Category Colombia

When I was a boy I watched a movie called “Behind Enemy Lines” and in that movie there is a very brief scene that made me cry uncontrollably and still affects me to this day. There are these rebels holed up in a warehouse and the military blows in the walls with tanks killing almost everyone, when the troops breach the wall the camera pans and in the foreground for about 10 frames you see this little girl probably 4 years old playing with a doll, gently talking to it and stroking it’s hair, oblivious to everything that is going on. As a boy and now a man that scene affected me, all I wanted to do in this life was pick that girl up and give her a hug, to take her out of that horrible situation and give her a normal life. Well obviously the movie is fiction but the reality is that all over this world that little girl’s story is real and in June 2016 God took me to a place that is so incredibly poverty stricken that I was fighting back tears the entire time I was there. In fact as I type this up the tears are finally pouring out.

This is Suba, we were visiting a privately run and inadequately funded orphanage named Colombia Chiquita. When we first arrived the orphanage owner gave us a brief tour of the 3 story building where they house dozens of abandoned children. These children had some of the most precious smiles I’ve ever seen as they greeted us, before we started the day of playing and testimony they wanted to take us to the girls’ house which wasn’t far from the main building. So we walked down the streets of Suba and my God the poverty was intense. Most of the families in the area recycle trash in order to feed themselves. While we were walking to the girls’ house I spotted a boy about the age of 7 sitting on the “curb” playing in the sand with a stick and his, I presume, sister sitting beside him playing with a piece of rope. She couldn’t have been older than 4 years old and she was gently talking to her brother while stroking the end of the rope like it was a doll and that was it’s hair. I had to look away as hot tears filled my eyes as I was reminded of the above mentioned film. Somehow God had brought me full circle from being moved by scenes depicted in fiction to seeing the real thing in real life and knowing that there was not going to be a happy ending. That girl was probably not an orphan and I will never know her whole story but I do know that there is never going to be a knight in shining armor that comes along, picks her up, gives her a hug, and tells her the whole world was going to be ok. I still hope and pray for her even though I don’t know her name or story, but honestly she was just there to remind me of how cruel and torn this world is; how viciously cruel this world is to children: especially to little girls.

Most children in Suba from the age of 4 dig through trash piles with their parents and family members looking for plastic or anything recyclable, they then load this trash onto carts or bags and haul it I don’t know how many miles to recycling centers where they sell it for next to nothing in order to survive. These kids’ education is so bad that they don’t even know the difference between letters and numbers. Their education level is so horrendous that they aren’t even qualified to go to public school, the public school system in Colombia is horrible btw, so they will spend their entire lives either gathering trash day to day or end up having to enter a life of crime. These mind you are the lucky ones with parents and family willing to give them a home.

God wasn’t done making a grown veteran cry that day. We walked back to the orphanage and took the kids out to the nearby “park” to play with them and make them laugh all day. We had a great time with these kids yet the entire time I was struggling with tears for these orphans. Suddenly, at the end of the park a door opens and these two kids run out of this “house,” maybe 7 and 5, and start playing in the street. I’m using quotation marks because if you could have seen the conditions of this neighborhood the terms curb, park, and house are too nice of words to describe the horrible condition this place was in. This town literally looked one strong breeze away from falling down, it looked like a card house project gone wrong. So these two kids a boy and a girl are playing, they looked like they haven’t showered in a month, the rags they wore were so dirty that it looked like if you shook them too hard you could collect a bucket of sand from their clothes. The little girl, the 5 year old, knocks on the door and to my incredible surprise a 2 year old answers it and decides to come out and play with his siblings. The poor thing had on sweat pants and a t-shirt and the sweat pants were soaked as if he had been peeing in his pants for days. At that point I looked back at the orphan kids we were playing with and my tears held back, I could justify staying emotionally neutral because these kids all had on clean clothes. Yes they were orphans with no hope, yes they lived in a horrible part of town, yes their education level was sub-par to the public school system, and yes their parents had all been killed in the civil war or drug violence; but at least they had on a fresh set of clean clothes so Levi didn’t start crying on the spot because Levi could see that they had on clean clothes.

When we returned to the orphanage God wasn’t done breaking my heart. I learned that some time before we arrived the water company sent a man to shut off water to the orphanage due to lack of payment. When the meter man arrived and saw the children he couldn’t shut it off out of conscience. I also learned that their food budget ran out and they were trying to sell broken bikes they had stacked on top of their roof to get the next month’s food. With tears rolling down my face Rebekah asked me to pray over the orphanage owner for the money they so badly needed. Angry at God but trusting in His good will I prayed like I never prayed before in my life for the funds for them to stay open, feed their kids, have running water, and basic necessities.

When we returned to the hotel my brother Luke and I stayed up until about 1 in the morning praying and talking about God and His plan for our ministry. Honestly I was dying inside and losing hope for the immense task ahead of us. Luke needed some prayer and discussion so I kinda kept it all together for him. We talked about everything we had seen that day and the day before. All the little signs that God gave us letting us know we were doing His will. I kept everything that I’ve shared here to myself until writing this but there were many other signs up to that point that I talked with Luke about.

The next day I was supposed to lead a devotion on a topic of my choice. Honestly, I was so broken hearted for those kids and so incredibly helpless to do anything about their condition that I really didn’t want to lead the devotion, I didn’t want to be there anymore, I wanted to go home and pretend that kids are only in those conditions in fiction. I really wanted that little girl in the movie to be the only problem I’d face like that. But God was still working on me and led me to the book of John once again. He led me to where Jesus commands us to ask Him for anything and it will be done. The day before Luke had taught on being helpless before God so I decided I’d teach on praying helpless before God. If God is indeed like the judge in the parable that Jesus taught about, only good instead of evil, then the best way I know how to get someone to change their mind is to show how helpless and desperate the situation is when pleading my case. I believe that God showed me these things in this way to show me where true power lies, in being helpless and completely dependent on Him. People with money don’t need God, people with nice houses don’t need God, people with busy lives are too busy for God. God also reminded me of the story of Lazarus and the rich man, He reminded me that the little girl I saw was Lazarus, and that while in this life she isn’t comforted, while in this life she doesn’t have dolls, and while in this life no one is coming to give her a big hug and let her know everything is going to be ok; in the next life Jesus has every doll she will ever want, in the next life she will be comforted, and in the next life she will never cry again. I felt strongly that if I’m even to see a glimpse of what awaits her I needed to get busy doing what Jesus commanded us; caring for the orphans, the widows, and the sick in their time of need. It’s easy to pass on a picture of Christ carrying the cross on FaceBook saying, “would you help Jesus up, share if you would, ignore if you won’t.” It’s hard to do what Jesus said is helping Jesus in His time of need, that if you so much as give a glass of water to one of these little one’s you’ve done it unto Him.

