Trusting Him In All Things
It is amazing to think that I am about to complete two full years as a full time missionary here in Colombia… if someone were to ask me what the experience has been like I would have to say it has been the most amazing and exciting experience of my life but also the most tiring and stressful one as well. But amidst all the stress and difficulties and the constant loneliness for family and the comforts of “home” I can still honestly say after two long years (seems like it has been a lot longer haha) I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Living in Colombia has taught me to be open to change and has forced me to live constantly outside of my comfort zone.
Just the other day I was talking to a fellow United States citizen who has lived for the past two years in Colombia for her husband’s job about how living in different places really gives you a new perspective on life that a lot of people in the U.S can’t even imagine. Basically you don’t know what you don’t know until you experience it. She was telling me about how the things that seemed so important to her when she lived in Texas just seemed not to matter so much anymore when she returned to visit after having lived outside of the United States for several years. I am still quite spoiled unfortunately and I still have to remind myself that things don’t always have to go my way but I am also learning to trust God in all things…. not just in some things… but all things.
For example for anyone who has never tried to get a Visa to live in a another country it may not seem like a very trying task… Let me tell you, I do not know how it is in other countries but let’s just say in Colombia it is no party. I have never had so much stress and trouble with anything in my entire life like trying to have a legal status here in Colombia, but after months of getting the right papers and getting the right signatures on the right dates and having to pay several different fees and what all.
I am now happy to say that I am finally legally married (though we are waiting until our church wedding August 20th to be married in the eyes of God and man and begin married life together) and now I have a steady Visa for the next 3 years. For the first time in two years I can breath and not have to worry that I am going to be taken to jail for not having my Colombian I.D. (the police on the street constantly ask people randomly for their I.D and run it through their system for criminals, if you do not have your I.D on you it normally results in your arrest.) or that I am going to be kicked out of the country again. God has really blessed me this year and even though Oscar and I have had to work really hard He has blessed both of us with many wonderful ministry opportunities and also personal blessings for our future together as husband and wife. This year we have been working on establishing our ministry legally here in Colombia, unfortunately this is a really slow process and must be done absolutely perfectly without error or we could be faced with devastating fines and even possible jail time… yes it is that serious here. But we have finally made huge progress thank God and we should be legally established and have everything in order by the end of this year but just getting this far has required a lot of prayer and faith that if we jump God will catch us.
God has also been teaching me to trust him through Heidy. Heidy was the fist girl that my father and my sister Beverly met and fell in love with many years ago on their first trip ever to Colombia. She has been in our lives and we have supported her for a very long time now. She and two others were actually the young adults who inspired the Shield House dream. Well recently, Heidy (like so many other young girls here in Colombia) went through some really tough times and came out on the other side addicted to drugs and pregnant. God was faithful with her and brought her out of that situation by his mercy and she is now living with me in Rebekah’s old room. We like to say that she is the first of the Shield House girls because the idea for that house is specifically for girls in her situation with nowhere else to go. The baby will be born soon and with her comes a lot more stress and responsibility but I am trying to continue trusting the Lord to provide and take care of us. I have had several opportunities to share my story with her and tell her about God’s love and mercy for those who have wandered away from Him and it was so beautiful to see the fruit of that yesterday when my other Colombian sister Ginary, who has been going through a really rough time and is struggling alone after the loss of her own baby and being abandoned by her boyfriend, came to visit us. Heidy and I listened to her and loved on her and I got to watch Heidy tell her some of the exact same things that I have been praying over Heidy and talking to her about. It is amazing to see how God takes the worst possible pain and turns it into something good. Please help me pray that we will be able to have the finances to provide for this little one and that Heidy will be able to find a safe place to raise her when my apartment contract expires in September but most importantly that God will give me the words to say and that He would work in both of their hearts so that they can come to know Him as their Savior and the love of their lives.
I have also been volunteering at several different Christian foundations here in Bogota that tend to the physical, intellectual and spiritual needs of this city’s precious children. I have enjoyed so much the opportunities that God has given me to share the love of Jesus with these kids through teaching them how to read and write. I remember one day the children asked me why I had not come back for several days during my trip to Guajira and I told them that I was sharing Jesus with the indigenous tribes there. I remember one girl looked at me with wide eyes and asked me “Is THAT why you are here in Colombia? To help people?” I told her yes and I began to explain to her how much God loves the people of Colombia and how he sent me here to show them that love. All the children at my table stopped and listened attentively as I told them about Guajira and what God was doing with the children there. At the end of my story each one told me, “Teacher, I want to be like you when I grow up, I don’t want to be like those people who just chase after money their whole lives, I want to help people like you do.”
All this to say God has given me some great opportunities this year to share His love and also has blessed Oscar and I tremendously. We recently were able to pay off many things for our wedding out of the little work that I have been able to do down here (translating different things from English into Spanish) and Oscar’s continued hard work for different ministries and his own translations. As I am writing this now our new washing machine just arrived ☺ which we were able to pay for mostly with the spare change that we have been accumulating for the past year (we saved about $150 dollars just in coins). God has been good to us and I can’t wait to see what He will do next, we still have many needs and many new expenses soon (diapers, milk, etc.) But God has always been faithful and He always will be.
I am so blessed to be working with my Father God on His mission and I ask those of you that read this to please continue praying for the spiritually and physically starving people of Colombia and that God will use me and many others to bring His light to this place and wake up the sleeping church of this generation to a new passion and crazy love for Him and His people.
“And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on My behalf is welcoming Me.”
Matthew 18:5
Love Brooke
Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia
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