Yeah, I'm… Grateful for the opportunity to grateful for the opportunity to Be here with you guys tonight and just share a little bit.
About our family experience and our trip to columbia. A couple of housekeeping things. Really, really important things to know about Columbia. First of all, Colombia is with an O and not a U.
Yes. Okay. So that's something we get wrong a lot. We put Colombia, and it's not Colombia, it's Colombia.
So second thing is this is not a poncho. This is a Ruana.
All right, so that's something else that's important. Also, no tacos in Colombia. You might not have known that, but… Sort of an ongoing joke we have with Juanis. There's like in the States, we think that everybody south of the border eats Mexican food. And not the case. We actually eat more Mexican food, I think
Here in the States than they do in Colombia. So we were in Bogota our first trip.
And we actually had Mexican food at a friend's house, at the Anaya's who a lot of you guys have met.
And we like went into Bogota, a city of 10 million people looking for tortilla chips.
And it was like a three-hour journey of like trying to hunt down tortilla chips in… in Colombia. So not a lot of Mexican food in Colombia. Other great foods.
So… Just to share some things about what time are we done? I'm afraid that like.
I'm just going to get into it and I just want to make sure I keep an eye on the time Like 7.30 or 7.15?
9.45? All right. Just start playing the music whenever you want me.
To wrap it up. I didn't like time anything or like… I have some notes, but we'll just see how it goes.
When I was a kid, I had… an aunt and uncle who traveled abroad a lot.
And so I was like tortured as a child. We'd get together as a family and we would be forced to sit Through like a four-hour slideshow. This was the old slides you older folks will remember like the slide things
And they just kept going down and picking up more decks. And you'd be like, surely this is the last one.
But no, there was always like another thing and another thing and it was boring. So I don't want to do that for you tonight. And really, I don't think there would be much benefit in that.
Really what… We would like to share tonight is just sort of the testimony of our family.
And as it relates to our trip to Columbia and The… The reasons we went and the experiences we were there.
So… I want to start with this. Now, this is not a picture from Columbia.
But it's a story I wanted to tell and just a picture of what God does What we've seen God do through the family.
I think there's this story of redemption that God's working in our lives in Christ Jesus, and we've experienced that through the institution of the family and how God's designed it.
This is a visual aid for this story. So the story is.
We have an old house, and so the drains get clogged a lot with hair. And we have a couple ladies that live there.
We got a lot of drains backs up. So our bathroom sink drain like backed up. And this was a particularly stubborn drain. Normally you can sort of jiggle the plunger and it clears it out for a little bit. This was like stopped water, nothing moving past it.
Totally stopped. And… And so normally I'll go in and take the P-trap off and get all under the sink and get all messy. And I was like.
Determined to clear it with a snake from the top of the drain. If anybody's cleared a drain, you can appreciate this.
And so I was like determined to do this. So I'm like, you kind of send the snake out and you bring it back and you send it out and you bring it back.
And there's a lot of ineffective attempts. And Zoe came in while I was doing this.
And saw what I was working with. And I'm like, Zoe When this thing clears, it's going to be amazing. You should stick around and see it. And she's like, oh, I want to see it. I'm going to call me whenever you get it.
So I'm working at it, working at it, working at it. Finally, I get it, right? And I can tell I've got it. And I'm like, Zoe, come in here. So Zoe comes running in.
And so I pull it out. Sink clears. It's very satisfying.
And then I pull out one of these monsters, which… If there were ever a physical object that were a good physical representation of what sin might look like.
The stuff that comes out of your drain would be that thing, right?
It's black. It's black like tar. Like, I don't know everything that goes down to the sink is sort of clear in Or toothpaste colored or something, but what comes back out is like black is night.
And so I like, Joe, do you have a question about clearing drains?
I can tell you it could be, but in most cases it's not. It is just whatever happens in the drain turns to black.
So Zoe comes in and she's sort of standing behind me with sort of like me to protect her from whatever might come out of the drain. And as I like pull this thing out.
And the water drains down. And Zoe just gives this like gasp. And she goes, oh.
And then she says, I'm so glad I don't have to be my husband.
And…
It's… It's a simple story. It's a simple experience.
