Oh the Life of a Learner!

The past two weeks have been jam-packed full of stuff! Which, I guess, is always the case. The first of the two weeks was our second and last mini-outreach. My group ended up staying here in Cartagena. Working with a 24/7 prayer/praise ministry in our classroom, investigating child prostitution in the city, and going into various poor neighborhoods presenting a leadership campaign and a princess campaign (Don't worry, I'll explain.) The first two days Saturday and Sunday were spent in the hot-box of a classroom learning a new dance that we would be presenting to different neighborhoods every afternoon of the week. Saturday we spent 5 hours dancing in the sweltering heat. I...well...didn't have a super positive attitude during these first days and fought it a lot. Eventually God made it clear to me that if I was going to survive, I had to change my attitude, because, to be honest, it was far from what I would have wanted to do the day after a long week.

As I fasted and prayed, I made the decision to cheer-up and see things in a positive light. From that  point on, God really blessed me with the grace to carry it out. For the rest of the week, I continued in this way, walking in peace and joy! Now, it wasn't easy, but it was a real encouragement to see what God does when we give Him absolutely everything. I grew a lot in my ability to communicate with others in Spanish and got along well with my group.

Each morning we practiced the dance and had prayer and worship time with music and painting and dance (this was really cool). Then we worked on researching and coding a map of vulnerable areas in Cartagena for child prostitution and statistics of the like. In the afternoons we visited various neighborhoods in these 'danger zones' within the city. We presented young people and children with the idea that they CAN rise above their circumstances to be the leader, to be the change amidst generations and generations of hopeless destitution.

Later on in the week, God spoke to me about Psalm 45 which talks about girl of royalty and how the king was enthralled by her beauty. We developed this idea in an effort to minister to the girls of these neighborhoods--to resurrect the truth that they are highly valued princesses of the King of Kings! I absolutely loved this part, as did all of the precious girls we ministered to. We french-braided their hair, gave them lotions and spa treatments as well as painted their nails. And they soaked. it. up. Coming from nearly nothing, and being treated like a piece of meat by the people in their societies has taken its toll. Child prostitution with the young girls is common in all of these neighborhoods because it's a quick fix for a dire need. For example, often times, if the family doesn't have food, the mother of the house will trade her daughter's body for food to the guy working at the corner store. So, to be able to provide them with a new way of thinking, that their value is from God, was really a special opportunity.

On Friday night we went to the Center, the tourism trap, where you can find most of the prostitution and lots of drug trades. We walked in pairs covering the area with prayer from 12am-almost 3am. It was at first a great struggle to have the energy to go on, but God really provided us with encouragement and strength all the way. It's a place filled with desperation and longing, so our prayers were powerful!
On Saturday night (the last night) our leaders held a special banquet dinner for us as princes and princesses of God. It was a really fun time to dress up and to be pampered a bit. :)

Moving on to this past week. We had a couple different speakers. One couple spoke to us about how God has put a special purpose and gifting into our generation. They explained that this is our time to prepare ourselves for something BIG, because the world cannot wait for another generation to bring hope and change. So, I spent a lot of time in prayer for my generation but most of all for my family specifically...my grandparents, my cousins. Because I know God has something very special in store for my family and I love them oh so very much!! :)

We also talked about shaping our character to reflect Christ and remaining sexually pure as a testimony for God. All of this was also related to preparing our generation for what God has planned for us.

I enjoyed this week very much. We did a bunch of random stuff and it was more relaxed. I bought my plane ticket for Argentina which was quite the ordeal, but during the whole shin-dig I got to skip class several times AND I got to try this funny little fruit called mamon or something. You break open the shell and out pops this little sour jelly ball...but there's a big seed in the middle. Bummer. Oh and I also tried this incredible jugo de papaya con leche (which essentially is a papaya smoothie with milk). Oh it was just divine!

Another funny thing. We are now in the beginning of the rainy season...just like ya'll are experiencing right about now. And the mangos off our mango trees in the backyard are just LOADED with mangos! In fact I have something with mango in it almost every day! But anyhoo, about the rain. For the first time since I've been here, it rained a MONSOON! I've never seen anything like it! The street turned into a river and Jesse and I went running through the streets bare-foot! We could have white-water rafted almost!! Everything in the house was soaking wet, and I even did all of my cleaning chores in the kitchen barefoot...(they don't have safety rules in the kitchen..at all, haha!).

But, anyway, I have to go dress up like a girl from India now. We are having our India Alliance night. It should be interesting to see how Colombians fix Indian food. :) And they layed out all of these beautiful rugs for us to sit on and candles and mints...oh it should be fun!

And one more thing. I know I just briefly mentioned my outreach to Argentina and Chile before. But the time is coming fast when we will be actually flying out, 17 days to be exact!! Each week we will be in a different city of either Argentina or Chile, working with churches and serving other YWAM locations. It will be a crazy but wonderful experience I am sure! I know this is last minute and I don't want any of you to feel like you have to support me, but I think it's essential that I give you all an opportunity to be a part of what God is doing here. Those that go on the mission are no more important than those who pray for the mission and those that give to the mission. God wants us all to work together. So I appreciate your prayers and support. If you feel led to support me financially during this outreach portion of my ministry school, you can send money to my parents who will put it into my bank account.  Their address is:
Kemi Laing
15676 Poplar Lane
Vicksburg, MI 49097

Thank you all for taking the time to even read this blog! It blesses me greatly to have you backing me in all of this! Love you all!
Chelsie