The Recyclers & God's Faithfulness!

This blog post is a recap of the year on how God has been faithful in allowing me to not only serve in El Camino Academy as the 5th grade teacher but also outside of the school in a poor community near my apartment and this is the story:

A Call to Pray
It all started back in August when I would run past a community made of shacks that lie between very nice huge apartment buildings.  It's located along the bike path that I run on which is behind my apartment complex and it's only like 4 city blocks away from where I live. Every time I ran past it, God put an urge in my heart to pray for that community--that his love would shine and that His glory would fall and that He would reign in those peoples' hearts.  I would see little kids playing outside in their torn clothes and my heart would melt and be filled with compassion. So for my first semester here all I did was pray and towards the end asking the Lord of an opportunity to start a relationship with them. 

A Culture to Learn
 It was in January when I started investigating about the culture of that community.  I came to learn that it was a "recycling community" meaning it was made up of people who live off of things found on the streets and sell things that could be recycled and keep the rest of it to live off it. One of the teachers at our school has worked with this type of community before but in a different area of Bogotá so I was able to ask him about the culture.

A Call to Obey
After more time of little spurts of prayer whenever it crossed my mind, I was running one day and ran past a few of the girls that were playing with a jump rope.  I said "Hola chicas" to them and they responded "Hola!" with beautiful smiling faces.  I just kept running though.  About 1 and a half minutes later and almost arriving to my apartment complex God convicted me and I heard "Now's your chance to introduce yourself!" After second guessing and thinking it'd be weird to return  I decided I just had to trust and obey no matter how uncomfortable it was.  I returned and the girls asked me if I was from the united states and I told them yes.  At this time I still wasn't SUPER confident with my Spanish but we had a broken converstion and I got to know their names and played with them and even learned a jump rope game in Spanish!  It made my heart so filled with joy knowing that God had answered what I had been praying for for such a long time!

A Faithful Answer
A couple months went by and I would greet them and play with them sometimes when I saw them on my runs.  I then wanted to introduce myself to their parents because I didn't want to be the weirdo creepy gringa that stopped by and played with their kids.  I was praying for an opportunity to introduce myself and again more time had passed.  Finally one day another teacher and I were going to go outside and just relax, read, and worship with my mandolin.  Before we did that I asked her if we could just take a short walk down to the recycling community just to see if the kids are outside.  So I took my mandolin and we made our way down there.  One of the girls, let's call her V :), was outside of her house. We sat down and talked with her and I asked her questions about Jesus but my spanish was still too broken at that point to really do anything.  I ended up learning that she was taking in English class in her school. She went inside and got her english notebook and she was showing us what she was learning.  Then she asked about my mandolin and I played it and we sang "Eres Todopoderoso" Then I remembered that I wanted to introduce myself to her parents. I asked them if they were home and she told me her mom was.  They invited us into her house and I introduced myself and we talked a little bit too.  It was so great! Another moment where God was faithful and answered that prayer!!

A Disappointed Heart
Then it was in March when I went to the Amazon for a week and after coming back from the Amazon I didn't see them for a LOOOOOONG time.  The other teacher and I stopped by their house once and there were people there but no one I knew. They said they didn't know anyone with the names I asked for. I was really confused and it had been so long that I questioned myself if I had even remembered the right names.  After that I was thinking that maybe they had moved and that the time with the recyclers was over.  Even though they weren't there I still prayed for that community every time I ran past it.

A Renewed Hope!

This is V at the park!

Then, it was about 3 weeks ago when I ran past the community again thinking MAYBE I would see someone I knew.  I passed it and no one was there. My hope of seeing them again had left. Then a couple seconds later while I was running toward the street I saw a girl and her mom walk towards me.  They both had big smiles on their faces and I couldn't believe it but it was V and her mom! We greeted each other and talked about how we hadn't seen each other for a really long time.  I asked her how school was going and her english class. She said good but the English teacher left. I told them that I was leaving July 2 and not returning but I wanted to see them again before I left. They agreed and said they're home on the weekends.  Then I got an idea and I asked her if she'd like it if I taught her a little English before I left.  She was really excited and her mom said it was okay. She asked if we could sing the song about Jesus too. I told her of course I'll bring my mandolin and we can sing songs to Jesus!

