How Could I Forget?!

I can´t believe I forgot to mention the best animal we saw! We saw a dolphin in the Amazon River! It was soooooo cool! The end.

Animals

So I forgot to talk about all the animals we saw in the jungle! We saw this funny monkeys up in the trees. There was a supposedly posinous snake that made Jessie scream. This made me very excited, because Jessie has never been scared of anything and it was exciting to finally figure out what she has a fear of- snakes. We saw tons of humungous spiders that were living in our houses. Also living in our houses were lovely little (actually quite large) cockroaches. We saw two parrots, one of which Jaime taught to whistle at us. We saw six day old puppies. I can´t really remember anything else, but those are some of the awesome animals that God sent our way during this trip. Yay!

Indigenous Tribes of Peru and Colombia

So yesterday we got back from la jungla (the jungle)! And I´m alive! Yay! So let´s see. Jungle tip number 1, it doesn´t matter how much bug spray you use or how high quality it is, if the bugs like your skin they will eat you, and if they don´t they won´t. Ruth and Marleen used insane amounts of bugspray and got eaten alive. I used like none and have about six bites total. I have many more tips, but it might go faster if I just summarize the week. So we left on Tuesday. We walked down to the river (the Amazon River to be exact). We took a five hourish boat ride to where we were going. We had to stop five minutes into it to officially enter Peru and get stamps and everything. We finally got to our first village and I was shocked. I expected like uncivilized people and barely a town at all. They had street lights. We arrived in the middle of an organized futbol game. Each team had jerseys. One guy was reffing. And apparently they weren`t at all phased by seeing white people because we had to wait half an hour for them to finish their game. Then the pastor came over and talked to us. They gave us this little house to set up our tents in. We cooked all our meals in the pastor´s house and ate there too. Whenever we were in our little house there were always children standing at the door staring at us. The bathroom of course was the jungle. We did two evening church services and a kids program. We also did lice removal stuff. Then we went to the next village after two days there. The next village was pretty similar. We had a bigger house that we were staying in and the town had a store! That was about the only thing different. We went to the store quite a bit. They had some yummy cookies and some cold coca cola! Yummmmmm! In this town we did the same thing: two evening services and a kids program. We also used the rest of our lice removal stuff in this town. Both of these little villages were in Peru. Neither of them had very friendly people. The children were scared of us, the babies cried if we held them, and the adults wouldn´t really talk to us. It was quite frustrating actually. After staying there two days there was another town in Peru we were supposed to be going to. But Jaime and JP went to check it out and it was flooded, so basically we would only be able to stay in one house. Door to door evangelism wasnt really an option and church services wouldnt have been very logical. And as much as logic is not a part of doing God´s will, we decided to pray about it. Long story short, God very clearly opened another door and shoved us through it (gently of course. just obviously). We ended up going to a village in Colombia about an hour away from the villages we had just been in. This village was wayyy more receptive! The kids greeted us as our boat pulled up. Everyone was excited to see us. They were super hospitable. It was great! In this village we did an evening service on Saturday and then the next day was Sunday. So we did two programs Sunday morning (one for kids and one for adult). Jessie did the adults one, leaving me as the translator for the kids service! It was so much fun!!! Then in the afternoon we did another program for the kids. Then we had like two hours off until dinner and J and Ju and I wanted to do something (J being Jaime). So we took sheets for the beds and ibprofen and went around the community handing them out and asking the people if we could pray for them. When we had done door to door evangelism and asked to pray for the people in the villages of Peru they were really awkward about it and didn´t really want prayer. But in this village everyone had a prayer request and everyone was excited for us to be there. When we ran out of stuff to give, we had people coming up to us and asking us to pray for them. I prayed for an old lady with stomach problems, a pregnant lady with headaches, two babies with a fever, a little girl who wasn´t strong, a lady with back pains, another little boy who was sick, and a baby that was blind. It was super cool to be able to do all this. And I truly believe that by the time we left, the blind baby girl was starting to see. Also, there was this little girl with a super infected ear. So I went and got JP to clean it. And he was using like hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol and stuff to clean this open wound covered in grossness. This little girl should have been screaming. It should have hurt really badly. But I was praying over her the whole time that God would hold her and take away the pain. And she didn´t make a noise once. She didn´t even whimper. It was incredible. She almost fell asleep even. I was so amazed by God´s comfort for her. Anyways, later that night we had another evening service and we prayed for more people in the community. On Monday morning we left for the boat ride home. That was our week in the jungle! It was crazy. But it was good. It is an experience I´ll never forget, but I know for a fact that I am not called to the jungle. Well, I think I probably already knew that... Anyways. I hope you all are well and I miss you all lots!

