Sorry you all haven´t heard from us in a while. Its been a little hectic around here. We´ve learned even more about Lizeth and Jerson. First of all, its a girl!!! We are thinking of names, so if you have any suggestions for Spanish baby names, let us know. We had a deeper conversation with Jerson. He has also had a rough life and now seems to have too much on his plate. He needs to make so many decisions with not enough support that he is overwhelmed with stress and the only way he has consistently relieved himself of that stress is by cutting himself. He doesn´t have a job to support Lizeth but doesn´t seem to want to work. He has been offered several jobs but has always come up with an excuse. The only job he wants is making shoes, but won´t job search. He´s been offered a job as a hitman, and until now, he refused the offer and didn´t even consider it. But now that the baby is coming soon and he doesn´t have any way to support Lizeth and the baby, he is considering the job. He says that he has tried praying, and it has worked at times to relieve his stress, but he isn´t seeking a personal relationship with God. The saddest part is that most of the church members have not accepted them, but only judge them. We ask that you keep praying for this family. That he would be a man after God´s own heart and that she would become a woman of excellence. Pray that they will build a household prepared to raise a child.
With so many things to process, God gave us a chance to rest for a night in Cartagena at the end of the week.
The night we got back, we were excited to watch the youth group´s talent show. After it was over, we were sitting outside with some of the younger neighborhood kids and they were telling us about the ¨Pico.¨ We had noticed a loud party going on at the top of the street and the kids told us all about it. There are different gangs on the main street, and every Saturday night they come together to fight, drink, get high, and dance. One of the kids we work with goes there every Saturday to sell beer. He stays there until 3 am. He was telling us that every Saturday someone gets hurt, and sometimes killed. He is only thirteen years old. While we were playing with the kids one a guy passd by with two guns in his pocket. This was so normal for the kids. Soon after that, we saw a lot of people running away from the Pico. They were running because the fight had started. First, it was only with rocks, but later, there was a shooting. Everything happened too fast for us to be scared, but the only thing we were worried about were the kids that were still playing in the streets. We had to run inside the pastor's house and stay there until in was "over."
The Pico wasn't all we heard about that day. One of the kids we have been with, Junior, told us about his constant nightmares. Later on, we told him that whenever he had a nightmare, prayer would make it better but he said no! Prayer would only make it worse. We still told him that we were going to pray for him before we would go to bed, but as soon as we said that he asked for us not to do that, because he didn't want it to be worse. He is only seven.
We only have a few days left so in order to honor all of those who helped us with the kids and all of those who blessed us throughout this trip, we wanted to make a nice dinner for them. We cooked for 25 people. It was a little hectic, but they felt honored. At the end, they appreciated us for our hard work with the kids. It was a very emotional time. We are now getting into the stage of goodbye. Last night was the dinner, and today was our last class with the kids. It was a very special moment because they prayed for us and had this "goodbye" activity for us.
Lizeth and Jerson wanted us to go to their house and see the baby's clothes. There, they told us a bit more about their story. Jerson started crying when he told us about his brother. His brother is in jail because one night his family didn't have money to buy food, so the only way to get it was by stealing. Now, he is supposed to be in prison for about five years. He feels responsible of what happened. He thinks that that would have never happened if he were in his hometown with his family. Now they are thinking about leaving Malvinas and going to another city. There, they would have to start from scratch. They wouldn't go to church, because there isn't one nearby.
This is the last time we are going to write, but we ask for you to continue to pray for all these people. Please pray for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. This trip has been a blessing for us; we have learned so much. We have learned more about humilty, thankfulness, and love because of these people. Thank you for all your prayers and for helping us financially. God provided more than what we were expecting. Because of this, we can bless some people here with the rest of the money we have left. We are going to give some to the pastors, to our family from Barranquilla, to the church, and to Jerson and Lizeth.
Once again, thank you so much for helping us accomplish this trip. May God continue blessing you.
