Hello from a bakery in Colombia! Since it’s been so long since I blogged, I’ll have to start in late September. The first Colombia blog should be out tomorrow!
I left off when I was about to leave Georgia for North Carolina to do a domestic mission trip. We drove to North Carolina and spent 6 days in Black Mountain. The squad’s first experience with ministry was amazing! We helped out a sister company of Adventures in Missions called Adventures Relief. They specialize in aiding those affected by natural disasters. The type of ministry work we did was mostly construction based. The first two days of ministry my team and I worked on the same house. A man named Eddie lived there, although not at that time because of the hurricane damage. For those that don’t know, about a year ago Hurricane Helene unexpectedly hit Black Mountain, North Carolina. A hurricane hasn’t been strong enough to reach that far inland and that high altitude since the 1980s. Because of the rarity of hurricanes in this region, they were rather unprepared. It shocked the region greatly. Eddie and his house were no exception. Eddie is in his mid 70s and was alone in his house when the hurricane hit. To escape the waist deep rapids flooding his home, Eddie climbed on a table. Due to his age and the shock of it all, he suffered a heart attack and landed face first in the mud. He was stuck like that for two days. How he didn’t suffocate, can only be attributed to God. It was really special to work on his house and help get his home back to normal. We did many different jobs including kitchen demo, cleaning, concrete pouring and scraping, spray foaming and scraping, etc. All of it was quite fun, especially because my team of girls is so amazing. We also got to write scripture on the doorways and studs of his house and that was probably my favorite part. I got to use scripture that God had been showing me and use that to declare peace and safety over Eddie’s house. Very impactful. I also got a chance to speak with some neighbors of Eddie’s and they told us about the destruction their home endured. Hearing testimonies from those who experienced the hurricane was very moving.
On our other ministry days we went to a different house to cut and hang fiberglass insulation. We came back to base very itchy and dirty each day. The work was still fulfilling. Our last day of ministry involved helping a food bank. We weren’t able to help a lot so we got to explore some of Black Mountain later that day. Exploring meaning going to a coffee shop of course.
After we drove the two and a half hours back to Georgia/training camp, we had debrief. It was a lot of rest time and involved chances to leave the AIM base and explore Gainesville. There was also time to debrief the previous 4-5 weeks and share what God has done. It was a very restful time and I enjoyed it a lot. We packed for Colombia and left on October 4. Please enjoy the next blog about how my first week in Colombia has been!
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