Category Colombia September 2010

This morning we had breakfast with the board of Fundacion Tayakai, our partners in Colombia. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, dream building, organizing, and good old fashioned communication. We have many miracle projects that have come out of our meetings this week that we have to get started on. I will use my last post to tell you all about them and how you all can help. But for now back to this day. After our breakfast we took a tour of some beautiful old buildings near where we were having breakfast and when we came back to the breakfast room the Goddaughters were waiting there for us. Such a joyous reunion ensued that it is hard to put into words. I can still feel the arms tight around my neck and feel the kisses on my cheek. We spent the rest of the day touring old town Bogota with the girls and generally having a marvelous time. We stopped in a restaurant and had a late lunch and enjoyed wonderful fellowship. Our two translators, Alexandra and Nep, were absolutely wonderful. Finally it was time for the girls to return to the orphanage and we said our sweet goodnights. The board sat up very late strategizing and talking about the new developments God has sent our way through this trip. This entire trip for me has been a miracle. I know I keep using that word but I literally saw the hand of God everywhere building a team between Orphan Hope International, Fundacion Tayakai, and ICBF. At the same moment the spiritual warfare with the forces of darkness was intense and at the same time the fingerprints of our Father were on everything. It was amazing. I hesitate to use a very personal instance to show what I mean but I think it will illustrate very well what this whole trip was like. At one point in the trip, we were in a meeting that could literally make or break our future ministry in Colombia from man’s perspective. I was suffering horribly with my Systemic Lupus and had been the entire trip. My kidneys were aching fiercely and I had been passing blood all day. I am sitting in this meeting and each of us is sharing and I am praying like crazy that I can make it to the end of the meeting and I get a text from my wife alerting me to a turn for the worse in a situation where we are helping an abused girl and my daughters are out on the streets looking for her. About five minutes later I get a message on my phone from my bank alerting me that my direct deposit paycheck didn’t go through and automatic payments are being cancelled and my account is in the red. It was pure grace alone but I literally chuckled, looked heavenward and smiled, and went on with the meeting and God gave us some amazing things in that meeting. I know a few stories from some of the rest of the board that happened that night that are as astounding as well but I will leave those for them to tell someday. My point is that God is mightily at work in Colombia and Satan is not happy about it but he is ultimately powerless to stop it so his only recourse is harassment and as long as we remember where it is coming from and that greater is HE that is in me than he that is in the world, we can smile and go on. Praise Jesus!

One of our strategies for this trip was to scout out a new orphanage to visit on the mission trip in January. The previous day when talking with ICBF they told us about an orphanage in the mountains outside of Bogota and so we went left out of the hotel on this morning headed for this new orphanage. As we wound our way up into the mountains the scenery became wilder and more beautiful. We came to a police checkpoint and after several minutes of sitting there with the police talking back and forth with our driver, Sandra went to go see what was going on. Apparently our van did not have an updated inspection and since we were traveling through a secluded area the police were afraid that the van might break down and there would be a whole van of Americans stranded in the mountains of Colombia. Not a good idea. Sandra told them of our mission and that we had an appointment with this orphanage and we really needed to get through. She is very persuasive. So the police decided that they would let us through and that one of the officers would escort our van to the orphanage in a prisoner transport van that they had nearby. So we set out again for the orphanage with our police escort with flashing lights leading the way. We hadn’t gone two miles when sure enough the van broke down on the side of the mountain. We all piled out laughing and shooting pictures like total tourists while Sandra went and negotiated with the officer and some of the men tried to see what was wrong with the van. It had thrown a serpentine belt and was not going anywhere. Finally, the police officer agreed and we piled into the prisoner transport van and headed for the orphanage once more. I can only imagine what the children thought when we pulled up to the orphanage, lights flashing, and the new people who were coming to tell them about Jesus piled out of a police van. It was hilarious.

We spent some wonderful time with the children and officials in this beautiful, breathtaking little town called La Calera. The views were stunning and the needs were great. We too soon had to leave because we had a big dinner planned with the officials from several orphanages in Bogota for that night. As we drove away from one of the locations some cute little boys were peaking through the fence, waving and asking, “Are you coming back tomorrow?” Of course we couldn’t but we will visit them again in January.