But for me, it was such a powerful picture of the redeemed humanity that Christ is working in our lives and in our homes.
And when we look back at Genesis 3 and we see part of the curse of the fall is that a woman would desire the position of her husband and that he would rule over her.
And now I see how the family has formed a well-shaped young lady at 14 years old, and she looks at the idea of being a part of a family The idea of having a husband as a place of safety and of love and of caring
Through this sort of action.
What is clearing sink drains have to do with life in Christ or being a good dad or how God shapes the family.
I just thought that that was a really cool picture of… of what happens inside the family and the importance of of those things and how it shapes the family. So this is to sort of just shape the context of like.
Why Columbia? Why did we end up in Colombia? And what was the purpose and the impact?
For our family. So I want to read something real quick.
And… There's a challenge I see for us. It's something I recognize as a challenge I see for me.
As it relates to the family and the things we do.
In it and what guides and shapes it. So I just want to read a section here in Luke 14.
Shane brought this passage up in the Lord's Supper recently. And this is one of the parables. I want to actually… Get rid of my ruhana. Sorry, Juanas.
Like not skilled in skilled preaching in Rowana.
Poor at all apparently okay This is a… a passage that like I feel like I've read it a million times and then when Shane shared it in the Lord's Supper recently.
It was like, oh man just like… new light to this and just something that
I thought was valuable to me. And this is Jesus speaking. He said.
Gave a great banquet, invited many. And at the time of the banquet, he sent out a servant.
To say to those who I invited, come, for everything is ready.
But they all alike began to make excuses. First said to him, I have bought a field and I must go out.
And see it, please have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of and I go to examine them. Please have me excuse. Another said, I have married a wife, therefore I cannot come.
So the servant came back and reported these things to his master and then We've read this recently, so I won't go through the rest of it.
The master responds and not happy about the responses of invited guests. And I think there's probably larger context here with Israel and with the Gentiles and the kingdom and all these things. But for me, it just felt like a picture of
Modern life here in the States and just the distractions that that come our way, the things that become priorities in our lives.
And I feel convicted that there are those times that I feel as an invited guest within the kingdom of God, how much do I prioritize that in my life, in my home?
And I saw this sort of heart in me to prioritize other things.
Material things. And in this very next section, in my bible it has the the… heading of the cost of discipleship And I'll continue reading. This is Luke 14. I'll continue reading in verse 25.
It says… Now great crowds accompanied him.
And he turned and said to them, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters. And yes, even his own life.
He cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me.
Cannot be my disciple. And then he goes through these two examples of talking about counting the costs.
Counting the costs of making an action, of being his disciple.
In this case, and then he finishes in verse 33 and he says, so therefore anyone of you who does not renounce all he has that he has cannot be my disciple.
And so… These teachings, these ideas.
I would say for us are things that have deeply shaped the ethos of our family.
It's something that we regularly think about as key aspects of the life as a disciple of Jesus would involve surrender, self-denial, and sacrifice.
In Matthew 7, Jesus talks about an easy way and a hard way.
In John 16, he promises. In this world, in 2 Timothy chapter 3, Paul promises that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
So I would say as a family. It's not that we necessarily go looking for trouble.
In our lives. But it is something that is central to the way we think about our life and our family and our time.
And how we use our resources. And what we do with our time, what we do with our family. And so these are the things that took us to Columbia. So this is all kind of an intro to this experience.
I hope it's helpful to have that context. And to understand that, again, what I hope that I don't just get to share kind of A slideshow of our experience, but really what the experience means to us, why we took on the challenge of going
To another place with our family and what we see as the result working in our own hearts and in the life of our life of our family.
I would say that my takeaway is not that go do short-term submissions or something like that.
That's not hopeful, but I'm hopeful that you'll take out of this. What I'm hopeful is the kind of core of the message is do difficult things with your family. And that's something that we've learned through this experience. The reason we went to Columbia had nothing to do with setting a goal of doing
International short-term missions. The reason we ended up in Colombia is because we opened our home to domestic and foreign strangers to come and stay at our house. And it was that simple act of faithfulness with what we had, that sort of
Centrality of surrender and self-sacrifice. In our lives that brought us into contact with a Colombian who then I think it's a thing like Colombians are contagious. So you meet one and then you meet two and then you meet 10 and then 20.
