Mission To Colombia: Paula's Story

Paula has been a team leader multiple times for the trips that go from Southern Ohio on a mission to Colombia.
Paula has impacted hundreds of lives - both the Colombians and the team members that travel with her. Yet she would tell you the trips impact her more than she impacts those around her. Here is a bit of Paula's story.

If you know me at all you would know that I am a person of few words. I am happily the person in the background, definitely not the "front man" (at least not as my first choice). I also tend to be reserved until I get to know you, but when I do, all bets are off. I am also a person who has been blessed with just enough to get by.

I have been to Colombia 5 times and plan to return again in February, 2017. You might ask, why?

Why does a person who doesn’t have money to spare choose to scrimp and save in order to spend a hard earned week of vacation doing manual labor in a place with few amenities and no luxuries?

The answer.…defies explanation. If you don’t know and love Christ you may never understand. If you do…then you probably don’t need an explanation. As a person of few words, all I can say is that I experience, see, feel, taste and even smell God in a tiny village called Brisas del Mar. After I returned home the first time I thought that it couldn’t happen like that again. I was right, because when I returned to Brisas again, I experienced God even stronger and in new and different ways. I feel His love and protection and mercy and grace envelope me. I feel the love and mercy of my brothers and sisters of Christ. I simply love those people! And they love me! It’s truly unbelievable! It defies logic! We can’t really share a meaningful conversation because my Spanish is rudimentary at best but the love is real! They inspire me to be a better Christian. To love more deeply, to forgive more easily, to worship more sincerely, to surrender more completely…the list goes on. I don’t know that I can explain it any better than that.

Philippians 1:21 “For to me, living means living for Christ.”