The last thing that broke my heart that day was when we were walking back to the orphanage I learned that Dad was giving the place all we could afford as a donation and I thanked him. He said, “yeah son, this isn’t slum tourism, we are doing all we can to help.” I literally lost it when I gave him a hug for saying that. Mission Critical can’t even begin to be a drop of water in the bucket of the problems we face and see in Colombia and around the world, but we can make sure that their stories are heard, show that their pain is real, and maybe give some water to 40 or 50 orphans here and there in the name of Christ. This ministry is two parts, sanctifying ourselves by seeing the desperation and helplessness in others, and making a real difference in the lives that we possibly can.

It is amazing to think that I am about to complete two full years as a full time missionary here in Colombia… if someone were to ask me what the experience has been like I would have to say it has been the most amazing and exciting experience of my life but also the most tiring and stressful one as well. But amidst all the stress and difficulties and the constant loneliness for family and the comforts of “home” I can still honestly say after two long years (seems like it has been a lot longer haha) I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Living in Colombia has taught me to be open to change and has forced me to live constantly outside of my comfort zone.

Just the other day I was talking to a fellow United States citizen who has lived for the past two years in Colombia for her husband’s job about how living in different places really gives you a new perspective on life that a lot of people in the U.S can’t even imagine. Basically you don’t know what you don’t know until you experience it. She was telling me about how the things that seemed so important to her when she lived in Texas just seemed not to matter so much anymore when she returned to visit after having lived outside of the United States for several years. I am still quite spoiled unfortunately and I still have to remind myself that things don’t always have to go my way but I am also learning to trust God in all things…. not just in some things… but all things.

For example for anyone who has never tried to get a Visa to live in a another country it may not seem like a very trying task… Let me tell you, I do not know how it is in other countries but let’s just say in Colombia it is no party. I have never had so much stress and trouble with anything in my entire life like trying to have a legal status here in Colombia, but after months of getting the right papers and getting the right signatures on the right dates and having to pay several different fees and what all.

I am now happy to say that I am finally legally married (though we are waiting until our church wedding August 20th to be married in the eyes of God and man and begin married life together) and now I have a steady Visa for the next 3 years. For the first time in two years I can breath and not have to worry that I am going to be taken to jail for not having my Colombian I.D. (the police on the street constantly ask people randomly for their I.D and run it through their system for criminals, if you do not have your I.D on you it normally results in your arrest.) or that I am going to be kicked out of the country again. God has really blessed me this year and even though Oscar and I have had to work really hard He has blessed both of us with many wonderful ministry opportunities and also personal blessings for our future together as husband and wife. This year we have been working on establishing our ministry legally here in Colombia, unfortunately this is a really slow process and must be done absolutely perfectly without error or we could be faced with devastating fines and even possible jail time… yes it is that serious here. But we have finally made huge progress thank God and we should be legally established and have everything in order by the end of this year but just getting this far has required a lot of prayer and faith that if we jump God will catch us.

God has also been teaching me to trust him through Heidy. Heidy was the fist girl that my father and my sister Beverly met and fell in love with many years ago on their first trip ever to Colombia. She has been in our lives and we have supported her for a very long time now. She and two others were actually the young adults who inspired the Shield House dream. Well recently, Heidy (like so many other young girls here in Colombia) went through some really tough times and came out on the other side addicted to drugs and pregnant. God was faithful with her and brought her out of that situation by his mercy and she is now living with me in Rebekah’s old room. We like to say that she is the first of the Shield House girls because the idea for that house is specifically for girls in her situation with nowhere else to go. The baby will be born soon and with her comes a lot more stress and responsibility but I am trying to continue trusting the Lord to provide and take care of us. I have had several opportunities to share my story with her and tell her about God’s love and mercy for those who have wandered away from Him and it was so beautiful to see the fruit of that yesterday when my other Colombian sister Ginary, who has been going through a really rough time and is struggling alone after the loss of her own baby and being abandoned by her boyfriend, came to visit us. Heidy and I listened to her and loved on her and I got to watch Heidy tell her some of the exact same things that I have been praying over Heidy and talking to her about. It is amazing to see how God takes the worst possible pain and turns it into something good. Please help me pray that we will be able to have the finances to provide for this little one and that Heidy will be able to find a safe place to raise her when my apartment contract expires in September but most importantly that God will give me the words to say and that He would work in both of their hearts so that they can come to know Him as their Savior and the love of their lives.

I have also been volunteering at several different Christian foundations here in Bogota that tend to the physical, intellectual and spiritual needs of this city’s precious children. I have enjoyed so much the opportunities that God has given me to share the love of Jesus with these kids through teaching them how to read and write. I remember one day the children asked me why I had not come back for several days during my trip to Guajira and I told them that I was sharing Jesus with the indigenous tribes there. I remember one girl looked at me with wide eyes and asked me “Is THAT why you are here in Colombia? To help people?” I told her yes and I began to explain to her how much God loves the people of Colombia and how he sent me here to show them that love. All the children at my table stopped and listened attentively as I told them about Guajira and what God was doing with the children there. At the end of my story each one told me, “Teacher, I want to be like you when I grow up, I don’t want to be like those people who just chase after money their whole lives, I want to help people like you do.”

All this to say God has given me some great opportunities this year to share His love and also has blessed Oscar and I tremendously. We recently were able to pay off many things for our wedding out of the little work that I have been able to do down here (translating different things from English into Spanish) and Oscar’s continued hard work for different ministries and his own translations. As I am writing this now our new washing machine just arrived ☺ which we were able to pay for mostly with the spare change that we have been accumulating for the past year (we saved about $150 dollars just in coins). God has been good to us and I can’t wait to see what He will do next, we still have many needs and many new expenses soon (diapers, milk, etc.) But God has always been faithful and He always will be.

I am so blessed to be working with my Father God on His mission and I ask those of you that read this to please continue praying for the spiritually and physically starving people of Colombia and that God will use me and many others to bring His light to this place and wake up the sleeping church of this generation to a new passion and crazy love for Him and His people.

“And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on My behalf is welcoming Me.”

Matthew 18:5

Love Brooke

Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia

Brooke depends entirely on donations for her support and the support of the amazing work she is doing.

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

Mission Critical International

301 Pruitt Rd. #1030

Sbring, TX 77380

Give online below.

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

I was suddenly jerked awake by the rudeness of the dirt road that seemed to stretch on forever. I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window and to my surprise I saw my home state of New Mexico… Or at least what looked like New Mexico. Somewhere along our 20+ hour bus ride we had gone from beautiful green mountains and breathtaking water falls to cactus, cactus and more dusty cactus. It was so hot that you could see the blur above the ground that is caused by the scorching heat waves, but luckily I was safely tucked in an air-conditioned bus… for the moment. This dry and thirsty desert with nothing but cactus and sand was nothing like the Colombia I was used to so I knew we had to be in Guajira. I was correct we were near a little town called Uribia where half of our team would be staying to work in a Rancheria (a small village literally in the middle of nowhere where little Wayuu communities live).

