Give me Your love for humanity!

Next Destination: India!

2010-11-25T18:02:00.000-08:00

Dear friends and family,

Recently I have been convicted by Romans 10:13-15.” For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’”

God has graciously given me salvation and I want to join in furthering His kingdom!

I have worked for Crossings Ministries for 2 summers now, and have spent this semester working for them as well. Crossings is a Christian camp in Kentucky for students in middle school and high school. During this summer, close to 8,000 students spent a week with Crossings and heard God’s truth through camp pastors, bible study leaders, their own youth leaders, and God’s Word.

Crossings also challenged students every week to give money to support missions, specifically a ministry in India. I spent the summer watching students give sacrificially and prayed with churches before they turned in their donations. I now have the amazing opportunity to serve with the ministry Crossings is supporting!

I will be in India from January until May 2011 seeking to help share the Gospel with families. I will be going with another girl my age and we will be joining full time missionaries. There are 2 different ministries we will be working with. One is a local slum ministry that is helping to share the Gospel. They do this primarily through a feeding program that serves over 200 children daily! It also offers a safe place for kids to come after they get out of school. We will be working with hopes of entering into a deeper mentoring relationship with the kids we feed and on improving their conversational English. The best opportunity for these kids to leave the slum is to have an adequate education and to learn English.

The other ministry we will be visiting is a home for girls. In India the main religion is Hinduism. Part of this religion is that they believe when they die, they are born again into another body. So death does not hold much permanence for them. If a couple gives birth to a baby girl, they are responsible to be able to pay for her wedding and dowry, a wedding gift. If they are not capable of doing so they and their daughter will be publicly shamed. So it is not uncommon for a couple to decide to kill their baby girl rather than face public shame. The ministry I will serve with is called Sandra’s home. This home takes in baby girls as an option for couples who can’t afford their baby or want to avoid public shame. The home has somewhere around 14 children right now!

I would love to have as many people as possible join me as I begin this new journey. I would ask for prayer for the boldness of my team and I to preach the Good News any chance we get. I ask for prayer for the hearts of the people of India, that they would hear truth and believe it so they may be united with their Savior. Pray that they would turn from their idols and worship the one true God. Financially you can also support me. I need to raise $2900 in order to go. If you are interested in giving, I have several options for you. You can go to my Paypal account and send money to my email, alfletch@ameritech.net. You can also send a check made out to Allison Fletcher to the address

3N 124 Churchill Ct

West Chicago, IL

I will be keeping this blog while I am there -allisonfletcher.blogspot.com . I will post pictures, stories, and updates on what is going on in India once I get there. Here are some videos to watch now!

http://vimeo.com/15276970

http://vimeo.com/15277184

Like I said, I would love to share this experience with as many people as possible so if there is another way you would like me to communicate to you updates, just let me know.

God bless you!,

Allison Fletcher

My Week As A Tour Guide

2009-04-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

So Stefaney came in from Canada to see Colombia and what kind of ministry opportunities there are here. We had never met before, but soon became good friends as well as roomies at the Afanador house. Stef is a friend of Rodrigo´s and is in the same outdoor adventure course as he is. Next year she will be working with a missions agency and knowing more of the world is a definite benefit for her upcoming job. She has a beautiful heart for the Lord and I loved every minute we got to spend with one another.
So I got to revisit all the different ministries I had been to, and it was amazing. I love watching how God motivates different families to move in different directions, all working towards expanding His Kingdom. It is beautiful. So let me give you a run down of our week:

MONDAY

We went with Stan Owens-Hughes, who works with indigenous people. Stan has worked in latin america as a missionary for over 20 years. His wife is a missionary child from Africa and they have 3 children who attend El Camino Academy with Viviana. Stan has mastered how to speak about the Bible and who God is, completely by story telling. These people have grown up hearing stories from their parents and grandparents, and it is the way they will most likely open their hearts to the Gospel. It is incredible. Well Stan also, along with his stories, gives English classes for free. We went with Stan to 2 different houses where 10 kids would meet for his class and stories. The first house we went to was tiny, with a cement floor. We barely fit inside with the 10 kids all squished onto 2 benches. There was just one main room which connected to a closet sized kitchen area. There was also an upstairs where I would assume there would be a room or two for sleeping. We were greeted by an older woman who was all smiles. She kissed us and began to make something on the stove. Stan went door to door to invite the kids, and they started filtering in, all very aware that Stefaney and I were the newcomers. They each brought a notebook and pen. A girl about my age came down the stairs holding a her daughter who was around the age of 2. The older woman who had greeted us was the grandomother. For this class Stef and I taught the kids a song in English: Hallelu hallelu hallelu hallelujah Praise ye the Lord! Each of the kids wrote it down in their notebook and we made it into a game, each side saying a different part and jumping up when they sang. It was alot of fun. Then the grandmother served us hot chocolate that was made with water and not milk because milk was a luxury they didnt have. Its funny how someone who has so little gives so much. It is convicting. It makes me realize how much I am blessed with and how much more I could be... should be giving.

The next house we went to was much bigger, still with cement floors. It was bigger because the family buisness was making tomales and they used their house as a kind of factory. The whole house smelled of tomales at all times. This house no kids showed up, but we sat and talked with some of the adults of the family. They served us a tomale with coffee and milk while we visited. We also gave the adults a bit of an English class, they would try to form a question to ask us about ourselves and we would answer. We also asked some questions to them. One of the girls, who looked around my age, was going to college which was a huge accomplishment for the family. However, she was finding it hard because her classes were in the evening and someone had to pick her up after class because it was too dangerous to walk alone. See this town, Uzme, is on the southern outskirts of Bogota. This means that if the farc wanted to take you, it would be no problem- you´´re so close to the mountains already, you would just disappear. He told us of a time when Stan´s wife and children came to visit them for a dinner at their house. They put one of the men in their family out to watch the mountains, in case the farc had heard they were there and wanted to kidnap the missionary family. Stan explained it was a real danger for north americans to be on the southern outskirts because almost everyone knows someone who knows someone who could make you disappear. Stan varies his visits so that no one can expect him at a certain time every week.

Stan´s ministry really requires patience and personal relationships with these people. It is great to see how God is using him to change hearts through story telling.

