So a quick thing before we get into it. I don't know if you could tell but Juanis didn't know I was even going in the first place.
He thought it was just going to be Esther and Srina. So he was very shocked.
To see me there first off. Which, was really cool. Cause he's like a brother to me so it's cool to surprise me in that way But yeah, we can go to the next slide.
There we go. OK, so basically I'll talk about the first city that we went to and it was the city that we flew into, Bogota and we were all super tired because we were flying the whole day but we were greeted by the most amazing family ever.
It was the Anaya family and top corner the one next to Esther that Sylvia and then Amy and then the boy by Noah that's Matsi.
And these kids are honestly. One of the most amazing kids I know, They've been such an encouragement to me at such a young age, just like their fire for the Lord and their knowledge.
Sometimes they sit there and they're just like telling me about proverbs and all these books of the Bible.
I'm just like, you guys are so young and you have so much knowledge and they inspire me at such an older age than them I just get inspired with them every time I talk to them super sweet amazing family they ran with balloons and signs and everything so so cute.
Yeah, so we were with them and then we drove back. To Dewey Tama and that's just one of the fruits they're really good and I already forgot what they're called.
But that's one of them. So yeah, you can go to the next.
Slide.
Alright, so this was, so one of Qantas's biggest ministries he's doing in Columbia is actually through basketball.
So If you can see in that picture on the left, the guy on the far right. His name is Hamas, so that is, one of Juanis best friends and a guy, he's actually He's actually new to.
His faith he actually came to Christ of I think a few years ago, Bahwanis has been really pouring into him and disciples him and he's he's super on fire for the Lord and so actually Hamas is the one who leads this basketball team.
He's like their coach. And then Juan is helps on the side here and then. But yeah, their team is called Ready Meadows, which in, English translates to redeemed and then like 2.
For dose. So yeah, it's really cool. A lot of these kids, they're from Dewey Tama, which is the city that Juanis is from, it's not super big.
But yeah, it has a lot of these young kids And a lot of them actually don't believe in Christ.
A lot of them are quote unquote Catholic, but they don't really have any faith of their own.
So it was cool, super cool to talk to them, especially since a lot of them were my age in our ages as well.
So yeah. So basically every time they meet up They play basketball for around like hour, 2 h.
And then afterwards they have a time of meeting and scripture reading and just talking about You know, their lives and about Christ and what the Bible has to say.
And yeah, I was able, I had the chance to actually talk to them. I, we went to one of their practices and for a lot of these kids they really idolized basketball but sort of in an unhealthy way.
Because I myself, I love sports. I play a lot of sports. But when you get to the point of idolizing something More than God, it can get pretty rough.
So a lot of these guys, they knew I was from the walkie and they always hear about the books and like Janis and they were like freaking out they were like this guy's from Milwaukee do you know Yannis like personally I was like no I don't But yeah, it was and I was able to you know one is translated for me one of the times we met up with these kids and
I was just telling them about how Basketball, you know, is important is like probably the most important things in these kids lives, but I told them, it only can bring you so much satisfaction and you know in the game of basketball you'll always lose eventually but with God he'll never let you down and I was just encouraging them to, keep pursuing the Lord over basketball.
And even using basketball as an outlet to spread the word to other people around them. So it was super cool just to do that.
And yeah, so you could go to the next slide.
Okay, so this is the church. Juan is started in Dewitama along with Sam killings and I got to see this church actually in February of this same year and seeing the growth just from February to now December was So incredible the amount of people that have stepped up and how much bigger it just got in general.
Like, I always say that this church reminds me so much of our church, just the Columbian version.
I was sitting there on the Sunday and I was like. That guy, reminds me of Mr. Neil.
That guy reminds me of Mr. Jim. Everyone was reminding me, I was like, it felt so great to be there because it's like my family, just the Columbian version, it's just like so incredible to see it.
And their worship team has just got so much better they have so much. Youth stepping up and like their friends are inviting friends, inviting friends, so there's like new faces all the time and it's really incredible seeing all the work that God has been doing in that church and the work that Juanis has been putting in.
It's just really encouraging to see that growth there. So the picture right up on the corner, those are some of the women in the church.
The one on the corner is one of Juanas's relatives. I forgot how they're related, but they're related.
And that's Tati in the top and that's Angelica. Super sweet, amazing woman.
I got to hear the testimonies of Angelica and of course my friend Tati on the top and it's just incredible.
God's work in their life and how they have like come through so much and found Christ through the church that want to start it and I just think that's super encouraging.
