Hey y’all!! I am OVERJOYED (as you can tell) to tell you that I am going to Colombia with World Race Semesters this June! This whole process has moved oh so quickly and it feels insanely surreal, but the ways in which I’ve seen God’s faithfulness throughout the last few weeks has been the sweetest and most edifying part of it all! I am in the process of writing a long post about the whirlwind that led to my decision to go on the race this summer and why, but I just wanted to throw this up here to share my excitement with you and a little bit about what we’ll be doing this summer!
We will be working with a ministry known as Ciudad Refugio in Medellín, Colombia. This ministry is like a city on a hill and is focused on serving the city by meeting their immediate and long-term tangible needs. Ciudad Refugio is actively reversing the brokenness of the city by serving as a church, homeless shelter, a job training center, a drug rehab center, and much more. My time in Colombia will be spent working alongside Ciudad Refugio serving the people of Medellín as an expression of the Gospel. The team I am a part of will be loving on Venezuelan refugees and families in poverty; providing food and water to women, children, and some of the homeless population; putting on a vacation Bible school or retreat for the youth; and could potentially be assisting in some of the business-as-mission efforts Ciudad Refugio has established to fund their humanitarian aid throughout the city.
I don’t know where to begin to express my excitement to you for what God is going to do in Colombia this summer. I am absolutely psyched to serve the Lord in so many unprecedented ways that I definitely did not see coming! I keep going back to Proverbs 16:9, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” and it has brought me to this place where I just laugh thinking about how my plan for the summer was to be a camp counselor, but the Lord knew all this time that I wasn’t going to be working at a summer camp, but instead be His hands and feet to the people of Medellín. His purpose always prevails and never fails and WOW (!!!) am I grateful to have a Savior who doesn’t ask me to make the blueprints but instead asks me to lean into the plans that He has for my life and walk in obedience down the path He has set before me—even when I don’t know for certain what that looks like.
I know that was brief, but don’t worry, a longer post is coming—so keep an eye out! But for now, please be praying for our team over the coming weeks as we prepare for our time in Colombia! I cannot wait to share this sweet season of life with you!
With so much joy,
Gracie