Que Dios les bendiga!

Coray

Tabatinga, Brazil

So I wrote a long post yesterday and then the internet gave out and it got deleted. So I have to write it again =(

We got to Leticia, Colombia on Easter Sunday. It definitely didn´t feel like Easter, though. The base is awesome. I really really love it. But we only got to stay one night. We left on Monday morning for Tabatinga, Brazil. Aka we walked 20 minutes to get to the JOCUM (YWAM in Portugese) base in the next town. We spent all week working at that base. It is a large area, but small in staff. The director and his wife have two daughters (that are 12 and 15). The only other staff is a guy named Luis. They run a program all day for kids. It starts at 730 and goes till 5 with a two hour break for lunch. They help kids with their homework, and teach them more of what they need to know that the school doesn´t teach them, but with a Bible basis. So we helped them out. Two days we did drama programs and one day we did a little devo thing. It was a long week, but it was also very restful. Jess is the only one who speaks Portugese and most of the kids didn´t speak spanish, so there wasn´t a whole lot we could do. We spent a lot of time praying for the kids and just blessing them. Then on Friday night we were really blessed. For some reason (obviously a God reason), the local high school let us have twenty minutes of the kids time when they were supposed to be having a break. They didn´t care what we did with it. So we did two dramas, Wake Me Up and Everything. Then JP gave a really powerful talk. We didn´t have any time to talk with the kids afterwards because they had to go back to class. But I think it went really well. Then when we got back to the base, we were supposed to be running a discipleship program thing. They have a discipleship group for teenagers every Friday night. So we did Wake Me Up again and I gave a testimony and then we did Molding Jesus and Heidi gave a little mini-sermon thing. The kids stayed till after midnight. It was a loooooong night. Then we had a free day on Saturday. It was kind of ridiculously cool. Ru, Sjoerd, and Marleen took a five minute boat ride to Peru for the day and drank some coca cola there. Jessie and Heidi walked to Colombia to relax at the Leticia base and use the internet cafe. Jaime and JP walked to Colombia, took a boat to Peru, and took moto-taxis (my new favorite things by the way) back to Brazil. Julie and I spent the day relaxing in Brazil. I think that is so incredible. Then on Saturday night we did street evangelism. We did went out around 8, did poi to draw people in, and then did all our dramas. We had a line-up of motos watching us for a long time. Then we got to talk with them and six people accepted Christ. It was awesome! Then we had Sunday off again and Marleen, Julie, and I went to the internet cafe in Colombia and then did a little bit of tourist shopping. We also went to the YWAM base here. Everyone else went to Peru or stayed in Brazil again. On Sunday night we went to the director´s church. It was quite frustrating to listen to it all in Portugese and have no idea what was going on. Then we had some really yummy pizza with fruit on it. Speaking of food, this week was the best food I have eaten since I´ve been gone from home. It was sooooooo good!

This morning we came back to the Leticia base. We´re only here for the night though. Tomorrow morning we´re talking a six hour boat trip to some indigenous tribes in Peru. We will be there until Monday. Pray that the bugs don´t kill us, that nothing kills us while we´re bathing in the mud river, and that we see miracles happen. I have already seen God change hearts and lives and it has been amazing, but I believe He has even more in store for this outreach. Please be praying for the hearts of the people in these tribes. Thank you! I miss you all lots!

Que Dios les bendiga!
Coray

Ok so I lied... there´s one more.

So I was going to be done with the computer, but today was super cool and I wanted to share a little about it. But I might as well share about yesterday too. Yesterday in the morning we did a kid´s program in a mall and it went really well. Actually, three teenagers came to Christ. It was super cool! And then in the afternoon yesterday we did some dramas outside of a mall and that went really well too. People have been super responsive and many have changed their lives. Praise God! But today was even cooler. This morning we did a lot of praying and worshipping God. This afternoon we went to this place that is a very strong spiritual stronghold by the devil. It´s an area where witchcraft has been practiced a lot and many dark things happen there. So we decided to go and pray and worship God at the highest point. While we were praying Ruth felt like we should do our drama called Sunday, Bloody, Sunday. She felt like we should do it kind of prophetically over the place and over Bogota. So we did.