And we even got to sing at their church. They asked us to sing and that was really fun to sing with my siblings.
And then this girl, Emma. I think that was one of the reasons that God actually brought us to Columbia, at least for me, Emma, she's gone through so much in her life and she was just like telling me and Esther about that how she like had walked away from the church hadn't seen her family and like over years and just was like living with her grandma living with friends and She was just like going
through a rough time when we were there and we just got to share a little bit about our own testimonies and really encourage and she encouraged us too and it was just amazing how God worked in her life.
She actually went to see her family for the first time a week ago which was super in answer to prayer for her and she's just been growing a lot which has been really amazing to see that transformation in just such a short amount of time.
So yeah, that's the church in Due, Thomas doing super well. And they always tell me to tell all of you to pray for them and all that stuff so they know about all of you guys here so it's like really cool yeah you can go to the next one
Okay, so this is the ministry in Pesca. Pesco has such like a special place in my heart for so many reasons.
So basically, Peska is a really, it's so small. It's like a really small city in the middle of the mountains.
Wanna strives like 2 h there in a terrible road and then tours back. He does this ministry every Wednesday and He started like a youth group there.
It started off being like just something they would play frisbee and then he would share kind of like the Bassel Ministry but now it's kind of turned into an actual youth group that kids come every week.
So these are some of the kids that I got to met and that was the mom of some of the kids.
And so we just did a youth group and we got to be part of and then Juan is likes to put people on the spot.
So he asked me if I could share my testimony with. All of them and he would translate and that was super special me because Columbia is a really important part of my testimony that I can share with you guys.
Real quick. So I remember this is what I told him. The first time I came to Columbia, didn't actually want to go like I hadn't been walking with the Lord and I was just like super content, super comfortable living in my life here and I just remember Juanis and like the Hartles and Esther they were just like you need to go you need to go and I was just like OK
I'll go to but it is crazy how God can literally like he took me from from my country and brought me to another country to get a hold of my life again.
And I was telling the people here, I'm like, you guys are a big part of that because I don't know, it was for me was like going out of my comfort zone and like leaving like the comfortableist the comfortable part of my life and going out of my comfort zone and doing things that I wouldn't normally do and it was like seeing Jesus's love through these people.
I don't know, it just was like really inspiring for me and then like hearing their testimonies and some of these people have gone through the craziest things.
They are walking so strong with the Lord and it's just like inspiring to see that in those people.
And I remember coming back from Columbia and just being like, wow, I just want to completely change my life and then to start walking with God when I come back from Columbia and then walking with God and then get to go back to Columbia.
Like I've just been learning so much about his grace and his faithfulness in that, grace and his faithfulness in that.
I feel like I was so undeserving so much about his grace and his faithfulness in that. I feel like I was so undeserving to go even the first time.
But yeah, God let me go twice in one year. So that's not an example of God's grace.
I don't know what is and just like seeing his faithfulness and his hand in everything and the transformation in my own life and the transformation in my own life and Noah's life and like everything and the transformation in my own life and Noah's life and even the people there's life and even the people there just like seeing him work.
So much through these trips. It's just like it's so incredible and if if you ever have a chance to like go to Columbia, go somewhere else you should totally do it just to change your perspective on things.
So I got to share with them a little bit about how Coming was such a special place and how that's where I started my walk with the Lord and a verse that I shared with them was in mark 16 I mean, Matthew, 1626.
And it was, if any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross and follow me.
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life, but if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
And what you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?
So that really is an important verse to me because I think I was hanging on so much to my life.
And then I realized, none of that stuff matters. It's so temporary. It's the only thing that matters is, Jesus and like what you do for Jesus I just was telling them I was like, listen, I've been in my comfortable life and like lived for myself, but what that what benefit is it it what benefit is it?
If you don't have Jesus, you know? So I got to share with them and that was just super, super amazing to do.
And then. Yeah, so another cool thing that happened in Peska was you can see a picture down there in the bottom, left.
So after we had met met up with all the Christian youth group there. We decided to go out into the village and it was pretty late at night so Juan has just grabbed his guitar and we just decided to just go out into the middle of this plaza.
And while we were there, so for some context, Esther got really close with one of the girls in Peska.
Her name was Tatyana, I believe Tatyama. And she's a young girl she was like 17 she's right there in the middle but she actually had been struggling with a relationship.
She was in with her boyfriend. He was very into drinking and smoking and smoking and with Tatiana she really wanted to get closer to the Lord but she felt that.
