With only four days to rest after my trip to Cartagena; and two of those days filled with teaching at the Bible College, I took off for Villavicencio. It was time for our annual youth retreat with the school there. I left early and arrived in Villavicencio Sunday morning in time to attend church there. After church and visiting with the brethren, I went to call on a family I have been working with after helping their daughter at the Christian day school. That meeting went well and by late evening, they were very close to being ready to be baptized and give their lives to Christ.
I got to the house late and went straight to bed. School starts here at six in the morning and I had the devotional before leaving for the camp just outside of town. So it was up at five and out by five-thirty. I was there to greet the kids as each arrived at school. After singing and announcements, it was my turn with all of the kids. Once I was done sharing Biblical principles for success in school and life, most of the kids headed out to class. But each day, two or three grades would pile on a public bus and head out to the church camp.
Once there, I would have an hour long conference with them while the other groups swam or played soccer. As one group finished, the next group would cycle through my conference. After all of the classes were finished, then I was available to speak with individual children who wished to talk with me about some matter that was bothering them. There was always someone, so I never had any time off. At noon we all piled back onto the bus and returned to Villavicencio and the school building. There the kids waited for their bus or caught a ride home.
After school each day I had been invited to someone’s house for lunch. Here that always includes some social time as well so I used the time for visitation and evangelism. Then in the afternoons I was available for conferences with the parents and each afternoon I was busy the whole time. Each day there were more parents wishing to speak with me than what I had available time for meeting. That went straight through till our parents conferences began at six-thirty in the evening. The conference included my talk and a time for questions and answers. Typically the conferences ended around nine and then I was available again to speak with parents individually. There was always a line and typically I finished around eleven at night and headed off for a short night’s rest.
During the entire week there was never time for more than one meal a day. I was simply too busy to stop to eat. Each day went like that until Thursday, when I could only work till noon. Then I had to hop in my car and rush up the mountain in order to make it to my class at the Bible College that evening. I made it just in time to unload the suitcases from the car and take off to teach my class. Even then, do to bad traffic, I got there a bit late, much to my embarrassment. Typically I am the first one there and I greet each student as he or she arrives. Class was over at nine-thirty and I left about ten for the one hour drive back to the apartment.
It was hectic and exhausting but was a thrilling week as I could do so much with the kids at school. It was all topped off when the parents from my first meeting asked if they could come to the camp the day their son was to be at my conference so the whole family could be baptized together. I could hardly contain my excitement as I baptized all four of them into the Lord there in the camp swimming pool. It was a great end to a great week of doing the Lord’s work here in Colombia!