Sunday April 5, 2009

Dear Colombia Support Team,
    I want to thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers and support for the trip to Colombia.  The people of my team and the people of Bocachica, Colombia were blessed because of YOU!
    We had and extremely fruitful trip.  Our travel via air, bus, taxi, motorcycle, and boat were safe and fun.  It was amazing to see the positive growth in the housing, transportation, economy, and security in Colombia.  We too the boat from the big city of Cartagena to the island of Tierrabomba and the community of Bocachica.  We were greeted by the people of the community.  We were welcomed to  the Proyecto Libertad (Project Liberty a YWAM base http://www.ywamconnect.com/sites/ywampl/ ).  Our group of 19 had set ambitious goals of helping the community by digging and building 4 latrines, pouring 3 concrete floors in homes, replacing a staircase, cleaning the children’s feeding center, and painting a mural there.  Praise the Lord, were were able to do ALL this plus have great times of interaction with the community. 
    This community and these people made going and doing a JOY.  It was hard work and challenges from our every day lives.  But we all loved it.  We left feeling like we had gotten more that we had given.  The people were so appreciative of our chiseling out latrines and mixing and and hauling concrete for floors.  We blessed there homes, families, and lives.  They are a people of hospitality and having these simple things lets them open their homes up.  They helped us in the construction and thanked us with their smiles and through interpreters.
    Being there for just over a week made such a difference in the community.  The Lord knit our hearts together with the staff and the people of the community.  Most of us had a hard week in coming back the the U.S.  We are praying for the community and the work there.  Most of us are ready to go back next year, making plans and starting to save.  I want to thank-you so much for sending me this year and as I said before you did not just help me.  You gave over and above what I needed.  That extra money helped two other people who were lacking funds to be able to go.  God wanted them to go and through your faithfulness they were able to go and blessed us all.
    This short letter cannot begin to express what happened, who were helped, and the lives changed.  I would invite you to go to two website so you can have a fuller picture.

http://web.mac.com/geoffgentry and click the Colombia 2009 link.  There is a day to day account with some photos here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ggentry11/ Click the Colombia 2009 Album.  Here are all my photos from the trip.

    Thank-you once again and I look forward to sharing with you in person about this trip.  If you have any questions please contact me.

In Christ,

Geoff Gentry