And sometimes you marry them, so I don't know.
So that's sort of the context of kind of what took us there, why we went. This was our second trip there.
In 2023 for a month, and then we were there this last time for three weeks. So I want to share you a quick video. Is the sound on, do you think, Neil?
We'll see if the sound's on. It's not essential, but it's good for… This is just a quick picture of what the challenges and even I would say dangers of ministering in Colombia.
So.
Okay, so I'm just kidding. This is actually at a Christian summer camp.
In Columbia, this… Madman here is Danny Cardona, Juanis's friend.
I just, this was, we were at their youth camp for one of the churches there. And as they come in for the lunch line.
Everybody has these teams and is chanting. Their team names and things to get into the to the lunch line. When actually ministering in Columbia, it looks a little bit more like this.
So this is Sarita. With balloons around her waist, getting ready to attack some poor, innocent Colombian child as a part of.
Part of our contributions there. In Colombia. So I told my Colombian friends that just the intensity of of the camp around that lunchtime was like so intense. I'm like, if I show the people at Wauwatosa, they would think there's a full-on riot going on.
At your summer camp and when actuality It was a nice experience. So this is where we were in Columbia kind of If you aren't kind of familiar geographically with where we're at and where Juanus lives and other things. So can you see my pointer in my…
So Columbia. Central America, Mexico up there this is the Gulf of America, I think is what we're calling it now.
Bogota, Gulf of Mexico. Thank you, JoJo. Bogota's here, kind of centrally. And then Dewey Thomas here. And then here's Vija de Levis. Our trip this time was sort of… Bogota, Duetama, Bogota, Vijaleva, back to Bogota. So that's kind of
Where we were, lay of the land.
Colombia. So again, just a couple of stories that I want to share about our trip there.
And the impact and the power of doing difficult things with your family This is us all together one night for dinner. I think you'll recognize Most of these people, Sarah Mikeley, Serena's cousin is over there, and then the rest of us.
This here is Santi, Santiago, and he was a friend of… of Wannis's, and he was a friend through basketball. So he was actually a very successful basketball player in Columbia.
As a young man, played in the professional league and won the championship. And so in his early 20s.
Young guy, good looking guy, tall. And so Juanis had been ministering to him for some time, just loving him, caring about him.
Spending time with him, sharing things about Jesus whenever he had the opportunity.
And it was just this night for some reason. And I think I shared before just this experience and how significant and powerful it was.
This night we were driving around and we happened to be close to this town, Nopsa. That's near Duitama.
Where Santi lives. Juanis, it was in NOPSA, right?
Okay, so we're in Nobopsa, a small town near Doitama. And so we happened to be there. So we were close by. So Juanis called him.
And just said, hey, we're close by. Let's go grab some dinner. So he came to meet us. I think he was really, really nervous to hang out with a bunch of strangers and Americans. His English was actually really good. And so we just sat down and we just had dinner with him.
And he experienced this special thing that we get treated to on a night like tonight or every day of the week we have of fellowship that we have.
Intimacy with the Lord, intimacy with one another in Christ. And so he just got to experience this this night. And it was a powerful, overwhelming night that the Lord touched his heart.
And so I don't know if you can ever say for certain, but I believe this was the night that that he came into saving knowledge of Lord Jesus Christ.
And it was so powerful. He was like physically like overwhelmed. Like, he just kept hugging us and just saying.
Thank you. Thank you. He's like, I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say. Just like, thank you, thank you.
And then we all left and he went back and he texted Juanis. And I think I've shared this before, but he was just like.
He's like, bro, I can't, I'm shaking. He's like, I'm not even cold. And I'm like shaking.
And for us, like, and what that meant to us and to our family, and especially for our kids who grew up in a Christian household, grew up with fellowship, like grew up um all profess faith in Christ at a young age, like grew up with this intimate knowledge in their life, always of the living God, like always present with the living God.
In their home and in their life. And I think for a lot of our young people, like that's their reality too.
