Life of A Missionary - Sending off my Colombian Brothers and Sisters!

One of my biggest blessings of being a missionary here in Colombia has been to see not just 1 friend choose to spead the gospel to those who have not heard it, but FOUR!!!  My church, Centro de Desarrollo Cristiano, has sent out 4 of my young Colombian friends who have committed to sharing the gospel with the tribal people of Colombia and in the Middle East in Jordan.  They have encouraged me in my own missionary life :-)



1. My friends, Jonca and Talia, got married last January and have spent the last 7 months ministering to the tribes here in Colombia that live in the Amazon.   They recently returned and gave an update at church.  Jonca and Talia spoke of the relationships they spent months building and the hope they have that the seeds planted will help these people who have never heard of Jesus Christ since there is no written Bible in their language.  They plan to return later to continue their work.

2. Stefanie spent the past 8 months training for future missionary work - the last 3 of which she spent in Paraguay living with a tribe.  She hopes to leave in January to work with the Curipacos who live here in Colombia.  Stefanie is such a wonderful friend with a gift of being able to explain the gospel to others.  She is ready to go and be LIGHT to the world.  Stephanie is one of my first Colombian friends here and it has been such a blessing to see her faith and to encourage her in her own journey of being a missionary.

3.  Mayra is leaving this Tuesday to travel to the Middle East to spend 2 years spreading the gospel to the Muslims who live there.  Mayra is also one of my first Colombian friends here  and it has been such a blessing to see her faith and to encourage her in her own journey of being a missionary.  She has not flown on a plane since she was a little girl and flew to San Andres (an island off the coast of Colombia.)  Spreading the gospel to Muslims will be a difficult task, but I know the Lord will bring power and strength to her ministry.  I will miss her terribly, but am so excited to pray for her and all of the people she will reach with the gospel of Christ!  

Stephanie, Mayra, and their family!

                               
Sharing these experience with my friends, encouraging them as they respond to the call of the gospel to obey Christ and to go among the nations has made me think about challenges I have faced going and leaving my country, family, and home to obey Jesus and his calling on my life to come to Colombia.  

Cultural Shock is the biggest thing to overcome as a missionary!  This culture has changed me. It has rocked my perspective. This culture is based upon community and personal connections with people. Even in a big, busy, and crowded city, I have found warmth and kindness. As Americans, time is the most precious thing. If you respect people, you respect their time. If you do things well, you do things super efficiently, like to the up most degree. Whenever we complain about things, it’s usually because something happened that wasted our time. Here, it’s just not that way. You begin to realize that it’s not all about your time. It’s about the people you are with. It’s a very frustrating concept to understand and a huge adjustment when you are used to such crazy high standards of time and efficiency, but it’s also an experience that makes you less selfish and centered on your own agenda. The attitude of “How dare anyone waste my time by _________” has to go. Living outside of the States and all of its many conveniences has its challenges, but removing yourself from those things really makes you appreciate the many blessings of God. It makes you grow. While people complain about being stuck in a ‘long’ line in the grocery store, someone here is being squeezed within an inch of their life on a public bus, for possibly a really long time…Every. Single. Day. We take for granted and forget the simplicity and the ease of certain aspects of the American life (I know I did!). Being flexible is definitely a must for any missionary!

It’s hard, sometimes, knowing that you are forever different, that you have changed in a way that your friends and family back home have not. No one told me that being a missionary makes you feel misunderstood. The people I love back home have not had these same life-altering experiences. BUT, there is such a blessing in never going back to the person you once were.

Lately, I have been grasping hard to the truth that following Jesus in this way is so worth it!!  With as misunderstood as a missionary can feel, we can take comfort that the world did not understand Jesus either :-0  Even through the challenges and the life changes that I have faced, there is nothing like drawing close to My God when he is all you have.  Missionary life will help you experience this kind of faith building like nothing else will. :-)

Prayers/Praises
Info about Granny's funeral - 10:00 am on November 15th at The Orchard Evangelical Free Church, Barrington, IL.  So thankful for any of you that could make to celebrate her life with me and my family.  I will be in Chicago from November 12th until the 18th.  Please pray for sub plans as I leave my classroom for almost a week!!

The school has already asked us to confirm our plans for teaching at the school for the following year.  Please pray for peace and a confirmation from God if my ministry here in Colombia is to continue.

Please pray for my sister, Kristin, as she is pregnant with her 3rd child due in February!!!  Pray for a healthy pregnancy and that she would be able to deal with the pains and troubles that come with pregnancy :-0

Glory to Him Above,
Carrie

Redeeming the Years the Locust Has Eaten - Visiting Cano Cristales (La Macarena)

"Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, 

for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness.

He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.

The threshing floors will be filled grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil."