TUESDAY

On our second day, we visited Fritz and Gerd Hammershaw´s teen pregnancy home. I have been here 4 or 5 times to volunteer, and it was great seeing everyone again. It is so well run that voluteers really arent a necessity, but I like hearing how things are going. This time they only had 6 girls, all who were pregnant and ranging from 14- 17 years old. This is a home for girls who really have no other option. Either their parents have kicked them out or they cant afford a baby or they are too scared to know what to do. This home takes them in, gives them a bed, access to a nurse, and food. They are taught how to cook, clean, and really how to live like they are responsible for another life. It is an incredible ministry. The Hammershaw´s are origionally from Denmark, which has about half the population of Bogota alone. They have 4 children who all attend El Camino Academy. They lived a comfortable life in Denmark when they felt called to Bogota. Without ever having seen South America, they picked up their family and followed where God lead. They have had the teen pregancy house for around 15 years now and still keep in touch with girls who are now mothers out on their own. It was fun just hearing Gerd talk about her passions for these girls.
Then in the afternoon Stefaney and I met with a friend and went to Monzarate. We took the cable car up, and looked out over the whole city. It was raining but beautiful. There is a church there, and we went inside. There is a room filled with plaques that have miracles written on them, answers to prayer from God. It is beautiful.

There is a church there and we went inside. There is a room filled with plaques that have miracles written on them. From people around the country, answers to prayer are written so that the world may see. It is beautiful. Whenever I look out over the city the song ¨God of This City¨by Chris Tomlin runs through my head:

You´re the God of this city, You´re the King of these people, You´re the Lord of this nation, You are. You´re the light in this darkness, You´re the hope to the hopeless, You´re the peace to the restless, You are. Ther is no one like our God, there is no one like our God...greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city!

WEDNESDAY

We spent our third day at El Camino Academy. I love ECA, and I´m trying to put it into words and I just dont know if I can. A big part of it is the discipleship atmosphere. It is not just a place that is labelled as a Christian school but a place where kids are truly seeking to know Christ more. Teachers are putting so much into the lives of the students. It is a place where the kids are challeged and pushed to do something about the faith they have. Stefaney was able to take a tour and even talked about what a year here as a teacher would look like. I would love to teach at ECA after college!

THURSDAY

Back to Egypto again. I go with the youth pastor of our church, Elias. He works so well with the kids! He gives a short bibleAs I have said many times this is one of my favortie places to go. I have been there pretty consistantly and I feel I have a relationship with most of the kids there. I can walk in and they coming running to hug me calling me al-lee-son! They are just so precious. I love loving them. Just giving hugs, having tickling fights, sitting on my lap, holding their hands... they just want to be kids and to be loved. It was fun making up new games to play with Stefaney, we played london bridges falling down for awhile, and took turns swinging the kids. There was also a YWAM team there from the States so we went up and visited some of the kids houses. These houses looked as if they were barely standing, using curtains as a front door. I´ve been to their houses more than once, but it impacts me everytime. For the amount of joy these kids have, I guess it shocks me to see what home life is for them. They go to school and study and come home and do their homework on a dirt floor. The day care is a place where they can be kids, where at home they are expected to do adult chores and take care of siblings. I love watching the smiles on their faces.

FRIDAY

Our last ministry day we went to a parapalegic ministry with Roger Sever.

ECA Spring Retreat 09

2009-03-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

liver, coca-cola, sardine, tuna, intestines, milk, and ground beef shake anyone??

So the first buisness that I got right down to was going on ECA´s high school retreat!! The theme of the trip, as planned by Viviana, was Fear Factor. As you might imagine, the games weren´t exactly clean...

So I arrived at the Retreat location, Tobia, early with the planning committee. On the way there, on a public bus, we started discussing some of Antho´s fears. He mistakeningly told us his biggest fear was, of all things, spiders. Vivi couldn´t help herself. She started asking him ¨what if¨ questions that ultimately resulted in a very panicked Antho. Of course it was all in good fun.

Well I´ll just give you an overview of the weekend. Antho and Nathan were INCREDIBLE retreat speakers. The games were absolutely revolting. The fellowship was inspiring. The weather was hot. And the white water rafting was refreshing.

I think what I loved about Nathan and Antho apeaking side by side was the diversity between the two. I never felt overwhelmed by either style of teaching and they complimented each other very well. Nathan would speak emotionally and passionately and tug at your heart strings. Antho would start with a joke and speak rationally and make you think about how to apply what he was saying to your life daily. Neither was more important than the other, nor tried to be. I loved when they spoke about waiting for God´s best. I think there are times when I have settled for the good because it is here now and I didn´t see why I should pass it up. What I realized is that there has always been a deeper motive for why I have settled in certain areas of my life. I let lies seep into my heart. Lies that say I don´t deserve any better, or a hidden uncertainty on whether or not I truly believe God has a perfect plan for my life. I feel that in the past I have acted out in desperation, instead of waiting on His timing. All in all, I looked forward to session times to hear what truths they would reveal about the God we love.

Now, on to the games! I´m not sure how to segway into such a disgusting topic so here I go. Each team had 3 players. The first game involved one person being blind folded, one person could talk, and one person held open a plastic bag. The blind folded person had to use their hands to dig through a bucket of noodles and intestines, and the mouth had to tell them when they were touching a green noodle so they could put in in the bag. Needless to say I voted myself NOT to be the blindfolded intestine toucher. Now I was lucky enough that my team got out in the first round. HOWEVER Antho´s team lost a player, so I was dragged into the game again. The next round we had to drink curdled milk. Yes, you read me right. Curdled milk. You are probably wondering, wouldnt everyone get sick from that? Well apparently that didn´t matter to Vivi. So each team had a cup of milk with lemon squeezed into it so that it curdled and each person on the team had to drink and cup. The last teams to finish were out. Unfortunately my team moved on to the next round. The next round included taking raw meat and feeding it through your shirt and then yoour shorts and passing it to the next player. Now I can´t even cook raw meat, much less put it through my clothing. Thankfully this time my time lost. No more messy games!! The levels just got worse and worse until in the final round the teams had to drink a shake. But not just any shake, mind you. A shake with milk, coca-cola, intestines, liver, ground beef, tuna, and sardines. The smell itself could make you sick to your stomach. This is where the messy games basically ended. Finally.

