In two days, on June 23, a group of twenty will embark on a trip to Medellin, Colombia where we will minister to street children as well as families in a particular neighborhood of the city. Of the twenty people that will be traveling together, nine are members of Grace Fellowship, three are from Colombia, and the remaining eight are from around the Houston area with the exception of one being from Minnesota. We will introduce the team to you in upcoming posts.
Medellin is a city with a close proximity to the equator at an altitude of 5,000 feet sitting in a valley in the Andes Mountains. It is home to more than three million people. Medellin is the center of the textile industry in South America and is today, a modern, vibrant city. However, scattered along the hillsides surrounding the city are many makeshift communities that are home to the poor and displaced people of Colombia. It will be in these out lying areas of Medellin that our team of twenty will converge to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need. While there, we will post to the Grace blog as often as we have Internet service, hopefully once a day.
Isaiah 1:17, encourages us with these words: “Learn to do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless, and plead the case of the widow.” Over the next week, it is our group’s desire to be obedient to the call of Christ as His instruments of love and grace among the lost, oppressed, fatherless and window in Colombia. Also while in Colombia, we will share with our new friends about the unreached people groups (UPG’s) in the 10/40 window around the world. As our team ministers, we will incorporate the Grace Fellowship adopted UPG’s into our games and activities in order that by the end of the week, we will be able to conduct a concert of prayer with our new Colombian friends, having made aware to them the Grace mission focus of the Bonjar, Makassar and the Bugis people. We will also be playing games with new sports equipment we will take to leave behind as well as craft activities with string and yarn.
Our families and friends cheering us on in the USA are as important on this trip as those of us who will actually be in country. Without your support, a trip like this would be more difficult. As Paul said in his letter to the church at Phillippi in Phillipians 1:3-6, “I thank my God every time I remember you, in all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”.
Our group is comforted by the tremendous amount of prayer support that we will receive from all of our friends and family at Grace Fellowship as well as those who are supporting us from other places. So just as Paul stated, we too are thankful every time we remember you! It is our desire and prayer that anyone who has sight of this blog page will prayerfully consider making a short-term mission. It has been our experience that the Lord wants to do as much ministering to us while we are away as he wants to use us to minister to others in far away places. Bill and I along with the rest of our mission team invite you to follow this blog and enjoy the experience this next week in Medellin, Colombia. You really won’t want to miss all that God is going to do in and around us! Sandy Byrd
From My Heart 
will be praying for y’all — look forward to receiving updates!!
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