Buenas Dias (good day) from the thriving city of Bogota, Colombia.
Currently we find ourselves in the third highest city in South America found in the Andes mountains, 8500 meters above sea level, unwinding from two weeks of toiling and really applying the “getting down to earth” core value of global challenge. As we begin to shift focus to our next crazy adventure to Peru, we invite you to embark on a short stroll down memory lane in Fusagasuga, Colombia.
It was a ground breaking (literally) two weeks of refreshing in the Lord’s presence, growing in relationships and overcoming unexpected challenges as we worked ourselves to the bone in true global challenge style. Yellow team (plus Gerry, who is now a part of the southbound family) was given what seemed to be a menial but not so menial task of securing a sunken foundation. The estimated time was plus minus two days. A turn of events came with the discovery of a broken sewage pipe which then resulted in the project escalating to a whopping 7 days of hard labour (some days in the pouring rain).
The project provided the team with lots of time to get to know each other as we found some very interesting topics to chat about and sing about (lets just say that all our favourite secular bands have been placed on the fast track to salvation through our prayersJ). Even though we were faced with very many tricksy obstacles (some of which involved human excrements) our joy just seemed to escalate. It all came to a wonderful climax as we were the first team (in true yellow team fashion) to finish our project. We will mention that we did get by with a little help from our friends, so of course we did the same and helped complete two other projects.
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During
After
Apart from the actual projects Fusa became a place of finding rest spiritually as we were afforded more time to spend with Our Dad and in D groups. Of course being locked in for safety reasons does ensure that your personal space is sure to get invaded…so yes God taught us some valuable lessons about conflict management and forgiveness. And as He taught us this He brought a new sense of freedom in the group and the team and imparted a great sense of passion for the country as our hearts were released into His hands. One of the best things about the past two weeks was that we were able to intercede on behalf of the nation, the church here and the local missionaries that we met. God really imprinted a message of hope for Colombia despite seemingly massive barriers of oppression, politics, religiosity and false doctrine. God is really teaching us what it means to be Levites and true missionaries!
We now find ourselves once again in the space between two worlds, our hearts still fully here but also needing to focus on our next destination. Exciting times lie ahead as our faith levels are challenged to rise, trusting God for crazy things. Our itinerary so far includes:
Catch a plane to Letitia, on the border of Colombia, Peru and brazil (Tuesday); then a fast boat (10 hours) to Iquitos on the amazon river (whooohoooo), we take back our wings and fly to lima peru. Here there may be an opportunity for the team OT to actually be an OT, doing intensive therapy with a man that was involved in an accident. In the meanwhile the rest of the team will take a 910km, faith journey to Chiclayo where we will hit the ground running and dive right into ministry on Friday evening.
We are super excited about this and would love for you to pray for us for:
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We as Yellow team really want to thank you for all your continual support and prayer. You guys are the real legends. You know the saying “ behind every missionary is a team of prayer warriors” (ok maybe we made that up but its cool none the lessJ
Until next time
God bless, Peace out
Yellow