Besides messy games, we just spent time enjoying each other. We went on a beautiful waterfall hike and went white water rafting, just enjoying the time we had together. There was one night that in the middle of the session the power went out because of a huge thunderstorm that had rolled in. Instead of cancelling the night and heading to bed, we took up a worship time. The rain was falling and it was pitch black, except for the occasional lightening, but we poured out our hearts to God. During worship, I stepped out from under cover, into the rain. As the rain beat down on me I marvelled at His power in the storm. The lightening would flash and for just a moment, the sky would light up for a split second and I could see for miles. Then the world would plunge into darkness once again. It was a time of genuine worship, rejoicing for His blessings, and crying out for His touch.

Then there were the pool games. Pool games in their origional context should be fun and light hearted, just something intersting to do to pass the time. And they started out that way. Yet as the week progressed, competitions began to arise. One afternoon, it became guys against girls in making human towers. It began light hearted but turned into a full out race. Finally, Antho calls out a challenge. He gives an ultimadum. The race is to see who can stack 3 people high first, guys or girls. He declares that if the girls lose, that Allison (thats me!) must drink one of the fear factor shakes if the girls lose. I don´t know how or why this dare became about me, but I accepted the challenge on 2 conditions. One was that if the guys lost, Antho had to drink the shake. The other was that the 3 people all had to be standing on top of one another. Antho accepted and the races began. What the guys didn´t realize was that the girls had already stacked 3 high standing, and they had never even attempted. Still, I was nervous. We had a few judges for fairness, and the intensity was high. I did NOT want to drink that shake. Both teams were doing well, and the judges were making sure both teams played fair. At last, the girls stacked their 3 high, and the guys were defeated. They tried for awhile to convince us of a rematch, but the damage was done. Antho was drinking the shake. So Antho was made to drink the liver, sardine, milk, intestines, ground beef, tuna shake. Really he just barely tasted it, not even swallowing 5 full sips. It was satisfying, though, knowing that I didn´t have to go near it. Nathan was also fully amused by the situation Antho had gotten himself into.

The last thing we did was go on a zipline. But not just any zipline. It rose 600 meters high!!! This zipline went from one mountain, over a valeey, and connected to another mountain. It was insane. The reason we were able to go on the zipline was because we didn´t fit into the vans that were supposed to take us home. So Viviana, Nathan, Antho, some teachers from ECA, and I all decided to go on this zipline before we caught another bus back to Bogota. It was incredible!!

It was a great retreat. It is so good to be back in Colombia. God has taught me so much while being here, away from home and out on the mission field. I have experienced rough patches while here, but God has never left me. He continues to build on my character and continues to mold me into His beautiful creation. I enjoyed this weekend of relaxation, and cheerfully welcome the work that is to come. God is good!

Back to Colombia!!!!!

2009-03-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

So... I am back in Colombia!!

I left quickly and I wasn´t able to tell many of you much details about why I´m back.
So I was home for about a month and a half, working. I also was a jr high leader and attended the college age bible study. I actually didn´t plan on coming back, at least not this soon.
So it all started when I found out that Nathan and Antho were going down. It reminded how much I missed Colombia and wished I could go back. So I started making some phone calls to see how possible it was, and looked online for plane ticket prices. I thought about it, prayed about it, and it was actually a hard decision. I just got back home and started getting used to my schedule and friends and family. I was comfortable. But where was it ever written that we should strive for comfort? I took this year off to explore missions, and I love doing it! So why not continue? If I go to school next year, who knows when I will get an opportunity like this again. But I still struggled with what decision was ¨right¨. I knew that I wanted to go, but I felt I had some unspoked responsibility to continue working and saving money.

Then I came across a verse as I was reading Matthew: ¨No one who leaves is home or his mother or father or brother or sister or his fields, for Me and the Gospel, will fail to recieve a hundred times that in this age and in the age to come¨ Matthew 10:29
This verse cut the last thread that was holding me back.

So I am here, in Colombia, again. These first few weeks I am devoted to studying Spanish. I am set on being able to communicate properly! Then I will be working with a day care program that Fundacion Internacional Maranata is starting. I will teach English and possibly music or art. I don´t have a whole lot of details but I will let you know more as I find them out!
Thank you to anyone who is wanting to support me, but since I worked while I was home I am tight on money, but financially pretty stable.

I ask that if you were thinking supporting me financially to keep it for another time. I´m sure there are more missions trips in my future. I do, however, ask for your continual prayer support. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

Identity: Daughter of Christ

2009-01-06T11:19:00.000-08:00

So I have been putting off writing this next blog for a couple days now.... because it is difficult for me to make myself this vulnerable. However, what I have been struggling with lately is something that I feel is part of being a missionary and I feel that the people supporting me should know what i am dealing with.

These past couple weeks have been extremely hard.
There. I said it.

I´ve been really lonely. Not because I don´t have people here that care about me, because I do. Viv has become like a sister to me and we can talk to each other about anything. I´ve made so many new friendships that I thank God for... but...

Christmas is a time that a person spends with their family, their friends. And while I am spending time with family and friends, it feels like I´m an intruder. Almost like I am invading into someone else´s life. But let me make something very clear before I move on- it isn´t because of anyone here or not feeling welcome.

It is because I´m not in a place that is familiar to me. I can´t run up and jump on my sisters or wrestle around with my brothers or hug my parents. It is almost a severe case of being homesick.

It has become so severe, however, that I am questioning who I am. I know who I used to be, but who am I now?

It was easy to reach out and love people back home because I had my support system close to me. My family, my church, my friends. I feel like I´ve been thrown into a whole other world now. The last couple weeks I´ve let myself curl into this insecure shell, and I don´t know myself.

The Allison I used to know wasn´t scared or insecure, she reached out to others without any hesitation, she was a leader, she was strong.

Lately... I don´t know where she went.
And I´ve been avoiding admitting this because I put the weight of the whole world on my shoulders. I told myself I had to be stronger because people back home were depending on me. I had to be the perfect example, there was no room to stumble. I HAD to know who I was. The truth is that I don´t know right now.