Her relationship was sort of holding her back. So believe it or not the boyfriend was actually there in the plaza we were at and he was with a bunch of other guys, they were all drinking and smoking.
And we actually invited them to come over to where we were and we started singing songs. And it was really cool to see how like receptive they were to it.
You would think like maybe they might push back, but they were actually super curious as to what we were about, like why we were there.
Stuff like that and Harness had the chance to talk to them about the gospel. The word and it was just cool to talk about.
Christ with them. Especially as people who are you know, doing some activities that not. That aren't necessarily super pleasing to God.
But yeah, that was a super cool experience and it was one of our first experience or for me of really like talking to other people like super directly and intentionally.
You go to the next one. Okay, so then we got to travel to Vijayanaliba and This was with the Anaya family and their family is so sweet.
They were actually going on their family vacation, family they haven't seen years and years and years and they invited us to come with them, which was so Columbian of them, just to their whole family reunion.
So we went with them and it ended up, of course, God uses everything for a ministry opportunity. A lot of their family were unbelievers and we got to, of course, God uses everything for a ministry opportunity.
A lot of their family were unbelievers and we got to like with Juanis and our friend Thomas came with us and we got to share the gospel I did with that one role right there is super sweet she just has traveled the world.
Seriously, and we got to just hang out with the family and sing lots of songs and get to know more people, which was really fun.
And we actually came to Columbia during the festival of lights. It's like, they light up the whole city.
The whole city was like, there were so many people. So we got to be there with their family right up there and watch some fireworks and play some games.
So that was a really fun experience just to visit a new beautiful city. So yeah, you can go to the next one.
Alright, so the next town we went to, it was actually funny because we hit up 2 towns in the span of one night.
So the first time we went to, it wasn't actually Coralis, it was Nopsa and Juanis was telling me about a young guy he had known a little bit.
His name was Jayir and he was 18, he's my age, he's a basketball player and he's from NOPSA.
And he just said that maybe we should invite him because it was a big group of us. It was around if you can see at that bottom picture it was like.
Probably 30 of us. Or maybe like 15. Yeah, yeah, not 30.
But it was a lot of us. It was a lot of people. But yeah, w so we invited, Jay, he's right there in that left picture in the middle, the tall guy, yeah.
So, so we went to pick him up from NOPSA and then we all crammed into Hwanasi's car.
There's like 15 of us in like an 8 passengers. Yeah, as well. Yeah, it was an experience for sure But yeah, so after we went to Nova, we visited on like the lights and stuff.
I got to meet, Jir's grandma who's super nice and was able to really talk to Gyre about his life.
He's another one of those guys who really like idolized basketball, so I was able to talk to him about that.
And at the beginning of the trip, he was actually I asked him about his faith and it was super like casual it was a super casual faith for him he he explained it to me that he thought of his faith as it goes in waves and he thought that his faith was currently on a low wave.
It was kind of hard to understand him in Spanish, Yeah, so he's pretty struggling with his faith and Luckily, I was able to spend a lot more time with him after this, but we went up.
To Corrales which with more lights that night and was able to see a lot of the cool areas over there and even just spending time.
These are a lot of Christian people who we went with. So it was cool to have a mix of both, especially for the people who were with us who weren't super strong in their faith to just be able to see a group of believers interact with each other.
And it's like you don't You can you can have fun with believers too. It's not just with Yeah, you can have fun any way you want.
So, so yeah, that was Coralis and you can go to the next one. So yeah, this is nope.
So this is actually where our friend Jay is from and this is actually where he stays at. Jayu's story is really, really interesting.
So he's 18, like I said before, his father's not in the picture. And his mom is actually a drug addict and The way he explained it to me was, all the garbage.
The garbageness of the drugs they put all together into one and that was the drug his mom was addicted on.
So it was really bad. Like his mom had to go to a rehabilitation center and he just told me of the horror stories that she experienced there, super abusive and when he would visit her when he was younger.
They would be super aggressive with him. And yeah, it was just. Super sad to hear this guy's story.
But yeah, so he led with his grandma and his mom in this area in Nobsa. So, that night after we had gotten back from those 2 towns, forales and Nobsa, we went back to DUI Tama for the night and we decided to invite Jayer over to sleep at Back at Hornish's place and so he could come to church with us the day the morning after and
then Later that day we went back to Nobes to drop him off and he showed us his house.
He was super hospitable even though he didn't. Have much, he was super eager to, Give us his water, his soda.
Just some snacks just to show us around. So it was really cool to see that and There's more on Jayer later, but this is kind of like the start of when he really started to I started to see some signs of him like really yearning for the Lord and his spirit was definitely awakening in him.
