Formando Vidas en Bogota, Colombia

6/12/09

I can’t believe that its already been almost 9 months since I left for Costa Rica. Its seems like a lifetime and yet so short of a time. The school is almost two-thirds of the way over and I am already sad to think of life without my students. So sad, they have become a part of me and my family here. Its also sad to think of leaving Colombia. We have all 5 gotten attached to the kids and families and ministry here. It is such an amazing ministry. I can’t truly express how important, vital and relevant this ministry is. I continuoulsy am overwhelmed by the dedication and work and love it took/takes to have built this ministry some 20+ years ago. The ministry’s website is:
http://www.ywamconnect.com/sites/streetkids/HOMEPAGE
for those of you who are interested. There are so many testimonies here of how with God’s help lives are being restored. So many children/adults here who are now stable and loving individuals who possess the same compassion to reach out to others who are/were in their same situations in life before God rescued them from the injustice and poverty that was placed upon them. My students are very sad to leave the community and the children and what they are working in. However we are getting excited to see what God is going to be using us to do in Costa Rica for the rest of the internship.

I am amazed personally how much I have learned and grown this year i.e. in my time here. Everyday I learn something new about raising kids, loving unconditionally, stretching my patience and learning about myself and how God views me and others around me. Looking back I see how I thought so differently about so many things tand hat my view and thoughts have changed. Before I came to Bogota I never imagined I would love the work as much as I do or the culutre, country. I also assumed I would desire to be with the little babies in the ministry or work directly on the streets. To my surprise the areas of work that I have commited to here because of how I feel drawn to is with little kids in the drop in center and also talking and playing cards and sports with the older teenagers/ young adults here in the city. Its crazy, I never felt those were areas I had anything to give to. I will tell more in a future update about the kids in the drop in center and show pics. My heart is there. I am definitely praying about coming back. Please pray with me.

Please pray for 2 of my students who left yesterday for a medical clinic. They traveled all day by bus to Medellin, the border of Panama and will continue by plane. They were excited but also nervous about going to more remote parts of Colombia. Please pray for their safetey, protection and health and that their time there is a blessing to all around. I wish I could have gone. They text messaged that they are good and arrived safely thus far. Pray also for our last 10 days here that we complete what God has given us to accomplish in this time and that the transition for us leaving will go smoothly with the kids and us. Its an attachment we are already concerned about. Pray for doors to open and the organizational part of the next stage of inernship in Jaco, Costa Rica.

Love and Blessings.

Rachel