I looked to my right to see Paola sleeping like a rock in the seat next to me. I felt from the moment that I met Paola that God wanted to show her His love on this trip. Every time she talked about God, she seemed unsure and a bit tired of hearing the same Jesus story. When I “happened” to sit next to her on the bus I thought “What a great opportunity to share the Lord with probably the only unbeliever on the team” but God had other plans. As crazy as it sounds the moment I started talking to Paola I felt the Holy Spirit telling me not to try to “evangelize her” but to show her love through action and not words. So during the rest of the trip I decided I would just love on her and show her through action that everything she has been told a hundred or more times was real. I will come back to her in a bit because the story doesn’t end there ☺. We still had a bit to go before getting to Manaure, which is where I would be serving in another Rancheria called Arroyo de Limon, so I decided to pull out my new book, A love Worth gGiving by Max Lucado. I totally recommend this book to everyone haha. I started to read the first chapter and it talked about how love is patient. Basically in less eloquent words it is about how God is so patient with you that by accepting and remembering that, you can love others by being patient with them. It was exactly what I needed for this long week because if anything else I was going to need a lot of patience.

As we finally pulled into our destination I thought that perhaps we were going to crash into the ditch on the side of the road because all you could see for miles was dirt road with walls of 8-foot tall cactus and brush and we seemed to be heading right for those walls but apparently there was a tiny little trail off to the side of the road that lead to the Rancheria hidden in the desert cactus forest. The moment I stepped out of the bus I was blasted by the 115 degree heat and sand carried by strong gusts of wind that never seem to stop. The first thing I noticed about Arroyo Limon were the houses… the “houses” is what a spoiled girl from the United States would call them (I’m talking about me lol) Their houses are made from sticks and mud plastered together with a tin roof, well sometimes it is tin and others it is just more sticks and mud. Those are the nicer houses; the others are four to six small trees holding up a stick roof and that’s it, no walls or anything just a hammock to sleep in and a little fireplace. We spent the first day, Sunday afternoon, building a shelter and setting up our hammocks. The pastor of the Wayuu church, who is Wayuu himself, came with his family and the other leaders to greet us. Something I find very interesting and awesome about the Wayuu is that they are big on greeting every single person and shaking everyone’s hand individually and it is important for them to make eye contact. We spent the rest of the evening talking to some of the families that lived near by, which was a challenge because only 10% of the children speak Spanish and about half of the adults but as we always say on mission trips “Love is not bound by language or race.”

Monday morning was interesting to say the least. We woke up at 5am and after 20+ hours in a bus and a night sleeping outside all the girls were eager to shower. Being as it is desert, water in Guajira is, as the Wayuu pastor put it, gold. There is no electricity in these Rancherias let alone running water. We were supplied with two giant water tanks that were supposed to last us the rest of the week and in order to “shower” one had to take a bucket, fill it with water, carry it to the outdoor tarp shelter that was our bathroom and hire someone to watch over the door while you dumped little cups of water on your head. The first few times are fun but it requires a lot of patience by the third try. After showers, devotions and breakfast we started our activities with the kiddos. Kids from all over the community (even ones that had to walk quite a bit to get there) came to hear about Jesus through playing games, craft making and theater shows. I spent the first day helping take care of the babies who were too little to participate. The Wayuu are very serious and rarely show emotion so it was a bit difficult in the beginning to connect with the mothers and get them comfortable enough to let us hold the little ones but we finally found a translator and began talking to them about their lives and about Mochilas (handmade purses that they make and sell to earn money, they are beautiful and usually rather expensive in Bogota and other big cities). One of those little cuties passed out in my arms and I held him for a few hours, the Wayuu say that when a baby falls asleep on you they have adopted you as their mom so they were all telling me “Oh you have a new son” haha. When we had finished all the activities we had lunch and rested for a bit before the teenagers arrived. Every morning we spent with the little kids and every evening after lunch we played sports and shared with the teenagers. Playing sports in 115 degree weather can be quite challenging especially if you are used to living in Bogota climate, which is usually chilly and rainy, but we made it through and had a great time jumping rope, playing Chicle (a classic Colombian jump string game) and playing volleyball.

At night all the kids from the neighboring houses show up to play and see what little snacks or things that they could get. This is another time when “Love is patient” was always in my mind. After a long day I was ready to relax when all of a sudden three little heads popped up in the dark beside my hammock. One little girl, who was an artist at getting her way through being cute, kept touching every single thing I had with me and telling me in broken Spanish “This is so nice… give it to me” haha. These cute little kids asked for everything from hats and blankets to even our shoes. But the one thing that they crave above all else is water. I was told by the Wayuu pastor’s niece Monica that their only water supply was a river but that it had dried up three years ago and since then the communities in Manaure had been suffering greatly because of the lack of fresh water. This really broke my heart because normally little kids want toys and candy and soda where as these little kids were literally begging for just a swallow of one of life’s basic necessities, clean water. At all times there were at least 5-10 kids hanging out near the ice cooler that held our only drinking water supply in hopes that whenever someone came for a drink they would be able to beg a swallow or two. It is even harder that most times we had to say no to the crowds and secretly give water to a few because there was just not enough to go around. But thankfully I do believe that each one at some point got a little bit and they received all the extra food and juice packs that we could spare.

The days that followed we continued with our activities and sports with the help of a few Wayuu translators. One in particular was a 14-year-old girl named Lina. She was very serious and seemed to be at least 17-18 but she loved volunteering and was an amazing help during the Jesus skits and the worship time. We began to build relationships with the people and exchange items from our different cultures and I have to say despite the cold windy nights, the bucket showers and the constant wind covering everybody in hot sand, I really felt the love of the Lord in that place and I could see Him in the faces of these hardened people who live in these harsh conditions everyday. I could see Him when the children would clap for Maneiwa (the Wayuu word for God) during worship. I could see Him in the kitchen where the women worked tirelessly to cook for us and prepare our meals without complaint of the suffocating heat from the wood fire and were always ready to greet us and serve us with a smile. I could see Him during the Wayuu church service that was held outside every night as the people would raise their hands and sing to Maneiwa with tears in their eyes and a song in their hearts. I could see Him during one of our morning devotions when Paola (from the beginning of the story) told us that she had never felt the love of the Lord like she was feeling from us and that she saw such a wonderful example of him shining through each of the people there and that it strengthened her faith in Him.

