prision ministry

As February comes to an end I realize that I am halfway through my time here and things just now seem to be getting busy. I am teaching English 3 hours a week at the Colegio Menno Americano school to the primary level. I teach levels Pre first grade to second grade. It is quite challenging as I have very energetic students. I also am continuing to work with the rest of my team to organize the school library which has become a bigger project then we anticipated. I am also contimue to go twice a week to another town called Anapoima to work with the poorer communities there.

I got involved in the prison ministry after my host dad (who is the pastor at the La Mesa Mennonite Church) came home after one of his weekly visits to the jail and mentioned that there is a North American inmate there. He then told me that this person does not speak much Spanish and would be interested in someone who spoke English to come and talk to him. So after much thought about who he was going to ask, my host dad decided to ask me. Of course I responded with a yes. So once every week ( on Thursdays) I am accompanying a group of men and women to an all mens jail. We have a time of worship and then a lesson and some time to talk individually with the inmates. During this time another women accompanies me as I share the gospel with the North American inmate in English. After some time of sharing I then pray for him. I am there for an hour and a half each Thursday. The group of people that go include a pastor from Bogota as well as some members from his church, my host dad, some people from my church and myself.

Being a female in an all mens prison is a challenge in itself. When I first entered the jail I was nervous because I had never done anything like that before. However I soon relaxed and was able to interact with the inmates. As I listened to the story of the North American inmate I realized that he knew quite alot about Christianity as he had grown up in a Catholic School. The more we talked the more he told me his story, he admitted that he needed to change his life but did not know where, when or how he was going to accomplish that change. A highlight was getting to meet him and sharing the truth in English. One of the biggest things I have learned through this is that prison inmates are not bad people but rather people who have made bad choices in life and are recieving the consequences of their actions.

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40 "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'

I have seen this passage lived in so many ways through the lives the of the Colombian people. I realized this when I was visiting Barranquilla with my host family. While there we were hosted by friends and family who so graciously opened up their homes to us. The first morning we were their we awoke to a breakfast buffet of plantains, whole fish (head, tail, eyes, fins and everything else), a meat ball like thing, yuca, cheese, freshly squeezed orange juice and bread. Then later on in the day as we went to various houses to visit we were offered something to eat or drink and sometimes both. This went on the whole 2 weeks we were their as it is part of the Latina culture. Also another example I saw of this was when a women by the name of Martha offered to host me for several nights even though she had just met me that day. She had lived in the US for awhile and using her knowledge that Americans eat vegetables and fruit she graciously offered me a lot of it which I happily accepted since I could feel myself lacking in the nutriants from vegtables ( Colombians don´t really eat vegetables) since I had not eaten anything but rice, meat, plantains and potatoes for three days prior to that. Another example is I was invited to spend the night at my host mom´s sister´s home and having not brought any extra clothes with me she lent me some of hers to sleep in.

The church in La Mesa offers a comedor (or soup kitchen) to children ages 7-14 five days a week during the school year. They serve them lunch as well as a bible lesson. Their is also a group of people who go to the local jail once a week to give a devotional and visit with the immates. My host parents have also invited many people into our home for meals and just to chat.

I really enjoy seeing this being lived out and hope to continue with this kind of hospitality throughout my own life.

Barranquilla

As I stated in my last post I have been invited to go with my host family to the city of Barranquilla which is along the Carribean coast of Colombia. So here I am sitting in my host mom's sister's apartment feeling the breeze of Barranquilla. How is Barranquilla? Well let me start by saying it is a decent sized city that is hot but has an ocean breeze. It is full of life especially now that they are in their carnaval season and the city is decorated for the carnaval as well and there are people selling anything from fruit to car parts to other odds and ends from stands along the street. There is also carts being pulled by donkeys that share the streets with cars and buses. I have also seen women walking through the streets carrying whatever they are selling on their heads (usually it is something sweet that they have made).

My host family seem to know everyone here (ok maybe not everyone but a lot of people)and it seems like everyday I am meeting someone new and seeing a new place. I finally realized today that even an extroverted person like me needs to allow for their introverted side to come out and breathe sometimes. So today when my host mom asked me if I wanted to go with them to visit someone else or stay in her sister's apartment I chose to stay behind and get caught up on sleep (as I have been going to bed at midnight or later since coming here), journaling, letter writing and other things that I have been putting off doing.

The drive here was very beautiful and it was nice to see different scenery other than mountains. We drove through areas that are as flat as Kansas and you could see far into the distance. There were areas full of palm trees where they harvested cooking oil, areas that looked very dry and you could see many cactuses, areas that were mountanous as well as rivers that we crossed. We also saw fields of banana trees as well as other fruit trees. The houses looked different as well. Most were cement with thatched roofs but we did see houses made from bamboo, dirt and a thatched roof. My host dad told me that the thatched roofs help keep the houses cool on the hot days.

We also went to the beach for a day which was alot of fun and we might be going to one called Santa Marta which I hear has the best beaches in Colombia. :)

2008

Happy New Year to all. I hope this year has started out well for everyone. The Mennonite Church here had an end of the year supper for the whole church and Amy and I baked bread for the meal. I also helped with many other preparations for that supper. I am looking forward to seeing what 2008 has in store for me. Somethings that I already know are in a week and a half my host family and I will be traveling 20 hours by car to the city of Barranquilla where my host family is originally from. (They moved to La Mesa last February). Barranquilla is a city on the Carribbean coast. We will be spending 2 weeks there with their family and friends as well as at the beach. Then when I get back school will be starting and my role as a teacher will begin. I am also going to continue to be involved in teaching sunday school, youth group and in the Anapoima project. Also I mentioned in my last blog that I have a new ministry opportunity so I guess I will explain that more. Starting in February I will be helping with the prision ministry that the Mennonite Church has here. The story behind that is that apparently there is a North American in the jail here and my host dad asked him if he would like someone to translate the preaching and share the gospel in English and the inmate said yes he would so I will be translating and sharing the gospel with him. I am really excited about that. So that is what I will be doing with the remainder of my time here. Some year long goals that I would like to see accomplished for 2008 are the things I mentioned above, then after RAD I would like to get a job and find my own apartment and live on my own again since I really enjoyed that before. Those are some goals for this year.

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...