This is a drama where I am a girl who´s family is always yelling at me and they are always angry and pointing out my failures. I´m lost in the world. The whole time Sjoerd is standing to one side as Jesus, and Ruth is standing on the other side as satan. After my familys been pushing me and slapping me for awhile Ruth comes in and offers me something to smoke. So I smoke it (not really, mom. it´s just acting.) and then I throw it on the ground because it didn´t help me. Then we all freeze and Ruth comes up and hammers one of my feet to the ground. We unfreeze and my family´s attacking me again, but this time I can´t get one of my feet off the ground, so I´m freaking out even more. Ruth comes by again and offers me heroin. I take it and do it and then throw that down too because it only affects me momentarily. I freeze again and she hammers my other foot. I unfreeze and I freak out because I can´t move at all and both of my feet are stuck. Then my family unfreezes and is attacking me even worse. Finally Ruth comes up and throws me down to the ground and I try smoking and heroin again. Then I slowly stand up and Ruth kind of nails me to a cross. Then Sjoerd comes up behind me and takes my place and I fall to the ground. Ruth shakes me and tries to wake me, but Sjoerd comes and scares her away. Then he lifts me up and hugs me and offers me his hand. I don´t take it right away. I decide to look around some more first. I´m still kind of doubting. Ruth comes back and when I don´t choose to follow Jesus, she grabs my hand and pulls me. I fight her and try to get free, but I can´t for awhile. Then I finally grab Sjoerd´s hand and he pulls me free. I kneel down and just watch as he defeats Ruth and she is destroyed. Then together we praise God.

So that´s the drama we did today in this evil evil place. It was super powerful. Many Bible verses were read and songs were song and we just felt a real feeling of liberation. A darkness had lifted and the city was given a little bit of light and freedom. It was incredible. However, afterwards Ruth and I were both emotionally, physically, and spiritually worn down. We are both still exhausted and feel as if we actually were fighting a dark presence. It was intense. But incredible. And I just can´t praise God enough. He works in incredible ways and the way He is working through us during this time is mighty and amazing. I praise Him for the lives of many people who are no longer going to hell. I praise Him for the openness and receptiveness these people have toward us. I praise Him for the changes I am already seeing in Colombia, in our team, and in myself. Our God is an awesome God.

This time I really won´t be writing again until after Leticia. For real. So I hope everyone has an awesome three weeks. I can´t wait to tell you all how it goes with the tribes and such. I miss you all lots!

Que Dios les bendiga!
Coray

Bogota Week 2

So I can´t remember where I stopped, so I´ll start with Saturday. On Saturday we ended up sleeping in because we all needed rest. Then we took the bus downtown and had lunch at a pizzeria. It was yummy. Then we bought a ton of empanadas and went to this park that Jaime and I had felt we should go to. Sjoerd, Jaime, and Marleen handed out the empanadas to homeless people and started talking with them. Julie and I prayed about the people in the park and how they were being touched. Everyone else did Poi, but without fire. Poi is when you have those like fire things that you swing around and dance with. So we did that in the park for awhile. Then we went to a church where we were leading a youth service. We did our drama Wake Me Up and Jessie did a mini-sermon. We also did our Molding Jesus drama and I talked a little bit. Then the guys from the youth group drove us home so we wouldnt have to take a two hour bus ride. They took us up to a vista called La Calera and we could look out over all of Bogota. It was really pretty. Then Sunday we went back to their church again and led their youth service in the morning. We did our Sunday, Bloody, Sunday drama (which really freaked me out because I´m the main person in that and I´m like terrified to do it in front of people. So if you wanted to pray for boldness and bravery that´d be cool.) and Sjoerd gave a mini-sermon thing. Then in the main church service we did Wake Me Up again. Then we went to the church of the pastor we had been working with last week and led the whole church service. We did our Everything drama, sang songs, and Ruth gave a mini-sermon.

