Our family has been in Colombia now for about 3 months. We have had some adjustments, but we are enjoying our new life here. Kendall is doing well in school, though we have to keep her from visiting all her friends in other classes during the day.
Jon and I spend our mornings working on language study and doing things around the house. You really have to stay on top of the cleaning here or you will be covered in dust and have ants crawling all over you. Our tutor comes to our house 5 days a week while Kendall is at school. Parker usually plays or watches a movie while we study.
After being here for a couple of months now, we have finally started to plug into some of our own ministries. In addition to regular church meetings during the week, on Wednesday mornings I go and help a group of people from the church with "Evangelism Explosion". EE is a program for young kids to teach them the gospel and then in turn teach them ways to share the gospel with their friends and neighbors. I have greatly enjoyed the time with my group. The first week we had a mini-carnival with games to present various verses from the Bible to support the gospel. Each week we continue to reinforce this verses with activities, songs, dramas, and movements. This week we taught the gospel in miniature with hand motions. I don't always know what my group is saying, but I have been able to communicate these truths of the gospel with them. I am looking forward to the next 10 weeks with these girls.
Our second big activity is the youth meeting on Saturday nights. Jon and I are working with the assistant pastor and his wife to plan these meetings. Right now we are relying on them to do the majority of the teaching, but we hope to share the teaching times with them in the future when our Spanish is better. We are able to plan interactive activities for the kids and get-to-know-you games. We are really praying that we begin to make strong relationships with the kids and with their parents. We are also inviting one family a week over to our house to get the know the people of the church better.
Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for continued progress with language. The more you know, the more frustrating things become at times.
2. Evangelism Explosion-pray that the kids in the class would fully understand what Jesus did for them on the cross and that they can have security in His payment for them on the cross. Pray for continued excitement with the kids as they learn more about God and what He has done for them. Pray that I would be able to answer their questions and communicate clearly with them.
3. Youth Group-pray that the kids would begin to be unified and more and more interested in spiritual things. Pray that we would have a good working relationship with our assistant pastor as we help the church develop the youth program here. Pray also that Jon and I would have wisdom about how to plan for meaningful activities and family interaction.
Thank you so much for your continued interest in our ministry. God bless.
Amanda, Jon, Kendall, and Parker
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
This is why we came
When I was a youth pastor, some of the most memorable times that I had with students was on retreats. Something just happens when you pile into a van, sleep in bunk-beds, and eat junk food at all hours of the day. You really get to see and know people for who they really are. Maybe it's all the coke and cheetos, but a lot of the phoniness that comes with being "in" the church, gets stripped away on a retreat
I have such funny and rich memories from these times, so I wondered how my first experience with the youth from our church would go. I ended up riding with some of the adults before the kids to help get things ready. One thing that I have become accustomed to, is never to have any expectation about what I'm about to encounter. I had no idea what their concept of "retreat" or camping might be. Well it turns out that we really did camp. Those of you who know me, know that I am still scarred from experiences as a Boy Scout, but thankfully this time camping was a much more pleasant experience.
The kids had an extremely difficult time getting to the campsite. They actually ended up having to walk a good part of the journey up the mountain, in the dark, by foot. When they came they were so tired, but for the most part they were really good sports about it. Myself and my team-mate were the only ones that spoke English, so my Spanish got a real work-out. Have you ever wondered what the young people in your life were saying, ever felt like they were speaking another language... Haha, well, needless to say, this was one of the most frustrating times I've had trying to communicate. But, thankfully, the kids were super sweet and patient with me and taught me a lot of Spanish.
Ministry is all about relationships, and I'm pleased to report this was a great start to our ministry of young people. One of the most memorable things was a relationship I developed with one of the kids who belonged to the folks that maintained the camp. If you've ever been to another country, you realize pretty quick with kids that it doesn't matter if you speak their language, but if you demonstrate love towards them then you don't really have to say much at all. He was always around me. For our lesson times, he would come and sit with me and look at my Bible or look at my work book. Well, he eventually looked at me and asked me point blank if I was a Christian. I said that I was and I proceeded to ask him some questions.