I could see Him in Lina as she and I played together on our “day off” by the beach and ran and laughed together. She told me the next day before we left that she had never had so much fun in her life and was going to miss me very much as she cried on my shoulder and I on hers. I could also see Jesus the night before we left when all the people came up to us and cried tears of sorrow and joy… They never cry… but they cried for us and told us that God had brought their communities together for the first time through us and thanked us a hundred times for sharing Jesus with them and their children. I saw Jesus as they gathered together with us to dance and worship Maneiwa with the whole group until 1:00 a.m. in the morning. I saw Jesus in the faces of the most needy and poverty stricken indigenous community in Colombia who opened their doors and their hearts to us and I will never in my life forget what that looks like. We always think that we are going to serve and to love and to receive. But it never ceases to amaze me that no matter how many mission trips I go on or how many hotel hells that I visit or how many orphanages I serve in, it is always me who gets served and loved and receives more that I could ever give.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me during this trip and during my time here in Colombia. It has been such a blessing to see Christ in the nations and to be able to receive his love in even the driest and most desolate places in the world. Please, please pray for Guajira and all the precious people who are starving for food and water but most importantly the love of Jesus. I am planning to go back to Guajira as often as I can and see what else God has for me there. There are so many other things I could tell that cannot fit in a blog but I hope to be able to share this blessing with others who may also come with me to see for themselves someday.

“A psalm of David, regarding a time when David was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1

Love Brooke

Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia

Brooke depends entirely on donations from caring people for her support and the support of the amazing work she is doing.

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

Mission Critical International

301 Pruitt Rd. #1030

Sbring, TX 77380

Give online below.

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

Life has been very active for Oscar and me since I arrived back in Bogota on February 1, after spending a month with my family in the U.S., and I must say I love it. I reconnected with a friend of mine, a missionary from Canada, whom Rebekah and I were working with last year supporting passion for changing the lives of children on a long-term scale through education. Basically they have started their own “homeschool” program where kids come to the foundation after and before school to get help with homework, discipleship and basic learning. I love working with Anita and Janet, the two who founded this program called “The Bridge” and work tirelessly everyday teaching and loving around 36 kids. They are a huge blessing to these kids and I wish I could work with them more but for now I volunteer helping 2 days a week. Please pray that God would continue changing the lives and futures of these kids who are mostly very behind in school or have never studied at all.

That is a small update of some of the things that God has been using me to do but what I really wanted to share in this blog is about a place here in Colombia called Guajira. The first time I heard of Guajira was a day last year when Oscar was pouring his heart out to me concerning a desire to see his home, the nation of Colombia, change. He was telling me about all of the corruption and poverty and how heartbreaking it is to know that children die of starvation and lack of clean water everyday in Guajira. In that moment I felt the Holy Spirit touch my heart and I was suddenly filled with not only a devastating compassion but also a relentless desire to go. I remember asking Oscar why there was not more help in Guajira and he told me because of the civil war it had become almost impossible to get to that part of Colombia safely. I remember those words echoing in my mind… Almost impossible. So from that night on Oscar and I began to pray for a way to get to Guajira and for God to work a miracle in that area.

Colombia’s civil war has been going on for somewhere close to 60 years and because of the Guerrilla groups entrance into different parts of Colombia has been, as I said before, almost impossible, especially for foreigners, but as God always seems to work with me He never gives me a passion without also providing a way. Recently after so many years of war the government of Colombia has finally began a peace process with one of the biggest and most notorious Guerrilla groups here in Colombia and they are planning to sign the peace process contract in May of this year.

This peace process has made it a lot safer (right on time) to travel to places like Guajira and after months of praying and trying different avenues and possibilities with no success Oscar finally told me that a group of people from a church that Mission Critical has worked with in the past were looking for volunteers to go on a mission trip/health brigade to Manaure, Guajira. I cannot express my excitement to be going to this town of around 70,000 people (as recorded in 2005) to serve these people in the middle of the desert and bring the love of Jesus to the Wayuu Indian tribe and many others. I will be leaving on the 19th and returning on the 26th of March.

God worked a miracle to pay my way to go through my brother Luke and his wife Misti but there are still some things I need to be able to go on this trip. Please pray for provision and protection but mostly for the Holy Spirit to come upon us and give us the grace to be Jesus to these precious people. Thank you to all my readers and supporters as always you are a part of what God does through me here in Colombia. If you would like to learn more about Manaure, Guajira here is the link to Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manaure,_La_Guajira.

“You called me out upon the water, the great unknown where feet may fail. And there I find you in the mystery in oceans deep my faith will stand” – Oceans Hillsong

This is my command be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go! Joshua 1:9

Love Brooke

Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia

Brooke depends entirely on donations from caring people for her support and the support of the amazing work she is doing.

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

Mission Critical International

301 Pruitt Rd. #1030

Sbring, TX 77380

Give online below.

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

Spent the whole day teaching kids at a new foundation I have been volunteering at… They are all way behind in school so they come there everyday after school to learn the basics and get help with homework… Was so awesome… One boy is about 12 and has never studied in school.. He recommended the foundation to his mom for his nephew and cousin but would not come himself because he was embarrassed cause he doesn’t know anything about school and works with some relatives recycling all the plastic out of the huuuuge trash yard right next to where the foundation is.

Anyway… He was standing on a huge pile of trash (that reached to our second story window) and curiously watched us today for a long time… We talked to him and smiled at him and finally invited him to com inside… You should have seen his face when he started playing with the other kids… So precious and happy… Hopefully he will start attending and we can give him lessons.

There are about 30 kids and only three of us to work with them haha so its been rough but so fulfilling. 

“Why do you want to work with young adults and not children? What is the point of trying to help people who are already almost grown?” I have been asked that question so many times that now answering it almost becomes a routine when talking to people about Mission Critical’s dream to build a home for young adults (beginning with young women) ages 18-23 in inner city Bogota Colombia. Honestly I sometimes have to ask myself the same question…. Is it really worth it? Is this a real necessity here in Bogota? Will it make a difference? These last few months that I have been in Bogota I have felt a deep dissatisfaction with the work that I have been able to do so far, let me explain a bit of what I mean.

The Colombian government is unfortunately a nightmare of nightmares when it comes to paper work especially for ministries and that means that before starting anything there is a long waiting and investigation process that has to take place and the consequences of not doing everything excruciatingly perfect can be devastating including prison time and fines of thousands of dollars. Basically if you want to help people here in Colombia you had better be ready to be patient and wear out your knees from hard-core prayer. All that to say most of the work that Oscar (Mission Critical’s general director in Colombia and my Fiancé) and I have been doing for the last 4 months, other than translations and mission trip organization for different ministries and doing our best to love on individuals, has been talking to various lawyers, ministries, churches and individuals with any knowledge about how to establish a legal ministry here in Colombia.

I have worked hard here in Colombia even to the point of losing a lot of weight and having to stay in bed for a few days because of stress and lack of rest but I can honestly say the hardest part has been these last 4 months. The endless days of waiting on papers and for God to send us the right people to work with and the not knowing where the funds will come from to launch such an endeavor have been merciless and as I said sometimes it is difficult to stay focused and causes one to ask…“is it all really worth it?”

