Ministry in Colombia!

Late last Saturday night my squad and I landed in Medellín Colombia! To say I was excited to be here was an understatement. Living here for a little over a week, I can say that there has been highs and lows but I’ve learned so much already. If you know anything about me, you’d know how much I love meeting new people and learning about new cultures, so immersing myself with these people and their way of living has been an incredible experience! And definitely not one I was expecting either. I was expecting to get here and be doing something 24/7. I was expecting to take all I’ve learned in training camp and apply everything right away. However, in our ministry here there is a lot of free time. At first this was difficult for me because I felt so filled and wanted to pour it all out. However, the Lord is teaching me to rest in Him as He is the only one who can truly fulfill me. I am expectant now, that my relationship with the Lord will continue to grow in intimacy and trust throughout my time in Colombia.

We are staying in the city, living in apartments on the campus of the ministry we are working with. We work most days with a foundation which has many different programs. This last week my team and I worked in the kitchen (but not how’d you expect) we did a lot of cutting and sorting vegetables. However simple this may sound, seeing the gratitude for our seemingly unhelpful tasks made all the difference in my attitude and approach to doing the work. The ladies in the kitchen have become some of my favorite people and talking with them has been some of the highlights of my day! Most of the people we encounter on a day to day basis speak little to no English, and so I get to practice my Spanish!!

Last Wednesday night, my team with one of the boy’s teams got the opportunity to go to the Broncs to talk with and serve the homeless. The Broncs is quite honestly a desperate and very sad area of the city. There is a lot of active drug use and poverty; we got the opportunity to talk to some of these people and hand out food. Seeing what we saw was extremely overwhelming and caused a lot of anxiety for the team, however all I felt during that time was peace. I felt Jesus with me and all I wanted to do was smile and serve. I also felt fully safe because we were with the foundation who goes here every Wednesday. And honestly I’m excited to go back!

You may be wondering what it’s like living with 43 young adults between two floors and about 12 rooms. I’m thriving! This is the kind of stuff that brings me so much joy! Some of my favorite times are after dinner, when we all just get to hang out, play games, have pillow fights, sing together, dance on the roof, and do Bible studies. These people truly feel like family and I am so incredibly blessed and thankful!

While I enjoy being around everyone so much, I’m also learning to break away and find that secret spot to spend in the Word and talking to the Lord. That can look like being on the roof, in my bed, or even in the laundry room.

This is the first of many weeks here in Colombia & I am so grateful for all the people who helped me get here and for all of the prayers! I love you all! 🩷🩷 (also thank you for the support in the comment section of the barstool @kyleyoderr)

Signing off (as they call me) Shrimpie Yoder