My Trip to Colombia at 20 years old-- An Unabridged Reflection

To be honest, I liked the idea of going to Colombia more than I had the desire to go. The pictures looked pretty, it was another country I could check off, serving the kids of compassion international sounded like a great opportunity, but the upcoming months prior to the trip I had so much fear. There was so much unknown... everyone knows the reputation of Colombia. I probably told 100 people that I was going to Colombia on a mission trip, and out of all those people, I maybe had five good reactions. The rest were very uneasy, and many were discouraging of the trip altogether. Having many of my own fears as well as everyone else’s on top, there was no part of me that was looking forward to the trip. I went to Puerto Rico over spring break arriving there, I had no idea this was going to be place I was staying. The living conditions were rougher than I had anticipated, and I texted a few people that night and said there was absolutely no way that I was going to Colombia. This sounds silly, but I remember lying in bed in Puerto Rico the first night, having such a hard time falling asleep, and asking God to not let me go to Colombia. I was praying in my mind for so long and still couldn’t fall asleep and eventually ended up surrendering to the Lord by saying that if it was His will for me to go to Colombia then I would be obedient to him. In that moment, I got an overwhelming sense of peace and fell asleep shortly after. And of course, this sense of peace didn’t mean that I suddenly wanted to go, but right then and there I knew that the Lord wanted me to go. All these things to say that going on this trip was an act of obedience on my part because the Lord urged me to go. I prayed almost every day prior to this trip for health, safety, and good sleep, and I am overwhelmingly grateful to say that there was not one moment during this trip that I felt unsafe, or I felt even a little sick. Every night I fell asleep within 10 minutes or less and never woke up in the middle of the night. The Lord was so kind to me the whole week and I am so thankful for this life-changing experience.  

Now I will tell you all about it... First, Bogota. 

This is by far the biggest city I have ever seen. I believe 10 million people live here. It was very crowded... had lots of traffic. One girl told me that her house in terms of distance would be about a ten-minute drive to school, but because of the traffic it takes her 1.5 hours to get to school every single morning. The city wasn’t fancy but was clean in most areas. I would say that compared to my visit to Athens last year, Bogota was a nicer city. Our tour day was very beautiful as the whole city is surrounded by mountains and has an elevation of nearly 9,000 feet. Our service day was spent at El Camino Academy which is a private school near the city. The school originally started as a school just for the children of missionaries, but now has grown so much that 90% of its student body is Colombian children. They are required to speak English all day so that made it very easy to get to know some of the students. We prepared six stations about different parts of the U.S. and the students would rotate around the stations as each one taught them something new. They told us that they have never had Americans come to their school before.  

During lunch we got to go one-on-one with a high school student and just got to talk and get to know them. I ate with a girl named SJ who is probably one of the most joyful, kind, and thoughtful high school students I have ever met. I think it is very rare to be confident in high school, but SJ was so confident in who she was. She loved it when I asked her questions about her life and was good at asking questions about mine. I asked her: what are some of the ways you have seen God work in your life? She threw her head back with the biggest smile and said: “well let me tell you!” She told me that for many years she has struggled with ADHD and anxiety. She told me how one day she was having a freak out about something going wrong in her life and ended up having a three-hour conversation with one of her teacher friends and during that time something clicked with her. She didn’t realize how much of a cultural Christian she was and how often she would just go through the motions. Ever since that moment she has been seeking God for herself and has come to love him so much. She said she rarely struggles with anxiety anymore because she has continued to lay everything at the feet of Jesus daily. She cannot wait to get baptized because Jesus has completely changed her life. Imagine how powerful it would be if more high school students came to know Jesus in this way. Chasing after him in such a selfless way. I know that people like SJ are going to change the world. The Lord has blessed her with so much wisdom. I am so thankful for our short time together.  

Later that day, I was also able to share my testimony with a group of middle school girls and had the chance to pray with them. After the school day, one of the ladies who runs the school had the chance to debrief with our group. Something she said stood out to me. She said, it is such a rare opportunity to go to another country and pour into children in your native tongue. Of course, it is important to go out and reach people who have never heard the gospel before, but being able to encourage those who already know it is just as powerful. My middle school years were some of the most shaping and I do not know who I would be today if I did not get the sound Biblical teaching that I did. It was so amazing that we could have deep conversations with these students and demonstrate that religion should not be confined to a building during the school day--It should indeed be an all-consuming flame that prompts us to share to the ends of the earth. This is what SJ has come to know. I believe that mission work should not be limited to people who have never heard the gospel—it is for everyone. We were created for community and our souls long for deep connections. I am so thankful for the time I got to spend at El Camino.  

This trip we got to experience the juxtaposition of speaking in our own native tongue as well as having to rely solely on translators for communication. After our time in Bogota, we caught a super early flight to Cartagena and worked with Compassion International (the students and staff did not speak any English). When we arrived at the school, we were welcomed by a parade of students that were SO excited to see us and touch us and hug us. Our whole group squeezed into a small room with AC with all the students and teachers and they performed dances for us. The girls demonstrated a traditional Colombian dance and then the whole group performed two dances that they said is their tool for evangelism. After the warm (very hot actually) welcome and all the dancing, the students left, and the staff gave us an introduction of what we were going to be doing for the next couple of days as well as an overview of the kind of work that Compassion International does. Something I will always remember is the joy of the ladies on staff. They manage everything—cook for the kids, teach them, shepherded them. I can easily say that they are the kindest and most joyful people I have ever met. If you asked me to define the joy of the Lord, I would show you these women.  There were many cases when they were nearly in tears simply because of our group’s presence. Each morning, they led worship with a heart posture so consumed with the Lord because they have tasted and seen the transformative power of Him. One of the ladies on staff used to be one of the sponsor children and now she is a lawyer, married, with children, and serves kids here today.  