I want to tell you a story about two different girls that I have met and talked with personally here in Bogota… the first one I will call Joanna and the other I will call Keren for their protection. Both of these girls either escaped (because life on the street was better than living there) or were forced to leave the government institutions at the age of 18 years old to fend for themselves with no money, no family and no future. Both girls have told me about how they lived on the street constantly surrounded by prostitution and drugs. Joanna has been my friend for about 7 years and during that time God has used me to help her escape from prostitution 2 different times. I remember as she begged for my help the first time and cried in my arms telling me how she was working as a prostitute and how she didn’t see a way out. Keren and another friend escaped from the government orphanage when she was 14 and they lived alone selling candy on the street for money. By the grace of God Keren was able to avoid the drugs and the “pimps” that constantly surrounded them and just recently she was finally able to reconnect with her family. Her friend however fell into the grip of drug addiction and under-age prostitution and has to this day never been able to break free from that. Every time I think about them and the countless others that I have talked to and known for years that have fallen into sex trafficking at some point in their teenage to young adult lives I say to myself and others YES! it is absolutely worth it and necessary because one of the main causes for this is because they have no other options. More than 800 young adults per year are forced to leave the governmental care systems at the age of 18 in Bogota alone and most of the girls end up in prostitution and the boys become addicts, gang members and pimps or “groomers” themselves. 15% of them will be dead within a year and over 60% will eventually face a fate worse than death in the brothels. My family has worked in these orphanages and we have witnessed the traffickers waiting at the orphanage gate to scoop up these precious little girls.

Mission Critical’s first goal is to give these young men and women that “other option” by starting a prevention program where 18-year-old girls who have ‘aged-out” of institutions can live in a home where they receive their basic needs, counsel, discipleship, help finding a job, training on how to live on their own, the opportunity to study and have a profession/degree and much more until they are emotionally and physically ready to live and be successful on their own. We are one of the only ministries that have this vision to work with young adults here in Colombia, there are countless ministries to children and families but almost nobody is doing what we are working to do. This is the first step of many to come to help break the cycle and help change the lives of young adults in Bogota and other cities in Colombia. That is why we do what we do and that is also why I always ask for prayer for Mission Critical Colombia and for our team on the ground (Oscar and me) especially now that we are hoping to have SHIELD House up and running by the end of 2016. Please, please pray for the long year we have ahead of us and, God willing, for the many years to come of countless souls being reached and changed through God’s love.

Also please ANYONE who reads this take 10 minutes to watch this video and read this article about Medellin Colombia where I spent 11 months earlier this year working with children and street ministry and saw for myself much of what is revealed in this video, http://www.channel4.com/news/colombia-medellin-prostitution-virgins-gangs-pablo-escobar . It is worth the 10 minutes and will shed a lot of light on why this is an emergency and we need all the help we can get to make a difference. Jesus came to set the captives free and He is still doing that today through those who are willing to fight. Just like in the short story of the boy throwing the starfish back into the ocean, we cannot make a difference for all of them… but we can make a difference for the one, the two, and the three that are touched by what we do.

“A soul’s worth, can it be named? What is the price of one reclaimed? We can’t afford to ignore the strife, what will you give for a life?” – A soul’s worth by Matthew Bullen.

Love Brooke

Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia

Brooke depends entirely on donations from caring people for her support and the support of the amazing work she is doing.

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

Mission Critical International

301 Pruitt Rd. #1030

Sbring, TX 77380

Give online below.

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

I used to believe in coincidence… meaning I used to believe that people just happened to be at the right place at the right time… or that you don’t need to pay much attention to uncanny events that seem too good to be true because all in all it was just a happy mishap… a random occurrence.

Thankfully God began to work on my faith and began to open my eyes to see Him and more importantly to consciously recognize His work in action. Now of course, sometimes I still have my doubts and have to ask, “God is this you?” But every once in a while, more and more recently, God puts me right in the middle of something and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it is Him… because I can almost literally see His finger prints all over it… God is really cool that way. Just like an artist leaves his special mark on his masterpiece either in a clear signature or a hidden message inside the brush strokes, God loves to leave His fingerprints… His breadcrumbs if you will and just like a spectator gawking at the Mona Lisa, God leaves His children in awe and full of great joy at what He has been up to.

Today I was blessed to be a part of one of those “Aha!” moments. But let me start at the beginning. About 7 years ago my family started working in Colombia on short term mission trips. I remember considering my first trip (I was 16-years-old) more like a chance to explore a new place while still being able to do some good along the way. I had no idea that God was setting up divine appointments that I would not be able to recognize until many years later. I do not have a very vivid memory of what we did or whom we met but there were a select few that I made a strong connection with and will never be able to forget. One of these divine appointments was with a girl named Yesika. Yesika entered the government care system at 13-years-old along with her two younger brothers. She grew up in a catholic orphanage separated from her siblings and parents until she was finally moved to the half-way-house (a home for young adults who age-out of the system) at age 18 and that is where I met her.

I remember taking a special interest in Yesika because she liked to play basketball just like me. I only spent one day with Yesika but I never forgot her and prayed for her often. About two years later I was living for two months in Colombia as a short-term missionary and working at the orphanage where Yesika grew up. On the long bus ride home one day as I was trying to catch a few winks of sleep I suddenly heard a very sweet voice call out my name and of course who else should it be but Yesik1 We had not seen each other in over two years and just happened to run into each other both headed home from work in a city with over 8 million people and thousands of bus routes here we were “at the right place at the right time” to reconnect and re-establish communication. Since that day I have never lost communication with Yesika and we have stayed friends.

When I moved back to Bogota in 2014 as a full-time missionary God put her on my heart one day and so I invited her to ice cream. Little did I know that God was working in Yesika’s heart and had placed in her a passion to help others like herself not only in Bogota but also in many parts of Colombia. As she poured her heart out to me and told me all about her plans I could she the passion burning in her eyes. During my year in Medellin I was barely able to stay in contact with anyone because of the amount of work so I forgot about Yesika and her project until two days ago.

Since coming back to Bogota at the beginning of August I have been praying everyday for God to clearly show me what he wanted me to do next and during my prayer this past Saturday God once again brought Yesika to my mind…. I wasn’t sure what He wanted but I knew I needed to have lunch with her so I immediately shot her a message on Facebook. And of course, wouldn’t you know it, it turns out, in a city of 8 million people, she “happens” to live a few blocks from us. After spending the entire afternoon with my friend Yesika today and hearing all about what God is doing in her heart for Colombia I am more certain than ever that my relationship with her is not an accident or a coincidence. She and I have many of the same dreams and goals and I know that God wants me to help her get this project off the ground. She also found out recently that she might have a cancerous tumor in her throat. Amazing how God sends friends right when He knows you need them most.

To end this blog I just want to say that Yesika’s top need right now is prayer and to legally establish her ministry. She has the willing hands to do the work the only problem is making it all legal. And honestly as always that is a very expensive process. I am asking special prayer for her tomorrow as she has a doctor’s appointment to see whether or not it is cancer so please pray for her. Also if God touches your heart to support Yesika on her mission in Colombia then you can send a special donation to Mission Critical and we will coordinate with her to get the legal papers she needs to start this wonderful work. Thank you all for helping make this possible.

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.

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.