So I started praying, asking God who I am. His response has been simple:

YOU ARE MINE.

I hear it over and over again.

YOU ARE MINE... AND MINE ALONE.

He has taken me away from everything I know and put me in place where it is difficult for me to speak the language and is hard to be independent, all so He could tell me I am His? I already knew that.
But I knew it in my mind and not in my heart. He has stripped me until I have nothing left, so that I may find my identity in Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.
I have nothing else to fall back on.

I feel like He brought me to this cliff to jump off of into the water below. I´ve jumped off cliffs with Him before, but there were always harnesses and lifejackets and lifeguards making sure everything is safe.
This time He brought me to the cliff alone, no ropes, no lifejackets.... just me and Him. And He tells me to jump off. So I did, I took my leap to Colombia. But then halfway through the jump my mind started panicking, saying that it wasn´t safe, that I maybe I should´ve waited, that I´m not equipped to do such a jump.
So my prayer now is that God will quiet my heart.
That He will give me peace and my identity will be found in Him and Him alone.
He told me to jump. He wants me here, this I am sure of.
When things around me aren´t secure, He always is. Theses are some lyrics from the group Barlow Girl:
¨I cried out with no reply
And I can´t feel you by my side
So I´ll hold tight to what I know
You´re here and I´m never alone¨

It is time for me to stop pretending I can do anything on my own. I can´t.
Thankfully He can do all things.
Please keep me in your prayers as I find my identity in Christ.

¨Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.¨ Hebrews 12:1-3

This verse has become really important to me. It says to consider Him who endured, so that we don´t become weary.
It has been hard for me lately, yes. But He went through so much more than I ever will. And how to I expect to run this race with the weight of the world on my shoulders? He says to throw it off, it is not needed.
We need to fix our eyes on Jesus, not on the saftey nets we try to keep beside us. He is our focus, and we need to run to Him with perseverance.
I was born with a purpose in mind, and the race has been marked out for me. My path is different than your path, but we both are running this race. May our focus, our Savior, spur us on.

Casa Buena

2009-01-03T10:39:00.000-08:00

They dared me to go down the pole so, of course, I did.

So Casa Buena has been the main ministry i have been consistantly involved in.
I have grown to really love these kids. It is a day care for kids that normally would be left alone all day while their parents work. Casa Buena is a place where they can do homework, play games, and have fun in a safe environment. I strongly believe that Casa Buena is changing these kids lives for the better. They also are told Bible stories and encouraged to strive for a life of excellence rather than lives of compromise. These kids are so full of life and love and I pray that their joy would never be taken from them. Because of the poor neighborhood they live in, the realities of life hit them hard. I pray that they are learning to trust God with their lives turning everything over to Him. They are precious children of God and have the possibility of changing their entire neighborhood.

This is the kids Christmas party. We took them to this ranch owned by a family at ECA and they spent the day playing on the HUGE playground, playing soccer, picking flowers, and going down the zipline.

The kids were all given Christmas presents. Our church had lots of different people all pick one child to get a gift so all the cildren would have presents. They started handing out gifts and all kids kids applauded for each one given and awaited for their own. The smiles on their faces from just a simple gift was heart warming.

The girls picked flowers and we wore them in our hair

This a woman that works with the kids full time and cooks all their meals. She has 2 boys in the program and loves all the kids as if they were her own

I tend to be used as a human jungle gym, but I dont mind

This is a little girl who had lice really badly, so her mom had to shave her head. She sometimes gets teased by the other kids and usually wears a hat to hide it.

The kids LOVED the zipline, they had never done anything like it! it was so fun to watch them get nervous and excited!

Ciudad Bolivar

2009-01-01T12:11:00.000-08:00

Cuidad Bolivar is about an hour out of Bogota. A church has started ministries in this poor neighborhood to share Christ through child care. I went with a group from ECA who has been partnering with them consistantly.

The kids were all given presents for Christmas and fed.

There were also clowns to enyertain the kids who also shared about Christ and taught christian songs to the kids.

What I find most consistantly when working with kids is they just want to be noticed. To be told they are special. To be loved.

My biggest prayer is that I can be an accurate representation of Christ´s love. That they would thirst after Him and not the world. That they can follow Him from a young age being completely satisfied in Him.

We played several group games where I had to follow along trying to pick out intructions from the spanish.

This is a puppy the kids tried to give to me because it is a stray. It was so hard not to take him with me!!

A different kind of Christmas

2009-01-01T11:28:00.000-08:00

So I have to say that is was extremely weird for me to be looking at Christmas lights with no snow. We went around Bogota looking at different Christmas decorations, and I quickly found out that Colombia really outdoes itself with lights. They were gorgeous!

So one of things I did around Christmas was help with a dinner for the parents of the kids I work with at Casa buena. It was a dinner to bless the families and share Christ´s love with them. The Christmas back home. I said singing silent night with candles. He quickly learned how to play silent night on the guitar and I sang it to the parents in English with lights off candles lit. It took everything in me not to cry. I was able to share with these poor families a peice of who I was, a peice of my home.

This is what Christmas shopping in el centro looks like. TONS of people and TONS of things to buy. I was truly amazed that I found anything is this mess!

So we spent Christmas with the Afandor´s family. We ate, talked, laughed and celebrated. It was a humble gathering but I enjoyed it completely.

This is the llama that I rode on in the midst of shopping. It was... an experience;)
There were also people dressed as Indians doing tribal dances. Not a usual holiday ritual for me.

Overall Christmas was amazing. I really missed my family, but I spent Christmas in a new way. I know that God puts me through hard times for a reason. I think this Christmas is preparing me for other times that I won´t be able to be with my family. It scares me but I know His plans are better than mine. I can´t wait to be home with my family but I know God has His purposes for me here now. I´ve been learning how to find little joys in life. I always wonder why some people are able to leave joy out of their life and still feel satisfied. I think it is scary for us to admit the joy that we long for. It hurts to realize we can´t always have that joy. But why can´t we? Why can´t we have eternal joy? The truth is we can . By living our life in a way that mirrors Gods second biggest gift to us we can have joy. Joy is a choice not a feeling. Although there will be times that life just feels empty or their are situations thats are difficult if we choose joy we are showing appreciation for the fact that we are alive. We are meant to love that fact that we can live. Its gift that has been given to us.

