What Are We Doing?

We took our first bus trip this week. It was an eight hour trip over and through the central range of the Andes Mountains to Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. Shortly after Colombians get over the shock of seeing people from North America living in their country, they always have the same question, “What are you doing here?”

It happened again on the bus. We sat in the front seats of the bus just beyond the wall and door that seperated the driver’s cabin from the passengers. A group of nuns were seated near the rear of the bus. As we were weaving our way up one particularly steep mountain one of the nuns came forward. She came to the driver’s cabin door and was having trouble getting it opened. It was difficult enough trying to stay on her feet aside from trying to open the door at the same time. We sat there anxiously waiting to see her fly right off her feet and into the isle. We realized she was in some sort of trouble when she urgently asked us for help. It seems the other sisters on the bus had already exausted their supply of “motion sickness bags” and were badly in need of more.

We want to take a moment to give thanks to God for our Colombian friends who insisted over our foolish objections that we take Dramamine prior to the mountain passage. We are also thankfull we were seated in the front and did not have to witness the scene taking place toward the rear of the bus, the sound was bad enough.

Back to the one healthy nun. She was speaking rapidly in Spanish and we could see the lightbulb go off in her mind as she processed the information that Kevin’s bewildered stare comunicated. “Norte americanos?” she asked, forgetting all about her suffering sisters in the back. Pastor Conrado, our good friend, quickly began to translate for us. Then it came, the question. What are you doing here?

We used to answer “studying spanish and culture”, that day Kevin answered simply, “serving God.” One advantage to not being fluent in Spanish yet is that we didn’t have to participate in the insuing theological discussion of all things Catholic and the Pope. The nun asked Pastor Conrado if he served the Pope, Conrado answered, “I serve God.”

When the religious people of Jesus’ day asked Him what is the greatest commandment he responded:

“‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

From now on we’ll answer: “amando Dios, amando la gente”, which translates, “loving God, loving people.” God has shown us a great many things to do here. We spent seven years preparing for the work but when it comes down to it it’s not really about doing Christian things, it’s about being Christ-like. Jesus said love God, love others, everything else hinges on this love.

A summary of the trip to Bogotá includes Kevin speaking at a Seminar targeting church planting and then at a church Sunday morning. At the Sunday meeting, twenty came forward for salvation. During the ministry time, Christine prayed for a lady who came to us later. She is a dentist and has not been able to work because of arthritis in her hands. She showed us her hands were completely healed and she could freely move them without any pain. God met her that morning and she went away rejoicing in his goodness.

Thank you all again for your faithfulness in prayer and giving. We love you and we are all..