Not a God of Coincidences
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.
Brooke’s First Year In Colombia – Video Blog
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.
Going to Prison
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.
Unlovely
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.
Hey Everybody!
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.
The Great Commission
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.
Visiting The Sick
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.
Discovering His Heart
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.
Go unto ALL the world…
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.
Dream Building
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.
Walking Forward
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.
His Hands and Feet
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.
My Soul Follows Hard After You: Bootcamp II
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.
My Soul Follows Hard After You: Bootcamp
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.
My Soul Follows Hard After You: Unexpected Blessings
So pre-travel (and by that I mean pre-complete change of life as you know it in my case) anxiety is normal. But bursting into tears from stress three hours before I was to embark on the greatest adventure of my life seemed a bit dramatic to me. Things thus far had not gone exactly as I had planned and on thursday night as I lay on my bed trying to catch a nap, Satan was having his last try at discouraging me. All the reality and fear of the situation began to creep into my mind, “What am I doing??? What if I fail?? Was quitting my job, quitting school, and walking away from everything I know a mistake? Was God really orchestrating all of this or was it all in my head?” All of these thoughts and doubts finally pushed me to melt into a pathetic puddle of tears. But thank God for the best family ever who instead of encouraging my pity party, dragged my sobbing self into the living room for some much-needed prayer and worship time. Jumping forward lets just say everything, and when I say everything I mean every single thing, that could have gone wrong trying to get to Bogota went wrong…. I finally escaped the Bogota airport at about 6:00 am and was able to reconnect with some close friends, It was such a relief to see some familiar faces.
That evening after some rest la pastora (wife of the pastor of the church I am working with) and I started off to, according to what I was told, a girls retreat in the city. Three hours later still driving I began to wonder where exactly they were taking me. If I didn’t know better I would have expected I was being kidnapped seeing as though we were literally out in the jungle of colombia. But I soon learned that the retreat was being held at a little club outside of a tiny pueblo. The place was absolutely breath-taking. A view that could literally bring tears to your eyes. It was definitely one of those places that brings to mind Psalm 19:1. The camp is owned by a Colombian missionary who preaches all over the world in different churches and through a direct calling from The Lord had purchased that little camp and built it into what it is now for the specific purpose of ministering to pastors and spiritual leaders. A place for them to rest and refresh their relationship with God. After a tour and some history about the place, the pastor’s wife and another amazing woman of God sat me down and prayed over me like I have never been prayed for in my life. God was moving strongly already and I had barely been in Colombia one day. We spent the rest of that day decorating los salones for the girls to come and receive the word and pray. Well, I say we decorated but really, since they were unable to communicate with me well their wishes, I was handed a bag of tangled decorations and asked to organize them…. Finally something that didn’t require communication. Fifty or so girls arrived on buses at about 9:30 pm and were immediately ushered to their separate meeting rooms for some Bible time and prayer. One for little girls and another for older girls. When it was finally time to go to bed I don’t even remember laying my head down. I had no idea what God had in store those next two days.
On saturday morning I jerked awake in a panic trying to remember where I was. Judging by the soft chuckles I heard, it must have been quite amusing to the three women who were sitting near my pallet on the living room floor. I hurried to shower and get ready. I was a little behind since the rest of the camp leaders had been up since 5 am but I didn’t feel too bad seeing as though I had gotten next to no sleep the day before. We had a full day of testimonies and presentations. I spent the first day with the older girls and wow, God really moved that day. The messages were about inner beauty vs. outer beauty, God’s calling in on our lives as women, also on abuse and how to find healing and freedom from that. This particular subject is very near to my heart. About five years ago God put a burning in my soul for abused women and children, especially the children of Colombia and on more than one occasion a tear came to my eye during that message… I was not the only one.
At the end they invited the girls to write a trauma from their past on a piece of paper and hold it while we prayed, and if you have never heard Colombians pray then you cannot imagine the power and passion with which they cry out to God. I was invited to join the other Jefes in praying over the girls which I had never done before but was super blessed to be a part. As I was praying over one girl, she began to cry profusely and refused to be comforted just hid her face in my shoulder and wept for a good 15 minutes. She began to cry so hard at one point she almost fell on the floor, thankfully most Colombians are small and I was able to hold her up. I just let her cry and prayed that God would relieve her of the past and give her a hope and a future Jeremiah 29:11. At the end the leaders and I took the little papers from the girls and threw them into a bucket filled with water, I guessed to signify how God’s love washed that pain and hurt away.
