All posts by Matt Bullen

After we finally got all the bags and endless cases of water to the hotel and up the stairs Oscar and I finally had a moment to sit down and have something to eat. We had both experienced a pretty rough two weeks beforehand and were just hours away from heading to the airport to pick up the rest of the Mission Critical team. Poor Oscar had run so hard he was super sick that day so we decided to just sit and be lazy for once until finally it was time.

We met some pastor friends and my Colombian brother Juan David and sister Heidy and were able to reconnect and talk while waiting for everybody else. After luggage and pictures and a crazy bus ride to the hotel we all finally found ourselves sitting around enjoying some Colombian dinner.

I was super happy to see everyone, it had been almost three months since seeing them and to a family that is so close three months seems like an eternity. So after sharing some stories and meeting some new friends (Stephanie, a wonderful woman of God and missionary to Peru) we hit our beds for some rest before a long two weeks ahead.

The first foundation we visited was a little soup kitchen for hungry children in a rough part of Bogota. The foundation was started by a little husband and wife and they feed lunch to the neighboring children every week day. The kids call them Abuelita and Abuelito (granny and grandpa), It was amazing to spend time with them and witness the selfless, endless work of this little old lady and her few helpers feeding God’s little children. We spent time with the kids coloring and playing with the soccer balls and Frisbees we brought with us. It was a blessing and also incredibly humbling to be a part even if for only one day.

The next place we visited was a house called Colombia Chiquita. I had been here before in the past and was excited to be able to come back after almost 3 years. Colombia Chiquita is a foundation that houses and protects several children from all age groups. I dont have space to write about all of it but the founder of the ministry is a sweet lady with a huge heart for children.

After being hit by a bus years ago, losing her leg and being in a coma for quite a while she was forced to walk on crutches the rest of her life. One day when she was walking down the street a little boy stole her crutches and began to run away, when she asked the boy why he would steal a crippled woman’s crutches his response broke her heart. He was stealing them to sell because he was starving, and that day she decided that she would do everything to make sure him and kids like him would never go hungry again. We were able to encourage them and love on the kids the entire day playing, coloring and just spending time. Please be in prayer for them, we were able to help with what we had but they are struggling financially to continue living in their current home and continue caring for these precious kids.

The third place we visited was a house for young, pregnant mothers or young mothers with their babies called Asociación Cristiana Nuevo Nacimiento. This by far was one of my favorite places and I was overjoyed to be able to reconnect with a girl that I have known for years and visited and prayed for when she was in a different institution and still pregnant. I was finally able to meet her son and spend some time talking and praying for her. The house was full with other young mothers and the sweetest little babies in the world. We were able to spend some time with each group of girls and share stories and the gospel with them. It was an amazing day.

I know if I continue to write more people won’t read it cause of the length lol but these are only three of the seven institutions alone that we visited not even mentioning the churches. There is a great need here and God has not let me or my family rest since He brought it to our attention five years ago.

The day after the trip ended I moved to Medellin to work with Jucum, (Youth with a mission) in their branch in Medellin. I work 4 days a week 12 hours a day with the children who are being raised here. There are 43 of them and they are precious. Each one comes from the poorest of the poor places and are either orphans or their families live in such desperate conditions that the children are unable to live with them. And when I am not with the children I am working helping prepare for the brigade we are leaving for tomorrow. We are going to a place called Santa Rosita a tiny little place that is barely on the map. It is not a town, or a city, it is a bunch of houses with over 1,000 people in the middle of nowhere. These 1,000 people live in what is considered extreme poverty, physically and spiritually and we are going for four days to do what we can about that and bring God’s love to them. We need so much prayer, I cannot stress the importance of prayer enough. Please everyone who reads this make a commitment to pray for me and for Jucum every day, especially for the next 4 days. God bless you all.

 
[quote] “I’ll follow You into the homes of the broken, I’ll follow You into the world… to meet the needs of the poor and the needy, God… I’ll follow You into the world” – Leeland[/quote]
 

Love Brooke

Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia

Like many missionaries, Brooke has no source of income other than love gifts from home.

If you would like to support Brooke you can mail a check to:

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

Give online below.

100% of your tax exempt gift will go to Brooke in Colombia.

So much has been happening the last few weeks, I believe in my last blog I was about to go work on yet another Berakah retreat. As always the retreat was beautiful and I was super blessed to see some of the girls from our Thursday night Bible studies being ministered to and receiving the love of God there. I was not part of the ministering team this time because more hands were needed in the kitchen cooking, cleaning and taking care of the physical needs of all 115 women there. I love working in the kitchen, it is absolutely exhausting and the work seems endless but I love it, the joy that giving all you have to help others brings is inexplicable in words. Even though I was not spending as much hands on time with the women I was still able to minister and encourage several young girls that attended. God used me to speak to one girl in particular several times. Caroline was very unsure about wanting to attend the weekend and had decided not to go but thanks to His grace God used me to convince her to sign up at the last minute and was able to share the gospel with this struggling girl the entire three days. Caroline is a functioning lesbian and addict but no sin compares with the love of Jesus Christ He surpasses all other desires, sins, passions and addictions. Asking for continuous prayer for these precious girls.

Not long after the retreat I finished my time at Berakah and the time came to say goodbye. It was a bitter/sweet parting, bitter because I immensely enjoyed working with the kids in Berakah, teaching english and gaining more brothers and sisters, needless to say it was hard to say goodbye. But it was also sweet because not long after my family (Dad, Mother, Sister) came with another mission team to work with even more children and reconnect with old relationships while building new ones. In the last week and a half we have visited 6 institutions and two churches and still have not finished yet. It has been beautiful, I have loved it. Along with Oscar Useche (our General Colombian Director/future family member) my family and I came Stephanie (an American missionary to Peru) and Nick (Mission Critical board member’s son). The trip has been amazing, and I will give everyone a full update soon. Prayers as always are craved and seriously petitioned. Thank you to everyone who continues to support Mission Critical financially and spiritually. You are all a part of what we do here. As always God has something He wants to do with your life, your existence on this earth is not an accident or a road that ends safely at death, God is calling you. Go.

 
[quote] “I don’t want to go through the motions, I don’t want to go one more day, without Your all consuming passion inside of me, I don’t want to spend my whole life asking… what if I had given everything??” The Motions Matthew West.[/quote]
 

Love Brooke

Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia

Like many missionaries, Brooke has no source of income other than love gifts from home.

If you would like to support Brooke you can mail a check to:

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

Give online below.

100% of your tax exempt gift will go to Brooke in Colombia.

Hey, I’m Oscar and I’ve been working with Mission Critical for a year and a half and I have to say it is one of the best experiences I’ve had in my entire life.

I met Matthew (our founder and CEO) at a church I was invited to to be his interpreter and that was January last year (2013); we know God planned this and we’ve been working together ever since, first was just translation and then I got more and more responsibilities but I’m happy to do it because we do it for the love, we do it for the Lord and we do it for the children.

My job (translator) usually had me away from the action and Mission Critical gives me the opportunity to be to be where the action takes place, meeting brave men and women that are giving everything they have to reach those in need, to be arms and hands that reach in the name of Jesus. being able to combine what i do in this ministry with my regular job (also a ministry, Compassion International) is one of the biggest blessings in my entire life because I am able to bless children and adults first hand but every time i leave one of the institutions, i am the one who as blessed the most.

God is at work here in Colombia and I know you don’t want to miss it so stay tuned for the next mission trip or how you can help to reach the least of these.

This morning we were blessed to preach at a wonderful church in the city. Juan David was able to come and Pastor Miguelito is one of the sweetest men I have ever met. It was such a joy and privilege to be with this precious church. We will be having lunch with Pastor Miguelito on Thursday to talk about future ministry ideas together. Praise the Lord!

Three of the members of Oscar’s band lead the worship there and it was one of the most moving and powerful worship experiences I have ever had in Colombia. The music and the passion were amazing! I was so filled and blessed. Near the end of the song service they started playing the first few chords of the song Miracle Maker which is one of my favorite songs and I was thinking, “Oh no you are not playing that right now!” My sermon this morning was Recipe for a Miracle… Ha ha. I had never heard the song in Spanish and it was marvelous.

Oscar and I preached our hearts out and God blessed it with many responding to the Spirit. There are too many stories to tell them all but one especially blesses me. There was a man sitting in front of our daughter Heidy who when I gave the invitation for prayer fell to his knees at his seat and was crying out to the Lord. Heidy felt compassion for him and went and knelt and prayed with him. He was so moved and so thankful that after he couldn’t quit smiling. She brought him to me so I could meet him and his face was radiant. I know the Lord touched him and touched Heidy too.

We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon hanging out with our Colombian kids and the team. We have had the most wonderful trip so far and there is still much to come. Praise God! We love you all.

