Year in review

As I sit here waiting for the Saturday night youth group to start in 30 minutes I am refelcting on the past year and the dramatic difference in the journey that I have taken over the year. I definately did not think in January of 2008 that I would be in Colombia in December of 2008. I started out the year as a first semester junior at Millersville University studying Spanish. I was enjoying most of my classes and was planning on studying in Argentina the following fall. However God decided to do something drastically different in my life about mid May when I heard about RAD and started thinking about it. Then the week before I submitted my application my church did a missions Sunday which focused on Colombia. So when I got the application submitted and found out I was accepted I began to make preparations to come here. The first step was spending 2 months in intense training in Chicago where I met the other Radders and began to live in a house with 6 girls and 2 guys. THe biggest thing that God was showing me through that time in Chicago was to trust him that everything will turn out fine. He taught me that it was ok to trust him even though answers might take time. He also reaffirmed that Nanen is the guy that he has for me and has brought us closer together through this time and closer to God. While here in Colombia God has been reaffirming things that he has confirmed in Chicago as well as answer a prayer about being spiritually challenged which I was not feeling like I was being challenged spiritually. He gave me a chance to work with the prision ministry that the church in La Mesa has. More details on that to follow...

"Whatever you do for the least of these you do for me"

Last Thursday was a day where it was raining hard here in La Mesa. I was planning to go to another town to go camping overnight with some people. We were supposed to meet at the church at 2:00 to leave. I arrived at the church early while some children from the church`s soup kitchen where still there. I realized that I had forgotten something so I found and umbrella and was about to head back home to retrieve it when a girl by the name of Daniela (from the soup kitchen) stopped me and asked me where I was going and when I told her she asked me to accompany her home. Thinking that her house was on my way home I said ok. Well as it turned out when we got to my house she told me that her house was farther down. It was still raining hard and she wanted me to go with her farther. I already knew I was late and I was more focused on being time consciencous that I did not really want to go with her. But the I remembered Jesus`s words that ``whatever you do for the least of these you do for me`` so I went with her. I finally got back to the church and hour late but the leaders of the group still had not arrived. They arrived shortly after I did. I had forgotten that Colombians are not nearly as time consciencous as Americans and 2:00 often means 2:30 or 3:00 so it all worked out