Not a Tourist Guide.
Bogotá, March 2019.
It has been 8 months since the first Striders arrived to Colombia. As a Short term coordinator and as a Colombian this is a big responsibility, but at the same time, walk with them in the process of discover a new culture, settle on it, learn the language and living with people that you haven´t met before, is a crazy privilege.
Personally I want for them to have the best experience in their lives. I want for them to not get ill, to have a good time in their projects. I want for them to enjoy our Colombian food -that is really good-, music and people. I want for them to always catch a bus with empty seats (almost impossible in the bus system that we have here), or for them to arrive in less than an hour from their homes to their projects, but sadly sometimes it is not possible and that reality is key for us (for them and for me) to grow in our different roles.
I learned not in theory, but in reality now, that i´m not a tourist guide. This is missions, we are in a battlefield, and sometimes is not pleasant been on it. We are here to contribute to establish the kingdom of God, and sometimes it means that it will be an opposition, or just go out of your comfort zone, and that is what missions is about, going out of your confort zone to serve others.
Even Jesus said to us that it will not be easy, but we know that in the midst of fear, tiredness, problems with visas, culture clashes and pain, Jesus is with us, reminding us that we are in God´s hands and that this is not OUR mission, is His, and we are just helpers, we are just a little part of what God is Doing all around the globe.
Serving in a Cross-cultural mission doesn´t mean that all will go in the way that we wanted to, but one thing is real, God always will be with us to endure that and even enjoy the process of become more like him through that. When we understand that, we are free to enjoy it so much that now we don’t want for this time to finish (2 of the 5 striders finish their placements on July).
