The Refuge

Singing, laughing, giggling voices could be heard all over the community of Torices, Colombia today. Every Friday the Organization, El Refugio has children's church in both the morning and afternoon. Those that attend walk up to 25 minutes to be a part of this high energy, loving environment. Our Hosts Martin and Rosa have prayerfully thought through every detail. Serving with them is an amazing team that assists with many aspects of the day to day ministries and the services.

8:15 after a slightly crazy taxi ride our team arrived, just in time for the morning prayer time. The students from Corinth are quite amazing at jumping right into prayer with anyone! It was discussed that every kind word spoken to these children was important.

After assigning us jobs for the 2 hour program, the children began to arrive. Today's theme is

Tu eres valiente. (You are courageous) This is repeated to every child as they enter the room. They are excited to see Americans and quickly try to speak English. One little boy asked, "Do you have fay boo?" After a few moments, I realized that he was asking about face book.

9:00 and the children have arrived, the music is blaring and the service, more like a party has begun. Breakfast is rice and beans and the children devour it.

 

Rosa takes the microphone and we are off!  I am delighted by the classroom management that Rosa uses. There are clear directions about behaviour posted and reviewed. The steps to knowing Jesus are also posted. The children repeat the significance to these icons. God loves me, I am a sinner, Jesus died on the cross for my sins, I will live to serve him.

Skits, videos, dancing worship, testimonies, offering and bible reading are all apart of this time. What an amazing time of loving these Children in Jesus name. As the children leave they are reminded that tu eres valiente, porques Jesus contigo. (You are courageouse, because Jesus is with you.) I love that the theme is weaved throughout the program.

We pray for continued blessing on this ministry of love.

Tuesday

This morning, we woke up bright and early to a lovely breakfast made by Mari, our Colombian cook.  After eating delicious pancakes, we had some time to do devotions before we left.  Being so close to the ocean makes devo’s so much more peaceful.  After our morning prayer, we had a rough start because the language barrier caused some confusion with the taxi driver.  However, that was the only minor problem and from there on out, our day was FANTASTIC!

We went to paint at Cristal Rey Church.  The first blessing of the day was that the heat wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected it to be.  We were indoors, so we could feel the breeze while we painted.  Partway through the day, we headed outside to eat an excellent lunch they prepared for us which was fish and coconut rice. 

 

 We weren’t used to the scales and bones which are usually taken off in America, but thankfully, they spared us from seeing the fish’s head. In the middle of our lunch, we were taken off guard because the pastor, Jorge, had a parrot that was given a bath in the upstairs window by Jorge’s wife.  She sprayed it with water to clean it, and during the process, he fell down into the courtyard where we were eating.  He couldn’t catch himself because his wings were clipped, but Jorge picked him up and allowed us all to meet him and hold him. His name was Paco!

 

Another type of animal that we saw throughout the day, which we’ve noticed a lot, is a crazy amount of sick and malnourished dogs roaming the streets. They chill on the beach, in the middle of the road, and wherever else they feel the need to go. It breaks our hearts that we can’t do anything to help them L They’re so cute.

Around 2:00, most of the team went to a Christian school for another painting project, but some of us stayed behind and finished up at the church (Bonnie, Aubrey, and Elyssa).  Jorge and his beautiful family were so blessed by the work we got done today.  We painted the entire inside of the church in just a few hours and built great friendships with this family despite the language barrier.  Before we left, Jorge prayed for us, which was really powerful because even though we couldn’t understand his words, we could feel God’s presence.

 

Meanwhile, the team at the Christian school has accomplished painting 7 rooms so far, and we’ll be back at it tomorrow painting 4 more rooms. When we first got there, we played soccer with the children while we waited for the rooms to be ready for us to paint. We had conversations with the older teenagers who had learned in school how to speak English. It was nice to speak to people who know our language, but it was also hard to relate because their culture is so different. For example, the only time they ever play soccer is with friends; they don’t have any school sports.  Also, while painting, it was nice getting to know one another and how each of us have come to God.  Our group gets along so well; we are truly blessed to have each other! Every night we come together to debrief, talk about highs and lows and of course worship together!