Love,
Sierra, Cami, and Lina.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Barranquilla Day 1-4
Wow. That is what we´re all thinking right now. We were pleasantly surprised when we arived here and found that everyone was so hospitable and welcoming. We got to Malvinas just in time for the end of the service, or at least what they called the end of the service. Because it is Barranquilla, and even more Colombia, the service went on for another hour or so. They called us up twice, and looking out at the church members, we all felt loved instantly. After meeting just about everyone and meeting with the youth that would be helping us in the mornings, we made ourselves at home in Antonio & Augusta´s house. Their granddaughter, Neomy and a few of the teenagers in the youth group took us on a great tour of a part of the Malvinas neighborhood. We witnessed some heart breaking scenes of swollen bellies and broken homes. This gave us all the more reason to love and pour ourselves out to these people. Our exhaustion must have been apparent to our tour guides and they took us home where we took a long cool nap. We got up just in time to go watch some of the guys from the youth in a soccer match. This was such a great opportunity for a lengthy introduction of the lives of some of the youth. Some of the youth we got to know were Francisco, Cristian and Nilson. They were so open and excited to help, we knew it would be a great week.
When we started working with the kids om Monday, they were so receptive and open because of the lack of love in their lives. We played games, sang songs and told stories that showed how Christianity is not a boring religion, or better, relationship. The youth group was a great help throughout the day. We are still amazed at everyone´s hospitality in this neighborhood. We feel truly at home with our Malvinas family. We´ve had great conversations over meals with our hosts and Pastor Johan and his wife Katherine. Although its really only been a few days, we´ve gotten to know some great people and witness real Christ-like characters.
We´ve fallen in love with the children here, but some of their stories are heart-breaking. When we ask them about everyday problems they face, rather than saying homework or siblings, they mention violence and poverty. ONe of the mornings with the kids, a 3 year old boy came up to Cami and told her that John David is in heaven, John David is in heaven. The boy´s 5 year old brother then told her that their younger brother had died at the age of two because his lungs exploded. After that, the 3 year old boy couldn´t stop crying. When we hear a story like this from the mouth of a 5 year old, we remember that there´s nothing we can do to heal the broken hearted children, we just have to help pave the way.
Soon enough we realized that our host home did not only host us. Augusta and Antonio´s home has so many visitors through out the day that we´ve been able to get to know. This is how, between the three of us, we got to hear Lizeth´s story. We first noticed Lizeth as the young pregnant girl that spent a lot of time in our host home. As each of us heard parts of her story, we couldn´t help but realize how broken hearted Lizeth is. She comes from a family of 12 siblings, not all from the same parents. At the age of 11, one of her full biological brothers raped her. When Lizeth told her mother, she did not believe her. After the doctors at the hospital confirmed Lizeth´s rape, her mother still would not believe her. The government took her away from her mother and put her in a foundation for children that can´t be at home. After a year and 8 months in the foundation, she ran away and lived in a hotel with her sister and her sister´s boyfriend. After a while, her sister´s boyfriend decided that he didn´t want Lizeth with them anymore, so she was left under the care of Jerson. Whenever the government would come to
gangs-youth in drugs and alcohol
home situation, no father figures
kids exposed to murder, violence
We are called to fervently pray for these people. These are ways you can pray for them.
When we started working with the kids om Monday, they were so receptive and open because of the lack of love in their lives. We played games, sang songs and told stories that showed how Christianity is not a boring religion, or better, relationship. The youth group was a great help throughout the day. We are still amazed at everyone´s hospitality in this neighborhood. We feel truly at home with our Malvinas family. We´ve had great conversations over meals with our hosts and Pastor Johan and his wife Katherine. Although its really only been a few days, we´ve gotten to know some great people and witness real Christ-like characters.
