From Tribes to the City|DTS in Colombia

The Impact DTS Colombia team have now come to Cartagena! We are finished with our ministry with the tribes, and it was an unique expiriience! The second we had visited tribe was in on the edge of the desert on the border to Venezuela. Even though it was very warm, it went well. Three people decided to follow Jesus on a meeting,  and many others were discipled. Here we also engaged in a lot of prayer ministry for different families. Many living here have recently moved because of the civil war others places in the country. Also, many kids have been kidnapped from this area by people that wants to sell their organs or sell them as prostitutes. So prayer is important to fight this. We got very powerful meetings with people here.

The last week we have been working with a local church and a Christian school. We have mainly been teaching english at the school. A teacher was sick, so we had the opportunity to teach all the first graders for some days. We also did some practical work there and evangelism with the local church. We are enjoying Cartagena very much and are very thankful for getting to live in the apartment of Roberto and Elisabeth. The next few days we will visit some universities and do evangelism. The base in Cartagena has its own university team that will come with us. We also get to spend some time with these awesome people! Soon we are leaving for Bocachica, which is an Island not far from the city of Cartagena.

What is team Colombia up to? In Pictures

Out in East Asia, Jesus encountering Students.

We have now spent three whole weeks in a very different culture east in Asia. The first expression we experienced was that we’d entered a very beautiful and well developed part of the country. A hot and humid air met us when we arrived at the airport, the landscape was more leveled then the Norwegian and we saw a lot of green vegetation and palms next to the highway. The city we now have spent our time in has many new tall great designed buildings. The average car we saw was a new and expensive once. The parks here are big and beautiful decorated with statues, fountains, and colorful flowers and trees. It’s like visiting Eden in the middle of a city.

We feel blessed by the time we have spent in this city. And we have gotten to know a lot of beautiful people. They are very easy to talk to and their enthusiasm is contagious. We have been spending time meeting students on campus and it’s hilarious to see how they meet foreigners with a lot of questions and excitement.

Some of the people we have met, we have invited out for coffee, bible studies and small groups. One of the girls we’ve met, let us call her Amy. We met her on campus, and one of the girls in our team prayed for Amy’s neck. Later on we went for a hike together to a beautiful viewpoint in the city. While on the hike Amy began to tell us that her neck was totally healed! She also seemed more open to hear about God, and she was so amazed by many of the stories we told from the Bible. A difference between the Norwegian culture and the culture here, is the peoples knowledge of the Bible, and what Jesus did. Some of Amy’s responds was «WOW, did Jesus really resurrect from the dead?!»

We have also attended many small groups and churches here. One of the highlights of meetings was one small group in the top of a big shopping mall. It was a gathering of christians who was successful business women and men. One of our teammates started sharing a devotion and suddenly the rest of the teammates attending were reminded of something they wanted to share. We really felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. After the meeting many came to us and asked for prayer and many were touched by what we had shared. One man there was healed in his neck and was on the edge to receive Jesus into his life. We prayed and we really believe he will surrender his life to Jesus some day soon.

Another highlight I must mention is the concert that we decided to arrange only 3 days on beforehand! Talk about outreach flexibility! Even though we had a lack of time to invite people, more than 40 people attended. And we could really see that many were moved by the songs we presented and the messages we shared behind the lyrics. This was a success and even though we didn’t plan it, we are interested in arranging more concerts in the next weeks of our outreach.

Now its time for our team to go to another city for the rest of our stay. So thanks to everyone we have got to meet during our stay here, and thanks to everyone we have got support, help and prayers from. We really see God moving in us as a team, and in people we meet.

Blessings from East Asia – team!