I asked him, "do yo believe in Jesus?", and he said "yes". I asked him, "do you believe that Jesus died for you?", and he said yes again. Then I asked him if he had sinned.... No. He said that he had never done anything wrong. Unfortunately, we were interrupted from our conversation, but thankfully God provided another opportunity to pick up right where we left off. This time, I brought in reinforcements. One of the young ladies in our ministry is extremely gifted and an extremely strong believer. She came over and made an extremely clear presentation of the Gospel to the young guy, and right there he prayed to receive Christ as his Savior. Praise God!
You know there are sometimes that you might wonder if this is where God would have us be. But then, God gives you times like these where it's very clear that we are exactly in the right spot. There are sometimes now, when I'm standing somewhere, and I almost have to remind myself where I am on the globe. Because when I forget where I am, I am forgetting how far God has brought our family to Colombia. We are here for a purpose. I pray that we never forget that.
I have such funny and rich memories from these times, so I wondered how my first experience with the youth from our church would go. I ended up riding with some of the adults before the kids to help get things ready. One thing that I have become accustomed to, is never to have any expectation about what I'm about to encounter. I had no idea what their concept of "retreat" or camping might be. Well it turns out that we really did camp. Those of you who know me, know that I am still scarred from experiences as a Boy Scout, but thankfully this time camping was a much more pleasant experience.
The kids had an extremely difficult time getting to the campsite. They actually ended up having to walk a good part of the journey up the mountain, in the dark, by foot. When they came they were so tired, but for the most part they were really good sports about it. Myself and my team-mate were the only ones that spoke English, so my Spanish got a real work-out. Have you ever wondered what the young people in your life were saying, ever felt like they were speaking another language... Haha, well, needless to say, this was one of the most frustrating times I've had trying to communicate. But, thankfully, the kids were super sweet and patient with me and taught me a lot of Spanish.
Ministry is all about relationships, and I'm pleased to report this was a great start to our ministry of young people. One of the most memorable things was a relationship I developed with one of the kids who belonged to the folks that maintained the camp. If you've ever been to another country, you realize pretty quick with kids that it doesn't matter if you speak their language, but if you demonstrate love towards them then you don't really have to say much at all. He was always around me. For our lesson times, he would come and sit with me and look at my Bible or look at my work book. Well, he eventually looked at me and asked me point blank if I was a Christian. I said that I was and I proceeded to ask him some questions.
I asked him, "do yo believe in Jesus?", and he said "yes". I asked him, "do you believe that Jesus died for you?", and he said yes again. Then I asked him if he had sinned.... No. He said that he had never done anything wrong. Unfortunately, we were interrupted from our conversation, but thankfully God provided another opportunity to pick up right where we left off. This time, I brought in reinforcements. One of the young ladies in our ministry is extremely gifted and an extremely strong believer. She came over and made an extremely clear presentation of the Gospel to the young guy, and right there he prayed to receive Christ as his Savior. Praise God!
You know there are sometimes that you might wonder if this is where God would have us be. But then, God gives you times like these where it's very clear that we are exactly in the right spot. There are sometimes now, when I'm standing somewhere, and I almost have to remind myself where I am on the globe. Because when I forget where I am, I am forgetting how far God has brought our family to Colombia. We are here for a purpose. I pray that we never forget that.
A couple of the young ladies in our youth ministry. Tatiana (right) is the pastor's daughter
Boys are always ready for a picture
This is a picture of Louda (right), the young lady that helped share the gospel with Jorge (below)
This is the picture of Jorge, the young fellow that accepted Jesus.
The ride down the mountain packed in a truck. I couldn't fit :) But I got to ride down on a motorcycle. It was amazing to see Colombia from this perspective. Everyone should ride a motocycle in a foreign country at least once in his or her life.
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