Colombia has a beautiful natural resource know as Cano Cristales (Crystal Canyons) where the canyon floor is completely filled with colorful flowers that creates a rainbow when the sun shines down on it.  It is absolutely breath-taking, and is considered one of the wonders of South America.  Cano Cristales is located in the central part of Colombia,  just a few hours south of Bogota.  Some of the teachers from ECA decided to travel there for our Fall Break to experience a part of Colombia that is rich in history.  Not too many years ago, travel to this part of Colombia was considered REALLY dangerous because it was controlled by the Guerrilla who set up camp in La Macarena, the town where Cano Cristales is located.

One of the most precious moments of my trip was getting to listen to one of our guides, Francy, tell her story of growing up in La Macarena as a little girl when the Guerrilla were in charge.  My eyes were completely opened to more of of the pain that these people have been through and the terror that they felt.  Imagine being a little girl and being so scared to walk around your town because there are men with guns that are robbing, kidnapping, and forcing the farmers in the region to grow cocaine.  The Guerrilla leader chose to make his camp just outside of La Macarena because it was centrally located in Colombia - with hopes of continuing outward and overtaking the country.  The government had tried to work with the rebel group, but the rebel group just kept fighting back (even though they were offered a place as a legitimate political party to voice their opinion - what a redemptive way to deal with outspoken rebels in a forgiving way!)  Even after many attempts at negotiation, President Uribe decided to send a list of rules for the Guerrillas to obey - or he would take back La Macarena for the people of Colombia.  When the rebels broke them, it was time for action.

Francy, our guide, taking a "selfie" of our groups down at the Waterfall!

Small plane...

"I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten - 

the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the swarm - 

my great army that I sent among you.

You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, 

And you will praise the name of the Lord you God, who has worked wonders for you; 

Never again will my people be shamed."

Francy spoke of the night in 2002 when helicopters landed (with an explosion) and by morning the town had been filled up with Colombian military and the Guerrillas had fled across the river.  (This is the same river that we used to travel down in boats to get to see Cano Cristales!!)  Her school days were filled with terror, many evacuation drills, and listening to gunshots being fired as the Guerrilla were constantly chased back across the river in the days that followed.  Francy's family had to put mattresses outside in their water tank so they could sleep because bullets would have gone right through the walls of their house.  The Guerrillas had a list of people they were after and sent a few people across the river to look for them, but they didn't know who they were looking for.  They just had a list of names, so they would go up to the people and point to a name on the list asking where they were.  The Colombians would trick them and tell them the person lived across town (when really the person they were looking for was the person talking to them!) and then after telling them wrong information, they would run away.

5 years ago (2009), Cano Cristales was opened to bringing in tourists to see the beautiful landscape of La Macarena.  President Uribe himself traveled to visit many times, and hiked the same trails that many Colombians can experience today with safe and secure protection by the military men that still maintain their presence.  Francy also spoke of tourism being so helpful to her town.  Since the government took back La Macarena, the people refused to grow any more cocaine.  They spread chemicals over the land to destroy any trace of cocaine, which then takes 10 years to make the land ready to grow anything else.  By this time, many farmers did not have money to spread good chemicals that would help produce good crop and the much of the land has died.  The city of La Macarena depends on sharing their natural resources with their people.  Francy and our 2 other guides had so much fun teaching us about nature, the history of their country, and can finally take comfort in their town having something to be proud of.

"Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; 

never again will my people be ashamed."  Joel 2:23-27

I am so glad the Lord blessed me with the opportunity to go and hear Francy's story.  I am so happy for my friends here in Colombia that their country has something good that is coming out of the terror that they lived under for many years during the war with the Guerrilla groups.  It reminds me of the verses in Joel 2:23-27 where God says he will take back the years the locust have eaten - the years of sorrow, despair; the years that have been lost by rebellion, sin and terror.  When I think of the families at ECA, my Colombian co-workers, my friends at church - I hope they are encouraged that God will RESTORE the years the locusts have taken from them.  Their hope in God has not wavered, but become stronger in all of these trials.  Even when they speak of the loved ones they have lost and the sleepless nights full of terror that they faced, they can see that God is restoring his people.  So many families at ECA have such a desire to tell their friends to have hope in God in all they have lost.  I believe that this cultivation of what the locust has taken is making the harvest ripe to tell the people of Colombia where their hope truly lies - In Jesus Christ, and him alone :-)

Our monkey friend that wanted to play with us on our last day.

Prayers/Praises:
Pray for Colombia - the government is in negotiations with the rebel groups over in Cuba where they are being held in jail.  Pray for peaceful negotiations and for these leaders to have a Christian influence so that they are pointed to God for wisdom and guidance during this crucial time.

For the hearts of my students - that would grow to love Christ Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.  May God work on their heart to learn how they are to be treated because of how Jesus treated them.

Construction the 3rd floor - please continue to pray for communication and decisions that need to be made so that it may be complete by January!

That God would continue to draw me close to him - and that my heart would be open to hearing and seeing more deeply the areas where God is challenging me and teaching me.

For the sake of the gospel,
Carrie