Hi friends and family! I wanted to give an update that covered a ministry highlight from this month. I have been extremely impacted by the work that we have been able to help with here and I am excited to share it with you.

I wanted to share about the opportunity that I have had to meet with people in a neighborhood in Medellin called “the Bronx”. This part of town is one that many people do not visit because there are people spilling out into streets filled with glass shards and needles, and the people on this street were all on drugs and many were unconscious. The ministry that we are partnered with for this month, sees these people the way that God does- as loved and seen. Every week, the ministry drives to this part of town with bread and juice and hands out food to the people living here. I was honored to go with them this week and walk around to give information about the ministry and how they are a source of help if people want to take it. We walked around with pamphlets of information and prayed for people.

This was one of the hardest things that I have ever done for ministry, but also one of the most rewarding, because God is here and present and redemptive even in places that seem the darkest. Nearly every week after the volunteers speak to these people on the streets, those individuals walk up to the doors of the ministry deciding to change their life. Amazing! I know! After both of the weeks that my squad was able to volunteer, two people from the Bronx (each of the weeks) walked from the other side of town to Ciudad Refugio, asking for a place to sleep, and for rehabilitation help. I was amazed at how the staff here sprung into action when seeing these people with their pamphlets in hand, how they immediately provided food, and a place for the homeless to sleep.

The drug rehabilitation program here is not just taking people in and helping them find a place off the streets to sleep, but it is actually producing results! The rehabilitation program has a 70 percent success rate of people staying off drugs completely! To put that in perspective, the average success rate of programs in the United States is 13 percent. It really is a testament to what the hope and truth of Jesus can do for people’s lives!

I have been able to help the ministry in other ways such as with their youth programs, homeless ministry and helping out with whatever projects they just need to get done. I have been so moved by the work that is happening here and I thank God that I have been able to grow through the experience that this month has been so far. We are a little over halfway through this month, and I am truly in awe with what I have been able to learn so far.

Ciudad Refugio is really living out a verse that has been put on my heart recently which is 1 John 3:18, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth”.

As we approach the rest of this month, I would love prayers for continued protection for my team both physically and spiritually, and also that people’s hearts would be moved to approach the ministry to seek help.

In love,

Claire