This morning we had the amazing privilege of participating the the first baptism service for a new church. Two new converts, Nihima and Anita, came to be baptized. We had a worship service and Pastor Hector brought a stirring message about the meaning of baptism and then it was time. How wonderful to see the joy and excitement in the faces of these precious daughters of God as they came in obedience to the command of their Lord to publicly announce that they have chosen to follow Jesus into death and into new life. After the baptism service we had a wonderful lunch and a long nap. Then we shared dinner and rested and enjoyed our free time. Another new experience in this beautiful country that has gripped our hearts so strongly.

This morning we visited our dear friends at Mision Berakah and their school, Fundacion Emaus. We enjoyed an amazing presentation about the history of Colombia by the children of Emaus. Cute doesn’t quite get there when describing these precious children and amazing doesn’t quite describe the amount of work the staff and volunteers went to put this on. It was spectacular.

After the presentation we enjoyed a meal and some quality time with our friend Pastor Henry Castillo. They have been going through some tough persecution and we were able to encourage him and be encouraged by him. Their church building holds about 150 people but they have 1000 people on Sunday mornings so they meet in the park and put up fiesta tents and preach in the park. Their enemies have been bringing the police down on them week after week even though they went through all the proper channels and had the proper permits. Every Sunday for 2 months Pastor Henry has been preaching in the park under the pressure of possible arrest. Another exciting thing is that Pastor Henry recently returned from an incredible ministry trip to Cuba and has invited me to go with him on the next trip!

After lunch we visited the fledgling foundation of a friend of Oscar’s called Fundacion Busqueda y Rescate (Search & Rescue Foundation). Oscar’s friend also named Oscar, his wife and his mother started this ministry to help street children 4 years ago and it grew to 100 children. They were meeting in a church building but then the church sold the building and they were left with no place to meet so they had to find a place they could afford. They all work regular jobs and do the ministry in between. They rented a little shack in an alley and started papering the board walls and painting and they just started back with being able to have children there. From the outside it was unimaginable that 25 children could really be inside learning about Jesus but there certainly were and I was so moved to see their sweet faces and realize that these were precious souls. Oscar and his mom continued explaining and apologizing for the little shack and it was obvious that they have been literally working night and day to get it ready. I told Oscar that I was so impressed and inspired and that they had nothing to apologize for. I told him they were carving souls out of the rock and it was awesome. He broke down weeping and I held him in my arms and prayed over him until he recovered. What a precious little family and ministry. He briefly told me a tiny bit of his story of how he had been a Satanist, drug thug, and part of a vampire cult in Bogota for 10 years before God miraculously saved him and that is why he has such a passion to reach these children for Jesus before they get old enough to follow that life. We had an amazing and blessed time with them. We sang and colored and gave them gifts. It was so blessed and powerful. We will be locking arms with this precious ministry.

After our devotion and prayer time this morning we set out for a Christian home for pregnant or nursing teen girls, some as young as 12. Most are orphans. Most were raped or victims of incest. We didn’t take photos because many of the girls are under witness protection or are being sought by their abusers. In their words there are 163 “lives” in this home counting mothers, unborn babies, and babies and toddlers. If it wasn’t for this ministry these girls would be on the street.

Almost immediately upon entering we saw two girls that we have tried to help over the years and are very dear to our family, Luisa & Hasbleidy. Huge smiles broke across their faces and we hugged and laughed so happy to see each other again. Luisa has a 2 year old boy and Hasbleidy has a 2 year old boy and a baby girl.

I have been to this place before and had heard stories of the founder but was thrilled to finally meet her in person. She told us her story. She was a pastor’s daughter who rebelled against the faith and she and her husband lived in the drug scene. Over and over they would try to break free but would always fall back into that lifestyle. Finally one day they agreed they had to get out and so they went to her father’s church. Of course he had been praying and aching for years for them to come to Christ and when they walked through the front door of the church he broke down and wept and wept. She wept telling us about it all these years later. They threw themselves into the church the same with the same passion they had gone after evil. Soon her husband was in seminary and they were reaching out to the drug world they had come from. They started with 2 people sleeping in their living room and then 10 then 30 then 80 and they kept moving to larger places as God provided. Today they minister to thousands and this home is one of their many programs. Her husband died 11 years ago and she has continued and drastically expanded the work. God’s work in her life is so inspiring.

We spent several hours there sharing, singing, witnessing one on one, watching presentations, and just enjoying the girls and their babies and the staff. It was a very blessed time. Many deep conversations about Jesus and his love and forgiveness took place. Hasbleidy, who has been very close to our daughter Rebekah for years asked me to tell Rebekah how much she loves her and she thanked me that we keep coming and keep working to help all the children.

At one point the girls performed an amazing drama for us about forgiveness. It was stunning and there wasn’t a dry eye. They put this drama on once a year and we “happened” to be here today. Our friend Luisa, who has been to our home in Texas some years ago when we were trying to find a family to adopt her, was the main actor in the play and at the end when the cast came to take their bow, Luisa was smiling brightly and looking right at me in the crowd. With tears running down my cheeks I chuckled out loud in the direction of heaven. Yes Lord, you can bring friends from another continent on just the right day to see a little orphan girl’s annual performance and cheer her on. Yes you can. That’s Who You are.

We were very touched and blessed to be here today. We saw and heard things that will mark our souls for life and strengthen our resolve to give our lives to helping the least of these.

Our precious sister Stephanie from Trinity Angels in Peru brought our devotion today and it was stunning. I had asked her to share her story of how she came to be in Peru doing the miraculous work that she is doing there. She did indeed share her story and there wasn’t a dry eye among us. Thank you Stephanie for your heart. What a blessing to have her with us on this trip.

Today was a rest day for the team. We hung out, played games, made friendship bracelets, teased, laughed, and ate, ate, ate 🙂

Tomorrow we visit a home for pregnant or nursing teen girls, some as young as 12. Most are orphans. Most were raped or victims of incest. God loves these girls with a furious love and we will feel His Spirit very powerfully there tomorrow as well as the darkness that attempts to invade the place. Please be in prayer for our team as we love on and share the hope that is in Jesus with these precious girls. There will be no photos taken or shared at this place tomorrow because many of the girls are under witness protection or are being sought by their abusers.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support that allows us to be here and do what we do.

Today we visited our old friends at Colombia Chiquita. It was great to renew friendships and see and hear what God has done and is doing. We heard a few of the heartbreaking stories of the children that are being ministered to and discipled here. It made me glad that they have a place like this to go. One girl was badly burned by the rebels and when she, her brother, and her mother tried to escape on the river the rebels shot the bottom out of their boat. This girl and her brother survived but their mother drowned. When she first came to the orphanage 4 years ago she didn’t speak or eat for 4 months. Today she is grown up and works with the children herself. It was wonderful to hug her neck and see the joy in her face and know that Jesus has transformed her heart and life.

As predicted, it was precious to see the children’s faces light up when Lisa pulled two brand new soccer balls out of the bag. They squealed and ran to her trying to grab them out of her hands. There is a park across the street from the orphanage with a soccer field and so while lunch was cooking we took the kids there and played soccer and frisbee for several hours. This was a very special for these children. Heidy, Lisa, Stephanie, Liliana and I took turns watching the oh so sweet babies. It was a glorious morning. Another exciting development here is that my friend Esperanza who founded and runs this orphanage has invited me in the spring to come and preach in Baranquilla in 5 churches and on the radio and television for her pastor friends there. More opportunities to encourage the work of God in Colombia. Praise the Lord.

After a wonderful lunch we broke out the coloring books and crayons and candy and balloons and played and played. It’s hard to believe these beautiful children are abandoned and that tragedy has struck their lives. They are so loving and friendly and excited for the little bit of love that we can give them. I have been pretty sick on the trip so far and today was the worst but as I lay back on the couch one after another these precious children came over and showed me their drawing or told me a funny story or climbed in my lap and laid their head on my chest. Just a little love and a few very inexpensive gifts has made their week. I never tire of this and never will. Tomorrow we have a rest day and then on to more adventures. Thank you so much for the prayers. Lives are being changed and more than just the children’s and we know that you are holding the ropes for us.

We had a wonderful devotion and prayer time this morning after breakfast and then headed out to Soacha. We stopped and saw the wonderful progress that is happening at the Christian International Center in Soacha. They are building board by board and brick by brick a church, TV station, skate park, and school in the heart of the slum totally on faith. It is breathtakingly inspiring each time we come to see what God has done with Pastor Jordan and his team in this barrio.

