A look back at January in Colombia

Take a look back with Diane at one of the days on their January trip to Colombia. 

Saturday, January 28

This was an amazing day! As always, we were not sure what we were getting into! Monica, our translator and friend, told us it was a three hour trip and it would be hot there. That's all we knew. We did not know they were distributing Samaritan's Purse gifts until we saw them in the back of the four wheel drive vehicle. We should have had a clue from that!! 

We were told that this village was part of the restoration program that Prison Fellowship is involved in. Many villages were destroyed and people were killed by the guerrillas in the drug wars. Some of that still goes on but things are getting better, especially with programs like these. The church that we were in today was destroyed but built back up by a combined effort of the villagers and Prison Fellowship workers. This village is three hours from Medellin. At least two hours of this travel is not on paved roads. They need to use a four wheel drive and even then it is still very dangerous. These roads were far worse than any we have been on in Honduras. Because of this, a missionary family lives there to minister to the village. Pastor Edward's brother and sister in law and their daughter are those missionaries. They are very far from civilization. They do have electricity, running water, or cable so it is still very rustic. They had to get a cat, because the mice were overrunning their house! They carry a large machete to kill snakes when they go out at night!!

When we got there we drove up an unbelievably steep drive to get to the church. We had to back down that same hill when we left!!! 

While we were there, the pastor and his wife sang songs and read a Bible story to the children and parents. Then they passed out the candy we had brought. Then it was time to distribute the gifts. The children were very excited but there was no pushing or anything. They sat in their seats until the presents were passed out. Then they quietly opened them. They even loved looking at each other's presents and there seemed to be no jealousy at all. It was such a special time. 

Then when we were all done we left, backing down the very steep hill to the pastor's house. They all walked up and down, like it was nothing! Once I realized what we were doing I wished I would have walked. Then the pastor's wife served us lunch. It was amazing. They have so little and yet they were sharing with us.

Many of the people in this place do not have cars. They either walk or use horses or mules. It really was like stepping back in time. But they seemed happy and now that they have Jesus, things will be better for them. This is part of the saturation project - the goal of which is for all of Colombia to be presented the Gospel.