Colombia – Days 1 & 2 – August 2014

We made it to Colombia!

We spent the first night in Bogota, which was very modern looking and not anything like I expected. While we were there we went to Mt. Monserrate. From one direction we could see this massive mountain filled with trees showing off God’s creation, and from the other direction we could see this massive city filled with lost and broken people. It broke my heart.

From Bogota we flew to Leticia. All we could see were trees and more trees and then we would see this twisting sliver of water that was the Amazon. We literally landed in the middle of the jungle at a one room airport.

Today we took ten of the kids from La Aljaba to Monkey Island and the Amazon’s version of a petting zoo. We saw pink dolphins, monkeys, sloths, cayman, parrots, capybaras, anacondas, and a manatee. But, the best part of the day was not the exotic animals or the beautiful sight of the Amazon river, it was when 10 year old Catariña laid her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. This is the reason we came here. We didn’t come to explore a new culture or to check things off the bucket list, we came to show the love of Christ to these kids who have never known it. We are here to start building back the pieces of trust that have been torn from these kids, so that they can learn to trust the only One who will never leave them or forsake them.

I am resting in the fact that God, who made every perfect leaf on each tree out here, even though it may never be seen by anyone, has every perfect detail planned out for each kid here at La Aljaba.  Pray that each one of these children will come to know the unconditional love of the Father. Pray that God would multiply our time here and that we would be able to love on these kids and share the gospel with them despite the language barrier. Pray for ‘T’, Wes, and Jeff as they are on the Amazon doing dental work until Wednesday. Pray that there will be no sickness or delays to distract them from the work they will be doing.

Written by Samantha Burgess