We climbed and climbed up the mountain (at one point the van couldn’t make it with all of us so we got out and walked) and finally reach Altus de Cazuca. This neighborhood started from squatters fleeing the civil war. It is a collection of ramshackle buildings, huts, etc. They only have running water for one hour per week and so must collect all the water they will need for that week in that hour. 10 years ago a lady and her husband started a hot lunch kitchen to try and help the street children of Cazuca. Today she is known all over the mountain as Granny (Abuelita) and she feeds a hot lunch to 70 children a day. For most of these children this is the only hot meal they get each day. We arrived just before lunch and soon the place was swarming with activity. After letting them eat we broke out the coloring books, crayons, frisbees, and a couple of soccer balls and the fun was on. It never ceases to amaze me how love tears down all barriers. Despite the language and cultural barriers soon everyone was laughing and talking and hugging and snapping “muchas fotos”

We played and talked and loved for hours with these precious kids. They were so excited about us being there and asked us hundreds of questions. One little girl named Valentina probably 5 years old stole my heart immediately. She is the daughter of a teenage mom and it was obvious to me that she has no dad. She was climbing up the rocks and jumping off and I complimented her on her bravery. She smiled and giggled and ran down the rocks and jumped into my arms. I swung her around with a whoop and it was on! We played that game again and again until I couldn’t stand up anymore and we sat down and got her interested in coloring. Nic was the star of the frisbee time in the trail that passes for a street. It was so cute to hear all the little boys yelling Nicolas! Nicolas! And when the frisbee went on the roof the Bullen girls came through with circus style acrobatics to get it down! Later the ladies broke out the string and Brooke taught everyone how to make manillas (friendship bracelets) and the weaving, twisting, tying, and cutting was on. How precious these little lambs are. The places where they live we wouldn’t store our firewood in but God knows each of them and loves them with a furious love. There were tears and hugs and kisses when we had to say goodbye but we will be back and we will love on them again. Over dinner we shared what God is doing in us and our vision for the future. God is AWESOME!

Last night and today were times of blessed introductions and blessed reunions, introductions as Lisa and Beverly met Brooke’s beau Oscar and Ginary’s beau Sebastian for the first time and we really enjoyed our new friend Stephanie from Peru. What a kindred spirit she is. We told stories and laughed and cried and prayed and teased all day. And a day of blessed reunions in that Lisa, Beverly, Brooke, Heidy, Ginary, and Juan David were together for the first time in four years! Also we returned to the first church I ever preached at in Colombia and saw many old friends whom we love.

We had a marvelous time of celebration in the presence of the Holy Spirit and it was obvious that God was moving all day long. What a tremendous blessing to get to follow Jesus on His mission among the nations. I love our life. Oscar and I preached on The Price of Impact Ministry and listed 3 things that it requires, 1. Courage 2. Endurance 3. Vision. God really used it to touch hearts for which we are very grateful! Our friend Nic Arnold blessed me with his summation of his first day of his first ever mission trip and also shocked me with his photography skills. You’re hired Nic! 😉

We then had a wonderful lunch with our hosts and then a restful “family” afternoon at the hotel. I a totally blessed at how sweet and near the Lord was all day. This is going to be another anointed and amazing trip! Praise Jesus! Tomorrow we head up to Altus De Cazuca, one of the poorest places in Bogota to love on and minister to some street kids. Thank you for your prayers and support! Fruit is being advanced to your account in heaven.

It has been a while since my last update so I will try and run through what has been going on these last few weeks. First of all I am overjoyed to say that one of the girls that I first wrote about was able to discover that she is having a beautiful baby girl and she has started attending church again thank God for this answer to prayer. We have continued to work with the girls every week between group Bible studies every Thursday night (lots of prayer for this group is really appreciated) and individual visits with the girls to share and be able to listen to them and pray over them. The spiritual and most times physical condition of these girls is desperate and most times very dark. But thanks to God some of them have opened their hearts to us and allowed us to try and help in the ways that we can. When I first met Luna I saw any normal 17 year old girl with hopes and dreams for the future… So I thought, but upon getting to know her instead I saw a broken girl with no hope for her personal future or the future of her two precious little girls. Abuse and hopelessness is extremely common in the lives of these girls and their families. When God said go out and make disciples of all the nations He never said it would be easy or that these disciples would be living perfect lives in perfect conditions and be totally open to the gospel. No of course not, He simply said go… It is not easy to see some of the things that I have witnessed since being here, I must confess on several occasions I was unable to hold back the tears, but thanks to God most of these girls are desperate for more of God and ready to change. Please continue to pray for them and that God would soften hearts and open minds.

This weekend I had the amazing blessing to be able to be apart of another Mision Berakah weekend retreat but this time for women. It was amazing to say the least. Two and a half days of straight prayer and sharing of the word with about 100 beautiful spiritually thirsty women. I had really enjoyed serving on the kids retreats in June but was unsure of how it would be to work with grown adult women. I must admit I was a bit nervous as we made the hour drive to La Vega, a little town outside of Bogota, where the retreat was going to be held. I had never before served on a retreat for adults let alone been one of the Guias, or Guides. My job was to minister to these women in any way that I could, from praying over them to holding their precious babies so mommy could rest. On Saturday I was asked to stand up and say a few words about September 11 and the tragedies that the United States suffered on that day. I was able to recall the day exactly and what I felt and how the actions of others had destroyed and damaged so many lives in just a couple of minutes. I spoke about anger and hurt and how God calls each of us to not only forgive our enemies but to love them and pray for them. There was not a dry eye in the room as we prayed fervently over these hurting women. God really showed up, many lives were changed and hearts were healed that day. I was approached by three beautiful, sweet young ladies on Sunday and they asked if they could sit down and talk to me. As we sat and had lunch together they shared their stories with me and I learned that they were all three living at a rehab institution for drug addicts. My heart melted and I cried out to God to give me the words to say to these young women… God in His total awesomeness loosed my tongue and I was able to talk to these three girls without any help from a translator. I am so humbled to have been chosen to share and encourage these precious daughters of God and to be able to share and visit tomorrow with them at their home with the all the other girls. Thank you Lord! We all went home hungry… Tired and extremely blessed with smiles on our faces.

I am going to be serving on the same retreat but with a different group of women this upcoming weekend… calling for PRAYERS and INTERCESSION for these women. As always thank you all so much for the support and prayers. Even when you feel you have nothing to give God has a life that He wants to use YOU to touch… Be bold because He is doing the work… you are the vessel.

Love Brooke

 
[quote]That’s how the lost get found by Britt Nicole

“Don’t let your lights go down, don’t let your fire burn out cause somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe, why don’t you rise up now? Don’t be afraid to stand out…. Thats how the lost get found….. Don’t let the lights go down”[/quote]
 

Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia

Like many missionaries, Brooke has no source of income other than love gifts from home.

If you would like to support Brooke you can mail a check to:

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

Give online below.

100% of your tax exempt gift will go to Brooke in Colombia.

Have you ever had the thought “I know God is calling me to such and such but first I must prepare myself, I am not ready”. I have talked to countless young girls and even adults who have believed this lie and been held back because of it.

I have also had these same thoughts before in my life. Somehow people think that God calls people to clean themselves up and learn all the spiritual fruits before going to do His work with Him. I struggle with this same doubt and speed bump myself. I have always been tempted to put off what God was calling me to until I was “spiritually ready”, basically until I knew the entire Bible backwards, prayed for six hours a day and could spout off spirituality on a whim. Even now that I am here doing what it is God called me to the devil continually tries to use the same old lie that has tripped up many a Christian from walking out onto the water to Jesus.

This morning even as these thoughts were bouncing around in my little head God, in His awesomeness, silenced those voices with just a couple of verses out of His word. I was reading in Mark chapter one this morning when I came across verses 16-20. We all know the story really well, Jesus is walking by the sea of Galilee and calls to Simon (Peter) and Andrew saying “Come follow me and I WILL SHOW YOU HOW to fish for people”. I love the NLT version of the Bible. Jesus did not go to the synagog where all the “wise”, know-it-all, perfectly religious people were and say “Well finally I found somebody who knows their Bible and lives a perfect life, come on and lets teach all these horrible sinners how to do it”. He called the unprepared. God does not call the equipped, He equips the called. Jesus did not shake His head and say “Hey you should be saving souls already why are you wasting your time catching fish? Have you not read the prophecies???” What did He say? “I will show you how to fish for people”. God says come and I will take care of the rest. Just be available, just obey, and He will prepare us for all He has called us to.

I was not ready when I came, but He has been working on me everyday. I will tell you that living in a different country, no matter where, is not easy. You must give up everything, and when I say everything, I mean everything you are used to and is comfortable and normal to you. You must adapt to an entire new way of living and sometimes it really rubs you the wrong way. I have to admit it has not been easy, but every time I get frustrated or want to go back to the United States and my normal comforts, I remember a prayer I prayed a long time ago. “God I want everything you have for me, please prepare me to do whatever You are calling me to”.

The difficulties and frustrations I face now are preparing me for the future. This is why I named these last two posts bootcamp. God did not tell me to learn discipline, patience and humility before I came, He is teaching me all this stuff now, and at the same time I get to experience enormous blessings.

Yesterday I was able to spend the entire morning with a little boy named Estevan who attends the school I am currently working in while writing this haha. He had fallen down playing football (soccer) and scraped up his arm pretty bad which kept him from being able to take swimming classes with the other kids. It always amazes me how God takes bad things and turns them into something good 😀 He is cool like that. Because of that mishap Estevan and I were able to spend the entire morning together just talking and visiting. I don’t remember exactly but after exhausting the subject of best animated movies and guitar lessons somehow we got on the subject of having a relationship with Jesus and how that relationship gives us new joy and desires for our life.

