Archives 2014

Little hands stretched as high up in the air as they could go. Her little voice crying softy but as strong as she could, “Mommy, Mommy”. My little niece desires to be held any time I can hold her but especially when she thinks I am going somewhere. Anytime I head in the direction of the door, she will start waddling after me calling “mommy” instead of auntie because she doesn’t want me to leave her. Aerowyn trusts and loves me completely. She trusts me to hold her, feed her, care for her and protect her. She wants to spend every minute possible with me. Aerowyn doesn’t wait for me to come find her, she follows me every where I go.

Every time I spend time with my niece who is one year old, I think of Jesus and what He said about children. “Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”Matthew 19:13-14. As well as, “Matthew 18:2-5, He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” As I read these passages I ask myself, “Do I trust God as Aerowyn trusts me”? “Do I follow Jesus where ever He goes”? “Do I look to see where He is at and do I run after Him? “Do I stretch out my arms to be held by my Beloved Father”?

I am committed to trust my Beloved Jesus and Father with the faith of a child. I am devoted to working at having childlike faith every day. What about you? Will you have faith and trust in Jesus like a child? He is worth trusting. He is able to keep you and care for you like no one else can.
“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
The Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.” ’ Numbers 6:24-26

I am personally trusting in God right now for a supernatural mission trip with my dad to Zambia and Rwanda Africa. Please pray with me for support and Holy Spirit power on these trips.

Love,

Rebekah Bullen

Photos of Rebekah’s work in Zambia

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

If you would like to help Rebekah you can mail a check to:

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

or give online below.

100% of your gift will go to Rebekah in Zambia.

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.

“At least Auntie Rebekah is coming back and we will see her again” said Patricia with a tear in her eye. I was sitting on the porch the night before my flight back to the States with my arms wrapped around Patricia trying not to cry as all the children and our house mothers begged me not to go.

I hate good byes of any kind but saying good bye to these kids here at Project Samuel is especially hard because they see so many people come into their lives only to leave and never return and so they have a hard time believing you will be different. I knew with all my heart I had to take some time off because of my health but the longer I am away from these kids the more that God confirms my calling and that these children need me to show them His love.

“Auntie Rebekah read to me please, Auntie Rebekah help me with my home work, Auntie Rebekah play with me”. This is what I miss so much when I must leave our beloved children at Project Samuel. Every second I am away from them I pray God keeps them until I can hold them in my arms again.

Feeling like I do makes Luke 11:13 so hard to believe and yet so beautiful. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give good gifts to you who ask.” If I love these children so much and I am willing to give so much to them, how much more does God love me and these children and what will He not do for us?

Pray for me as I start raising support for next year as well as my plane ticket back. I know God will provide for all my needs and I will soon have my arms around our sweet children!

Love,

Rebekah Bullen

Photos of Rebekah’s work in Zambia

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

If you would like to help Rebekah you can mail a check to:

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

or give online below.

100% of your gift will go to Rebekah in Zambia.

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.

“Auntie Rebekah, Auntie Rebekah!” I heard Lovemore call from the door as he was knocking. “I am asking for a school book because I want to go to school today!”, was his request. I couldn’t hold back a smile when I saw that he had dressed himself in a pretend school uniform. I felt like I was crushing his little dream when I told him he had to wait until January to go to school because he is only five.

Lovemore has been infatuated with the idea of going to school all year but his desire was enhanced on Sunday when we held a party for our older children to celebrate their grades in school.

After church last Sunday we were invited to come to the Destiny Training Center for a party the children had organized. They had asked me to bake a cake for them but every thing else they had planned themselves. We were seated, and with a queue from Lizzy, Daniel, the designated DJ, started the first song and all the kids came in the door paired with a partner dancing what looked very similar to a line dance.

After three sets of dances and a presentation all organized by Lizzy, all the children introduced themselves and told us their grade and position in class. We had a short time of praise and worship, then enjoyed a delicious meal and chocolate cake. All our children had a role to play at the event and I was so excited to see Alick take up the job of being our photographer.

I am very proud of all our children’s diligence in all areas of their life. As in Lovemore’s case, it is encouraging to see that our older children’s dedication in school and serving each other has inspired him.

Love,

Rebekah Bullen

Photos of Rebekah’s work in Zambia

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

If you would like to help Rebekah you can mail a check to:

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

or give online below.

100% of your gift will go to Rebekah in Zambia.

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.