I have never been to a prison in my life… let alone a prison known to be one of the most violent prisons in the world (inmates once played soccer there with a severed human head). Here we were just a little group of five Mission Critical International missionaries against this Goliath of 7,000 inmates. To say we were a bit nervous is a gross understatement but we marched in unsure of what we would find but confident that God was already there, waiting for us.

As we walked through I saw dozens and dozens of men… some were sitting, some playing basketball and various games, and some just stood in groups and stared at us. My dad Matt Bullen (Executive Director of Mission Critical) had been invited to preach and minister to the men in their weekly, inner prison church service. I was expecting to see a group of 20-30 men quiet, grave and uninterested in what we had to say. I expected them to solely be attending to get early release and for the service to be rough and spiritually dry. Being completely wrong has never given me more joy.

As we walked up the stairs to the chapel we could hear a great crowd praising God. I could hardly believe my eyes when I walked into a room filled with more than one hundred men worshiping in a way that I cannot even try to explain in words. These men were so full of love for God, it was written all over their faces. Some raised their hands, some were on their knees, and others were even jumping up and down filled with joy. I have never before experienced a worship service like this one. The Holy Spirit was heavy in the room as each man listened intently to Matt Bullen preach about Grace, Salvation and God’s heart for each of us. They clapped, shouted, cried, and praised God.

When the service ended each man came and shook our hands and some hugged us and thanked us earnestly for coming to visit them. Honestly I felt more at home in that little chapel in an infamous Colombian prison than in most Christian Churches I have attended in my life. The love they had for their Savior inspired me and even shamed me a bit. Most of these men came to Christ inside the prison but I have known Jesus for years and yet at times do not crave His presence like they do. I think we thought we were there to minister but in the end it turned out that we were the ones being ministered to.

Later we were informed that what we saw in the chapel was only 10 percent of the Christian community inside the prison that in total there were about 1,000 men that profess faith and participate in the weekly services throughout the prison’s 16 sections. I will never forget when one of the church leaders who himself is an inmate and former police officer told us “I used to be in the police force, but now I am a soldier in God’s army”. God touched all of our hearts that day and we left with smiles on our faces. It reminded me of the story in Luke 7 where the woman comes and washes Jesus’ feet in Simon’s house. As I saw the love of these wonderful sons of God and their joyful hearts I could not get out of my mind what Jesus said in verse 47… “I tell you, her sins–and they are many–have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

I hope to return soon and see more of what God is doing there, also to visit the women’s prison here and see what Jesus is up to there.

“Who here among us has not been broken? Who here among us is without guilt or pain? So oft abandoned by our transgressions. If such a thing as grace exists then grace was made for lives like this. There are no strangers, there are no outcasts, there are no orphans of God” -Orphans of God by Avalon

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.

I was honestly scared to death as I stepped out of the crowded taxi and immediately smelled the stench of drugs, urine, trash and a lot of people who have not bathed in only God knows how long. Rosita (the head honcho of the street ministry and a very sweet friend), Alex , Omar, Karen, Carolina (all young adults who are part of the 50 kids we care for day in and day out) and I were back once again on the streets of Medellin hunting souls and meeting needs. But as always it is not a fairy tale setting, nor is it filled with beautiful people who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and need saving. No, as we began unloading the boxes of sandwiches, hot chocolate, personal hygiene items and rice I couldn’t help but feel very nervous being literally surrounded by men, women and young teenagers who had obviously been living in the street for a very long time and who simply stared at us. Some eyes reflected curiosity, others contemplating the possibility of valuables to steal and still others held pure distain for the “do gooders” who were back again.

Our mission tonight was not exactly the streets but a “hotel”, if you can call it that, actually it was more like a cramped, wet, smoke filled, roach infested community drug house where over 150+ men, women and children live their lives day in and day out spending a very little amount to live there 24/7 and sometimes just pay for their children to live there alone and uncared for. Try to imagine the worst motel you have ever been in and then times that by 4.

The fear continued to grip my heart as I made my way to the staircase but soon vanished as I was met by three tiny brown faces smiling and yelling “Chocolate! Chocolate!” One little boy wrapped his arms around my neck and used me as a ride up the stairs. I am glad he knew how to hang on because I had a 20 gallon jug of hot chocolate in one hand and a 15 pound bag of rice in the other plus this little boy around my neck and walking upstairs, lets just say my physical strength was really being tested. As soon as we entered the door a flood of little 1-4 year old kids jumping up and down and asking to be held met us. Let me tell you a bit about these beautiful little kids. None of them were completely dressed. The majority only had some old dirty sweats on and no shoes, socks or shirts and the others were completely naked from head to toe. Every one was dirty and in serious need of a tissue. They were malnourished and had their faces, legs, and arms painted with Indian cultural markings and bleached hair. I will never forget the moment when Nancy (a little 2 year old girl) stood on her toes and stretched her arms up to me wanting me to hold her. I picked her up and was immediately sickened by the fact that her little sweats were completely soaked by her own urine. But at the same I was so happy and touched to see her little face smiling at me. She followed me around the rest of the night and I never was able to find out to whom she belonged.

We took some time to go room to room inviting everyone to come to the main patio (where they all individually cook over a “hole in the concrete” stove with wood and fire) to receive the gospel and food. We started with the kids by sharing “The shepherd who left the 99 to look for the one” Bible story and giving them chips, sandwiches, candy and hot chocolate. I had to hand feed the sandwich to a little one-year-old who weighed no more than 10 pounds tops (I am not exaggerating). She was tiny and was not able to feed herself. Afterwards we shared the gospel with the adults who behaved a lot worse than the children. The adults were fighting, arguing, yelling and cursing us but we were able to feed them as well.

All in all it was a very eye opening experience and I can’t wait to go back. It is not easy, especially seeing people live that way, and what is worse seeing children live that life. But instead of letting that damage my faith and cause me to complain to God about why He would allow those things to happen, it fuels my faith even more and my passion to pursue the broken and realize that God in His great love and mercy is using me to help these people and to help bring them to Himself. Of course we don’t always see the fruit of our labor right away or maybe never in this life, but I know God used us that night to plant a seed in their hearts and He is in charge of growing that seed, all we have to do is go where He leads us and love whomever He puts in front of us.

“Where You go I go, What You say I say, What You pray I pray, What You pray I pray. Jesus only did what He saw You do, He would only say what he heard You speak, He would only move when He felt You lead following Your heart, following Your spirit. How could I expect to walk without You when every move that Jesus made was in surrender I will not begin to live without You, for You only are worthy, You are always good. You are always good. Though the world sees and soon forgets, we will not forget who you are and what you’ve done for us, what you’ve done for us.” “Where you go I go”- Jesus Culture

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.