-Hailey and Elyssa

Today is the day!

Today is the day! Please pray as we head to Colombia. Our plane leaves Grand Rapids around 6pm.

Want to be a part of the trip? We are asking that you pray for us daily.  Here is a prayer guide to assist you!

Colombia 2013 Prayer Guide

Our team is excited about this trip and we are praying that God will fill our hearts with love for children and open our minds to the way he wants to use each of us to share that love with people in Barranquilla! We are so honored and grateful that you have agreed to share in this opportunity with us, through your prayers and support. Please use the prayer points on this sheet as a guide and a reminder to help you pray for our team. May God deepen your own experience of His love as you pray for others!

Just as a reminder, we will be working on a variety of projects, including: constructing, painting, distributing teacher and school supplies, as well as blessing our global partners while in ministry with INNetwork in Barranquilla and El Refugio in Cartagena, Colombia.

TRIP DATES: March 29-April 7, 2013

PARTICIPANTS (17):

• Bob and Bonnie Rozema
• Hailey Houck 
• Elyssa Oostdyk
• Whitney Krieger 
• Tyler Nousen
• Kevin , Lissa Cobband Jann Cobb
• Justin Boogaart
• Mackenzie Henry
• Rachel Wrench
• Aubrey Herrema 
• Brooklyn Bruin
• Corrie Good 
• Erin and Nick Glab (in Colombia)

Friday - Saturday, March 29,30 
Pray for us as we leave Grand Rapids, make connections in Houston, Bogota & continue onward to Cartagena. Pray for strength, energy, & grace as we make each flight, arriving and settling into our guest house. Also pray for introductions we have for the week of ministry with new friends & the tour of this big South American city.
FOCUS: Safe Travel & Settling in for a week of ministry

Sunday, March 31 (Easter)
Pray for adjustment to the culture & preparation for our time seeing the City and attending church in Cartagena. We will be visiting people and setting up our projects for the week.

FOCUS: Blessing our partnerships around the world


Monday, April 1
Pray for grace and love as we spend our day traveling to Barranquilla and visiting teachers & children at Rose de Sharon Christian school. Pray that we are a blessing to this group.
FOCUS: Grace and Love

Tuesday, April 2
Pray for grace and love as we spend our 1st day painting at El Refugio. Pray that we are also a blessing to the children we get to help in the after school program. Pray also for the team devotions.
FOCUS: Cultural and Physical Adjustment

Wednesday, April 3
Pray as we bless El Refugio with another day of painting. Pray also that we are a blessing to the families of those selected to get water filters given by the Corinth Water Project.
FOCUS: Team Unity & Spiritual Growth

Thursday, April 4
Pray for grace and love as we spend another day with El Refugio. Pray for Martin & Rossy Morales who head up this work for YWAM. Pray as we travel to Cartagena and feed the homeless in the city.
FOCUS: Building relationships & Physical Endurance


Friday, April 5
Pray as we spend the last day in Cartagena visiting families at the church and school. Pray for the people on our team to have energy to do the drama and crafts for children’s church.
FOCUS: Grace and Love

Saturday-Sunday April 6-7
Pray as we leave Cartagena and travel back to the US. Pray for our team going through customs and our connections in Houston and Denver before returning to Grand Rapids. Pray also for the team to have spirit-inspired items that remind them of their time in Colombia.
FOCUS: Travel and Action Items for return home

Crossroads is going to Colombia

Our Crossroads team is going to Colombia on March 29, 2013. There are several ways that you can help us.

Pray
We will be working in conjunction with El Refugio
El Refugio is a not for profit foundation that helps the holistic development of children, adolescents and their families who live in vulnerable conditions in the city of Cartagena Colombia.

Contribute

We are in need of 

school supplies

Spanish/English dictionaries

Gifts for the children

Toothbrushes

Participate

We have 2 dinners planned as fund raisers at Big Boy in Grandville on March 19th and March 25th. Come out and support us!