OUR GREAT GOD IN A SMALL MOMENT|DTS outreach testimony

We had packed all of our backpacks and had were in the process of checking out of the guesthouse. As we were waiting a shopkeeper approached me. He told me he sold beautiful nepali art and wondered if he could show me the pictures he had. The pictures were either centered on Hinduism or Buddhism. I started to ask questions about the different symbols and he was more than happy to explain. Personally he was a Hindu and that he believed that he had to live 84 lives. He would maybe be reborn into a dog in the next life, he did not know. I asked him what was going to happen after he had lived his 84 lives. “Nobody knows.” He told me. He continued to share that he worshiped the god Ganesh and I shared that I worshiped Creator,God, also known as Jesus. I asked if he knew about Jesus and shrugged his shoulders. I shortly explain him the gospel and asked if he had a Bible. He politely said that he very seldom read in books, let alone the Bible. Still, he seemed curious and as if he wanted to know more. I asked if I could pray for him and suddenly his eyes lit up. Eagerly he shared with me a story of another Christian who had asked him the same question a few years ago. At the time the shopkeeper suffered with pain in the back of his head. This Christian man from Russia had prayed for his headache and he was healed. Yet, after approximately 3 years the pain had returned. He looked at me in anticipation. I silently thanked God for this moment and joyfully told him that Jesus could heal him again. The shopkeeper who started out with little interest in Jesus, now almost could not wait for me to pray for him. We sat down in his shop and I shortly asked Jesus to come and heal this man again from the pain in his head. After I prayed, I look up at him and saw to eyes filled with wonder. He did not understand what had just happened. All the pain was gone. Yet, God was not finished. The shopkeeper pulled out a piece of paper showing that he had an appointment with an eye doctor the same day. He shared with me that he had trouble with his eyes and again looked at me with anticipation. He was happy to hear that Jesus could heal his eyes too. Again I asked Jesus to heal his eyes and prayed that this shopkeeper would see the goodness and power of his Creator. I looked up at him after the prayer and again his eyes was filled with wonder. He did not know what to say. His eyes did not hurt anymore. “I don’t have to go to the eye doctor today” he said to me. I underlined that it was Jesus who had healed him, not me. After sharing more about who Jesus was and asked him: “Can I give you a Bible?” The shopkeeper did not hesitate to answer and was curious to start reading.
In this small moment of time, when we had packed everything and were ready to move on, God showed that nothing is too small for him. He knows the people He has created, He knows their story and He wants to touch their lives.

 

 

-DTS TEAM India/Nepal

Team Colombia Update|Working with the People

Hola fra Colombia!

Vi kom frem til Pereira tirsdag den 17. Mars. Reisen gikk kjempefint og vi har nå hatt vår første uke med outreach. Det har vært veldig spennende å bli introdusert til kulturen, språket og menneskene. Det er så mye å lære! Onsdag var introduksjonsdag for oss. Varm kultur med mye drama og dans er nytt for et helt norsk team. Men vi koser oss og lærer mye.. Her kommer noe av det vi har gjort denne uka. Det startet med besøk på et hjem for jenter som har blitt misbrukt hjemme. Her gjorde vi drama, dans og vitnesbyrd. På lørdag gikk vi i parade gjennom byen. Pereira er byen i Colombia med høyest rate for selvmord og sex-trafficing. Dette er noe basen her vil gå i mot og endre. Derfor gikk vi parade mot dette og proklamerte liv og glede over byen. Vi hadde store plakater som sa: Livet er vakkert! De stengte faktisk av veier for at vi skulle få gå. Vi endte opp på en plass midt i byen der vi hadde program for familier og de som ellers ville høre på. Her hadde vi mye dans og drama. Det er virkelig det som trekker folk her. Så delte vi vitnesbyrd og mange høret på. Søndagen ble veldig spennende for vi hadde fått i oppgave å ha en preken i en kirke her i Pereira. Vi gikk først rundt til hus og inviterte mennesker til kirken. Ragnhild tok på seg denne oppgaven og hun klarte det helt supert! Gud var veldig til stede! Hun snakket om Jona og det å gå når Gud kaller. Ellers gjør vi mye bønn før byen siden den har så dystre rykter. I dag er fridag for oss og i morgen starter en ny uke! Vi vet lite enda om hva som skjer videre. Det er sånn det er her.. Colombian time!

Hasta luego fra oss!

Hola from Colombia!

We came to Pereira, Colombia, Tuesday the 17 of March. The travel went by without any problems and we have now had our first week of outreach. It has been really exiting being introduced to the culture, language and the people. Wednesday was a day of introduction for us,  a warm culture with a lot of drama and dancing, this is very new for a team full of Norwegians. But we are enjoying our time and are learning a lot.

This week started out with a visit to a home for abused girls. We did dramas, dances and testimonies. On Saturday we walked in a parade through the city, Pereira. This is the city in Colombia with the highest rate for suicide and sex-trafficing. This is something that the base here wants to change. That was the reason for the parade and we proclaimed life and happiness over the city. We had big posters that said: life is beautiful! The police even shut down some roads so we could do our march. We ended up at a plaza in the middle of the city where we had a program for families and others that wanted to listen. Here we had a lot of dancing, dramas and testimonies.  Sunday was a very exiting day for us because one of us was going to preach in a local church in Pereira. First we went around to houses and invited people to church. Ragnhild took on the task of preaching, and she did great! She preached about Jonah and to go when God is calling us. A part from that we do a lot of praying for the city since the rumors about it is so sad. Today is a day off and tomorrow a new week begins! We know little about what is happening, but thats just the way it is here.. Colombian time!

Hasta luego from us!