Later that evening Sayira and I went on our regular visits with young women, on this particular visit we were able to encourage and be a listening ear to a girl who lives in a drug infested environment and struggles with addiction herself. I could not stop thinking the whole time of the song “Jesus rides the subway”. After about a two hour visit she could not stop thanking us for just listening to her and not judging. She is desperate for Jesus and is planning to attend the next women’s retreat in August.

Even though at times it is a difficult learning process, God is training me while I work alongside Him in what He is doing here in Colombia. All we have to do is step out of the boat, He takes care of the rest.

A special thanks to all the families who have supported me while I have been here, you are all a huge part of what I am doing here through prayer and support. I can’t say thank you enough. As always Mission Berakah and I are desperate for prayers. That is the greatest gift anyone can give.

Love Brooke

 
[quote]Jesus Rides The Subway by Trevor Morgan

Jesus rides the subway with the junkies and the freaks
Jesus rides the subway with the husslers and the creeps
He rubs shoulders with the thieves
And he looks a lot like everyone he sees
Yeah, Jesus rides the subway
While the pretty people sleep

And He says, “You can lay your burden down,
You can lay your burden down
Oh, maybe you’ve been kicked around,
But you can lay your burden down.”

Jesus strolls the sidewalk
On the wrong side of the tracks
Yeah, Jesus strolls the sidewalk
That poverty attacked
He makes his home among the shadows
Where the fatherless have fallen through the cracks.
Yeah, Jesus strolls the sidewalk
While the righteous turn their backs.

He says, “You can lay your burden down,
You can lay your burden down
Oh, maybe you’ve been kicked around,
But you can lay your burden down.”[/quote]
 

Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia

Like many missionaries, Brooke has no source of income other than love gifts from home.

If you would like to support Brooke you can mail a check to:

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

Give online below.

100% of your tax exempt gift will go to Brooke in Colombia.

Most times in life, things do not turn out the way you expected. Not always a good thing but on the other hand is also not always bad either. I would not be surprised if half the time God is chuckling to Himself and thinking “You have no idea what I am sending your way next”.

Today is exactly two weeks since I stepped foot on Colombian soil and I have to say it has been far from what I expected, what a blessing. Because I could never have dared to expect the beauty I have seen in just 14 days. My first two weekends as you already know were spent ministering to children at the boy/girl retreats. Since then I have been spending most of my days attending different reunions the church holds daily, the attendance ranges from small children to elderly adults, somehow or another the ministry has some sort of ministry for all ages. The subjects of these meetings differ depending on the day or the need. They usually go from children’s Bible studies and music classes to adult prayer meetings and ministry preparation. To give you an idea of my general days I will give you a quick rundown. I have been waking up at 4am every morning for an hour of prayer with my new friend and co-worker Sayira.. We pray every morning from 4am to 5am for everything possible under the sun. Prayers for family, friends, ministry, power, presence you name it. I have not quite been able to stay up after our prayers end and usually pass out for a few more hours of sleep. I usually leave the place where I sleep and go straight to the pastor’s house to spend the morning in more prayer and outdoor activities. After lunch we head to the church together to start work. There are generally 4 or 5 reunions a day, I don’t attend all of them mostly the Bible studies, prayer meetings and ministry planning meetings. I work with Sayi most of the day when I am not in reunions and at about 6-7pm we hit the streets. The ministry is very passionate about bringing the lost sheep back to the flock. One of the branches of this ministry is staying in contact with past and present church attendees. This is where Sayi and I come in, at night we go and visit numerous women and young girls at their house to share the word with them, pray over them and encourage them to pursue their relationship with God, always assuring them that we are near if they should need anything. I love to be a part of these visits, these women and girls are usually going through extremely difficult times financially, emotionally and sometimes physically. My first visit was with a girl named Laura. She is 20 years old and 8 months pregnant with her first child. Her entire family has rejected her and she lives in a tiny room in a strangers apartment. She has no money for medicine or doctors visits, she has absolutely no idea whether her child is a boy or a girl. As she unfolded her story to me it was difficult to hold back the tears. I was able to struggle through my Spanish and try to encourage her in that all things pass good and bad. We prayed over her and have her contact information should she need anything at all that we can help with. I have been a part of several of these visits and I usually leave wishing I could do more, but God softly reminds me that, as my good friend Oscar Useche always says, it is usually in the little things we do that God works mightily. The highlight of my last two weeks was last night, since we did not have any visits on Wednesday night we went instead door to door inviting some teenage girls to a Bible study. I was concerned that none would come at first because judging by the coldness and hate I could feel from their family I wasn’t sure that they would allow the girls to attend. But God is always faithful and low and behold on Thursday night we had a total of 8 people. Not huge but a miracle none the less. The girls were so sweet and despite their obvious distaste of religion gave us their undivided attention. Sayi and I thought it best to share Matthew 14:22. Peter walking on the water. There are so many open doors to share about in this passage but we felt these girls needed to hear about faith and pursuit of Jesus. The girls listened in silence as Sayi shared about how Peter followed the call and stepped out on the water instead of waiting for Jesus to come to him. He stepped out on total faith and of course not perfectly but still made the choice to trust and keep walking forward. It is always a struggle for me to share in these meetings because of the language barrier, but I am determined to always try. God has given me a lot of love for these children and no amount of struggling through word after word is going to stop me from encouraging these beautiful people. I was able to share a bit of my testimony with them and also some words from the story of Peter also. At the end, with their permission, I went from head to head praying for each of them individually. It was a beautiful night and I can hardly wait for next Thursday to see what God is going to do at the next one.

Please continue to pray. Prayer is priceless to me and this ministry. I pray that God would bless all the readers and their families. Don’t ever forget, God has a purpose for your life and you do not want to miss out on the countless blessings He has for you and others through you.

“Que para esta hora he llegado, para este tiempo nací. En sus propósitos eternos yo me vi, Para esta hora he llegado aunque me ha costado creer, entre sus planes para hoy me encontré”

Love Brooke

Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia

Like many missionaries, Brooke has no source of income other than love gifts from home.

If you would like to support Brooke you can mail a check to:

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

Give online below.

100% of your tax exempt gift will go to Brooke in Colombia.

So pre-travel (and by that I mean pre-complete change of life as you know it in my case) anxiety is normal. But bursting into tears from stress three hours before I was to embark on the greatest adventure of my life seemed a bit dramatic to me. Things thus far had not gone exactly as I had planned and on thursday night as I lay on my bed trying to catch a nap, Satan was having his last try at discouraging me. All the reality and fear of the situation began to creep into my mind, “What am I doing??? What if I fail?? Was quitting my job, quitting school, and walking away from everything I know a mistake? Was God really orchestrating all of this or was it all in my head?” All of these thoughts and doubts finally pushed me to melt into a pathetic puddle of tears. But thank God for the best family ever who instead of encouraging my pity party, dragged my sobbing self into the living room for some much-needed prayer and worship time. Jumping forward lets just say everything, and when I say everything I mean every single thing, that could have gone wrong trying to get to Bogota went wrong…. I finally escaped the Bogota airport at about 6:00 am and was able to reconnect with some close friends, It was such a relief to see some familiar faces.

That evening after some rest la pastora (wife of the pastor of the church I am working with) and I started off to, according to what I was told, a girls retreat in the city. Three hours later still driving I began to wonder where exactly they were taking me. If I didn’t know better I would have expected I was being kidnapped seeing as though we were literally out in the jungle of colombia. But I soon learned that the retreat was being held at a little club outside of a tiny pueblo. The place was absolutely breath-taking. A view that could literally bring tears to your eyes. It was definitely one of those places that brings to mind Psalm 19:1. The camp is owned by a Colombian missionary who preaches all over the world in different churches and through a direct calling from The Lord had purchased that little camp and built it into what it is now for the specific purpose of ministering to pastors and spiritual leaders. A place for them to rest and refresh their relationship with God. After a tour and some history about the place, the pastor’s wife and another amazing woman of God sat me down and prayed over me like I have never been prayed for in my life. God was moving strongly already and I had barely been in Colombia one day. We spent the rest of that day decorating los salones for the girls to come and receive the word and pray. Well, I say we decorated but really, since they were unable to communicate with me well their wishes, I was handed a bag of tangled decorations and asked to organize them…. Finally something that didn’t require communication. Fifty or so girls arrived on buses at about 9:30 pm and were immediately ushered to their separate meeting rooms for some Bible time and prayer. One for little girls and another for older girls. When it was finally time to go to bed I don’t even remember laying my head down. I had no idea what God had in store those next two days.

On saturday morning I jerked awake in a panic trying to remember where I was. Judging by the soft chuckles I heard, it must have been quite amusing to the three women who were sitting near my pallet on the living room floor. I hurried to shower and get ready. I was a little behind since the rest of the camp leaders had been up since 5 am but I didn’t feel too bad seeing as though I had gotten next to no sleep the day before. We had a full day of testimonies and presentations. I spent the first day with the older girls and wow, God really moved that day. The messages were about inner beauty vs. outer beauty, God’s calling in on our lives as women, also on abuse and how to find healing and freedom from that. This particular subject is very near to my heart. About five years ago God put a burning in my soul for abused women and children, especially the children of Colombia and on more than one occasion a tear came to my eye during that message… I was not the only one.