So. Yeah, you can go to the next one. Okay, so then, we decided to go to the city called Gambeta and this is where Hwan is decided that we would climb a mountain and go see a waterfall.
So something I've noticed about how Qantas does missions is basically what he's done is he's like has a group of like solid believers, all Christian friends and what he does is he brings unbelievers and he brings them just on regular things like climbing a mountain or like just having fun like he'll just bring them along and he's so intentional with the conversations we have and the things we
did and everything. So on this trip we got to bring Jayir and Porto. He's in the bay shirt.
So Jy is the guy that no I was just talking about and Porto is from the basketball team and both of them were not believers at this time but we just brought them along just so.
You know, just so we could show them what it was like to Yeah, Christian and Walk with the Ward.
So we went to the city and we stopped at this woman's house who made us food and stuff.
And we were just all sitting down and just having a really good conversation. That's the thing I've noticed about like Qantas's friend group and how he does it's like every conversation they have is so intentional and it's like he asks questions that really make you think so Noah will touch on this a lot in a little bit, but something that we talked a lot about is like this Sky Parts had so many questions about like
faith, like what is faith? And they were talking about it like for an hour and a half just talking about like what is faith and we got to hear the testimony of a girl named Lina.
She's really small in the picture and the purple and how she got saved and she actually got saved in kind of this type of setting, Juanis and his friends couple years ago had invited her to hang out with with them and through that Jesus reached her and she became a Christian actually through that and through that ministry that Qanas does very just like going out living life with his friends and bringing in unbelievers with.
So that's just really inspiring to see a lot of. And so basically we climbed this mountain.
It was really rough because it was so hot and it was just the altitude. But we made it up the mountain.
And we got to swim in the waterfall, the girls and then the boys were over. And that was super, super fun to do.
And just like talk and get to know these like amazing people and that's another girl I got really close to on top of the car.
That's Isa, super sweet, amazing person, really has a heart for the war. That was really just encouraging.
To be with and something that I think I learned while I was on this was a lot about what missions really is and like in my mind like going on trips like this the first time and this time in my mind I'm like, OK, I want to be a missionary.
Like, I want to do this. I, this is just like so amazing like this is what I wanna do.
And then so I was talking to Juanis and then while I was walking, I was like saying I'm like, I just don't know what I'm going to do when I come back, like, what do I do?
Like, what is, like, what do I do? Like, I want to do this. And then he was like, well, what do you think missions is?
And I was like, well, what's your doing? Like going out. And he was like, he told me something really interesting that I'll read that he told me.
About what missions actually, what, what missions actually is. And so the verse in Matthew.
28 verse 18 the great commission where it's saying therefore go and make disciples of all nations he told me something interesting about the verse so in the original text of that verse is to make, it's not to go.
So the verb to go is actually as you go. So if you read it in that lens as you go make disciples, I think that like changes so much.
As you go, it's like as you go through the journey of life. For me, it's like as, like I don't need to go necessarily like right now to somewhere else, like as I live my life right now, which is could be like if you're younger like at school like as you go make disciples pouring to people be intentional with your conversations and like live like Jesus live because like Your life, how you live is
such a big testimony, which I've been realizing. So just like living like Jesus live where you are is super important.
So it's like as you go make disciples as you go in your journey of life so like in school at work.
Wherever you go in Colombia like it's just like I think God is Jesus is telling us like to just make disciples no matter where we are.
So like we're all missionaries. That's what I'm really learning. It's like Qantas is missionary, yes, but so am I and so was Noah and so is everyone here because we're all believers of God and we're all supposed to go and like tell everyone all this amazing news so that's just something I've been learning a lot and I'm back now
and I just like. Like being bold and like going out and like telling these people all the stuff I know you know so I think just learning that for me has just been so impactful for me coming back.
Now, what am I gonna do with this? Like, okay, I'm here. I'm in the season of life.
Let's like use that and like tell the people like my friends like when I used to work at the coffee shop, like using that opportunity to speak to others or just like even being with the youth group here just like.
Going and like showing how Jesus lived through your own life like how he loved like how he forgave how he served others just like living like Jesus.
I think that's what our calling is and how we can all be missionaries. Just here. So.
That is something one of the biggest things I think I took away from this is like. We're all missionaries.
I'm a missionaries where I am here, so. That's the big thing I learned even on this trip just like walking and looking at all the mountains.
I was just like, wow, what is my purpose? And I'm like, this is my purpose.
