Tierra Linda Church

From Sara:

This week we are asking you to pray for the local church we will be visiting while in Colombia. It’s name is Tierra Linda, and we absolutely love this group of people! Tierra Linda is a smaller church that is very welcoming and friendly to visitors. They are doing great things in their community. One specific ministry is an outreach to a group of low-income families that live in a recycling community nearby. This ministry has gone on for the past 5 years or so, and slowly they are beginning to see results and changed lives in this community. Tierra Linda is also home to many North American missionaries that you will have the opportunity to meet on the trip. They church has faced some financial struggles in the past several years, as the neighborhood they are in is fighting to remove them from their building. Please pray for the church to continue to move forward in its ministry to those in poverty, for Pastor Santiago to be encouraged, and for the surrounding community to have a change of heart.

Yard Sale-ing!

Today we hosted a yard sale at our house and raised $72 for the trip! I'm so glad my brothers helped out by carrying tables and working the table. We didn't sell the things we thought we would, but we still made a good profit to put towards the trip. God is so good in providing money- even if it means selling things we don't find great, but that others might. Here's hoping the next sale is as good as this one, or more!

Blinking

Well, I'm back at home after my third year of college! Because I haven't found a job yet (which is frustrating beyond comprehension) I've been working on redoing the house and finding items for the yard sale next Monday. I'm hoping some of our "unwantable" items taking space in our house will be treasures for others so I can raise some money for the trip. :)

My Mom, brother, and sister have ben really helpful in finding things to sell and I'm really thankful they are being generous to donate and help clean up. (Let me tell you, it is not easy for teenagers to "give" away things without compensation!)

In the past few years Z has become a really awesome person to hang out with. I actually like hanging out with my brother-imagine that! We were talking about summer goals- 1) get fit (courtesy in part of the Wii) 2) clean and redo the house 3) become world travelers (he's going to Guatemala!)

Through my fundraising and talking to people about the trip, I've come across a lot of worry and criticism about going to Colombia in regards to the drug wars. The truth is that I wouldn't go if  didn't feel safe, but if God called me so strongly to go, I would. God commands us to go to the ends of the world and share His love, and when we accept the call to serve Him our lives are offered as a total  sacrifice. If our lives in America are a sacrifice why stay comfortable? Life is as short as a blink, and the tornado in Oklahoma is a reminder of that. The first picture I saw was of a school where children were being rescued. That could have easily been me and my students! Praise God for survival!

I want to fall in love with Colombia the way I have fallen in love with Romania. God has give me  a heart for orphans and as I become stronger in my faith, why not be open to new and exciting opportunities to share and grow my faith?