They've always known it, always been near to it. To encounter somebody that's experiencing it for the first time is overwhelming to see what it means to come into an encounter with the living God.
And so that was, I know it left an impact on our kids. And for them to see that, again, many of the people they're around and they're Near, you know, have this knowledge, have this knowledge reality. And so such a powerful thing of
Going to a place, going into a challenging environment and experiencing such amazing things was amazing.
Powerful story and experience for us. This is Mario's family. You guys remember Mario?
This is his sister and his brother-in-law. They raised him, so they're kind of like his parents. And then there's his mom, Glorita.
They're such a sweet family. They've just loved us so much.
And that's their… their daughter… Gabby, sorry.
And that was us having dinner one night. They're an amazing family. I don't know where they are at in their Knowledge of the Lord. So we got to spend time with him there, stayed at their house a couple nights, and, uh.
Just keep these people in your prayers. Keep Santi in your prayers as a young believer. Juanas, you should talk to him about Santiago and his kind of journey in faith.
There's other just amazing things that will blow your mind about what Jesus does in people's hearts and people's lives.
Still, what he's doing in people's lives and hearts. And so pretty amazing.
If you get a chance to talk to Juanis more about his friend Santi.
And pray for Santi. Pray for Leo and Diana and their family.
And again, don't know where they're at spiritually, but… Please pray for them.
Next sort of story in a sequence. That I'll tell you and just another story of kind of impact of of our experience there. This was an Airbnb we rented, and this is actually the picture from Airbnb. So our trip was we flew into Bogota
We stayed there at night. We went to Duitama and spent the weekend there. And then when we left.
Duatama, it was Preston's birthday. So this was the day before Preston's birthday. And we knew that this would be a hard trip and a lot of traveling and things like that.
Things that aren't necessarily like fun, you know, like. Family vacation sort of thing. So we knew it would be a hard trip. So we wanted to have a special time for Preston's birthday and recognize that. So we thought, what a great thing.
Go and rent an Airbnb close to Bogota. And just spend some family time together. So the pictures of this place were awesome.
Yeah, like a ping pong table and a pool table. It's about what a night at a Holiday Inn would, the cost of renting an Airbnb like this.
In Colombia. So it was certainly a splurge for us sort of on our on our trip, but we wanted to do that to make a special time. So we got there. First of all, it was about five miles directly up a mountainside.
Which wasn't in the notes. And we were in a friend's car and we were really worried about, as we were talking before about If it rains, that might be it. You might not be able to get back off the mountain. Or if you leave the mountain, you might not get back up it.
That's the reality of living in this kind of area. And so By the time we got up there, we were a little bit worried. And then we got in and we saw the place.
And it did not match the pictures at all. And not to… It wasn't that it wasn't just a nice place, but ultimately it was just like a place we just didn't feel comfortable. Have you ever been in a place where you just like feel really uncomfortable?
I don't like a spiritual darkness or something, but it was just some place that we didn't feel comfortable And so… So we left. We had it reserved for two nights and we just said, okay, we're going to go. And so…
We got off the mountain right away, left the place. We had no idea where we were going.
And we had no other reservation. We had no knowledge of where we might stay. It was just Let's go and get off the mountain.
And so we left and it was a moment that we had to be very clear with the kids that like.
Hey, yes, we're in a foreign country. Yes, we have no idea where we're going next. Yes, we don't technically have a place to sleep tonight.
But let's trust the Lord's going to provide something for us.
We left and we were searching for hotels. We ended up finding an Airbnb that was close by, so we connected with them and we're like.
Is it up a mountain? No. Is it available? Yes. And we're going to say, okay, we'll take it.
We ended up in this little town. It's called uh…
What was the name of that town, Juanis? No, it was Glasca.
Madison, not Madison. A little town… And… was the name of the town. And we found a place just outside of there. We hadn't eaten. We had come from Doitama. We drove all the way there. We got to this place. We ended up leaving.
So we're looking for a place to eat. And this is the day before Preston's birthday now. So this is like the night before his birthday. So we get to Gwaska.
And we're like looking for a place to eat. We see a pizza place. And at this point, we're like, kids just need food. We got to find it.
