May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5,6)
May this verse speak to our hearts and minds in the midst of uncertainty and possible heaviness because of the many challenges that we all are facing as we move towards the end of 2020. Personally, our spirits have been stirred with joy. We’ve written about the opportunity to participate in some Church services once again, yet we don’t live “inside of Church” all that much. As Colombian society continues to open up, other occasions stir us with God’s joy.
As “Techo”, one of Mary Lou’s neighborhood walking friends, was preparing a plant to bring over to our neighbors, she, and a couple of friends, called out joyously asking if Mary Lou had heard the good news. She replied, “Yes”, as we had heard the joy coming from the house the night before. This neighbor, who had been going through an especially difficult situation, had just been granted the chance to enter back into society, pursuing his life goals once again. Since we knew what had been going on, it felt good to feel the joy of our small neighborhood community’s solidarity.
CWRD – Serve Globally announced the addition of the letter “D” for Development to the name of “Covenant World Relief” making it now “Covenant World Relief and Development”. They also presented to the group of CWRD Latin American partners, the new Director, Adam Edgerly. What joy it was to be able to virtually participate in welcoming Adam, as well as Zaya Gilmore, the administrative assistant, to the Latin American CWRD partnership group. Our prayer is that they get to know and love and be blessed by these Latin American partners.
KNOW and SAY THEIR NAMES – Each day as we go out early to walk, we pass by many who have been affected economically by the pandemic. Carlos, Loremar and baby Luisana, are a Venezuelan family who arrived in Medellin looking for a better life than what they were experiencing in Venezuela. After a few days of passing them and hearing them call out to us, we felt it was time to connect. Mary Lou asked about their baby, what their names were and spent just a few moments listening to their present and past realities. Because of those few moments, we are able to pursue possible connections that we might have that could serve them closer to where they live. Those few priceless moments, and those that have transpired since of listening and connecting, bring much more joy and possibility than any few pesos that we could have given away.
