I'll start our first blog by saying thank you! To every person reading this, thanks for taking the time to follow along on our trip to Colombia.
We are just finishing our third day, and it’s already amazing. Here’s a quick rundown of how we spent the first few days.
We beat the sunrise by two hours leaving for the airport on Friday, but the energy on the bus didn’t show it. We’d been looking forward to the moment for too long I think. It took two flights and a stamp on our passport to get here. Mark Wittig, the director and founder of COSDECOL, was waiting for us outside of customs. The bus ride from the airport to the stadium where we’re staying this week was a dream. I grew up in Florida and Medellin is tucked into a valley in the middle of the Andes Mountains, so basically, my face was glued to the window the entire ride. This landscape is unreal.
We toured the facilities, got settled and had dinner: authentic, homemade, beautiful, and a masterpiece of a Colombian meal. Every meal—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—since we arrived is a different meal. Each is homemade and amazing. Every single meal is my new favorite.The first night we trained with a women’s all-star team. I don’t know if my high school Spanish teacher would be proud of me for the 20 words I remembered and used to communicate or if she would shake her head for how much I forgot after three years of lessons. I am picking up more and more though since I’ve been here and my biggest fear going into this week has suddenly become one of my biggest joys. Learning to communicate with the people, especially the kids here, is one of my favorite parts of this experience so far. Even if we don’t speak the same language, it’s crazy how often words aren’t even important.
Saturday we got our feet under us and caught a professional women’s soccer game and explored a bit of downtown Medellin. It is beautiful. The highlight of the day for me was after dinner though. We had group reflection, and Coach Fenix shared her testimony. For most of the day the priority is building relationships with people we have never met, but during the evening reflection time we get to go deeper with the people we’ll continue to do life with when we get home.
Finally, we spent Sunday morning at a church down the street. We sang “Dios de mi corazón, en ti encontré mi salvación” (God of my heart, in you I find my salvation) and got a huge hug as we walked in even though we were late. Sunday afternoon we played a full field game against Leones women’s team. And this evening we heard a testimony from Weimar, a 17-year veteran leader with COSDECOL. He shared his story and the vision he has for Colombia going forward. He said at the end two things that really stuck with me:
1) “These kids come for a ball, we reach their soul.”
2) “Soccer is good, but its the gospel that changes people.”
I love what God can do with fútbol. And I love how I get to be a part of it this week. Keep praying for our team and for the people we will meet here in Colombia. And thank you again for taking the time to follow along.
“‘Not by might not by power but by my spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” — Zechariah 4:6
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