So we go into this pizza place. And there are these decorations. We were the only people in the restaurant. And there were these decorations on the wall. And it says.
Feliz Complianios, which means happy birthday for our non-Spanish speakers. It was a time for us to kind of help the kids see just how the Lord was present and where we were and what we were doing.
And we saw it as just a little mercy in our trip of uncertainties. So we found the place. We stayed in for the night. We had a nice Nice comfy night. The place was awesome.
And… We woke up the next morning and it was Preston's birthday and we had breakfast.
And so our plans had all got blown up, right? Everything that we thought we were going to spend the day at this like beautiful place and play pool and ping pong and have fun with the family. And now we were in a different place and it was like, what are we going to do?
So we asked Preston what he wanted to do for his birthday.
And he said to us, he said, I want to get baptized in Columbia.
So this is my son's baptism in Columbia. Such a cool thing to experience there.
To whatever it was about that experience that he felt motivated to make that decision then.
I don't know, but it was like I read the story of the Ethiopian eunuch when we were there.
At the water side. And it was like this urgency of like, hey, there's water. Why don't we go do it there? And so that's what it was.
Hey, there's water. Let's go do it there. And that's what we did.
Proclaimed publicly his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we celebrated that.
That day as a public testimony. The Airbnb that we ended up in there was an attendant there. And so we're in this… unknown place northeast of Bogota.
And the morning of his birthday comes up and he says, I want to get baptized in Colombia. And we said, well, we're outside of Bogota.
Once you get into Bogota, probably not a lot of rivers you want to jump in. I don't know.
Spend much time in them. So we're like, this is a perfect place. We're in this kind of rural area. We were on this little farm.
And there was a river there and there was a lake nearby. And so we were like figuring out where could this happen. And then we called our friends from Bogota to see if they could come.
Juanis and Serena and… Sarah and Hamas were coming that way. And so we're like, this would be perfect. Everybody come here.
So we're asking the attendant, there was an attendant at this house, where we could go. And so she was helping us find, and she said, well, there's a place In the river. We asked if there was a place nearby in the river that we could do this.
And of course, the conversation comes up of like, why do you need to go in the river?
And so we got to share this testimony with her. And so this is… I don't know if you can see it very well, but right next to Serena, that's Yudi. So she was the attendant.
And she wanted to come to the baptism. So she was Catholic, had a Catholic background as most people do.
In Columbia. So here's Yudi. And then here's her two kids and then another one of her kids, not her kid, but somebody else that she watches. She had an older daughter as well.
And so she had never been to a Christian baptism. She was very curious about what we did and why we did it. We came to find out that six months before her husband had died.
And so she was raising these kids on her own by herself.
On whatever income you make as doing that work. And so she got to see this testimony of what the Lord Jesus Christ does in a in people's lives and got to be a part of our fellowship for that time and
And so another time I think for us and our kids to see The Lord doing bigger things. And I think us being in a place where we have to be surrendered to him You know, I think so often here I'm like in control of my day, my schedule and where I go and what I do.
And now I was in a place where I was just like, all right, Lord, we don't have a place to sleep tonight.
And we got to see the Lord doing cool things like bearing witness about who he is to somebody that needs to know. And so… Pray for Yudi and her family. We haven't talked to her since we left.
But please pray for her. Back to Bogota.
And then a few days later, we went to Vigiliva. So this is the camp where where that video was from. So we were with the anias church, I think most of you met the Anayas when they were here.
Over the summer. Their church is named la vid At church in Bogota, they're in assembly there.
And so we went with them and their family to their camp. We knew that this was part of the experience there, so we kind of planned for it.
I'll be honest with you, the days, a couple days. Traveling and I think the pressure of that kind of experience on the kids And on the family.
Dynamic was really, really hard. And we were in a pretty rough shape at this point in the trip.
And we had like a week to go and the intensity of a summer camp ahead of us. And so the night before the camp, Sarah and I were both in pretty rough shape. We were pretty stressed out.
I was losing my patients pretty regularly with the kids and with the family.
And not being a great dad and husband always through that trip.
And… Sarah and I talked together the night before.
We're like, how are you doing? Not so great. How you doing?
