February and March have been filled with travel for us. The Colombian Covenant Church is has active ministries in cities and towns all across the country and when possible we try to serve alongside the different ministries, which requires getting in a plane or a bus and traveling. This month started with Katie traveling with several of our colleagues to visit and serve our brothers and sisters in Barranquilla. It was the first time traveling to Barranquilla for our interns, Jon and Ashley, and new missionary, Joey, and fun for them to get a taste of the coastal culture, while getting to meet many of our ministry partners. Katie and fellow colleague, Cathy, led the trip and arranged for the group to visit and spend time at the Covenant Elementary schools seeing how classes are taught, meeting with teachers and directors, getting to spend time with the students. The children loved the visit and used the opportunity to practice their English and show off their skills. One group of students is practicing their drumming skills in order to participate in the community parade. Click here to see the video: Drumline practice

One evening Ashley and her husband led a workshop on English language learning for the teachers of the elementary schools, where we had fun learning new vocabulary and different teaching techniques. Katie has had the opportunity to work with this group of teachers over the past couple of years and it is always a joy to be back together with them. Here is a fun video of them practicing with each other: practicing in small groups.

We also met with the pastors and visited the different ministries around the Soledad community. We heard about the challenges they are facing, but also how they are seeing new life in Christ. We spent time encouraging them and praying for them and their families. On Sunday we participated in worship services in two of the Covenant Churches. Katie loves the time of worshipping in La Central Covenant Church so much that she often loses her voice singing before she has to get up and preach. This time she didn’t lose her voice until the end of the sermon 🙂

Now this week Julio has the opportunity to be in Bogota, participating in the Annual Meeting of the APC (The association of Covenant Social Ministries) and visiting with leaders and pastors in this city. The Colombian Covenant Church ministers in so many dynamic ways to their congregations, neighborhoods, and communities. It’s good to hear about the ways these social ministries are reaching out to the marginalized.

After Bogota Julio will travel to El Bagre with a team of young adults, who are leading the “Be Peace, Make Peace” project that has just gotten underway. This will be an important time of meeting together and planning the next steps that will be taken. This project is the result of the training that the young adults received last year through the certificate program in peace and reconciliation.

Not every month has this much travel, which is good as it takes a lot of coordination to make it work at home when one of us travels. Still, we are grateful for the times we do get to visit other places in Colombia as it always reminds us that God is at work and that God’s people are faithfully serving in love.