Sunday I spent with the little girl group, and after a full day of adventures (hiking, scout drills, almost being drowned in the pool) we finished the day with another time of prayer for these precious little ones, I started from one side and went from tiny head to tiny head praying blessings and protection over them and when the words would not come I would just sing over them in english. Well before I knew it I was handed the microphone and asked to sing for the whole group. I was more than glad to do it, it’s amazing to me that something as small as an english voice could bring so much excitement and joy to those little faces. God is so good, and He is working in Colombia. Please, Please continue to pray for these precious people and the work that we will be doing together with God’s children. Next weekend I am going to be a part of the same camp but this time for boys, please pray that God will move in the hearts of the kids and also the adults working on these camps, we all need so much more of Him.
“I will call upon your name, and keep my eyes above the waves, when oceans rise my soul will rest in Your embrace for I am Yours, and You are mine”
Love Brooke
Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia
Like many missionaries, Brooke has no source of income other than love gifts from home.
If you would like to support Brooke you can mail a check to:
Mission Critical International
11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025
Tomball, TX 77377
Give online below.
100% of your tax exempt gift will go to Brooke in Colombia.
My Soul Follows Hard After You: Relentless Calling
[lightbox full=”https://missioncriticalintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_5322-e1400786828512.jpg” thumb=”https://missioncriticalintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_5322-e1400786828512.jpg” title=”Brooke Bullen” /]
I grew up as a PK (Pastor’s Kid) so serving God with your life and everything you have came natural to me in the beginning and just seemed like the normal flow of life. However, the thought of being a missionary in another country was never appealing to me. Obviously there was more than enough work to be done here in the United States and leaving your home, life, and comforts was for the “Hero” Christians, not for little me who was of no great significance to anyone.
All of that changed one day when I heard the story of Bruchko, (Bruce Olsen) a young nineteen-year-old missionary to the Motilone Indians of North East Colombia. I had sat under the dull sound of my father reading dry theology books, in my child like opinion, written by even drier, old preachers and missionaries who were all together much too holy for me and way beyond all reason of regular life. But one night somehow my regular routine of solitaire and puzzles that I used to lessen my boredom was interrupted by the enrapturing story of a young man leaving everything he had to follow a passion and a calling that only God could have put in his heart, against all odds and against all “sound judgment” he set off to an unknown, unreached, savage people to share the gospel. To this day I still have no idea why I connected so closely with this Bruchko, but from that night on a hunger began to burn in my soul. I said that night as I lay in my bed, “God if you want me to go somewhere and do something for you, provide the passion and I will do it.”
Two months later my Dad asked me to go to Colombia with him for the first time In January 2010. I was excited, what a great vacation! Leaving the country and being able to see all the things that my father and sisters seemed to endlessly and exhaustingly talk about. Perhaps at last I would be a part of the missions “In crowd” made up of my father and two sisters who had already been broken by the Holy Spirit in Colombia the year before. But unlike them I refused to come back a puddle of tears surging with righteousness. I was going to be tough. I was going to show all of them up as the babies I felt that they were being. By the third day of the trip with not a tear shed and still being able to maintain my hard heart I was quite proud of myself. It wasn’t until I met a little boy named Andres (Andrew) in a tiny orphanage called Pronacer that God finally destroyed my walls, but that is for another story. When I got home I was burning for another chance to go back, I began emailing every one I knew telling them about it trying to get enough money to go back. When I was finally able to return I thought that God had broken my heart before, but He completely demolished my former desires, thoughts, and hardness toward His beautiful children. On that trip June 2010 God told me that I was going to be His missionary in Colombia. I didn’t know how or when but I finally had the desire.
After a couple of years and some hard times though, that passion began to fade and the calling was pushed to the back of my personal closet of plans. Until the summer of 2012 out of shear desperation to reconnect with the heart of God I bought a plane ticket, put in a two month leave of absence at my job and flew to Colombia to work in the orphanages there with the needy children teaching English and encouraging them in the Lord. I can honestly say that it was the happiest and hardest time of my life. God was rebuilding my whole outlook on life and Himself altogether, which is a difficult process when you have grown up in American churches and been fed the milk of the prosperity gospel your entire life. He was showing me what I was put on this earth for. I was desperate for God and His power like never before in my life. I wanted to serve Him so badly I would stay up for hours lying on the floor praying for the children of Colombia. When my time was up and I was finally forced to come home rather than be deported I was heartsick, I felt I had left my home and my family behind. To this day I still have an entire shoebox full of the love letters and pictures the children made for me on my last days there. Of course we parted with many tears, hugs and Colombian cheek kisses with all the promises in the world of my quick return.