Just a Be a missionary wherever I am. So, yep, that's what I learned from this.
And you can go to the next slide.
Yeah, so these are the last set of pictures and then I'll get into some scripture in a little bit, but So this is the part of the trip that really spoke to me a lot.
And I think to all of us. So up there are just some fun pictures of us traveling.
But, that bottom. Left corner so it was one of our last nights in columbia we were all super tired, you know.
We probably had a total of like. 4 h of sleep in the span of 4 days. So like it was it was terrible and I had I was feeling a little sick too.
I think I caught like a I drank some like bad water or something so I was not feeling good at all And we were all honestly not feeling it.
So we decided one night we're like, you know what, let's just go home and just show.
And let's, you know, just sleep. But then, so we were passing the sign. Of NOPSA from where that kid I talked about before, Jayer.
And his family. And at that point, we had already said by to them. We were leaving the next day back to Bogota to the airport to go home.
But then as we were driving, we see the sign and why is just Whips's wheel. I'm like, what are you doing?
We're all just like, we want to go home. We're tired. He was like, I think we have one more stuff we have to do before this trip is over.
So we go to this guy's house again, the, And the first time we had went to his house, it was just him at his house and he had showed us around.
And he had told us about his family, but we didn't actually see them. But this time, we shut up at their house at like, 8 pm.
We got attacked by their dogs on the way there, but. So we got, we show up to their house.
Is really late. And you know me starting an Easter, we're like. We never do this in the States like show up to somebody's house that late, like that's unheard of.
Yeah, you have to like tell them you're coming. But want us to like, it's okay.
Let's just go there and it'll be a a good testimony to him and his family. So we go to their house.
And we actually meet. The grandma, right there. And she's actually Catholic.
But the thing about her was like she was still super wise and I believe she was a believer. She was super, like, you know, knowledge about the word, but she also had a lot of questions too.
And so, you can see that huge Bible. That was like their only Bible they had at the house, but want us to just flipping through there and that I really saw the spear working through Qantas in that moment because she was just flipping the random pages.
Just telling them about the scripture and what was actually really cool is his mom was actually there. The, the former drug addict.
And Gyre's mom and him don't have the best relationship. So it was really interesting to see.
That dynamic between their family because they're not super tight-knit. They have a lot of also other family issues.
With like aunts and grandmas and stuff, some stories I won't get into but so yeah, we, we were able to share the gospel with them, which was really cool.
It even brought them to tears just like hearing. Everything that Harness was telling them. And yeah, we were just talking about what it means to like have faith and what it means to be a believer.
And it was really cool. And we were able to even, you know, talk more to Jayir that night and he shared his testimony.
And that's when I really saw Jayir like really changing and like looking for God and fun fact about Jay, he's currently, He still hangs out with One is, when we left, I think he's over there like pretty much every day.
He's with that whole group of people. So he's really on fire for the Lord and I think he's on a really good path right now.
And then real quick, something. Fun fact about Jayir, which I honestly think is like a miracle.
When we first met him, he spoke like knowing English. Like, it was really hard to communicate with him.
But by the end of the trip, he was fluent somehow. And I, I remember we got back in the car and me and Noah want us and we were like We, when did he learn English?
Like in a matter of like 2 h, he's like translating for us with another guy. And I'm just like, when did you learn English?
So I don't know where the English came from, but I was definitely God. So he was fluent now.
But he wasn't fluent when we met him, that's for sure. So yeah, so that was really cool experience with Jo.
I still try to keep in contact with him. I text him sometimes on social media, so, Then another story which is really cool.
So after we left Dewey Tama, we went to Bogota for the day. Before we left on back to America.
And we actually went to an indigenous tribes, It's like a indigenous community where like a bunch of the communities come and they do like a little festival thing.
Yeah, yeah, they were selling a bunch of stuff. Yeah, it's, it's cool name, But, so he actually grew up in the indigenous tribe.
He knew Juanish beforehand. Oh, okay. So basically, Juan is when he was like 20 I don't remember how old he was he was young so he actually went to teach English at a school in an indigenous community and he actually stayed with this guy and some of his family for I don't remember how long but they hadn't seen each other in like 7 8 like it had been a long time since they've seen
each other. So, Fanas knew he was in towns like he was like, oh, you just gotta meet, meet my friend.
So yeah, that's how basically we know him. Yeah, so when we were there, we had the chance to actually hear its testimony, which is really cool to hear.
So growing up his family, like none of his family was Christian. He was the only one Christian in his whole household.
