I will work on wrapping these blogs up from this trip, but there are still a few things to share, and no doubt, missing some details. Explaining experiences is difficult. And especially ones so profound.
Today I share with you about the women's night we hosted. This was a new experience for me, for our team. We've never focused on just the women. In August a team went to Brisas and they did ministry for those studying to be pastors, and they also hosted women's events. I was able to help out from the states in giving my ideas and helping plan those a little, but I was not there to see the beauty of it unfold.
In Brisas, unintentionally, the women do not get the attention or credit they should. They do not get opportunities to pamper themselves. There isn't money or convenient stores for them to buy nail polish or the makeup or go to a spa to get their hair done. They don't have women's get togethers (per say) where they are ministered to and loved on for a few minutes. And so that was our goal. We wanted to build off what the August team had done. And this was our first experience to coordinate, participate and facilitate a night for the beautiful women.
The night was to take place on Sunday evening. Paula and I had the opportunity to go house to house for few minutes to personally invite the women. Pastor Javier took us, because if we had gone on our own, they might have wondered why we were coming to their doors. While they are friendly and accustomed to us being in their village, it was a new adventure to go to their homes in this manner, so he joined us to introduce us, to make the invitation more welcoming. That was really special. That gave us a few minutes to talk with these women, inside their homes, even if they should choose not to come to the event, we had time to see a little about their lives.
In one home, a young girl was making arepas and allowed us to watch and talk with her a few moments. In another home, one of the older ladies was so excited that we were there and she wanted to show us her way of life. Paula got photos (which i need to grab so I can share them.) But she showed us how she would get water and carry it on her head, how she would get the food from very far and carry it for miles and how that took place. She showed us inside her home and she was smiling through every moment of it. To me, where I once would have thought that they would not want us inside their homes for possibly embarrassment or miscommunication of cultures, I think that these women were thrilled to have us there, even if for a few moments. In another home, we visited the wife of the maintenance man in the village. She was a little timid at first, but full of beauty and fun. As our days went along there, she came more and more to our events, and even to give us hugs goodbye. We only had time to go to 5 houses and then we had to return to another project, but I loved getting to do that.
When Sunday arrived, Diana, Paula and I sat down to go over everything we would be doing. The 3 of us made a good team. We worked well, we each had different gifts to bring to the event and God worked in all 3 of us as much as He may have been working in the other ladies of the village. I loved partnering with them on this.
Sunday evening rolled around, and we were ready. Little by little the ladies showed up, curious, but timid. We had to coax them to sit in the front row (no different from here in the States, probably. ) The group grew little by little and we began (almost) on time. Colombia on time is more or less at least 15 minutes after the actual scheduled time. Our first event was to play pictionary. We split the ladies into 2 sides and we had a white board for our drawing board. Now, mind you, these women had never played Pictionary. So, we explained the game and Paula went first, so they could see how it worked. Milena and I "refereed" the event, since we could speak both languages and know if it were guessed by our ladies or theirs. It was so fun once again to play a game (much like singing in Church) where the language is not a barrier. The ladies didn't want to draw at first, but as we got going, it became a time of everyone rolling in laughter. I had tears, we laughed so hard. To hear them laughing, I know they could be heard in the streets because the men told us that, was such a joy. So much so that the joy of it made me cry as much as the silliness of seeing their faces and playing a new game and the banter that went on between them. We were all having a great time.
Once that settled down, we taught them "I Love You Lord" in Spanish and sang together. And then I brought a lesson. I had something in my heart to share, and I actually pulled it from a blog I wrote a few years back and meshed it into newly learned lessons of my life. It was based off this post here, but elaborated upon with current life lessons about how we are beautiful in God's eyes and He will use all of our stories.
When we finished, we gave each of them a mirror that on the back of it said "Eres armada" or you are loved.
The women hugged us as they said thank you, and one very older lady in the group animatedly told us about how she could see herself in the morning and she could pamper herself. It was a spectacular night for us. I hope we can continue having those times with the women.
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