At the end they invited the girls to write a trauma from their past on a piece of paper and hold it while we prayed, and if you have never heard Colombians pray then you cannot imagine the power and passion with which they cry out to God. I was invited to join the other Jefes in praying over the girls which I had never done before but was super blessed to be a part. As I was praying over one girl, she began to cry profusely and refused to be comforted just hid her face in my shoulder and wept for a good 15 minutes. She began to cry so hard at one point she almost fell on the floor, thankfully most Colombians are small and I was able to hold her up. I just let her cry and prayed that God would relieve her of the past and give her a hope and a future Jeremiah 29:11. At the end the leaders and I took the little papers from the girls and threw them into a bucket filled with water, I guessed to signify how God’s love washed that pain and hurt away.

Sunday I spent with the little girl group, and after a full day of adventures (hiking, scout drills, almost being drowned in the pool) we finished the day with another time of prayer for these precious little ones, I started from one side and went from tiny head to tiny head praying blessings and protection over them and when the words would not come I would just sing over them in english. Well before I knew it I was handed the microphone and asked to sing for the whole group. I was more than glad to do it, it’s amazing to me that something as small as an english voice could bring so much excitement and joy to those little faces. God is so good, and He is working in Colombia. Please, Please continue to pray for these precious people and the work that we will be doing together with God’s children. Next weekend I am going to be a part of the same camp but this time for boys, please pray that God will move in the hearts of the kids and also the adults working on these camps, we all need so much more of Him.

“I will call upon your name, and keep my eyes above the waves, when oceans rise my soul will rest in Your embrace for I am Yours, and You are mine”

Love Brooke

Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia

Like many missionaries, Brooke has no source of income other than love gifts from home.

If you would like to support Brooke you can mail a check to:

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

Give online below.

100% of your tax exempt gift will go to Brooke in Colombia.

[lightbox full=”https://missioncriticalintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_5322-e1400786828512.jpg” thumb=”https://missioncriticalintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_5322-e1400786828512.jpg” title=”Brooke Bullen” /]

I grew up as a PK (Pastor’s Kid) so serving God with your life and everything you have came natural to me in the beginning and just seemed like the normal flow of life. However, the thought of being a missionary in another country was never appealing to me. Obviously there was more than enough work to be done here in the United States and leaving your home, life, and comforts was for the “Hero” Christians, not for little me who was of no great significance to anyone.

All of that changed one day when I heard the story of Bruchko, (Bruce Olsen) a young nineteen-year-old missionary to the Motilone Indians of North East Colombia. I had sat under the dull sound of my father reading dry theology books, in my child like opinion, written by even drier, old preachers and missionaries who were all together much too holy for me and way beyond all reason of regular life. But one night somehow my regular routine of solitaire and puzzles that I used to lessen my boredom was interrupted by the enrapturing story of a young man leaving everything he had to follow a passion and a calling that only God could have put in his heart, against all odds and against all “sound judgment” he set off to an unknown, unreached, savage people to share the gospel. To this day I still have no idea why I connected so closely with this Bruchko, but from that night on a hunger began to burn in my soul. I said that night as I lay in my bed, “God if you want me to go somewhere and do something for you, provide the passion and I will do it.”

Two months later my Dad asked me to go to Colombia with him for the first time In January 2010. I was excited, what a great vacation! Leaving the country and being able to see all the things that my father and sisters seemed to endlessly and exhaustingly talk about. Perhaps at last I would be a part of the missions “In crowd” made up of my father and two sisters who had already been broken by the Holy Spirit in Colombia the year before. But unlike them I refused to come back a puddle of tears surging with righteousness. I was going to be tough. I was going to show all of them up as the babies I felt that they were being. By the third day of the trip with not a tear shed and still being able to maintain my hard heart I was quite proud of myself. It wasn’t until I met a little boy named Andres (Andrew) in a tiny orphanage called Pronacer that God finally destroyed my walls, but that is for another story. When I got home I was burning for another chance to go back, I began emailing every one I knew telling them about it trying to get enough money to go back. When I was finally able to return I thought that God had broken my heart before, but He completely demolished my former desires, thoughts, and hardness toward His beautiful children. On that trip June 2010 God told me that I was going to be His missionary in Colombia. I didn’t know how or when but I finally had the desire.

After a couple of years and some hard times though, that passion began to fade and the calling was pushed to the back of my personal closet of plans. Until the summer of 2012 out of shear desperation to reconnect with the heart of God I bought a plane ticket, put in a two month leave of absence at my job and flew to Colombia to work in the orphanages there with the needy children teaching English and encouraging them in the Lord. I can honestly say that it was the happiest and hardest time of my life. God was rebuilding my whole outlook on life and Himself altogether, which is a difficult process when you have grown up in American churches and been fed the milk of the prosperity gospel your entire life. He was showing me what I was put on this earth for. I was desperate for God and His power like never before in my life. I wanted to serve Him so badly I would stay up for hours lying on the floor praying for the children of Colombia. When my time was up and I was finally forced to come home rather than be deported I was heartsick, I felt I had left my home and my family behind. To this day I still have an entire shoebox full of the love letters and pictures the children made for me on my last days there. Of course we parted with many tears, hugs and Colombian cheek kisses with all the promises in the world of my quick return.

But God works in mysterious ways and was not done working on me yet; I had not quite learned all the lessons He had for me. Somewhere amidst the new job and endless banter of friends and even extended family to make something of myself and that I needed to think about me and my life for once (prosperity gospel) I found myself working and going to school busting my back to try and prove to everyone, including myself, that I was something. And again, the passion was forgotten and put aside for the things of this world. But praise God that He didn’t leave me there. He would not allow me to be comfortable in my rebellion and my state of trading His beauty for ashes. I had been fighting His still small voice for almost a year, and then one day my mom was listening to David Platt’s message “Follow Me”. He was talking about how God calls all of us to shake off our modern day beliefs, and pick up our cross and follow Him, to go where He went, to go where He is. I sat down on the couch and began to cry, over and over God had showed me that nothing can satisfy the burning in my soul except Him, and He wanted me to go with Him to Colombia.
 

I am finally going full time to Colombia on June 5th 2014. One way ticket with just my clothes and my Bible to work with my friends Pastors Henry and Mable Castillo in Bogota for the summer and then Enith Diaz in the heart of Medellin, Colombia serving God and His people through, mercy, evangelism, street ministry, homes for children and much more. If anything I ask for prayer, I believe deeply in the power of prayer and crave it more than anything else. Please do that for me and for the people I will be serving. God also has a calling in your life as well as mine. Don’t trade it for anything this world promises. As the song “Empty Me” says, “ ’cause everything is a lesser thing compared to You so I surrender all.”

 

Like many missionaries, Brooke has no source of income other than love gifts from home.

 

If you would like to support Brooke you can mail a check to:

 

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

 

Give online below.

 

100% of your tax exempt gift will go to Brooke in Colombia.

 
 

Sermon preached Sunday, May 18, 2014 at The Haven Community Church in The Woodlands, Texas.

Day 17 – This morning we went up to beautiful La Calera to take our precious daughter Heidy home. We spent a wonderful morning with her and the girls that she lives with. We took a long walk through this picturesque mountain village and just enjoyed the day. The girls were so cute and fun. We returned to the house and did some painting and English lessons and a wonderful lunch and then it was time to go. Pastor Urrego picked us up and we drove out to the beautiful little mountain village of Sopo where I was to preach that night. We were early so we ate some goodies and drank coffee and enjoyed learning all about the village. When we arrived at the church, the pastor’s 21 year old daughter (who speaks good English) and I had a wonderful visit. One of my favorite things about this ministry is getting to encourage young people for the Lord. Oscar and I preached that night and once again the Lord was there to touch and change lives. 6 visitors came to receive Christ and many many cried out their soul hunger to God. What a blessing. I’ve been invited back to preach at their 15th anniversary in September. Praise the Lord for what He is doing here.

Day 18 – This morning had the privilege of preaching for my dear friend Pastor Juan Carlos Caro in the barrio of Suba. God has done an amazing work here through Juan Carlos and his wife. They came to this very dangerous part of Bogota 7 years ago and have carved a wonderful church out of the rock. They have 4 packed services every Sunday and about 1/2 of each service is young people. He told us story after story of different people in the praise team how they had been on drugs since the age of 8 or their husband was just shot and killed the previous month and yet I’ve never seen people more excited about Jesus. It is a stunning place. I preached in the 9 am and 11 am services and the Holy Spirit was gracious to make His presence powerfully known in each service. What a blessing to pray with the very aged and the very young alike all weeping and crying out for more of Him in their life. It is such a thrill to follow Jesus on His mission among the nations. Today was the last day of this incredible 3 week journey and I can only pray and dream of what my heavenly Father has in store for me next. Thank you all for the prayers and support. Your account in heaven is compounding with excellent fruit. Praise Jesus!