We´ve fallen in love with the children here, but some of their stories are heart-breaking. When we ask them about everyday problems they face, rather than saying homework or siblings, they mention violence and poverty. ONe of the mornings with the kids, a 3 year old boy came up to Cami and told her that John David is in heaven, John David is in heaven. The boy´s 5 year old brother then told her that their younger brother had died at the age of two because his lungs exploded. After that, the 3 year old boy couldn´t stop crying. When we hear a story like this from the mouth of a 5 year old, we remember that there´s nothing we can do to heal the broken hearted children, we just have to help pave the way.
Soon enough we realized that our host home did not only host us. Augusta and Antonio´s home has so many visitors through out the day that we´ve been able to get to know. This is how, between the three of us, we got to hear Lizeth´s story. We first noticed Lizeth as the young pregnant girl that spent a lot of time in our host home. As each of us heard parts of her story, we couldn´t help but realize how broken hearted Lizeth is. She comes from a family of 12 siblings, not all from the same parents. At the age of 11, one of her full biological brothers raped her. When Lizeth told her mother, she did not believe her. After the doctors at the hospital confirmed Lizeth´s rape, her mother still would not believe her. The government took her away from her mother and put her in a foundation for children that can´t be at home. After a year and 8 months in the foundation, she ran away and lived in a hotel with her sister and her sister´s boyfriend. After a while, her sister´s boyfriend decided that he didn´t want Lizeth with them anymore, so she was left under the care of Jerson. Whenever the government would come to
gangs-youth in drugs and alcohol
home situation, no father figures
kids exposed to murder, violence
We are called to fervently pray for these people. These are ways you can pray for them.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Barranquilla: A long way to a close place
It seemed like this day would never come. Camila Penuela, Lina Cala, and I decided to spend our last summer after graduation together doing missions. For months, we had too many options. We were looking into working with child soldiers in Medellin, the poor in Choco, and so many other options on the coast. After a few months we decided to go to Cartagena. All the doors seemed to be open. We had contacts for missionaries there; this would give us a ministry to work with and a place to stay. We thought we had it all figured out. After housing plan after housing plan fell through, we knew that God did not want us in Cartagena. So we started looking elsewhere. Although the girls seemed optimistic, I was losing hope. We were weeks away from when we wanted to leave, and still, we had nothing. We barely had any money saved up and we had no contacts anywhere.
Then came Lina's uncle and his suggestions. He told her about a poor neighborhood in Barranquilla called Malvinas that needed a lot of help. Soon enough we were talking to a pastor who knew a pastor and before we knew it, we were talking to the pastor of the church in Malvinas. He loved our proposition to work with the neighborhood kids and helped arrange everything we could've needed. This was only about 2 weeks ago. God had been moving behind the scenes the whole time.
Within 24 hours of sending out our prayer letters, we already had so many promises of provision. We were much more than just excited about how everything was coming together. We were realizing just how much God had been watching over our plans.
And still, 9 hours from flying to Barranquilla, I still cannot believe that it is actually happening. Despite all our little human plans, God had something greater in mind. Now, with bags full of supplies and badly organized VBS plans, we are just waiting to see what God is going to do through these three naive girls. Recently I've learned that when we ask God to use us, we should be prepared for anything.
Then came Lina's uncle and his suggestions. He told her about a poor neighborhood in Barranquilla called Malvinas that needed a lot of help. Soon enough we were talking to a pastor who knew a pastor and before we knew it, we were talking to the pastor of the church in Malvinas. He loved our proposition to work with the neighborhood kids and helped arrange everything we could've needed. This was only about 2 weeks ago. God had been moving behind the scenes the whole time.
Within 24 hours of sending out our prayer letters, we already had so many promises of provision. We were much more than just excited about how everything was coming together. We were realizing just how much God had been watching over our plans.
And still, 9 hours from flying to Barranquilla, I still cannot believe that it is actually happening. Despite all our little human plans, God had something greater in mind. Now, with bags full of supplies and badly organized VBS plans, we are just waiting to see what God is going to do through these three naive girls. Recently I've learned that when we ask God to use us, we should be prepared for anything.
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