Not really good. How are the kids doing? I don't think they're doing so good right now.
And so we said, OK, well. What do we do? And we said, okay, we need to rally as a family, right? And we need to pray together.
Tomorrow before we start this trip. And I was really worried about stepping into a week of of a camp experience, an environment where the language barriers, the culture barriers, the schedule of of that kind of experience. I was pretty worried about. And so we showed up at the camp.
This is the camp that Juanis grew up. Going to. So you'll see the piguanis has pictures of him as like a little kid running around this camp. So lots of stories.
And things that the Lord's been doing in this place for a long time.
So we got to the camp that morning and we took a moment and we just sort of rallied.
The kids. And we went off into a different part of the camp.
And found a place to sit. And we asked the kids, we're like, how are you doing?
And… They just started crying and they were just like, I want to go home.
And it was a moment where as parents, I mean, that's pretty hard for a dad to see your kids in that shape.
And… I think for me, I have a particular family member that puts a lot of pressure on us about what we do with our time and sees how we live our life.
And it's always kind of hard for me. And I think the idea is that going on family vacations or, you know.
A family member that's kind of critical of our choice over homeschool and things like that, like things we've really committed to as a family. And so… When you're in another country that you've just taken your family to, that's where you've said like, hey, this is how we're going to go spend our time as a family.
And you're looking at your kids and they're doing really badly.
For me as a dad, I was saying, did I do the right thing?
Was this a disservice to my family to bring them to this place?
What were the motivations? Why did we come? Was it a self-righteous thing to go and do something?
All of those things were like burdens on me in that time and at this particular moment in the trip.
But we said to the kids, we gathered them around, and they said, we're not doing so good.
And all we could say is… Us too. And that's really how we felt. We were kind of to the point where we're just like.
Yeah, I just kind of, I'm having a hard time. I just kind of want to go home.
And… All we said to the kids was like.
That's how we feel, too. The Lord's brought us here. Here's the reasons we came. These are the things that led us to come. We see the Lord's hand in this. So we're here.
So all we can pray for is the Lord's strength to get through And that the Lord would provide us peace as we go.
And so… That was our simple prayer.
And And this was the most.
Significant experience for us to get to a point like that as a family.
Where we were so challenged with what we were doing, being put in a place that was so challenging for all of us personally.
To have to take that moment and put all dependence on the Lord.
And then… to… to see what he did through that moment. So the time of the camp was probably the sweetest time for us there.
A sweet time of just feeling like we were pouring out and pouring out and pouring out, but that the Lord was providing us his peace.
It was probably the most challenging time as far as cultural language challenges. Sarah has a story that I know that she wants to share.
And so I'll have her share that part of her experience because I think it's a good picture of just how intense that was.
But it was such a sweet time of knowing the Lord's goodness.
And coming out of that, we felt like as a family, it was like.
An energizing thing for us to know that the Lord was in it, that the Lord was faithful to see him faithful in that.
To answer a prayer, like to just provide us peace in a time.
Was… was a specific treat.
That's the reason we went to do something hard as a family.
And that's the outcome that we've seen. New opportunities to experience the fullness of God's goodness that we have in Christ Jesus.
Do you want to share your camp story?
Yeah.
Can everybody hear me? Okay. There's a lot of people here.
Wow. I just wanted to piggyback what Stephen had talked about with my experience specifically at this camp. I know some people have already heard this story before. So when we were talking… to the Aniyah family.
And we… we pretty much, you know, part of our trip was the camp.
You know, we talked about volunteering and right away I was like.
I'll serve. And I'll serve in the kitchen. And that was just something that I was familiar with here and I loved it and So that was kind of the end of the conversation of like.
Okay, I'm going to serve in the kitchen. And it was kind of an assumption that like My friend Adri was going to be with me in the kitchen.
Just knowing that like, you know, we're coming from a different continent, we're volunteering at this camp.
So it's kind of an unspoken thing that I thought she was going to be there with me in the kitchen.
And… I think it was a day or two before we got to the camp and I was like.
Well, you're going to be with me in the kitchen, right? And she goes.
No? I was like… Okay. So I got really nervous. I got scared.
