prepartion

Mikayla Smith - April 6th, 2024

As far as my expectations for the trip went, I didn’t have any. I chose to go to Colombia out of obedience to the Lord and no other reason. Although, my expectations were non-existent, I had been generally preparing my heart for the trip; asking God to teach my team and myself to remain joyful and calm. Praying that our focus would only be on you. What no one had prepared me for was the culture shock that was awaiting me in Cartegena, Colombia. The moment we left the airport and got in the van that took us to our next destination, the church, I became incredibly overwhelmed. I thought I was going to throw up or pass out the whole ride and even once we had arrived at the church. The speed at which a new culture was thrown at me was something no one had prepared me for whatsoever; and no one comforted me in that shock and struggle. Once we finally arrived to the church, I was volunteered by some of our leaders to lead worship. I do not think anyone had considered the emotional, mental, and physical state I was in and that by volunteering me to lead worship in a different country, place, and language I might have been overwhelmed. I actually know that no one was aware on considerate in that regard. So, the next thing I know, I am in the church sanctuary without my team with four Spanish-speaking strangers for worship rehearsal. And we were leading worship for Youth service that night (or so I thought). I was completely prepared to be humbled because I couldn’t speak or understand the language. I was also prepared to feel uncomfortable because this church and these people were not familiar to me. What I was not prepared for was to see God’s empathy. Being separated from the team separated me from the chaos that I was feeling around my very excited team. It gave me the opportunity to form intentional relationships with others outside of my team- learning names and life stories. It most importantly gave me the opportunity to see how even though I was in a different country, God was the same. Worship did not change because I was in Colombia and it was actually through worship that I began to feel at home. It ended up being a very special, tranquil, and safe time for me in the midst of chaos. The most significant part of the story was that after rehearsal, I found out that we were not leading worship that evening for Youth. So, basically I got about four hours of private time with God, my familiarity, in the midst of unfamiliarity. I realized that in spite of my unpreparedness, God went ahead of me and prepared time for me because He knew that I would need time with Him. He knew…even when I did not know. He was just as much God for the teammates I had who were having the time of their lives- seeing the evidence of God in all the beauty, unfamiliarity, and culture- as He was God for me while having a horrible experience- seeing less of God and more of confusion and angst. He went ahead of all of us and prepared for us. My lack of preparation had no effect on God’s preparation. I saw that in the first 24 hours. He only continued to be God the rest of our time there.