Day 12 – This morning we went up to beautiful La Calera to pick up our precious daughter Heidy so that she can spend the week with us. I never get used to her little yelp and her running and jumping in my arms the first time she sees us. We met with the leaders of the ministry that she lives with and talked about some future plans and then we went to get her a chocolate milk shake which is her favorite. I’ll never forget the first time I bought her one and she looked at me with tears in her eyes because it was so good and she had never had one before so now it is a tradition.

Day 13 – This morning we were blessed to meet up with Juan David and Hillary (another aged out orphan having a very hard time on the streets) and treat them to a ride up the cable car to Monserrate overlooking Bogota. We had a nice lunch and took lots of photos and then they had to go and we met up with our daughter Ginary and her boyfriend Sebastian and our dear friend and Pastor Hector’s nephew Rafael for dinner. We laughed and teased mercilessly and everyone had a grand time. I love being a Papi, Padrino, and Tio to as many of these precious kids as I can. But so many are so desperate and it hurts me that I can’t do more. I always tell them that I am praying and looking for more people in the U.S. to get a consuming passion that will help me help them…

Day 14 – This morning we visited a deaf school. It is the first one of its kind in the city. It was founded by a girl from Texas and she is still there 31 years later. She gave us the grand tour and shared story after story of what God has done. It was amazing. They are working on translating the entire Bible into Colombian sign language videos too. We were so blessed to spend time with her and hear what God is doing. Later we met up with our dear friends Pastors Lucas and Doraynne and their kids and had a wonderful dinner and fellowship. Brooke lived with them for two months in 2012 and considers them her second family. It was a blessed reunion! Pastor Lucas is a leader in a large pastors council here in Bogota and we made some exciting plans for my next preaching trip.

Today we were very excited to head back to Soacha (which was such a blessing to us in September) and meet up with Pastor AC Jordan and Centro Internacional Cristiano. Wow! We were so amazed at what God has done here since we last saw them. Based on some great advice and mentoring from Pastor Timothy Vowell when we were here last time and when he returned in January, Jordan has been building relationships all over the city and God has been sending him people and resources and this place is growing like crazy. He has built a skate park and an auditorium and video room and much more. We were each asked to share our testimony and I couldn’t have been prouder of Heidy and Brooke. Heidy shared how our family had brought her to Christ slowly but surely and how she gave her heart to Jesus at the end of one of my sermons on the last mission trip. Praise God! She now wants to give her life to working with Mission Critical in Colombia helping girls and boys like her to know Jesus. Brooke and I were also interviewed for their new television station! God has given them everything they need but the right camera, a Canon 7D. We are praying that God will use us to get that camera for them.

After we went and had a marvelous dinner with Pastors Hector and Liliana and there precious daughters Heyley and Karoline and liliana’s sister and her sweet little ones at their apartment. We ate and laughed and sang and cut up something fierce. It was blessed and joyous. Heidy again told her testimony and made Pastor Hector cry. What precious friendships we have in this country. God is so good to let us be a part of His mission here.

Day 16 – This morning we visited a brand new ministry 3 years old that cares for disabled children. It is a very neat place and we will definitely be spending some time there are future trips. The husband and wife team that founded it are sweet Christians and we hope to get to know them better. This evening Heidy and I shared our testimonies with a Christian band called Grako (short for Great Commission). My friend and translator, Oscar Useche, is one of the founders and their drummer. We again had a blessed and wonderful time sharing and hearing about their passion for Christ. We then went and had Colombian pizza on the roof around a nice fire. I couldn’t wait to take a photo and share with our Mission Critical board and supporters/friends because we often meet around a fire at the Arnold’s our dear friends and board members. Tomorrow we take Heidy back to La Calera and start our last preaching run before heading home to Texas. Blessings.

Day 10 – This morning we joined up with some Colombian friends that used to be missionaries to China and are working to return there and jumped on the metro cable car to go spend some time at an ecological park at the top of the mountain outside of Medellin. What an amazing and beautiful ride up as we hung just a few stories above the barrios as we climbed up and up into the clouds. It was breathtakingly beautiful. We enjoyed lunch up there and many pretty sites and then came back to get ready for a church service tonight.

We arrived at the church and could hear the most amazing worship music as we pulled up. The place was packed with smiling faces and as we walked in my spirit swelled that God loves me this much to let me be a part of His work in the nations. We enjoyed stunning worship together and then Oscar and I mounted the platform to preach. Once again, I have rarely enjoyed the power and freedom with which I was blessed to deliver the message and when I invited those to come who felt a fresh hunger in their souls for God the front was flooded with weeping people crying out to God for a fresh breath from heaven on their lives and ministries. What a blessing! After the service we prayed with dozens of families and then dozens more young people and stood for what seemed like a couple of hours in the church and then in the parking lot just fellowshipping and loving on the youth. We were also blessed to meet many national evangelical leaders that we didn’t know were going to be there and they told me to “get prepared” because they foresee God giving us much to do together in the years to come. Wow Jesus! Following you truly is the grandest adventure of all.

Day 11 – Just when I thought God couldn’t surprise me any more on this trip. He did. I preached in 2 packed out churches this morning and God’s power fell like I have never experienced before. People were saved who had just come out of curiosity, people were delivered, people were restored. Jesus presence was so powerful in each place. There are so many miracle stories that I couldn’t begin to put them down in writing.

Just know that God started something here in Medellin in the three services yesterday and today that I’ve never seen before and many here had never seen before and it was heavenly and wonderful. The pastors thanked us over and over again. They kept praising the Lord and saying that God used us to do something very special here and they believe it is just the beginning. They are already talking about the next time I come. Thank you to all the prayer warriors that are holding us up and the supporters who made it possible for us to be here. Much fruit is being forwarded to your account in heaven. All for His glory and our great joy!

Day 8 – This morning we boarded a plane for Medellin. What a beautiful city tucked in a valley between mountains. We checked into our hotel and then set out walking to a nearby orphanage called Open Arms. We spent the next several hours there enjoying their fellowship, hearing stories, and learning much about ministry to the least of these in Medellin. They also have a church and I was invited to preach there the next time I am in town. Then we headed up the mountainside twisting and turning on very narrow streets through barrio after barrio until we came to the church of my dear friend Pastor Lucas’s brother-in-law Hector Estrada. What an amazing place and what an amazing view of Medellin from up here. What an amazing church! It was packed with people and we enjoyed fantastic worship and then Oscar and I preached and I could see God moving on the faces of the people and when I gave the invitation more than 1/2 the crowd came to be prayed over. One young man in particular, named Anderson, had caught my attention during the message and he came straight to me and with tears told me that God was calling him to ministry and we prayed over him. Then we shared a wonderful dinner with the pastor and his family and heard many miracle stories of how God is transforming this once extremely dangerous area of the city. Praise God for another beautiful day.

Day 9 – This morning we went up into another barrio to visit a hot lunch ministry that ministers to hundreds of children. Later in the day we visited their other site and played with the children there. We also visited two of their churches in the city. All of these ministries plead with me to send missionaries and interns and any kind of help that we can give. They are doing a tremendous work for Christ here in Medellin and I am praying for how I can help. Will you pray with me?

Later in the day we visited a woman that reminded me of George Mueller, Mother Teresa, and Amy Carmichael. She has been ministering to the least of these for over 20 years in Colombia. She has worked with the persecuted church for years and her stories made each of us weep. She has worked with orphans for many years and recently prayed down millions of pesos to build a home for her 40 something children here in the city. She told story after story and we were mesmerized. She is now the national director in Colombia for YWAM as well as many other things. She needs 20 missionaries right now. I have been invited to go with her to the unreached tribes in the mountains of Colombia later this year. I pray that God will make a way. We had a wonderful dinner on top of a mountain and now I am ready to fall into bed and hit it again tomorrow. God bless! My dream maker in my head is spinning fast 🙂 hope I can sleep.

Day 5 – This morning we headed out to Meta with Pastor Hector and our new friend from the conference Bernardo who was very gracious to drive us. But before we left I was blessed to be introduced by Pastor Hector to the national director of Open Doors the ministry founded by Brother Andrew. I was so excited because I had read his biography, God’s Smuggler, the first year I was a Christian and it had a huge impact on my life. I didn’t know until that moment that the home we are visiting is part of their ministry to the persecuted church and that the children there are refugees from all over Colombia due to losing their parents because they are Christians. It was a wonderful meeting and I am looking forward to giving a devotion at their national office when I’m back in Bogota on the 29th. So off we went and traveled through beautiful mountains with waterfalls and high bridges and tunnels. It was breathtaking. Then we arrived at this beautiful orphanage/school in the jungle and got a grand tour. It was wonderful. The staff and children were wonderful. God is at work in this place.

