It's Only The Beginning... (Leverage Colombia Team)

This morning all of E3 was welcomed into local churches around Barranquilla. Before leaving, we met our translator for the day, Grenardo, and a member of the church we would be attending, Juan Carlos. It was a quick bus ride and air conditioned ride to our church, which I was thankful for after yesterday’s bus ride. As we were walking through the streets of this neighborhood, it is hard not to noticed some things. First, the ridiculous humidity! Sweat seems to be a big part of all my outfits now. Second, I noticed this a good bit yesterday on the way to our hotel. there are people...everywhere! Now, I am not saying this as if it is an overpopulated place, but I am referring to the fact that people are outside of their houses socializing with one another. Showing us that there is a strong sense of community amongst the Colombians here. I truly believe this will help with the evangelism process, because the people are out there and are ready to communicate with anyone and everyone! Additionally, the houses are REALLY close, so it supports this idea of community. I also saw a lot of trash on the ground as we walked to the church, so it will be nice to see what our plan is for the Recycle for Life program we will be working with later in the week. As we were approaching the church, I reminded myself that it was our mission (given by Sam, the E3 leader of Colombia) to shake everyone’s hand at the church; however, I was quite surprised when I was embraced with a very big hug from the Pastor at the entrance of the church. Let me give you a visual of this church... Imagine your garage with the door open and a small awning. Squished in this garage and under the awning is a keyboard, drum set, podium, plastic chairs, a couple fans, and no air conditioner. This illustrates Iglesia Cristiana:Proclamadores del Reino, the church we attended. As we were so warmly welcomed into the church, we were quickly given seats and water. The members were already in their time of worship. If you were at the prayer send off, you might remember that I have NO background in the Spanish language (however, I was trying my best to master my small skills at the airport yesterday). It has been quite interesting to be on the opposite side of the table feeling completely lost in what’s going on because of the language barrier; however, the love for Christ has no language. I was completely moved to see how in love these people were with Christ and singing praise to Him. I had no clue what was being said, but I could feel God’s presence. A man sitting next me was weeping, lifting his hands, and singing loudly throughout the worship. I could feel his dedication to Christ. I also observed that between each song it appeared almost every person was in prayer. I should’ve asked someone what was going on. Later between songs in the worship, we were given the opportunity to greet people (this was suppose to be another handshaking opportunity), and we were once again welcomed with loving hugs and handshakes. It’s amazing how without speaking the same language we have a companionship through Christ. Once the worship time was finished for the day, Steffan was welcomed to the front to share his testimony and then Grenaldo provided a sermon for the church. It was nice to take the time to absorb the surroundings, since I wasn’t able to follow along with the message, which was given in Spanish. It reaffirmed the sense of culture that is in Colombia. I saw people coming in and out of houses. People were sitting on their front porches talking to one another, and they weren’t consumed with other things like we tend to be. At the closing of the service, we were able to meet with more of the church members, and we thanked them for allowing us to come into their church for the morning. We got back to the hotel in enough time to rest for a few minutes, and then head to the training meeting. This was a time for Sam to review and train us on what we would be doing throughout the week. We reviewed the EvanageCube that we would use to teach the Gospel when we went out into the communities. The training meeting was followed by the meeting of the Colombians, which included our translators and the people from the church we would be working with. We were all pleasantly surprised to see that we would be working with the church we attended earlier in the day. We had already started making connections with them in the morning, so it made the meet and greet a little bit easier. Some of us started pairing up with a translator, and I must admit I was seeking one person in particular because she spoke pretty fluent English. We were able to talk for a little bit until saying our goodnights. With all that was going on throughout the day, I am ready to review the material and hit the sack, because I know great work is going to happen tomorrow. The team asks that everyone reading this blog post would petition on our behalf that God would provide us with the strength and confidence to share the Gospel with the people of Colombia. We ask that you pray their hearts are opened up to you and that you speak to them through us. Additionally, that all members of the 12Stone team are safe as they go out into the streets of Colombia. -Jessica