Colombian Christian Mission

Being Content

While Brian and I were in Colombia in February, we had the opportunity to have lunch with a couple from the church. Their names are Pablo and Virginia Melo. They were from the church in Pajure and had a farm in the nearby area of Bocas de Guaryuriba They became Christians over 25 years ago. She is Indian and he was a farm worker. They moved to Villavicencio when the security got bad in that area. They again were forced to move to Bogota when the violence moved into the city Villavicencio. They have been refugees from the violence for more than ten years and in each move they lost many of their meager belongings. He works on commission selling bottled LP gas in the area. When he has enough customers lined up, they send a truck up with the bottled gas. The section of Bogotá they live in had become rather dangerous as well but the government put a military base up there and that has brought a lot of improvement to the area. No matter how difficult life has been, they have never wavered in their faithfulness to the Lord have attended church wherever they have lived; in spite of the difficulties, dangers, and poverty. They now ride nearly two hours on a bus in order to be able to attend church.

They were so happy to have us come eat with them. The spent probably 2 weeks of his salary buying chicken to feed us. While the meal was simple, it was delicious and there was plenty of it (as you can see by the photos, yes those were serving bowls full of soup, and yes those were individual servings). They had a very simple house made of cement blocks and had furniture that they had most likely been given or had found in the garbage. They had a huge poster on the wall with Psalm 23. They really believed the first line of the verse, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” They had nothing compared to what we have, and yet they were confident that they the Lord will provide everything that they need. They were perfectly content with their meager possessions. That really struck me as I think about all the things that we have and yet we think we “need” more. In reality we all have more than we need, and hopefully we can learn to share generously with those around us.

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SCHOLARSHIP NEWS

The new school year is about to begin at Colegio Peniel. If you would like to support a student please fill out the coupon to the right and send it in. This is a perfect project a Sunday School Class, or a family. The price for a scholarship this year is $204 or $17 a month.

*Please let us know if you would like to support the same student you supported last year. E-mail us at: susymorris@ccmon-line.com