Monday was supposed to be our day off, but that didn´t happen... We ended up going to meet a new pastor, Pastor Ricardo, and his family and a few others. They are who we are working with this week. He took us out and showed us all the areas we would be working in. Then they fed us lunch and I have been super sick since then... Oh well. Then after lunch we went outside a shopping center and sang and played music and handed out fliers. That was slightly odd to me. But it seemed to go well. Some people had some good conversations about why we were there. Then we had dinner and went home. Tuesday was really cool. We went to their house for breakfast and then went out across the street from that shopping mall and did our dramas. It was really cool because some people came up and tried to give us money and we got to say no and explain why we didnt want money. We also got to share testimonies between the dramas and mingle with the people. Three people prayed and chose to follow God. That was really really exciting! Then in the afternoon we ran a kids program and did all of our kid dramas and taught them the song Si Tuvieras Fe. That wasn´t as exciting, but it went well. After that we met with the church and we praised God together. Then they asked if they could pray over us. That was pretty sweet too.

Today we finallllllllly have our day off! We ate breakfast at the panaderia. Yum! Croissants con bocadilla. yummmmmm. And soon we´re going downtown to do all our touristy stuff, shopping, and getting to know the city. Then we´re going to the best restaurant ever for dinner! It´s called Crepes and Waffles. And it better exist in other places because it is the best place I have ever eaten and I am in love with it. It is amazing. Yum. Ok I need to stop now. After dinner we´re going to a movie with a bunch of people from the youth group we worked with this weekend. They are super nice and super welcoming. I´m very excited for dinner and the movies here in colombia! Then tomorrow we have another kids program that we´re running with puppets and dramas and a bunch of stuff. On Friday I´m not really sure what we´re doing. Probably more street evangelism. On Saturday we´re doing some other kind of event with dramas and stuff. I´m not really sure what. Then on Sunday we leave for Leticia. You can definitely be praying for that. Right now I´m dreading it and that´s not how I want to go into it. I need to go into it with an open mind and an open heart. Just pray that we don´t get attacked by too many bugs, spiders, snakes, and all that. Please. I probably won´t update this again until after Leticia, so just assume that no news is good news. I hope you all are well and I miss you all!
Que Dios les bendiga!
Coray

Bogota, Colombia

Hey everyone! So right now we are in Bogota, Colombia, aka the place where it rains everyday of my life. Yay for rain! We left from LA Sunday night and arrived in Bogota Monday morning. We rested for most of Monday and on Tuesday we started our ministry. We spent our first week of ministry working with a pastor and his wife. They run an after/before school program for kids whose families are in gangs and are criminals and such. We got there Tuesday and they told us it was time for a devotional and that we were leading. This week we ended up doing a few dramas and today we taught the kids a song. We took turns sharing testimonies and such. We also did crafts and games. The kids were really sweet and we´re going to miss them a lot. It´s really clear that the devil didn´t want us to accomplish anything this week because we faced daily challenges. Mom, don´t worry because we´re past this now. On Tuesday night there was a gang fight in the neighborhood we were working in, so it was dangerous to walk through on Wednesday, but we decided to depend on God and trust that He would take care of us. No one touched us and we only passed a few questionable people. God was taking care of us. Then on Thursday there was flooding so all the buses were backed up. We waited for almost two hours for our bus. We considered doing something else with our day after like 30 minutes, but we prayed and Jaime and I both though that we should spend our time singing praise songs in spanish. So that´s what we did. We ended up getting there like 3 hours late. We worked with the time we had and it ended up being a really good day. Ok well I have two people sitting next to me waiting to get on and I think they´re tired of waiting so I need to go. If you want, you can pray for this weekend. Tomorrow we´re doing ministry in a random park and plaza. I think we´ll do dramas and poi and evangelism stuff. But we had an open time slot and we prayed about what to do. Jaime and I both thought of the park and two others thought of the plaza. Pray that it goes well. And then on Saturday we have a two hour presentation for teenagers at a church (including a 30 minute sermon from us!). On Sunday we have two one hour church services that we´re running. It´s gong to be crazy busy. Hopefully I´ll be able to write a better, more organized blog on Monday. We have a free day on Monday. Ok well I hope life is good for everyone. I miss you all. Que Dios les bendiga!