I can’t believe sometimes the great privilege God has given me! To live and minister here at Project Samuel with this wonderful group of people, is an incredible blessing! I can’t find the right words to express how grateful I am to serve in a ministry that not only touches the lives of the children we care for and the community but God also uses us to affect the lives of everyone who comes here to Project Samuel to serve. We had an amazing summer this year and were honored to host three mission teams of some of the most amazing people!

One of the highlights for me this summer was to see that even when you are doing your best to bless others God turns that blessing back upon you! One of my greatest joys is to see God radically touch someone’s life as they are serving others.

Our last mission team from Faithbridge Church in Spring, Texas, greatly ministered to us and our entire community. They even brought new shoes for all of our children! Our children were ecstatic! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a happier group of children as they ran to their house-mothers to show off their new shoes. But as I watched the men from the Faithbridge team tearing up as they gave out the shoes and as they prayed over every child, I realized we were all blessed as much, or more, than our children. It truly is more blessed to give than to receive.

Malachi 3:10,
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in My Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “ I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put Me to the test!”

Love,

Rebekah Bullen

Photos of Rebekah’s work in Zambia

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

If you would like to help Rebekah you can mail a check to:

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

or give online below.

100% of your gift will go to Rebekah in Zambia.

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.

As I stood looking into a crowd of more than two hundred hungry people eagerly waiting in line for a hot meal, I prayed that the message of the gospel we were about to give would satisfy their souls as the food they were receiving would satisfy them physically.

This saturday we had the incredible privilege of hosting an outreach with a wonderful mission team from River of Life Church in Winnsboro, Louisiana in our newly furnished Destiny Training Center here at Project Samuel. It was such a joy for me to connect on a deeper level with our house mothers as I helped them prepare our meal for the outreach. I learned how to cook Zambian fried chicken, greens, and gravy. I still haven’t learned how to make Nishima and I’m not sure I ever will.

As we were cooking, some of our team of missionaries did an amazing job playing and coaching soccer, volleyball and netball with the one hundred plus children who showed up from the surrounding villages for our outreach. As all the families gathered for our meal, we missionaries started praying for God to multiply our chicken and Nishima as more and more people joined the ever growing line of hungry people. I don’t think any of us exhaled until after the last child’s plate was filled.

After dinner everyone crowded into our Destiny Training Center to watch the Jesus movie. It was a great delight to see how real the story of Jesus became through watching His story played out on our big screen.

To close out an awesome day, Patricia and Lizzy, two of our children God has beautifully gifted with the ability to lead worship, lead everyone into the presence of God to thank Him for all blessings He has bestowed on us and our Project. I can’t wait to see how God grows our influence in this community through our ability to meet the physical and spiritual needs of these precious people.

Love,

Rebekah Bullen

Photos of Rebekah’s work in Zambia

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

If you would like to help Rebekah you can mail a check to:

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

or give online below.

100% of your gift will go to Rebekah in Zambia.

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

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

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

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

Love Brooke

Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia

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

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

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

Give online below.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love Brooke

Photos of Brooke’s work in Colombia

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

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

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

Give online below.

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

Sitting in the shade of a mighty mango tree, tears filled my eyes as I watched Emelia teach our ladies Bible study. I thank God every Tuesday for our community of ladies who come faithfully every week. I am so grateful now to see them step up and teach what God has placed on their hearts. To see these ladies grow in their faith to the point where they are willing to lead and teach one of our Bible studies is an amazing blessing. I know they are closer in their relationship with God and their understanding of the Bible has grown as well.

It is also amazing to see these women grow closer in their friendship with each other. One thing about our Bible study that is unique is that these women come from many different churches and yet here we all meet together to study the word of God together. Emelia talked about how influential we, as women, are and how we should be the first ones to call our neighbor and friends to come to church or our Bible studies.

Our ladies have taken ownership of our Bible study and they are the ones who are planning ways to grow our Bible study. I am so grateful to be able to learn from these ladies as much as if not more then I am teaching them. They have already taught me so much about the power of prayer and I know they will teach me so much more!

Love,

Rebekah Bullen

Photos of Rebekah’s work in Zambia

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

If you would like to help Rebekah you can mail a check to:

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

or give online below.

100% of your gift will go to Rebekah in Zambia.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

Mission Critical International

11743 Northpointe Blvd #1025

Tomball, TX 77377

 

Give online below.

 

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

 
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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