I have not been able to write for quite a while but today I just wanted to shout out to all who read this and say thank you again for your support. It has more effect than you could ever imagine and I just wanted to say that God is working like crazy here in Medellin Colombia. Currently we are working on several different projects including starting a fish farm in the coast so that the ministry (Jucum-YWAM) can be self-sustaining as far as feeding our 48 kids. The land for the fish farm is super expensive but God is providing and we are hoping that we will be able to get it up and running in a couple of months so that we no longer have the problems we have had in the past of running out of food, God in His awesomeness provided every time and always does but this is one way that we can work to insure that the kids have a constant food supply. We are still currently praying for support and consistent provision for the STAFF meals, there are about 25 people that eat their meals here at the house everyday and sometimes there is no food for us either, for example today there was no lunch or dinner but one thing I LOVE about this ministry is that whenever something is lacking the first place we all go is to our knees. God is our #1 provider and He is always looking out for us and as always He provided lunch for all of us today. The director of the ministry is leaving today for the coast were they are building a school for over 30 children who have never gotten any kind of education before now, she hopes to finalize the work there so that the children can begin attending school and learning. After they finish working there in Ure (the town where the school is) they will be going to different parts of the coast to encourage pastors who have been persecuted for their faith. I truly wanted to be a part of this trip but unfortunately it is very unsafe for Colombians let alone a U.S citizen to go there. But I know that no danger can stop the power of prayer and I really ask that all my readers would join me in praying for our two directors Enith and Silia who will be spending the next week with these pastors in the coast.

Another Praise is that God is really opening the doors for me to be a part of other mission trips and ministry going on not only in Colombia but also possibly in Cuba.
This year I am praying for the funds to be a part of the next Mission Critical Mission trips in April and May in different parts of Colombia, I am not only praying for the funds but also because I will be gone almost the entire month of May. Jucum in Medellin is struggling with the lack of personnel to do all the daily work required here. I am hoping to find at least a replacement for me so that I will not leave them hanging without any help. One of the biggest needs here are willing hands and feet. If there are any young people who are interested in serving in ministry for a month, two months or even a year with children much more please feel free to message Mission Critical through our contact page and I will be glad to send them more information about all that we do here.

Also another possible Mission opportunity that I am currently praying about is a mission trip to Cuba in December, I am praying because when I heard about it I felt compelled to pray and seek god about the possibility of being a part of the team that will be going to Cuba to encourage and support Persecuted churches, pastors and Christians that are currently suffering greatly. I am going to look deeper into this and pray more about it to see what God has for me, Also I have more information about it if anyone else is interested.

And last but not least I am praising God for all the amazing work He is currently doing in Mission Critical, this year we have the opportunity to travel and minister in several different parts of the world and carrying Jesus’ love to the lost and also encourage the needy. On my part specifically we are praying that when I end my time here in Medellin at the end of July I will be heading back to Bogota Colombia and begin the first building blocks of the dream that has been in the heart of Mission Critical for the past 5 years, starting our own house for young adults who are ineligible to live in government institutions and are in need of a safe place to live, work, study but most importantly live and grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ and fulfill His plans for their lives …. Their personal Mission Critical.

Thank you all again and as always PRAYER is worth more than gold, Mission Critical is a ministry completely sustained by prayer and that is what we crave the most. 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.

2014 was an amazing year. One of the best in my personal life. A year of redemption, new passion and dreams for the future. This year God brought me back and gave me a chance to start doing what it is He put me on this earth to do. After running away as hard as I could for two years God intervened and would not allow me to run anymore. I could no longer run from the knowledge that God was calling me to a higher purpose. As Christians we are called to what the modern church calls “The Great Commission” Matthew 28:19 and for years Christians heroes have been going through the whole world sharing the gospel with boldness no matter what the cost even if that cost is their lives. Unfortunately Christianity has turned into a comfortable religion instead of a way of life. “Most churches and ministries are working in the Commission but not the Great commission” – Enith Diaz. Having grown up my whole life in church I can say with authority that the modern idea of what it is to be a Christian is down right tragic.

Something I read recently struck my heart, it said “Some Christians haven’t even thought about whether they would die for Christ because they haven’t really been living for Him” Jesus Freaks, DC Talk. I will tell you that really made me rethink my life, my roll as a Christ follower and my idea of what it is to be a part of the Great commission. Thanks to God he opened my eyes just a tiny bit more this year. When God finally broke my pride and brought me back to Colombia in April I had no idea I was gonna spend the rest of my life here, but you know, there is absolutely no place I would rather be and nothing I would rather be doing than giving everything I have for the one who gave His everything for me. I am now living the life I was called to. And I would encourage everyone reading this DO NOT run from whatever it is He has put in your heart to do. WE ARE ALL called as followers of Christ, as His kids, as part of His family to go and spread that love and spirit to everybody we possibly can. THAT is what it means to live. We are of another world, this is only our temporary home and nobody is promised tomorrow. Choose to obey now.

My personal dream and my hope for all of you is that we can come to our end the same way Paul did and be able to say “As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 8 And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:6-8.

So blessed to be here, so blessed to be doing what I was born to do… Who is it that God is using you to speak to? who is it that God put in your life that needs Him? What is it that God put in your heart to do with your life? Just something to think about. As always, A HUGE thank you to all you who support us in prayer and financially. It means so much more than you can ever imagine. I could not do this without all of you.

“Don’t let your light 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” Britt Nicole-Lost get found

To see what God did in 2014 and where He is taking Mission Critical in 2015 please watch the video below.

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.

I grew up in church… a good PK and as such I had one simple job to do.. be perfect, sweet, and make sure to set a flawless example for all the church to see. My main goal was to grow up leading Bible studies with all the young “maidens in waiting” of the church body because “youth group” was out of the question and one day marry a perfect young man who would become a pastor when he was 16 years old and spend the majority of his time locked away in his library studiously pouring over theology books while I made baked goods in the kitchen of our town house with the whitewashed picket fence and watched our ten children play with their Atlas and puzzles. Lets just say I was the ultimate teenage bigot. But sadly when you live under a mountain of self-inflicted expectation and constant failure to accomplish it eventually causes you to hate yourself and anyone else who does not live up to the impossible standards that you yourself are drowning in. I remember growing up hearing about grace and about how “nothing you could ever do would make God love you any less”.. now I am not here to preach theology to anyone.. trust me I know how much I still need to learn but lets just say grace was for weak christians who couldn’t “keep it together” in my opinion and I refused to be one of “those people”.

Anyway to save on paper and to not put my readers to sleep I will skip ahead a couple of years. At 19 the once perfect saint was now a tattooed, pierced, smoker who wouldn’t dare step foot onto a church’s front lawn let alone attend. A girl who once believed being a christian meant being better than everyone else now spent her days working, smoking, and crying herself to sleep every night. I won’t go into all the details of those horrible days but I can write this with a smile on my face because God did not let that little girl stay there. Through many hard lessons she was finally able to learn and understand what Jesus was saying in Mark 2:17 “When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor–sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” and it was my greatest joy last Friday night to share that with over 100 or so young men and women in a city park with some paper and colors.