And his data is actually super anti-Christian. And so he told us this one story of when he was really young.
He would always want to go to church and his dad didn't like that. So what what his dad would do is he would give Chicho a bunch of chores in the morning, like a ton of chores, so it would be like impossible for him to go to church.
But what was really cool to hear was Chicho instead of just taking that and being like, you know what, I'm not going to go to church.
He woke up, he would wake up at like 4 in the morning, 5 in the morning. And do all those chores and just to make it to church.
And so that was a super like really spoke to me especially. Cause I know maybe some of us on Sunday mornings we might feel a little tough getting out of bed sometimes like We wanna go to church, but we're tired, but it was just super cool to hear a guy like.
You want, he wants to have that community of believers so bad that he's willing to. You know, just wake up that early to just go to church.
And another thing about this guy is he has trouble in the past with community. And having a community of believers and I could tell it was it meant a lot to him to even be able to spend like a few hours with him that day.
Just to be surrounded by people. Who, you know, had the same belief as him. Which is really cool, which is where I want to start.
In the Bible. So one thing that I really learned was community of believers and how important it is to have that.
So the first verse I wanna read is Hebrews 10 Verse 24 to 25.
You can open there if you want.
Right. So I'll start at, verse 24. It's says. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.
Not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some. But encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day drawing here.
So in his word, God literally calls us to have community and meet together. And I didn't realize how how much how important that was to be surrounded by a group of believers that you know build each other up and encourage each other and that's what I saw in Columbia and I saw the effects of it.
And for me, for me here in the States, you know, prior to to going there. It's really hard for me to find that sense of community.
Super. Like to find a like a good sense of community. Cause I have a great community here on Sundays, but.
Even now my own school, sometimes it's hard to find that group of people even though. You know, I go to a quote unquote Christmas school and it is Christian.
But the, you know, the conversations I have there aren't necessarily. Super like purposeful.
They're super like surf surface level and I find I found it really hard to really have that community and That really affected me personally because when you don't have like a strong community of believers around you it tends to, Be like the people you hang around.
And so I found myself doing that a lot. But Pulse Columbia, I, I really, I think I.
Finding that sense of community is a really big goal of mine and I've been able to start on that I've been Having the chance to meet up for Bible studies with my siblings and some other friends.
And even Sala is helping a lot too. So yeah, that is something big for community.
And then another, section of scripture I like to read is from Psalms one you guys get turned there too.
Psalms chapter one it's a pretty well known chapter. Since it's the first chapter in Psalms, but it basically talks about the way of the righteous versus the way of the wicked.
So I'll just read the whole thing So songs one or someone says, blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seed of scoffers.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit and season. And it's leaf does not wither.
In all that he does he prospers. The wicked or not so but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
And what this chapter really spoke to me was, Is God's calling to us? On who we surround ourselves with.
Inverse in the first couple verses, it talks about Not being in the council of the wicked.
But the law, the lighting in the law of the Lord and on his log, he meditates day and night.
So meditating day and night, I saw another example of that in Columbia. We would stay up super late, whether we were with friends or just with each other and Just talk about, you know, scripture and I remember one night specifically with me, Juanis, we were talking about
Like how we were going. Like how are we going to live out. Our life when we get back to America.
And so Yeah, so going back to verse 3, it talks about yielding fruit. And so I think hanging around a group of like-minded believers truly bears fruit.
And I saw that in Colombia and I would like to use an analogy. To kind of make it make more sense.
So think of a community of believers as like a garden. So just like a garden needs the right soil.
Sunlight and nutrients to thrive. Surrounding yourself with a community of believers. Provides everything you need to First support, encouragement, and shared beliefs that help you to grow in your faith.
And obviously God is number one in that. Your relationship personal one on one. But I think another big part of that is surrounding yourself again with people who build you up, encourage you.
And who offer you support and guidance when whenever you're struggling. And that's something I really, I value now and that I really want to.
Strive to have going forward. And then one more thing that I learned besides the importance of community was intentionality.
So Serena touched on it and for a little bit, but the way that I noticed one is does his ministry is that He just lives life the way that he lives it.
He He plays basketball, he goes visit, hiking mountains. But through those activities, he's super intentional.
No, he knows when to be goofy and have fun, but He knows when to dig deep and really like be intentional with these people and ask them about their lives and really pour into them with scripture.
And so, I'd like to read another example of Intentionality in the Bible so you could turn out first Corinthians Sorry, I'm kind of jumping around, but First Corinthians 9.
Versus 9 starting in verse 19.