That night we hosted a very nice dinner with the officials of two orphanages in Bogota and shared our presentation and answered many questions. There was much support and excitement from all in attendance and even a few tears as we talked about the children and about Jesus and about many things. It was a fantastic evening and I believe all felt the presence of the Lord and all sensed that we were on the cusp of something huge for the children and the people of Colombia. We went to bed exhausted but praising God that we were so blessed to be a part of this work.

First, let me say that this trip was dedicated solely to meeting with different parts of the Colombian government to establish official relationships with them and Orphan Hope International and our Colombian partners Fundacion Tayakai.

Much preliminary work went into making this trip possible. I want to give a personal thanks to our entire team who worked very hard and sacrificed greatly to make this trip a reality.

We arrived Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at 9:00 pm and were greeted by Sandra, Antonio, and Chris Dinkler who was already in country on business. We arrived at the hotel, spent some time in prayer where we asked God to be our vanguard and to go before us and prepare the way. Then we bedded down, ready for a big day the next day at ICBF, the department for family welfare for Colombia.

The next day, Thursday, September 16, 2010 we arrived at the national headquarters of ICBF around 8:00 am all decked out in our suits and ties and the ladies in business attire. I know that we were all praying hard as we walked into the building. Our party included Orphan Hope board of directors David Richardson, Chris Dinkler, Bill Byrd and his wife Sandy, Shoby John and myself. Also included were Antonio and Sandra of Fundacion Tayakai, Alexandra Vanegas, Orphan Hope Assistant Secretary and Translator, and Nep Reyes, Orphan Hope Advisory Council Member and Translator. Our first meeting was with the adoption leg of ICBF and the Assistant Director of Adoptions led the meeting. She and her team introduced us to the inner workings of ICBF. This presentation lasted about 2 hours and was very informative and helpful. We had prepared a 30 minute powerpoint presentation of our ministry and had also brought bound printed copies of the presentation because we were not sure if we would be allowed to present and we wanted to have a leave behind for them. As God began to open doors and open the hearts of the officials we were meeting with the opportunity arose to give our full presentation and we did so. We shared about our vision for mission trips, padrino plan, adoption awareness and someday adoption agency, safe houses, and English program. We also were able to share that it was the love of Jesus Christ that filled us and overflowed out of us for the children, people, and nation of Colombia. At the end of the presentation the Assistant Director of Adoptions for the whole nation of Colombia said, “Well, I want to say that I love it. I am very impressed and I think your vision is the same as our vision. We welcome your ministry.” We couldn’t have been more excited and relieved to hear that. We broke for lunch praising God for His help and blessing.

When we returned from lunch another segment of ICBF began to present their inner workings. Suddenly an official stepped into the room and said that the General Director, the highest ranking person in ICBF wanted to meet with us. Word had already reached her about who we were and what we were doing. We all trooped upstairs to the executive conference room and there we met the Director of Protection who oversees all of the orphanages in Colombia and then in walked the General Director and we all sat down. Just as the meeting was getting started in walks Marley one of the Goddaughters who we have been on many trips with and soon to be adopted by our dear friends and Orphan Hope Advisory Council members Curt and Tonya Currie. As it turns out Marley and the General Director are friends. So the General Director turns to Marley and says tell me about these people and Marley starts to cry and says, “They have the love of God and when they come to the orphanages they bring this love and they have changed my life.” Wow! What a way to start the meeting. Then for the next several minutes we each get to tell our story and how we became involved and we were briefly able to present our ministry. When it came around to Bill and Sandy Byrd, they began to cry as they told about what God did and is doing in their hearts and nearly everyone in the room had tears in their eyes. It was a wonderful meeting. The General Director asked us if we were a Christian ministry and we said yes and then she further asked us if we were an Evangelical Christian ministry and we said yes. When we were all done answering her questions and presenting the ministry she smiled and said, “We are very excited about all that you are doing and want to do in Colombia.” “I have three points that I want done in reference to this ministry.” “1. I want you to work with my office at the national level on all of your programs. 2. I want to send a delegation from ICBF to Texas to meet with all of you and see your community and find out about you. 3. I want us to draw up a legal 3-way agreement between Orphan Hope, Fundacion Tayakai, and ICBF to clarify how we are going to work together to make your vision a reality.” She also told us that she would communicate with her counterpart in the U.S., Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to let her know that we would be working together on these issues.

Needless to say we walked out of the meeting without touching the ground. God has opened for us a very large door to be able to minister to the children, the people, and the government of Colombia and this was just the first day!