Diverse & Vibrant

Good evening from Barranquilla, as we settle into our first sleep in beds after being up 24 hours or so. We are giving thanks for safe travels to this beautiful place.

As we first set our eyes on Colombia and Barranquilla from the airplane and from our hosts' cars, we can see that this is a place with lots of variation:

- Mountains in Bogota, to rivers and beaches in Barranquilla

- Sweaters and cool fall weather in the central elevated regions to hot, sticky thunderstorms on the coast

- Industrial areas, to tropical forests, to swanky shopping areas, to dusty soccer pitches amidst corrugated-roof houses

- Sprawling shopping malls, to one-man/woman mobile banana/coffee/snack/arm sleeve vendors, stationed on the road medians

As our team listened to each other's stories during all the travel time, as well as the stories that are starting to come out from the Bravos, we can also see that the Christian life is also varied:

- Tired tears and desperate prayers when we heard scary updates from back home while we were in flight (things are okay)

- Tired laughter at ourselves, opting to take the "scenic" walking route back to our hotel carrying huge bottles of water, dripping with sweat, awkwardly bumbling across intersections

- Celebrating the joy of arrival and reunion and God's provision over a delicious meal

- Sobering conversations about present suffering and wrestling through doubts and anxieties to share testimonies

But you know, without all these variations, things would not be as beautiful. Just look at all those colours at the gift shop and fruit aisle. If everyone on our team was the same, we would not be able to comfort when others are sad, pick up stuff that others have forgotten, jump in to do a task that others find daunting, pray when others speak up, and enjoy nearly as much laughter as we have already. And if we thought ourselves better than our friends in Colombia, or even that we were the same, maybe we wouldn't be here.