So first Corinthians 9 starting in 19. So the context of this passage, is Paul.
And he's in Corinth. And he is sort of, talking about how as believers, we should be willing.
Or believers who are strong in our face, we should be willing to give up our rights and our comfortabilities for the sake of those weaker in our faith.
So I'll just read this. Starting in 19, Paul says for though I am free from all, I've made myself a servant all that I might win more of them.
Did the Jews I became as a Jew in order to win Jews? To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law.
That I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law.
To the week I became weak, that I might win the week. I become all things to all people that by all means I might save some.
I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I'm like. May share with them in its blessings.
So I think that is. Verbatim of what I, I think, I'm trying to share with you all.
In this, Paul is talking about how you know, he meets people where they're at.
So for example, he to the Jews I became with you, to the people on the outside.
I went to the outside to the week. I became weak.
Finally to wrap it up in 23 it says I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I might share with them in its blessings.
So God is calling us to go out to those people and meet them where they're at. And that's what I saw in Colombia.
With with one is especially He was super intentional with what he was doing. For example, like the kids playing basketball, he met them where they were.
With basketball being like super important to them and he He, he, He didn't fall back to what he's comfortable with.
He, he went out, the same with visiting Jayu's family. He went to where they were.
He didn't wait for them or even in visiting Chicho going out to where he is.
Because he was working at that festival. It's not like he was just there for fun. He was working.
Going out to them and really pouring into them. That's something I learned was being intentional. With your conversations and what you're doing with your life.
And I think people tend to think of like when you spread the gospel, you need to.
You need to, you know. It's like such like this really hard thing that you know it's gonna take a lot out of me.
But, you know, spreading the gospel can, can come in all activities, you know?
You can do, you can just live your life the way you live and Just be as long as you're intentional with it, you know, anyone you're surround, even at school with like the young guys.
Just be intentional in your conversations or even for the older, folks, just like where you are in life work or at the grocery store or anything just being super.
Having living your life with a purpose, to, you know, spread the, spread the word.
So yeah, that's 2 things I really learned. On my trip to Columbia. So yeah, I don't know.
So, I believe we've learned, we learned a lot and We're super thankful for especially Juanis and the opportunity that he's just given me and my sillings and the opportunity that he's just given me and my sillings to go to these places and my sillings that he's just given me and my sillings to go to these places and experience these things and like see what
he's doing over there. He's just given me and my sings to go to these places and experience these things and like see what he's doing over there.
And if any of you have the ever get the opportunity to go Columbia or just any place, I would totally recommend you do it just cause it really put so much into perspective.
And so we're super thankful for Juanis and especially God for making that all possible and like his faithfulness and his love and his grace and letting all of this happen and letting me and my siblings have a chance to see this and witness it and see what it's like to live a life like Jesus did.
So yeah, we're super thankful for that. That's. Basically, we have Noah can pray and then.
Yeah, one more thing I would like to add is, before we left, Colombia, one is challenged just, That one went back to the states to really poor.
Find one person and pour it into them. So for one is that was his friend Thomas and he's been doing that for a while.
So it really inspired me and my siblings to do so. So, I actually is funny because like the day after I came back from Columbia, a friend of mine.
Who I never really really talked deep with. Like we just play video games sometimes. He like poured out to me.
It was the craziest thing like he was telling me like No, man, like I'm just like.
Like really, I'm sorry, like just broke up with his girlfriend and like he's, he's super sad.
He was like, I'm And I just want to like. I want to know more about like God and I know you just went on your trip like I want to know more I want and he was like I want to you know, learn more.
So I invited into our bio study so hopefully he can come but it's cool to just see the way the Lord worked.
In his timing with all that but yeah I'll just like to pray it closed out
Dear Lord, thank you for bringing us all here today. And I just thank you for all the work you're doing.
Everywhere around the world not just Columbia. Thank you for your continued work you're doing through Juanis thank you for the church down there and for all the believers that are.
So strong in you.
I pray that we can all find
People in our lives that we can build community with. To fully give our lives to you. At the end of the day, you're The one we want, you're the one we need.
So just thank you for giving people in our lives in the first place. Because we know a lot of people out there.
Are in the shoes of, you know. Feeling alone and not really having other people to talk to about their faith.
Maybe it's because of their governments or maybe it's because of family issues, but we just thank you for your continued.
Strength that you give to those people. I pray that we can all go out and start being more intentional with the way we talk to people.
I pray for specifically. Myself that I can do that as well. And just thank you for the work you're doing in our church as well.