All the children from compassion come from extreme poverty. Many of these kids have been exposed to gangs, drugs, prostitution... I asked one of the ladies what the suicide rates are like in Colombia and we found that they are less than half of what they are in the U.S. Many people in Cartagena have barely the essentials to survive and yet they are so happy and the kids at Compassion are so joyful. Perhaps we hear the Lord louder when we don’t have anything. When our only choice is to allow Him to be our daily bread we will indeed be transformed by the Holy Spirit. A lifestyle so full of surrender because Jesus is literally our only hope of surviving is one that comes with the most joy. This is the gospel. This is what Jesus does in us. Why would we need to rely on God when we have everything we could ever want right here? Of course, I am not wishing away the blessings the Lord has given me, but this is indeed something to reflect on. Rich or poor, we must come to the Lord daily from a place of need. He is the breath in our lungs, we are nothing but dust without him. 

On our last day at Compassion, the students and staff taught us the dances they performed for us on the first day. Remember, they said this was their tool for evangelism. After learning these dances, we literally went out into the streets and performed for anyone who cared to watch. A loudspeaker, a big group... I really thought this was a silly thing to do and with a group this size, we would honestly look a little cult-ish, but of course I did it anyway. After the dances we were prompted to go talk with the strangers and tell them about Jesus. I had never evangelized in such a direct way. I saw a couple of young girls, maybe middle school, watching us in the distance so a couple other girls, a translator, and I went to go talk to them. They led us to their home—which appeared to be a one, maybe two small rooms, no AC, one lightbulb, one sink, a metal slab roof, stone floors. We stayed and talked with their whole family for a while—mostly to their mother. They were in no hurry for us to leave—they explained that they never get foreigners, and it was essentially a once in a lifetime experience to see us here, even more so to be talking with us. We were able to pray with the family and invite them to go to the Compassion church service. You could tell that they were very intrigued by our presence and receptive to the things we got to say. I got to share a brief version of my testimony of losing my brother with them. Hardships can bond people. I know God worked through this interaction. Who knew some dance could lead to this? 

Another thing worth noting—to me at least, is that while we were dancing to the worship songs in the streets, many dogs began to bark around us. And perhaps we roweled them up, but just maybe they wanted to sing to the Lord too. Maybe they were thinking that finally, in this broken city, a group of people were joining their choir of praise to the Lord. All of creation will bow down to the Lord and praise his name—no one will stop Him from receiving the glory that is his. This reminds me of the story of Uzzah in 2nd Samuel when the ark of the covenant drops, and he touches it to save it from hitting the ground. He dies on the spot because he was not supposed to touch it. I heard a commentator who said that Uzzah should not have assumed that his hand was cleaner than the dirt. The dirt has done nothing but obey the Lord—when it rains, it turns to mud, and goes back to dirt as the earth dries. Creation is the Lord’s and everything in it. The animals obey the Lord too. The dogs in Colombia praise the Lord too. Everything that has breath will praise the Lord. 

There are so many more stories from my work at Compassion, and these will be memories that I treasure in my heart forever. We ended our last day of service with a time of worship, ultimately thanking the Lord for the fact that we can relate to one another because of Him and can gather in community all for the same reason—our differences don’t matter, language does not matter. They gave us gifts as we departed—the people who we came to serve gave US gifts. I still cannot get over how generous these people are. The fruit of the Spirit is plentiful at Compassion. They are living proof that the Lord sustains his people.  

Some final thoughts: Our God is sovereign. Not one thing happens that He is not in complete control of. Lay your life at his feet. Give it all up and you will begin to find it all. Your desires will be transformed. You will be made new.  

C.S. Lewis is probably my favorite author and always has something to say that completely articulates the words I wish I could. So, I will close with this: 

“We are not metaphorically but in very truth, a divine work of art, something that God is making, and therefore something with which He will not be satisfied with until it has a certain character. Here again we come up against what I have called the “intolerable compliment.” Over a sketch made idly to amuse a child, an artist may not take much trouble: he may be content to let it go even though it is not exactly what he meant it to be. But over the great picture of his life—the work which he loves, though in a different fashion, as intensely as a man loves a woman or a mother loves a child—he would take endless trouble—and would doubtless thereby give endless trouble to the picture as if were a sentient. One can imagine a sentient picture, after being rubbed and scraped and re-commenced for the tenth time, wishing that it were only a thumb-nail sketch whose making was one only a minute. In the same way it is natural for us to wish God had designed us for a less glorious and less arduous destiny; but then we are wishing not for more love but for less.” -- Lewis, The Problem of Pain 

God is shaping each of our lives—rich and poor for a glorious destiny. Oh, how lovely that it is well with our souls.