Six of us went out to what is, in my opinion, one of the scariest parks in Boston Medellin. Lets just say its where all the gangs, addicts and hustlers like to hang out day and night. And I could feel the nervousness of every one of my companions as we sat down to play some music and sing right in the middle of it all. We brought with us pens, paper, paint, and all kinds of markers and our strategy was to break the ice by inviting anyone who wanted to “express themselves” by drawing or writing whatever they wanted. To my amazement it worked! I don’t know if it was the influence of the alcohol or weed but these kids LOVED the idea and in less than 30 minutes we had a huge group drawing, singing, playing instruments and listening to us share the gospel with them. One girl in particular I remember was Viviana, she was a beautiful 22 year old girl who was so touched by what we were doing that she asked me and another friend if we would sit down with her. I could feel her pain as she cried on my shoulder and poured her heart out to us. She wanted to know Jesus, she wanted to change and I know that God did something in her heart that night the same way He did it in mine. He is so amazing and we were able to share His story and His love with so many young people that night. I saved the papers with all the drawings and notes they wrote so that I will never forget that night, that experience and never again forget why and for WHOM Jesus came and died.

So blessed to be here, so blessed to be doing what I was born to do… Who is it that God is using you to speak to? who is it that God put in your life that needs Him? What is it that God put in your heart to do with your life? Just something to think about. As always, A HUGE thank you to all you who support us in prayer and financially. It means so much more than you can ever imagine. I could not do this without all of you.

“Wash my heart and make it clean, open up my eyes to things unseen, show me how to love like You have loved me” Hosanna, Hillsong

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.

The lump in my throat was growing bigger as I fought to keep the tears from pouring down my face. Hearing the story of this beautiful 20 year old girl’s life of prostitution and seeing how she scarfed down the little food that we had to give was almost too hard to bear. God completely opened my eyes to see and feel His heart for the countless beautiful women young and old who spend their lives on the streets selling themselves to feed themselves and their children. But let me start from the beginning…

When I first met Enith, coordinator of Jucum Medellin, I fell in love with her and the amazing ministry that she founded here helping support and care for the children of desperately poor families who have no way of supporting themselves let alone their kids. But then I later learned that caring for the children is only one branch of the unbelievable ministry that they do here. Another branch is the “chocolate y pan” street program which ministers physically and spiritually to the homeless that eat, sleep and live their lives on the street corners of Medellin Colombia. I had been eagerly waiting for my chance to serve and be a part of what God was doing in the lives of these people through a simple cup of hot chocolate and a sandwich and finally the day came. I received a call from Rosita (coordinator of the street ministry) last Wednesday telling me that they were going out that night and I was invited. I was ecstatic, but of course, as it always goes, suddenly a whole laundry list of things I still had to do came flooding into my mind, “Laundry needs to be taken off the drying line and put away and the rest washed and hung up, Wednesday is my day to make dinner for the staff house, gotta make the dinner, serve it and then clean the kitchen all before 7:30…” A bit of a panic set in as I rushed to finish all my responsibilities before heading out. But still I was excited to finally be a part of something I had heard about all my life and finally here was my chance. But of course with all dreams comes the fear factor… I was definitely feeling it as I was rushing to prepare dinner for everyone. I was stressing and hurrying to make the sandwiches that were already late because of some complications with the purchase of the food. I was thinking about how long it would take to get it on the table and to clean the kitchen with people constantly coming in and out. While all this was passing through my mind another little demon decided to try and rob me of my joy and excitement. “What am I gonna say to these people? It’s super dangerous… what if something bad happens? your Spanish is still growing… what if you can’t speak what God wants you to say? How can you possibly help other people when your own heart isn’t feeling up to par? It’s a waste of time… nobody is going to be truly touched by this.. better to just stay home and get some extra sleep” I have to admit as I was drying the last of the losa (dishes) and putting them in their place a bit of discouragement was trying desperately to creep into my soul. I put my rag down on the counter and looked at the ceiling… now we all know that God does not live in the ceiling but still I felt I was looking at Him, I simply prayed softly for God to give me the right heart, to take away the fear and to not send me if He was not coming with me. (Exodus 33:15)

Well, as He always does God came through in a miraculous way, we gave away over 150 ham sandwiches and 60+ gallons of hot chocolate to the 13-50 year old women who stand outside the casinos and motels trying to earn money by selling their bodies to put food on the table. As we walked down the streets offering food, a listening ear, prayer and the gospel to anyone who would listen I couldn’t help but think of my two Colombian sisters Heidy and Ginary. I was so grateful that they were safe and protected from a life like this, that God had brought them into our lives and provided the funds to support them and put them through school. But as I was thinking these things I felt God softly say to me, “All of these people are somebodies sister, mother, brother, son or daughter and above all they are Mine.” God broke my heart that night as we stood in little prayer circles and interceded on behalf of these beautiful people. God has put a new passion in my heart for exploited women and children.

Matthew 5:3 “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs”.

“I will proclaim good news to the lost, protect at any cost the weak, abused and storm tossed for I have been called to spread His name abroad, stripping down the chipped facade give my life for the cross.. so help me God” Jana Bullen – Purchased.

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.

Sitting across the breakfast table from me she looked as if she could not figure me out. Sipping her coffee, she seemed to be studying me pretty intently. I must admit I felt a bit uncomfortable, ha ha. I had only been living in Medellin for about a week and was still getting used to the new group of people I was going to work with and live with. A group of us all live together in a sort of college dorm theme. We all eat together and have our different duties to help with the house up keep and cooking. Anyway, Vivianna, after a long staring contest, finally asked me if I was going to go with them to the “Brigade”… I was like… what is that? She laughed a bit and then told me “The health brigade, we go to little villages and share the gospel and help people” I was like…. YOU BETTER KNOW that I am FOR SURE going!

After a ton of planning and packing and waiting and working and praying and… you get the idea, we were finally on the road to Santa Rosita, a tiny little village out in the middle of nowhere where the closest store, let alone hospital, is an hour drive by car away. The people who live there are both physically and spiritually starving. Clean water is non-existent and food is difficult to come by, especially when every family has at least 4 children per household. We were in the bus for 10 hours before we finally pulled up on this tiny village full of excited, beautiful faces and so started the next four days of serving and sharing God’s love and story with His precious creations.

Below is a video I made from the trip. Our team of professionals were able to provide every type of medical exam and medication including psychological health. Our evangelistic group went from house to house telling families about Jesus and sharing the word with them, many were lead to Christ through these visits, one man after accepting Christ came to me and another lady and sang us a beautiful song about Jesus, he had an amazing voice and I was completely blown away, after singing for us he continued praising God as he walked through the little village.

As you can see from the pictures I was the favorite entertainment for over 100 kids and spent the entire 3 days playing, singing, doing puppet shows, dancing and playing goalie for the soccer team… my poor ribs LOL. It was an AMAZING time, check out the video to get a glimpse of what God was up to recently in Colombia. Blessings AS ALWAYS PLEASE PRAY!!!! and to all those who have given financially, thank you so much for making all this possible.

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.

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.