Day 6 – I wrote this… “Waking up to the sound of tropical birds singing in the jungle outside our room… watching Brooke have a conversation in Spanish with a big green and yellow parrot that hangs out in the courtyard (he kept asking her if she wanted chocolate)… hearing the stories of children whose parents were killed in front of them, or beaten, or imprisoned, or are in hiding because of their Christian faith… seeing what God is doing for them through this ministry… how they are learning farming with crops and animals, fish hatchery, baking, sewing, chemistry, physics, art, music (they have a small recording studio and have written and performed their own beautifully worshipful songs)… getting to share my testimony and encourage them that their parents were right and that Jesus is the only thing in life worth pursuing with everything you have… and now listening to a torrential downpour playing a symphony on the many different sized leaves in the jungle… It’s only noon and already it has been a good day… a God day.”

But the best was yet to come. At 4pm we met with the young people (6 of them) who are graduating this year and will go out into the world to make their own way. I shared my heart with them about the advance of Christianity in our world today and that it is no accident that they are here, learning what they are learning, and that God will use them greatly if they stay close to Him. Like Esther, they have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. The rest of the team shared and it was beautiful. Then they poured their hearts out to us about their dreams and calling and it tied directly into what I had just shared. It was stunning. They are all feeling called to missions, or pastorate, or evangelism. It was a beautiful time! We had no idea as we were loving on these young people and drying some tears as they poured out their hearts what some of them had been through. After the meeting the directors showed us this video. The children in this video are now the very teenagers we had just met with and been loving on all day. Wow! Major tears and awe that God would allow us this privilege. Later that night each one came to me with tears and a big hug and thanked me for the impact we have had on their lives and I know the other team members received similar responses. What a difference a day makes when the Holy Spirit is in control of that day. Praise the Lord! These precious six young people each need about $2000 USD for their college in the coming year. The ministry here currently has no budget for helping them beyond high school so I am begging God that we can help them raise that. Would you pray with me for God to provide this for them. They are God’s elite. The children of martyrs and they have no hope of furthering their education without help from God’s people.

Day 7 – We left early this morning to return to Bogota and get some rest before we head out to Medellin tomorrow for 4 more days of preaching and visiting institutions. The drive back was again stunning as we wound our way through beautiful mountains on the 4.5 hour trip back. Our hearts are full. We thoroughly enjoyed our rest but we are hungry and thirsty for more of God’s power to fall in the meetings to come. Please Lord grant it.

Jesus is risen! We started the morning praying over the leaders of the church. I prayed that God would give them a double portion of His spirit like Elisha had. That He would make them the spiritual fathers and spiritual mothers to tens of thousands. And that He would increase their capacity to enjoy Him and that the overflow would touch Bogota, Colombia, South America, and the nations. I have been so blessed and enriched to spend 4 days with these precious saints. We’ve been treated like royalty and have felt very loved. Thank you Jesus for this opportunity.

I was blessed to preach in the 9am and 11am services and I have never had more fun, more response from a crowd and prayed over more people or received more hugs in my life. I’ve never seen people so hungry for God. It is infectious and they drank up every word and every minute of this conference and I can’t wait to see the fruit that comes from it. So many people young and old told me that God had used my messages to confirm in their life things that God was already stirring and they thanked us and thanked us for coming. What a blessing! This afternoon we enjoyed a wonderful time of rest and relaxation. Tomorrow we head to Meta for more ministry. I’m ready!

Today was a day of rest and soaking it in for me since I was not on the schedule to preach today. Pastor Hans preached a wonderful message this morning and then we prayed over the leaders of the church. I was blessed to pray over Pastor Henry’s mother and father and over his sister who is a pastor with her husband in Medellin. After the service I was surprised and super blessed to discover that we would be honorary professors of their seminary and help officiate a graduation of their students. We donned our gowns and sashes and caps, signed the diplomas, and were honored to present the diplomas to each graduate with a gran abrazo. They gave us the sashes as a momento to remember the day. I am so impressed with all that God is doing at Mision Berakah and am blessed to be around these heroes of the faith.

Another humbling and beautiful surprise was to follow the graduation. The church has a large scouting ministry called Ghibbor which means great warrior. The children and young people were all decked out in their uniforms and performed some of their drills for us. Then they explained that we were to be inducted in their troop as honorary members of the highest order. We were presented with a beautiful neckerchief representing green for Jesus our shepherd, purple for Jesus our King, and white for purity. We were also presented with a pin showing that we were of the highest rank. Then the children and young people prayed over us that we would shake the nations for Jesus. Wow! What a blessing. God is raising up powerful leaders for Colombia, South America, and the world.

We had a wonderful dinner at a typical Colombian restaurant in the mountains. It was beautiful. We returned to the coliseum and saw a Christian film and then it was time for Brooke to share. The only word that describes what happened next is supernatural. This girl who has all her life hated being in front of people, stepped up with power and confidence and shared her heart in a very vulnerable and authenticate way. She shared her pain and struggles and how God is redeeming them into a monster passion for Jesus and His cause in the world. She challenged the people to follow Jesus and never give up. Many many young people came to her weeping and thanked her for the push that she gave them to go further into the kingdom of God. It was such a blessing. After we enjoyed dinner with Juan David. He is the first orphan Beverly and I met on our very first day on our very first trip to Colombia 5 years ago. He was the first one that broke our hearts here. We had a wonderful time with him tonight. Something he said tonight rocked my world and reminded me why we do what we do here. He said, “I was so terribly alone before you came that first time and you came and loved me and I have known from that day to this that you guys love me and are there for me and it has made a difference in my life.” Wow. One day of love for one of these love starved children can alter a life forever. Praise Jesus! That is why we keep coming. Well, good night, I preach in 2 services tomorrow. Prayers greatly appreciated!

Today was a marvelous day. We met in the park with Pastor Henry and some of his leaders for an outdoor prayer meeting. I was standing in the circle praying with my eyes closed and face lifted to heaven and suddenly the sun rise broke on my face and I felt its warmth and it was like the heavens had opened to our prayers, amazing feeling. After prayer we enjoyed an amazing breakfast at the home of one of the church leader’s mother and then we were off to the coliseum for another anointed day of worship, prayer, and preaching.

My message this morning was on Faithfulness: The Price of Ministry. I was rested and could feel the Lord lightening my steps as I walked to the podium. I poured my heart out with a passion, freedom, and power that I have rarely experienced before sharing stories from my 31 years of ministry and how God has shown up in power to deliver over and over again. The response from the crowd was overwhelming. I knew that the Holy Spirit had met them and I was overjoyed. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house and many many were touched. The Austrian evangelist that is also preaching at the conference with Pastor Henry and myself told me afterward that it was one of the best messages he had ever heard. That made me weep. Thank you Jesus for doing your work. He then asked me if I had a television ministry to which I replied, “no sir”. He said, “You will brother Matthew. You will have a worldwide ministry very soon I foresee.” Inside, I am a 16 year old boy living out a dream that God birthed in me in the mountains of New Mexico 31 years ago. Praise His name. I’m so grateful for my translator, Oscar, whom God has anointed in his own right.

As we worshipped the Lord in the meeting tonight I was standing on the stage with my eyes closed and my face lifted to heaven and suddenly the sunset broke through a nearby window and lit up my face and I smiled wide and my heart was warmed once again. Hans, the Austrian evangelist preached tonight and it was wonderful. His message was Faithfulness: The Gift of Jesus. He is a precious man and I loved hearing some of his testimony as we shared lunch today. I was blessed to walk through the crowd that came forward at the end to receive a blessing of holy fire from the Lord and to lay hands and pray over dozens of them. They are so hungry for God it is tremendously exciting.

Our hosts, Pastor Henry and his wife Mable and their group of leaders are beyond wonderful and we have been treated like royalty and many of the side conversations and prayer times have been life changing. Brooke and I have laughed, cried, and eaten more than a person should be allowed and it is only the second day. Thank you God for this opportunity. Bendiciones!

Today was the first day of a 4 day conference with our dear friends at Mision Berakah in Bogota. This church has been fasting and praying for God’s power to fall on this conference and He showed up in a mighty way today. I knew it was going to be an amazing day because I didn’t sleep at all last night which is very rare for me. The Holy Spirit kept bringing things to mind that I should pray for and songs kept running through my head so I prayed and listened to worship music until it was time to get up this morning. I am very tired now but sustained!

We have already enjoyed some amazing fellowship. Pastor Henry preached in the morning service and we were able to pray with many who came to re-commit to faithfulness in their walk with Jesus. Brooke has already informed me that she is staying and I’m going home alone 🙂 I was blessed to preach in the evening on The Passion For Jesus. Many were weeping as we prayed over and loved on them after. God is moving mightily and lives will be transformed as a result of this conference. I couldn’t be more excited or blessed to be here. I preach again in the morning so goodnight and God bless you!

Back in 2011 I wrote a blog entitled Power Through Weakness where I explored Paul’s motif in 2 Corinthians 12 regarding His thorn in the flesh. I later wrote Power Through Weakness II in 2012 where I explored Jesus’s weakness that translated into the greatest victory of all time. In my own experience, I have been sick with Systemic Lupus for over 14 years. The easiest way to explain what that is like is that it is like having the flu everyday for 14 years. Some days it is a light case and some days it is a heavy case but it is always the flu.

