We landed in Colombia around midnight on Thursday, and drove to our host housing! Even thought it was dark out, I was already so in love you guys😭.
There are so many trees in Colombia. So many beautiful hills and green mountains and a ton of narrow streets filled with houses and markets (and more trees). We are right in the middle of a mountainous valley, and through our widow is a busy little road, and a gorgeous view of lots of houses, a church steeple, mountains, and people.
It’s kinda hard to set the scene, but I think to sum it up, every corner of Medellín Colombia is a sight to see, and very full of culture. I. Love. It.
We are staying at Ciudad Refugio. We haven’t gotten too familiar with their ministry yet, but today we’ll have orientation, and get to learn more about some of their many ministries!!
We are in their older building, which is mostly made of bricks. It is a triangle shaped building on a street corner! There are 4 levels and a beautiful rooftop garden that we’ve spent a lot of time in.
One of World Race’s pillars is intimacy, intimacy with God. I feel like training camp really prepared me to be intimate with God and to long for that closeness and desire to learn more about Him every day. I was telling my team last night, that maybe it’s because of how I was raised, and maybe it’s because of all the factors and events of my life, but I’ve never felt God as a loud God. He has always been still, and quiet, and solid, and steadfast. At camp, I felt pretty overwhelmed with all of the voices saying that I should hear God, or I should feel him in deep ways. I do think there is room for that, but I don’t know what that looks like, so it was slightly overwhelming. Anyways, I’ve had that mindset coming into Colombia, of “am I feeling and hearing God enough? Am I doing something wrong in how I worship?” I’ve had to sit with that, and wrestle with it. I know God is enough always, but I’m praying for more of Him always.
As far as community has been, I am so thankful. My team is inspiring, and of course it’s gonna take awhile to learn how everyone functions best, but it’s been sweet to get to do some everyday life with them. We are all very different and that’s worth celebrating. It takes a lot of patience and listening, but I’m so thankful that we have the environment to do so with one another.
This weekend is going to be pretty low key, because our hosts have a busy ministry week, and we aren’t facilitating much of that, rather coming alongside and learning how they do certain things. We’re learning about all of the other people staying here, and getting time to have conversations and make other friends!!
Yesterday, one of the men here, Jason, took some of us to a mall to exchange money for Colombian pesos, and on the way home, I bought mango, and it made my day. It was so good.
I won’t be on my phone again for about a week, because I’m doing a once a week data plan, but I’ll update as soon as possible!
Some of our team is still under the weather, and they’re just wanting to enjoy being here, but that’s a bit of a hinderance! We’re praying for health, and would love prayers against anymore sickness! I’m also praying for new eyes every day, and a sense if patience, and ability to be interrupted by God’s will, and to be okay with my preferences not being reality!
Thank you for supporting me, thank you for reading this!
In Christ (and in Colombia), Ellie