Please help us to go out. In our day-to-day lives and live lives pleasing to you and realize that we can be just as much of an impact in our areas we are at now.
Than any place around the world. So we think you continued for your blessings. That you get to us and and please keep us all safe as.
We go home from this place in your name I pray in in.
Yeah, for sure.
Do we Tama or? Oh, Tatiana, yeah.
So that is a girl that we're still praying for. She came to the youth group last time we were there me and Esther in February and unfortunately she hadn't been back.
Sense so when we asked once about her he was like yeah I haven't seen her much so of Esther Texeter reached I was like, hey, I really want to see you.
Can you please come? So she knows all this stuff, but it's like. It's hard because they have so many things like coming in their direction and like they want the newest this they have all like the relationships and all that so Esther continues to reach out to her too and robbing that she continues to keep coming to the youth groups and so and stuff.
So I'm not totally sure, but she's, we're telling her and we're trying to seek to her more.
And hopefully she comes to more things. Yeah.
Oh, Puerto, Perto. Okay. You can. Okay.
So Bethel was super interesting. I actually use another guy I got pretty close with when I was there.
So, he's like super. Philosophical like his mind is crazy like I remember one question he asked He was like, what color do you think your spirit is?
So it was like super like Weird questions and So his brain was definitely, I could tell like, he really wanted to learn more and he's still going to the ministries in The basketball team.
So that's really good. I think that'll be really good for him moving forward. And he was one of those people who had a lot of questions about what faith was.
When we were in the by the waterfall, we had like an hour conversation with him about what it means.
So he's definitely like wanting to learn more and I think he's. He's on the right track, so.
Keep praying for him for sure.
Overall
Yeah, I think we have different ones. Mine was definitely Gambita, the one with the mountains that Just like seeing, like we were like on top of a mountain right by waterfall, just like looking at all the mountains by the waterfall and that was just the most beautiful thing and I got to know some of those girls that were on the trip too and hearing their testimony and how God has been working in their life.
And just like even practicing Spanish because they didn't speak English. So that was just incredible to see and I had a lot of time where I could just like.
Right, and just like talk to God just walking up that mountain and I just think that's where I like heard a lot from God and learned the most and saw this beautiful place and got to experience something like that.
So the mine was definitely that but I really like the views of what she's talking about but for me probably it was honestly Dewey Tama, where Juanis is from.
Like I got to like live life with them. And they're super cool, cool groups that will be around.
Food is great. That was another plus. But yeah, just like living life with them.
Was super, super cool and you know, sometimes here in the States, like, you can get really distracted like phones and stuff and like it's like staying in our beds and Yeah, but like there it's like constantly you're doing something.
And yeah, I, I really enjoy it. Yes.
Onus is good. He is so busy. I was just texting me other day. He's a little sick because I think from the no sleep and the go go and he actually has people from Iowa right now over there like Josiah Tuttle and some of the people in the church in Iowa, they went down there and also I was going to mention it that's another ministry he does is
bringing people from the states and going there that is such a ministry just there for for even us like the amount of people that he's brought from the states to Columbia is insane like it's really crazy but no he's good he's always on the go so just maybe for Just a calm.
If you just take a break for a little bit. But needs, I'm trying to think.
Their church does need a lot of prayer because They had like a split in their church. I didn't know he's probably shared that with people.
They split in their church and still like trying to. Figure that out and They're better, but they definitely do need still prayer and a lot of our prayer support.
I don't know, and probably just continued. For like his parents. They're, they're actually separated.
So, are not divorced. But yeah. But they're they're good. I met both of them.
They're really cool people But, yeah, and I think They're they're super.
Both of them are really good. Close to the Lord so that's really good but just for a continued like family prior for sure.
That's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this opportunity that the Kellers had to go into.
Visit with Want us and see all that is doing. Thank you for. The work that you're doing there.
Thank you that you love the people of Columbia like you love. People from every tongue and tribe and nation.
Thank you that You're active in the world to save souls and that you're using. Just regular people as they're going about their lives.
To come to know you and and have a relationship with you and and to hear of all the wonderful things that the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished.
Lord, I just pray for. All of us as we go out from here that we would take these.
Take this very seriously. Because the world is full of hurting and lost souls who need to know the good news and We just pray that we would be very dutiful.
We would Just enjoy walking with you and enjoy bringing other people along and telling them about all that you have done and so Again, just thank you for this.
This report from the Kellers and and we just pray a special blessing on them that they would
Just be a very productive in their work for you. It's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.