Joy can be ours. We just have to first make ourselves vulnerable by admitting that we want it.

¨The joy of the Lord is your strength¨Nehemiah 8:10

Cienaga

2008-12-03T14:57:00.001-08:00

Fourteen Teenagers. Six Days. One Mission: Cienaga

So remember how I wrote about eating a bug?? Well it was for this trip. I went last weekend on a trip to Cienaga, a city on the northern coast of Colombia. Viviana wrote a beautiful summary of the trip and she gave me permission to post her writing, with my experiences substituted in. So here is how we began our journey to watch God work:

Wednesday, November 26

This is was our departure day. Excitement was in the air and concentrating on school work was impossible. Around 10:00 am the whole school watched the elementary Thanksgiving musical. God was already speaking gratitude into us. Perhaps it was a simple preparation for what was about to come in the next several days. After the musical, our Creative Outreach team was called up front and the whole school, from the pre-kinder kids to the parents of highschoolers, prayed for us. It was powerful knowing that we were merely representatives being sent out from ECA to bless whomever we could.The next hour was a blurr. Before I knew it, we were sitting in the bus, pulling away from school, on our way to Cienaga. Finally. After nine weeks of prayer and preparation, we were on the road.

Thursday, November 27

We were on the road bright and early, ready for another 10 hours of driving. During the drive we listened to music, made jump ropes that we'd be handing out to kids, and just got to know each other even more. No one had any idea of what God had in store for us, and none of us could wait to find out. We finally got to Cienaga late that night. As soon as we stepped of the bus, Lilia (our Creative Outreach leader) told us to put our stuff upstairs in the room and hurry downstairs so we could go to the plaza right away. Fifteen minutes later we were walking to the central plaza of Cienaga in prayer teams with three or four people in each. She asked us to walk around the plaza, praying for it and the people in it. We cried out to God asking him to pour out his spirit that night. Begging him to change the hearts of those who were there. After some prayer time we congregated once again and turned up the music. A crowd gathered as fourteen teenagers (many who are white) danced to "Shackles". Afterwards, we performed a skit to Lifehouse's song "Everything." Joshua shared part of his testimnoy and urged people to realize that God is love. That God loves them. We then had time to sing some songs with kids and walk around praying for some people. Amazing.

Friday, November 28

Realizing that we only had four days in Cienaga and the surrounding areas to do what we could, we thought it would be valuable to teach the church what we knew. This is what we did Friday. For about four hours we had workshops open to anyone who wanted to learn English, dance, drama, worship or the value of prayer walking. It was beautiful. I was in the worship group. Leon and Lili were both in the group with me. But we didn´t just worship, we broke down and discussed what worship was. Before we would do anything else with a group, we asked each person what worship was to them. Worship to me is my favorite way to communicate with God! It is about praising Him for who He is and the work He is doing! Then we read from Psalm 95 and 96, and we looked at how God tells us to rejoice in Him with song and praise!! Next we asked everyone to think one one thing they could praise God for and focus on that while worshipping. It was beautiful to see the vulnerable reality of their worship. There was also a drama group that Vivi was a part of. They spent time going over some important aspects of drama and acting and then they taught them the "Everything" skit. My personal favorite group was a group of kids. They were all about 10 or 12 years old. Its hard to put into words the emotions that these children evoked. For anyone who has seen the "Everything" skit, imagine a mini Jesus, a mini girl, a mini druggie... They were precious. These kids realized their need for Jesus and realized that they could have a part in reaching their city of Cienaga for Christ's sake. It was simply beautiful. Once the workshops were done we headed to the beach. Bahaha. God's glory is displayed through his creation, and we got to witness it :) That night we had the opportunity to run an entire church service. Leon led worship with others singing, Kaleb and Cami P gave their testimonies, and we did dances and our dramas. Sara was amazing explaining one of the dramas. Basically, it was an incredible experience. However, I don't believe that we only blessed the church. Perhaps we were more blessed than they even were. Their passion for God was infectious. Their understanding of how useless they are without God was convicting. Their joy in him was inspiriring. I felt privelaged to be able to be part of that church service.