Didn't know what I was getting myself into necessarily. So then we… Another thing too is uh they uh pretty much volunteered us to be in a skit.
At camp. In front of these kids and I'm definitely not one to… be in front like in a play.
So that really like made me uncomfortable just naturally And then just speaking my few quick lines in Spanish.
But we did it. The kids laughed and We just made a fool of ourselves and it was just great.
So that was kind of a little bit of that experience at camp.
But back to the kitchen. So it was a three-day camp and either the husband, the Anaya family had walked me into the kitchen And again, I had no idea what to expect. I actually kind of expected it to be like our kitchen.
Where it was like young girls like Hannah and leah and And it wasn't.
For women probably in their mid-50s 60s didn't speak a lake of English.
At all. So I walked, you know, he walked me in And then said hi and then he left. And I'm just like standing there And I'm like, hola.
And it was really hard because we do know some spanish But it's a lot easier to talk to Juanis in Spanish or talk to the Inanna family in Spanish because Even if our conjugation is wrong or our vowels are off, they're like, oh, I know what you mean.
These ladies didn't. So even the Spanish that I knew. They didn't understand me.
And so that was really hard. Um and they they weren't necessarily warm to me And so… So I just, I felt… kind of like I was a burden to be in the kitchen and I wanted to help and I wanted to serve and
So the little Spanish that I really could articulate to, you know, I did and like I wanted to be there to serve so First day came and gone and then I asked.
What time to be there in the morning and they're like, you know, 6.30 in the morning And I just remember like every morning Just praying like my just just walking towards the kitchen it's just like Everything in my flesh, I did not want to do this. I did not want to be there. It was very hard.
It was one of the hardest things I've ever encountered. But like Stephen said, we knew that we were supposed to be there.
And we knew that we had to do that hard thing.
So I submitted to the fact that God put me there for that reason and I need to fulfill what he's called me to do.
So pray, pray, pray. Walk in. Hola.
And just did the same song and dance. And it was really hard. And they were not They just weren't very friendly to me. And the lead lady I would ask her how I can help, obviously, in Spanish.
And yeah, it was just, it was just, it was hard. So the second night.
Came and gone. And it was that night where I talked to Steven and I was like.
And I don't know what to do. Like, I am… I'm at my wits end. I'm completely depleted.
We're so exhausted. I want to help. I want to serve. I want to be there.
But I don't want to be a burden for them. And I understand like i understand I'm still loving them because I understand that like I'm kind of a burden there because I don't know Spanish. They don't know me. They don't know why I'm there.
So just trying to factor all of that in and like like you know bring grace into this component too So he's like, well, why don't you talk to somebody?
And we knew somebody that knew the head chef lady. So I went to him.
On night two and i was like. You know, this is what I'm up against. I don't know what to do.
You know, I want to serve. I want to help. I want to dedicate my time to this camp, but if I'm more of a burden for them, like I I will serve somewhere else, but I need to serve So he's like.
I'll talk to them, not a problem. And then came back right away and he's like, no, they want you in the kitchen. They, you know, you're a big help.
You know, see you at 630 in the morning. I was like.
Okay, sounds good. Like this is where I'm supposed to be. This is hard.
And I'm going to do it. Then the next morning came and then the next morning came And I walked in and they were so friendly to me and they had stations designated for me to do and to prep.
And… And it was just a different kind of turn of a day for me.
And so then we get done with breakfast, you know, we get done with lunch.
And she had told me, she goes, okay, you can leave.
And this was like I was eating my lunch and i was eating my lunch And I was like, no, I'm not done with my job yet. I want to go back in the kitchen and clean all these dirty kids dishes and complete my job. And she's like, okay.
You know, go. And so I went and I'm washing the dishes and The ladies are kind of… congregated by themselves and drinking their tintos and having desserts. And I'm just gladly washing the dishes because I know that's where I'm supposed to be. And I just, you know, kind of did my thing and
And then our friend had come into the kitchen And… the head chef started talking to her And then he goes to me, he's like, you know, they call me Sarita.
Like Sarita, you know, come over here and And then he's like, they want to offer you some dessert.
