personality, Oh I PTL for this chic who ended up being my Colombia besty :) I PTL for Cathy's prayers that go bold to the throne. I PTL for Val's wisdom and long talks and support on a journey I never knew I would be facing unless I went on this trip and had a few conversations with her. I also PTL for Val's moistureizer b/c I want to look as good as she does at her age of 60 something (never did get the actual year ;) ) I PTL for Jeff's work ethic & Roberts child like attitutde and devotion to personal time. I PTL for Marc's leadership and all of our triathalon talks and our runs together...even though I HATED running that BRIDGE- grrrr. I PTL for Matt, our gringo celebrity. I enjoyed our discussions during the runs and am grateful you walked w/ me when I couldnt hang in the smog infested air! barf! I PTL for Rennee- the only one in our group who was literally fluent in espanol- we would still be looking for more tools and waiting to order at the restauraunts if it were not for him. I PTL for Kurt's vision on the swing set and 20 years in the military- with out his physical work abilities we would still be working at the farm! I literally PTL for this team, oh what a team.
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The Bronx |
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| What we do best... |
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| Delaney...is loco... |
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| Ed making work fun |
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| Fearless Cowboy leader, Mike & Renee |
- The bugs were crazy...my legs are looking a lot better- thanks to my princesses'prayers, benadryl a trip to the nurse & a whole bottle of Caladryl. Who has ever heard of a coffee fly before? Those little suckers make me want to never drink coffee again...but ya know that won't happen! Especially since our team came home w/ 50 lbs of authentic organic Colombian coffee...mmmmm
- It was crazy to actually see stuff you only see in the movies...like homes with no running water and literally a bucket to use for the restroom.
- It is even crazier that in a community w/ no running water, these children were so happy!
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| lookin not so bad from a camera view... |
- It was crazy how much rice and potatoes these people eat...I"m all set for the rest of the year on carbs!
- It was crazy everything was in a bag...jelly, water, babywipes ETC
- It was crazy how much God is moving in these people's lifes
- It was crazy that Fran was so excited for powder coffee creamer?? Apparently she doesnt know about a venti skinny mocha from the coffee company that starts w/ a big S!
- This silly thing was crazy- the transmilenial!!
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| Mrs Mary- @ Club de Amigos |
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| bags of water... |
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- It was crazy to be a part of something so big you can't wrapt your human mind around it. It was crazy to see 13 buses roll into the camp all filled with over 400 people who did not know the Lord or the Gospel. Whoa, was that crazy. It was crazy who watch over 100 people (and still counting...)get saved and know that one day i will see them again on the other side.
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| Pumpin up the crowd w/ some musica! |
- It was crazy to know that it used to be in Colombia's constitution that you had to be Catholic yet so many people don't even have a clue what that means or who Jesus is.
- Its crazy- you really do learn to share everything
- Its crazy you really can make anything out of wood....
- It was crazy to serve in the nursery from sun up till sun down not knowing we did have a bag of baby wipes....oh my
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- It was crazy to watch the children play and sing the same nursery songs we do
- It was crazy to look back and see that God chose me for this journey. Little ol' me. It IS crazy to look at my journal and see how many documented things God revealed to me in such a short time. 5 to be exact...BIG BIG things I took from this trip are in my journal.
- It is crazy to look ahead and know He still has work to do with me and in me but I have grace and peace knowing He will fully equip me to deal with it. Philipians 4:13 Baby! Not gonna lie though, a bit scared!
- It was crazy to meet so many different missionaries...all w/ the same purpose as us, from all over the world.
- It is crazy that one person can make such an impact. Just one person. Put two or three or more together and watch the ripple...
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Her daddy was saved this past weekend :)
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So I think you get the point...in case you missed it, it was crazy :) Changed my life forever. I definitly need more time to process everything, but one quote that keeps coming to mind is:
What are we waiting for?
To the world we are just one person, but to that one person we can be the world!
I was stretched on this trip, more than I preferred to be. I was not comfortable, ate things that weren't that great, others that were excellent, missed my family like crazy, swated bugs, scratched bug bites and prayed harder than I have ever prayed. This was my 2nd mission trip in 3 years...I pefer He slow down my pace a bit but He is probably laughing as I type that. At the end of the day, I would do it all over again.
You don't have to travel around the world to help one person and make a difference. Listen to your calling, we all have an inner desire for something. Life is a mission field and our destiny is eternal- make it worth while :-)
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