Today was bittersweet. Pastor Timothy and our team left for Texas, and Luke and I had to take Heidy back to her place in La Calera, another beautiful little mountain city. It was such a blessing spending the week with all this sweet young people of God. Some wonderful news for Heidy is that we were able because of a donation on her behalf to get her paperwork started to come to the U.S.
We are very excited that after 4 1/2 years of working to get her home we are one step closer. It always rips my heart out to leave her and this time it was compounded by seeing Luke’s and Heidy’s tears as they hugged goodbye. What a treasure these children are. How our Father’s heart must long for us to be His arms and “abrazo” them. I’m so grateful to God for Mission Critical International and Pastor Timothy and Relationships for Christ making this Mission Possible trip a reality.
Upon returning from La Calera we had a lunch meeting with a pastor and his wife and did some vision casting for future work together in many parts of Colombia. It was very exciting.
Then it was time to get ready for Pastor Urrego, a friend of our translator Oscar Useche and pastor of the church in which I was to preach tonight, to pick us up. We had a lovely hour and a half drive through the mountains north of Bogota to another beautiful little town called Sopo. The pastor is bi-vocational and works at Alpina, the largest dairy processing company in Colombia. His factory receives over 250,000 gallons of milk per day to be processed into yogurt, cheesecake, cheese of all kinds, and every kind of dairy product you can dream. Just before arriving at the church the pastor stopped at the Alpina factory outlet store. I call it the Disneyland of dairy stores. He took us inside and said, “Pick what you want to take back with you.” We asked, “What is your favorite Pastor?” He grabbed a shopping cart and started filling it up with two of everything in the store. We were like, “Oh yeah, a suitcase full of OMA coffee and Alpina cheeses will be just perfect.” After the service we shared some of the deserts that he bought. It was the most delicious love offering ever.
We headed over to the church, which is beautiful, and worship had already started. I was so humbled to realize that they don’t typically have a Saturday night service. They scheduled this one so I could be there and minister with them. Other churches from other small mountain villages as far as an hour and a half away had come to take part. What a blessing these Colombian brothers and sisters are. Praise the Lord for pouring down on us as we shared the word of God. There were tears on many faces and the altar was filled with people desperate for Jesus. We have been invited back next year to preach in their Sunday services and share with the pastors in the area. What a precious time we had with the pastor and his family after the service. They are precious people of God. Praise God for another wonderful day of pursuing Jesus on His mission in the world!
Today was bittersweet. Pastor Timothy and our team left for Texas, and Luke and I had to take Heidy back to her place in La Calera, another beautiful little mountain city. It was such a blessing spending the week with all this sweet young people of God. Some wonderful news for Heidy is that we were able because of a donation on her behalf to get her paperwork started to come to the U.S.
Then it was time to get ready for Pastor Urrego, a friend of our translator Oscar Useche and pastor of the church in which I was to preach tonight, to pick us up. We had a lovely hour and a half drive through the mountains north of Bogota to another beautiful little town called Sopo. The pastor is bi-vocational and works at Alpina, the largest dairy processing company in Colombia. His factory receives over 250,000 gallons of milk per day to be processed into yogurt, cheesecake, cheese of all kinds, and every kind of dairy product you can dream. Just before arriving at the church the pastor stopped at the Alpina factory outlet store. I call it the Disneyland of dairy stores. He took us inside and said, “Pick what you want to take back with you.” We asked, “What is your favorite Pastor?” He grabbed a shopping cart and started filling it up with two of everything in the store. We were like, “Oh yeah, a suitcase full of OMA coffee and Alpina cheeses will be just perfect.” After the service we shared some of the deserts that he bought. It was the most delicious love offering ever.
We headed over to the church, which is beautiful, and worship had already started. I was so humbled to realize that they don’t typically have a Saturday night service. They scheduled this one so I could be there and minister with them. Other churches from other small mountain villages as far as an hour and a half away had come to take part. What a blessing these Colombian brothers and sisters are. Praise the Lord for pouring down on us as we shared the word of God. There were tears on many faces and the altar was filled with people desperate for Jesus. We have been invited back next year to preach in their Sunday services and share with the pastors in the area. What a precious time we had with the pastor and his family after the service. They are precious people of God. Praise God for another wonderful day of pursuing Jesus on His mission in the world!