Do you want to sit with them and have dessert? And I was like, oh, sure. You know, it's like tasty.
They see dessert. So I go over there and sit down and And then she starts talking in Spanish I don't really know what she's talking about. And then… this gentleman had to translate for me.
And he had said, he goes. The cooks.
Are sorry that they can't speak English to you, that this has been a barrier, right? It was hard for them. It was hard for you And… But they want me to tell you that they couldn't have done it without you.
And I was kind of like Holy cow. So just… seeing the, you know, being in that hardship, being in a place like, I'm not kidding you, I did not want to be there.
I'm not going to lie. I did not want to be there. It was really hard.
But just seeing God's faithfulness through that and like sustaining me and my faithfulness and obedience to doing the hard thing he made something so hard for me so hard for me so beautiful. And I think that they… maybe had a different perspective on our family.
Why we were there. You know, maybe to check off, you know, went to a different continent. I have no idea but Just to kind of see their softening of their hearts towards me specifically i guess was just a really, really sweet moment. And I didn't ask for it. I was just going to do my job and
And, you know, say thank you. But, you know, I thank them for the opportunity that they gave me, and I'm so thankful and So yeah, that was just… just a hard moment at the camp.
Just seeing how God can he just… He brings beauty out of just a complete disaster sometimes and we're just like I can't get my heart of the sand or like, I don't know if this is ever going to have an end or, you know, why is this happening but like
He's got it under control. And now it's just a very very specific moments that I had no energy.
Left in myself to be able to sustain myself during that time.
And all I knew what to do was to call upon him and his name.
And say, Lord, your strength is way more powerful than mine. And he did it.
He did it and he redeemed the situation. I'm thankful for this hard time. I'm thankful for God's showing me these things.
Just just allowing me to just allowing me to welcome hardship.
As something so beautiful like welcome hardship like like welcoming a friendship.
So that's my story.
So I felt really bad during that time because like I was like playing gaga ball and like… Like nine square and like having fun. Like I was like camp counselor kind of thing. So I was like hanging out with kids and having a good time and like the kids are all in their groups and like
Sarah stuck in the whole kitchen the whole time. I was like… But honestly, I mean, it was a time of leaving and just feeling really It was a cup full sort of moment of just feeling the Lord's goodness.
So I… I hope these just few little stories, again… My challenge coming out of my coming out the experience for myself.
And my challenge for you is to do hard things with your family, right?
It's really the thing that stood out to us this time was… how accessible comfort is in the place that we live.
And it's a real detriment, I think, sometimes to the well-being of our families, the well-being of our spiritual life.
And so I was definitely challenged by that. Even, I mean, where we are in Colombia and this experience is far from kind of a third world country. It could have been a lot worse. We're maybe working up to the jungle experience or whatever else might be out there for us.
In its own experience for us, it was a time of really being challenged and And we see just what that's done, how it's shaped our hearts and how We were able to see the Lord revealed it in new ways. So our challenge to you guys is
To keep loving your families And do hard things with them.
And again, I don't think it's necessarily we're not necessarily endorsing short-term mission trips.
This all started with us opening our home And having visitors there and sacrificing the space in our home and our family and things for… For things we felt called to some.
Should I… Just close us in prayer. Is there anything else then?
Okay. Well, that's pretty good. Heavenly Father, just… come before you as your redeemed children. Lord, just so thankful to be called yours and that we can come before you and call you Abba Our daddy, Father in heaven, what a privilege we have to be yours.
Lord, I know sometimes I take for granted just what you've accomplished for us.
For your name's sake through your son. And to continue to teach these things to my heart that I might depend on you more fully and love you more purely, Lord. I know there's so many ways.
That I still put myself on the throne of my life, Lord, and I pray that you would Give me strength to be humble.
And… to exalt you in the things of my life. And I just pray that for all of us.
That you would continue to work this good work that you started.
In each of us to its completion, as you've promised, Lord.
That we as a family and people gathered in this place, Lord, would continue to love you and grow to know you more.
That you would work in our hearts in our relationships, in our families, in our children.
Lord, we just pray that you continue this. Good work. We're thankful, Lord.
And praise and thank you in Jesus's name. Amen.