As the year goes on, I started to reflect on the first half of our journey; on the things we did, experience, and learned. And felt it only fair to write a short blog about it.
Brazil was a time of discovery and finding our feet. We made many new friends as we served at the local Agape Church and a drug rehab centre. We also got to know each other a little better. We got many chances to perform our dance and dramas. Our focus was to build relationships and strengthen our ties with the church; and I would say we were successful. It was also great to see the impact we had on the lives of the people we met.
Next was Colombia. Here we served the local missionaries by helping out with maintenance at a missionary training centre. My team (Yellow Team) took on a ground erosion project, were the idea was to build a simple 3 layer terrace to counter the erosion. In the end we had to move and replace a broken sewage pipe to solve the problem. We also got to spend some time with the missionaries and learn from them. The time in Colombia was also significant for me as it was a time where we grew closer to each other, both in the small teams and in Southbound as a hole.
Our next destination was Peru, but first we had a little adventure through the Amazon, where we experienced God’s favor time and time again.
Peru was an interesting time. In the three weeks we were there we distributed thousands of New Testament Bibles, performed dramas, and met and worked with all many different people. Our area of operation stretched from Chiclayo to the villages surrounding Incahuasi in the Andes Mountains.
I personally leaned that God`s schedule for a day is often different from ours and that it is very freeing to be ready in all seasons for anything. A second lesson that I learned was that even when we seem lost God knows exactly what is going on and has a plan. The one day we got lost on our way to a village and saw God do great miracles in the village where we ended up in. as result many people and children gave their lives to the Lord.
After Peru we traveled overland to Colombia, through Ecuador, and then flew to Guatemala. All I can say is that part of the Pan-American Highway is beautiful. Unfortunatly theres no pictures from this trip.
Guatemala is a small country south of Mexico. It is simply and wonderfully beautiful; and yet it is plagued with many natural disasters. We worked in Panajachel. It is a smallish tourist town on the shores of Lake Atitlan, near three volcanoes. Here we assisted Pastor Ben with several construction projects during the days, while in the evenings we received teachings on the Holy Spirit, Baptism and Spiritual warfare. It was a good time of serving and receiving some good and solid spiritual food. We also had a “practice run” Luke 10 journey, in which God guided each team for His kingdom’s work and provided graciously for each team. Yellow team learned many things concerning pride; doing thins our way instead of God’s way; communication and openness towards each other.
In conclusion Latin America was a great experience. It held many challenges, but proved to be the perfect training grounds. We walked out stronger in our faith, knowledge of the truth, and as a family.
God Bless!