And yet I have seen God do more of the miraculous and powerful in my life and ministry since falling to this incurable disease than my whole life before. But sometimes I forget and begin to get discouraged about my condition. This year I have spent as many days in bed as out of bed and I have “missed” work and ministry opportunities as a result and this plagues my mind at times. Currently I have been down for 10 weeks with a flare up and was beginning to wonder what God is up to. I have amazing global opportunities before me this year and I so want to be strong.

This last weekend my wife and I traveled to Dallas/Ft. Worth and I was blessed to speak at a ministry function. We then went to our dear friend’s house and I was so sick I thought I was going to die. I made it through the night and we went to church with them the next morning. I was never so surprised when the pastor stood up to speak and he said, “Well folks as most of you know we have been preaching through the book of 2 Corinthians and today finds us at 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 –

Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

The pastor then proceeded to preach a beautiful, powerful, passionate message entitled “Lessons From Thorns”. I sat there as the tears dripped off my beard and thanked God for the providential message straight to me. After the message, our friends commented that it was the best and most passionate message they had ever heard him preach in the 3 years they have attended there. I was so encouraged.

But my surprise was not yet complete. Many in my family have been reading a daily devotional together and the topic that particular day was Strength Through Weakness from 2 Corinthians 12:9-10… WOW! Ok, Lord!… but my surprise was not complete yet… Later that night my wife was reading a different devotional for women that she and my daughter are going through together and the topic… you guessed it! Strength Made Perfect in Weakness from 2 Corinthians 12:9-10… Very humbly now, I looked to heaven with arms thrown wide and quietly said, “Yes Lord, I want your power more than my comfort. I want your strength more than my strength. I lovingly submit to your sovereignty and I excitedly anticipate the mighty things that You are planning and will perform while I remain weak in Your arms.

Matt Bullen

Luke, Oscar Useche, and I awoke Sunday morning with the knowledge that the night before had only been the beginning of what God was going to do this weekend. We all three woke before the alarm and were rearing to go. Pastor Jaun Carlos had been my friend for about 3 years. Every trip he invites me to preach in his church but it has never worked out so he and I were both very excited when he arrived at 8:00 am to pick us up so I could preach in his 9 am & 11 am service (they have 4 services every Sunday). Pastor Juan Carlos started out by apologizing for how ugly the slum was going to be where his church is. I told him that he didn’t know this but I grew up in street evangelism and I love the barrio. When my wife and I always lived in the war zone and took in hungry, abused, and abandoned teens (over 15 in our first 5 years of marriage) and so I was honored to preach in his church.

The hair was standing up on my arms as we drove through the littered streets of the Suba Barrio and my heart leaped as we climbed the stairs to the second floor church which seats about 150 people. It was packed for both services with about 3/4 teenagers and 20 somethings that have been saved in the last 7 years out of drugs and gangs and everything imaginable. What an amazing and anointed work God is doing here through Pastor Juan and Pastora Claudia and how blessed and honored I was to be there.

My translator Oscar and I preached our hearts out and praise God the Holy Spirit who showed up mightily in both services and once again the altars were filled both times with weeping people desperate for Jesus. In the second service I was so happy to see my dear pastor friends Lucas and Doryanne and their daughter Sara and her boyfriend Jurger. These ar some of the dearest people in the world to me and we could hug each other enough. God is so good to have such a huge and diverse family of sweet people as these. We had a delightful time with the pastor and his wife at lunch and then cafe con leche for desert.

Soon it was time to head to another barrio to preach for our new friend Henry. I had just met Pastor Henry on Friday when we had the “God Detour” at his Christian School. His church started with 4 people in a garage and then they moved into a building that seats 150 and then they moved to a park nearby and set up tents and now they have multiple services and 700 people show up in the park for Sunday morning under the large tents. The church workers start setting up in the park every Sunday morning at 6:00am and they don’t finish taking everything down until 4:00 pm Sunday afternoon just in time to get to the Sunday night 6:00pm service in the building that seats 150. I was preaching at the evening Sunday service. The service was video recorded and live streamed over the internet. Once again, in an amazing way the Holy Spirit got ahold of that service and many many were on their knees at the altar and up the aisles seeking the Lord with tears.

After the service Luke and I met with some of the pastors and we were blessed beyond words as they blessed us with much encouragement and prayed over us. The Holy Spirit was so present. I’ve rarely if ever been so ministered to as I was by the men and women of this church. We had a thrilling discussion about future ministry together in Colombia and the U.S. God is moving in a big way. Thank you all who have prayed given and gone. It was an outstanding week and only eternity will tell all that God did and is doing through this trip.

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Today was bittersweet. Pastor Timothy and our team left for Texas, and Luke and I had to take Heidy back to her place in La Calera, another beautiful little mountain city. It was such a blessing spending the week with all this sweet young people of God. Some wonderful news for Heidy is that we were able because of a donation on her behalf to get her paperwork started to come to the U.S.

We are very excited that after 4 1/2 years of working to get her home we are one step closer. It always rips my heart out to leave her and this time it was compounded by seeing Luke’s and Heidy’s tears as they hugged goodbye. What a treasure these children are. How our Father’s heart must long for us to be His arms and “abrazo” them. I’m so grateful to God for Mission Critical International and Pastor Timothy and Relationships for Christ making this Mission Possible trip a reality.

Upon returning from La Calera we had a lunch meeting with a pastor and his wife and did some vision casting for future work together in many parts of Colombia. It was very exciting.

Then it was time to get ready for Pastor Urrego, a friend of our translator Oscar Useche and pastor of the church in which I was to preach tonight, to pick us up. We had a lovely hour and a half drive through the mountains north of Bogota to another beautiful little town called Sopo. The pastor is bi-vocational and works at Alpina, the largest dairy processing company in Colombia. His factory receives over 250,000 gallons of milk per day to be processed into yogurt, cheesecake, cheese of all kinds, and every kind of dairy product you can dream. Just before arriving at the church the pastor stopped at the Alpina factory outlet store. I call it the Disneyland of dairy stores. He took us inside and said, “Pick what you want to take back with you.” We asked, “What is your favorite Pastor?” He grabbed a shopping cart and started filling it up with two of everything in the store. We were like, “Oh yeah, a suitcase full of OMA coffee and Alpina cheeses will be just perfect.” After the service we shared some of the deserts that he bought. It was the most delicious love offering ever.

We headed over to the church, which is beautiful, and worship had already started. I was so humbled to realize that they don’t typically have a Saturday night service. They scheduled this one so I could be there and minister with them. Other churches from other small mountain villages as far as an hour and a half away had come to take part. What a blessing these Colombian brothers and sisters are. Praise the Lord for pouring down on us as we shared the word of God. There were tears on many faces and the altar was filled with people desperate for Jesus. We have been invited back next year to preach in their Sunday services and share with the pastors in the area. What a precious time we had with the pastor and his family after the service. They are precious people of God. Praise God for another wonderful day of pursuing Jesus on His mission in the world!

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This morning, once again, in His providence, God sent us on a detour. The plan was to sleep late, go sightseeing, and rest today before the team heads out to the airport early tomorrow morning but the Lord blessed us with another plan. We got a last minute invitation to go to one more place and when I asked the team they readily agreed we had to go. The church that I will be preaching in Sunday night has a school for vulnerable children here in the city and they asked us to come. We arrived at this small 3 story house and were ushered inside by Pastor Henry to find 79 little faces anxiously awaiting us. Words can’t express how impressed I was with this place. Story after story confirmed that they are taking in the least of the least of these and discipling them into warriors for Christ.

They put on the cutest presentation of each of the regions of Colombia and then a little couples dressed in the traditional dress of each region danced a traditional dance for us. It was so cute and you could tell they were so proud. After all of the presentations they asked me to share and so I gave my testimony of how I came to Christ as a 16 year old rebel and of some of the adventures that Jesus has led me on over the last 31 years. It was almost time to go and so the children split up into all the little tiny rooms of the house to have school. They asked me to pray over each class and so we squeezed into each room and prayed over the children and teachers. I prayed that the mantle of Elijah would fall upon Elisha and that the children would receive a double portion of the Spirit of their teachers and pastors and go forth to do mighty deeds in the kingdom of God. What a blessed detour that none of us would have missed for the world.

Next the team plundered the local souvenir market and then we headed up the tram to the top of the mountain to watch the sunset over the city. It has been raining most of the day so we were all praying that it would clear so we could see the view from the mountain and just in time it cleared up enough to see much of the city with a large thunderhead above which made the sunset quite spectacular. After the sun was gone we ended up gathered around Heyli and Deidra and the guitar and we sang and sang and sang. It was beautiful. Several people from Bogota and other places like the Netherlands stopped and listened and we enjoyed meeting them. What a perfect ending to a perfect week. Thank you Lord for being so kind to us. Praise be to your Name.

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