Saturday, November 29

"Lord, I pray that You would break our hearts for what breaks Yours..."And that's exactly what He did. I'm not too sure what I was expecting God to do after I prayed that prayer, but I left the Poblado with a broken heart.This day was the day I had been waiting for the entire trip. During breakfast, there was a prayer meeting going on for girls between eight and twelve years old. Lilia told us to go look at them for a second. We were all a little bit curious because you don't usually get asked to watch someone pray. These girls were literally on their faces, crying out to God. Wow. Lilia then came up to us and said, "Are you ready to have your hearts broken?" She was only too right...We left the main part of Cienaga in bicycle taxis and rode for about 30 mins. The town literally morphed infront of our eyes. It became more and more poor. We got out of the bike taxis and walked toward the neighborhood, the Poblado. I knew that the houses would be made out of plastic and newspapers, but I wasn't expecting it to hit me so hard. Wooden posts supported black plastic bags and newspapers were taped to the inside to serve as insulation. The dirt road was mostly mud from the recent flooding. We walked "into" the Poblado's church-- a wooden structure with no walls and a tin roof. We began singing songs with the kids as we waited for more to arrive. When we had run out of songs to sing, we pulled out the jump ropes we had been making on the way to Cienaga. The kids immediately came to us. Children came up and down the roads when they saw us jumping around in over 100 degree weather. Many were desperate for love and affection and would just run up and hug us. Others were scarred from abuse and cringed even at the touch of loving fingertips. Still others would grab one of your hands and would never let go. The scars poverty had left on their lives were obvious. Skin diseases were common and many had swollen bellies due to malnutrition. Their clothes were tattered clothing and close to none wore shoes. Countless children under the age of ten held their younger siblings-- burdened by a responsibility that never should have been theirs in the first place...When we had dozens and dozens of kids, we got them together and sang songs with them again. During the songs, I danced and laughed with several of the little girls the entire time. Later, we were asked to sit so they jumped into my lap. There we were, sharing our sweat as it dripped on to each other, but not caring in the slightest because of the greater sharing that was going on: love. We sang some more songs and then is when I met this one girl who was around 2 or 3. She tugged on my hand during on of the songs so I picked her up and spun her around. I taught her the motions to the songs and she shyly but happily followed my lead. I would try to put her down but she would squirm and tug on my pants. I don´t know how much love she had been given in the past, all I knew was that I was going to give her all the love she wanted right then. After presenting some dramas and choreographies, we continued playing with the kids. Soon the watermelon was brought out and the kids flocked to the food, precious food. There wasn't enough to feed all three hundred of them. Then we had them make a line outside of the church from youngest to oldest. At first I wasn't sure what was going on, but I realized that we were feeding the children bread-- and the only reason why they were lined up like that was because there wouldn't be enough to feed all of them. I don't know if you've ever seen people desperate for food before, but this was definitely my first encounter so close up. Older kids would push younger kids out of the way, crying could be heard with every piece of bread that got passed out. Poverty had hit even the least of these. Starving mothers took some food away from their children in order to feed themselves even a couple of bites. Most had no idea where there next "meal" would come from. When the food ran out, it became dangerous for us to stay in the area any longer because of the desperate state of the people. We had to set the children in our arms down, get them off of our laps and wave goodbye to the rest, before we ran out to the bus that was waiting for us. On the bus ride back to the church, we rode in melancholic silence. Why were we blessed beyond anything they could ever imagine? I never had to wonder where my next meal would come from. Why were their bellies swollen from malnutrition? Why are North Americans constantly diagnosed with diseases caused by an excess of food? Why would I, as a child, buy shoes whenever I grew out of them? Why did these kids have to stop wearing shoes once they were so worn out that they were no longer wearable? Why did I have the luxury of shampoo, soap and clean water when these were rarely blessed with even clean drinking water?I never did anything to deserve my blessings. They never did anything to deserve this life they were born into. We got out of the bus and Lilia gave us the afternoon off to process what we had seen that morning. I had to journal and try to understand. Honestly, I still don't understand. I'm not sure if I'll ever understand why these people are so broken and lost to the eyes of the world. But I do know that they aren't lost in the eyes of God. I may never understand why I've been blessed in these ridiculous ways, but I do know that I have the potential to bless others. I can let my blessings over flow. I can do my part to try and ease the pain in this world. I can share God's love with them, knowing that they are precious in his eyes. As you can guess, I could go on forever and ever trying to put what I saw and what I felt into words. And I'd fall short every time. I can't express the pain, the hunger, the desperation I saw in the eyes of every child who hugged me. So because I'd never finish, I'll try to keep going...That night we went to a concert that was held in a coloseum. A christian singer said we could present one of our dramas before he sang. We presented our skit to the Underoath song "Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape." It was powerful, but that isn't what most impacted me. There were about two hours of worship-- typical coastal music: vallenatos. People were dancing unto the Lord with joy that overflowed out of their hearts into their hands and feet. It was infectious. People on the coast were so in touch with this all-powerful God who could complete them in their weakest state. God's grace really was sufficient for them. His power really was made perfect in their weaknesses. Their passion and joy was so evident in their faces, in their energetic dancing and their desperate raised hands.

Sunday, November 30

Leaving Cienaga ripped my heart apart. We left early Sunday morning and headed toward a church in Santa Marta, another coastal city. When we got there Lilia asked us to pray and think about giving our testimonies. Leon, Cami B and I were willing to share. During the church service, worship was energetic once again :) My personal favorite was the pianist. His joy for God flowed out into this piano playing moments. He was an extremely talented musician, and it was obvious he was playing unto the Lord, only to the Lord. It was amazing :)We did our dramas and some shared testimonies. It was powerful. Afterwards we were invited to stay for lunch, so we did :) After lunch we went to the beach and spent some time with the youth group from that church. It was nice, having a chance to relax and let God's majesty and glory refresh us. Around 5:00 we got back into the bus and prepared for a long busride home-- only we didn't know exactly how long. We drove all night and got home Monday night around 7:30, 26 hours later, 7 of those hours were at a standstill because of bridge construction( not something typical in Chicago suburbs).

What I took away most from Cienaga was their desperation for God. They were literally on their faces crying out for Him to meet them there. They depended on Him for ALL THINGS. As a North American, it is easy to give God only part of our lives. We are for the most part self sufficient and self dependent. We don´t have to worry about where our next meal comes from or if we have shoes to wear. We can get through life for the most part on our own and be fine. That is a lie! With God we are nothing! It is so important to be desperate for God. To have a hunger for Him and for Him only!

rob welch´s team

2008-11-18T08:33:00.000-08:00

So thrusday after I worked with the kids in Egypto, the youth pastor that volunteers with me took me to see a couple historical sights nearby.

the buildings were beatiful

This is in front of the President´s house!

And finally Rob Welch and his team got to Colombia! It was so good to see Becky! So they got in Saturday and then we drove 4 hours to Sorgamoso, where we stayed for the next few days. 3 boys from El Camino came to help translate, Joshua, Ruben, and David. It ended up being God sent because the translator for Rob backed out the day of, and so Joshua, a 15 year old, translated Rob´s message. He did incredibly well! He was able to match Rob´s enthusiam for the Truth. I didn´t know what to expect really, I´ve never been a part of an evagelistic team before.

I shared my testimony before Rob spoke one night. I had felt earlier that day that God wanted me to speak about the hope that we have in Him, so I did!! It was incredible to feel God call me to do something and to obey that call no matter how crazy it may seem.