V, her cousin a, and I at our Second Lesson!

Lesson #1 (Saturday May 25)
Three Saturdays ago I went to her house at 10 a.m. for our first lesson. We ended up going to a small park behind it with monkey bars and a slide. Her two cousins came with us. She brought her notebook and pens and we read Genesis 1 in Spanish but then I would tell her some of the words in English and she would write it down. We then played and talked and her cousin came out too and they told me about how sometimes they see a "ghost" in their house that scares them. At first I asked if they were talking about a movie and they told me "no...es real!" Of course right away my mind goes to demons and spiritual things like that. We ended up playing some more and I took out my mandolin and we sang some songs.  It was great!

Lesson #2 (Saturday June 1)
The next Saturday I went at 10 a.m. again and I taught her the alphabet. I asked her more about the "Ghost" and they told me it was more like a zombie and that the little girl has seen it's "face" I told them that Jesus is bigger than Zombies and we can pray that Jesus makes them leave.  So I prayed in Spanish and they ended up turning into a repeat after me prayer. It was super cool.  Then afterwards we sang "Eres Todopoderoso" to Jesus.  Then, we played tag again and it was time for me to leave.

Lesson #3 (Saturday June 8)

V & I with the other precious girls from the community after
playing an exhausting game of tag and singing songs to Jesus!

So this lesson wasn't really an English lesson at all.  She just wanted to talk and play.  I taught her the song "Es por Ti" that I wrote last fall. Then 5 other girls from the community came to play!! It was so great! We played tag and then they knew the song Eres todopoderoso and they wanted another one so I taught them "Es por Ti" and I asked them Es para quieeeen?!?! and they reponded Jesúuuuuuuuuuuus!!!" It was super adorable and a lot of fun.  Again my heart was so full of joy! V told me that her break from school starts this Friday which is awesome because then it's possible I could go over to their house during the afternoons these next couple weeks.  But then she told me she was going to her aunt's house and the other girls said they may or may not be there either. They asked if I was coming tomorrow (Sunday June 9) and I told them that I would try and I could at 8 in the morning since I wasn't playing in the praise band this Sunday.

These girls wanted to learn the mandolin
so I taught them a few chords :) 

Lesson #4 (Sunday June 9) 
So, I went for a run this morning and then ended up finishing it at their house since it's on the bike path I run on.  It was 7:55 and I knocked.  V was ready to go to the park! Then we went there and talked and ran because she said she likes running.  The other girls came out and we played again but I didn't stay for long since I had to get back to shower and go to church and that's where I leave you at with this story of patience and faithfulness. 

It's not only been awesome and encouraging to see and experience God's faithfulness but also learning about God's timing.  I would have loved to have started something like this last Fall. However, God knew it was my first year of teaching and that I needed to focus on that for the time being. Also, God knew my Spanish still wasn't that good until now where I can have a conversation with the girls about Jesus and pray with them! God knows best, sees the whole picture, and we just have to trust Him.

I have three weeks left in Colombia and for the last one I will be on an outreach trip with the jovenes group from my church.  So, really I only have two more weeks with the recyclers, V, and her friends.  It gets me excited knowing that I will be doing things like this on The World Race in many different countries next year and it's like God was preparing me for the "time limit" because this has only been about a month and I'll be in each country for a month.

It's possible I won't see these girls again and today may have been the last time.  I'm going to try and go back to her house a couple more times before I leave and pray that she is there when I go but if not please join me in continuing to pray for this community and that seeds were planted and trusting that God will someday to make it grow!

Your Love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Psalm 36:5