I was nervous at first because after Rob spoke he had us go out and ask to pray for people. I love praying for people I know, but it was new to be praying for people I didn´t know who didn´t even speak the same language as me. So Viv and I teamed up and she translated their needs. And guess what?? I SAW 2 PEOPLE HEALED! I´ve never seen a healing before. I guess I´ve always known they were possible but it scared me a little too. This woman asked me and Viv to pray for healing in her leg. She had been limping. At first I was intimidated but then a boldness came over me. I know that God has the power to heal! So why should I be scared? He has not given us a spirit of fear! So I prayed with all my heart that God would glorify Himself in this woman´s life by healing her. We finished praying and asked her how she felt. She said she felt great! She walked with no limp! GOD HEALED HER IN FRONT OF ME!!!! I was stunned. I stood there silenced and in awe of His power. HE IS AMAZING!!! Our God is a God that is working here and NOW!! SO the next weekend a man asked me and Viv to pray for his baby who had been in the hospital for 4 days and would die if his fever didn´t go down soon. The next night the festival was in the same town and we saw the man again. He had with him his BEATIFUL, HEALTHY BABY BOY! God used his healing powers again!! My heart was so moved by the way God can touch lives now, today. He wants us to be free of sickness and He wants us to see His mighty power!!

So one of the nights one of the boys from ECA, David, and I played worship songs in a park nearby to draw people to the festival. Then Rob had us sing befor he spoke!! I was so nervous. I prayed that God would give me the confidence to pull through. I love to sing, but I get insecure when I have to sing alone for a crowd. I was shaking and scared but the minute David started playing the guitar I felt soothed by the music and was able to sing for Jesus!

We also did a skit a couple of nights that visually demostrates how we let ourselves get seperated from God by the sin in our lives and how God sent His son to take the punishment for that sin so that we might have a relationship with Him.

Rob has a passion for God and for preaching the Truth that is incredible! He has a gift of speaking and has beatiful prayer life. Watching him inspired me to grow in my prayer life!

Overall, I am so glad that I was able to tag along and be a part of this amazing trip! It was different than the trips I am used to. But it is a beautiful ministry. I personally feel that I am more prone to go on a compassion trip. I work better with people one on one, showing them love through my actions of giving and serving. But evangelism is just as necessary as compassion. People need to KNOW that they are sinners and they need to know that Jesus christ died for them. It was great to see Becky travelling in a country she loves again and it felt like a got to reconnect with a peice of home. I´m sad it had to end but grateful I was able to watch God move in the cities of Colombia!!!

yay english

2008-11-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

So you heard about my crazy experiences over the weekend, but this week i went to work.

Tuesday Mrs. afanador had a meeting at another christian school in the south, so i went with. while she was in her meeting, i went to each different elementary grade level and practiced english with them. i would introduce myself and then the kids would ask me questions like where i was from, what my favorite color was, and how long i would be in colombia. but they could only ask in english. so they would wisper among each other and then one brave student would attempt the question. it was so much fun! my first class asked me if i played an instrument and i said no, but i like to sing. BIG mistake. huge. they all started chanting ¨Cantar, cantar, cantar!¨ which means sing! I looked at the teacher for help but she just asked me what i was going to sing for them. So i ended up singing amazing grace acapella for them. the class was dead silent and burst into cheers when i finished. So of course the other classes all heard about my song, so i had to sing for every class. It definitely built up my confidence in front of a crowd:) I really enjoyed how eager the kids were to learn. Then we went back to El camino and I had a 6 hour rehearsal with the Creative Outreach team. We are working on some dramas and I learned choreography to 2 songs that we will be performing when we go on our missions trip to Cienaga.

Wednesday I helped in the music classes and played tackle football with the junior girls;)

Thursday I went to a day care in Egypto, a poor city in the south. I went with Elias and Ruth, who are married, and work at Centro de Desamollo Christiano, the church that the Afanadors attend. We went to the church first to get supplies for a craft. I brought with me four big children´s books- 2 in english and 2 in spanish. I also brought flashcard with letters and pictures of animals with the animal´s name in english and penut butter and jelly. Most kids in Colombia have never had penut butter so I thought I would bring them a special American treat. We stopped at a panaderia so i could buy bread, figuring it would cost around $20. I bought 30 rolls and it cost me $3 american dollars. $3 fed 25 kids, amazing right? Well they loved the treat and were begging for seconds!
Usually Elias does a devotional with them, but instead I read to them and practiced english. First I read a story in spanish. Then we worked on the alphabbet and animals. Then I read a story in english.
their favorite part was the english song i taught them, every move i make i make in you you make me move jesus!! they loved it!! i want to make this day care a weekly visit. the kids are so loving and its a safe place they can go when their parents would usually have to leave them alone at home.

Friday I went with a woman from Denmark to a teenage pregnancy house she and her husband opened in Colombia. There are 9 girls that live in the house, all ranging from14 to 17 years old. The youngest girl they ever had was 12. 4 of the girls already have babies, 5 are pregnant now. In this house they learn things that will help them later in life, such as cooking, cleaning, and they are learning how to work in a beauty salon so someday they can make a living for themselves. Some of the girls were kicked out by their parents and some just can´t afford their child. So they come to live in this house. I spent the morning with the babies, holding them, loving them, playing with them. The the girls bundled the kids up and went out to walk along a main street and window shop. This was really exciting for them and the kids. Colombia already had many windows filled with Christmas decorations, my favorite time of year!

In the afternoon I folded baby clothes that had been donated.

Walking home, I saw prostitues lining the street corners. The woman I was with explained that in cetain parts of the city the government has to tolerate prostitution or else it would spread all over the city. Where we were a part of the city that tolerated it.

It made me realize how much God has blessed me. That girl on the corner could be me. For some of the girls it isn´t a choice. They don´t have food to eat so they sell their bodies. Please continue to pray for Colombia

A question that i get quite often is people wondering if i am a christian, and when i say yes they ask if my family is christian. As soon as i say yes they begin saying how wonderful that is. I am so grateful for my family. They support me in my faith which is something that not everyone has.

Friday night I went to a english youth group led by Brandon Cooper and I was a small group leader for the high school girls. We talked about prayer and how it needs to be not just a time that we talk with God but a state of being- to be in a constant prayer.

Prado (hot country!)

2008-11-08T07:39:00.001-08:00

So after i ate a bug, the afonador family and some friends and I all took off for Prado, or hot country. It is about 80 to 90 degrees there ALL the time. it was a 6 hour drive but definately worth it. We got around 1am on saturday and vivi and i walked down by the water while rafa and beth worked on getting the boat in the water. down by the water there was this navy officer who started asking us questions. at first it seemed like a normal conversation but then he wanted to see my passport and viv said we needed to move because he was asking too many questions. so we got into the boat and headed off. we slept is something that is best described as a cabin. it wasnt by any means a hotel, it had a rustic feel to it. and i loved it. we spent the weekend boating, skiing, wakeboarding, and swimming. me and mrs afanador went on a 2 hour swim to this island and back one day. it was gorgeous. the lake is surrounded by mountains and the sun had just begun to set. on the way back there were flocks of white birds flying peacefully over the water. it almost looked like they were ice skating on the surface because they were so close. so this flock of birds would swoop down over the water and circle and do it again. well there were several flocks that flew directly over us. one flock flew straight towards us, split around us, and then rejoined once they had passed us. i felt like i was a part of the lion king or something! it was really cool to spend so much time with nature. and viv and i always took a lazy nap in a hammok after lunch. it was a great time for me to relax and get in tune with God.

sunday we went to small church that was on top of a high hill. it took some climbing to get to it, but the view was unbelievable. it was a small, run down, white building. but once inside it was a holy place to meet with God. there were only maybe 10 members of the church, half of which were kids. and they used a cd player to sing along with for worship. but these people worshipped with everything in them. they were clapping and dancing and kneeling and crying out for God. it was beautiful.

so the weekend went perfectly

until the last morning i woke up and it was hard to open my left eye. so i went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, and my eye was the size of a golf ball!! a bug must have bitten me while i was sleeping, what a cheap shot!. it was NOT fun, but we all got a good long laugh out of it. and my eye went back to normal by night.

1st week in Colombia!!

2008-11-05T10:33:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!!

Im so sorry it has taken so long to update the blog! SO I guess I will just start at the beginning. I flew in Wednesday night and already Thursday morning I went to El Camino, a missionary kids school that Mrs. Afanador is the principal of. I am living with the Afanador family- Rafa, Beth, Viviana, and I will be a ´family´ for the next 3 months. Viviana is 16 years old and it is like having another sister! so back to what I have been doing. Thursday and Friday I helped in the kindergarden room as a teachers aid, they are so precious! The kids were only allowed to talk to me in English, to give them more practice.

Friday, as you know, was Halloween. Here at El Camino it was christian charactors day! All of the elementary students chose a Christian, usually from the Bible, and dressed up like them! It was great. We had a parade through the school and at the end each grade performed an English song they had been rehearsing. My class sang "every move I make I make in You, You make me move Jesus!" The teacher and I stood in front of them doing the motions in case they forgot, and I couldn't tell who was having more fun, the kids or the parents!

Also on christian charactor day, the whole school had a Fall Festival. This meant each grade set up a couple booths to raise money for their specific grade. People would buy tickets to use for the booths and the more tickets they got, the more money they raised. They sold food such as arepas and hamburgers, and they also sold desserts, drinks and snacks. They had games like fishing for prizes, hit the target and bean bags. One of the games was called "sit on the ice." For this game you could pay a certain amount to make someone sit on this block of ice. The only way to get out of sitting on the ice is to match the amount with your own money. And, of course, I ended up sitting on the ice for 5 minutes... 5 very cold minutes.

There was one more thing that they were fundraising for. There is an elective class at El Camino called Creative Outreach. Well I will be joining them as a type of techers aid. It is for High school age kids and Viviana is a part of it. They have a very... unique way of raising money. Each student in the class made a box that their peers or teachers could put money in. If any girl in the class got over 40 mil($20) in their box they had to eat a bug in front of everyone at the Fall Festival. If any boy in the class got over 40 mil they had to shave their head in front of everyone.

Pretty intense right? WELL what I didn't know was that as a leader, I was also a part of this deal. They called it teambuilding... but refused to do something normal like a high ropes course... Everyone in the class had over 40 mil by friday! So needless to say, everyone suffered the consequences- even me! Yes thats right... I ATE A BUG. Not just any bug, a huge black and crunchy beetle. I don't think I would have done it, but the crowd started chanting my name. Ill upload a video of it soon. It was absolutely awful! but it was raising money for the trip I will be joining that is going to Cienaga, the coast. On the trip we will be performing, choreographed dances, skits, and singing songs about Jesus for younger kids. We are also feeding 300 kids!! Canaan Foundation only has enough money every Saturday to feed 150 kids, which is only half of the kids that need food. Our goal is to raise enough to feed all 300 when we are there!! SO considering the cause, eating a bug was not nearly enough of a sacrafice. We raised 800 mil($400!) from bug eating and shaving heads alone! The students in the Creative Outreach class all have beautiful hearts for missions and truly seek after God's will in their lives, their school, and their country. I just hope I can support them in any way possible.

Overall, Ive been having a really good time. Im studying Spanish, working on spanish one now and by the time I leave I plan to be through the spanish 3 book. I am also trying to look for where God is at work in Colombia and join Him.

I do miss everyone back home! Please keep Colombia in your prayers!

God Bless

2008-10-28T19:40:00.001-07:00

If anyone would like to support me financially, and recieve a tax write off, send money to:

OMS Mission
P.O. Box A
Greenwood IN 46142

Make sure to indicate the money is for Allison Fletcher at the El Camino Academy Project

Thank you!

2008-10-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
Thank you for all the people who have supprted me prayerfully and financially throughout my many travels!
I created this blog to let people know what I am up to. As many of you know, I have taken this year off of school, and dedicated it to God. I want to follow anywhere He may lead me to.
So I went to Isreal about 2 months ago with the Continentals Strike Team.
My next trip is to Bogota, Colombia and I leave October 29th, this wednesday!!
I've ben praying alot about this trip. Mrs. Afanador, who is part of a missionary family that GEBC supports, knows my heart for missions and said that if I came down, that she would put me to work. And that is just what is going to happen. I dont know exactly what I will be doing yet but I will be sure to let you all know.
So I have been working the past 2 months to save up enough for this trip. I am still taking donations if anyone is interested in being a part of my trip.
I talked to the Afanadors this week to schedule a time for me to go, and they said they could use me now. I felt like that was God nudging me in the right direction so I too the hint and bought a ticket to Colombia!
I have so much to do before I go! Thank you again for all your support and the next time you hear from me I will be in Bogota, Colombia!!!