On our last full day in Colombia, Saturday, we traveled up the mountain towards the airport for a ministry opportunity in the town of Rionegro. The Medellin authorities, fearing that manufacturing would add to the already problematic pollution in the valley, have zoned this area as the manufacturing center for the city (especially since it is so close to the airport). It had none of the characteristics of an old-fashioned factory town. Instead, it was a modern, growing, and vital area with an odd mix of the typical Colombian buildings (stucco or brick with corrugated metal roofs cobbled together to form a block) and gleaming glass and steel manufacturing plants and distribution centers. Construction was occurring everywhere. Apparently the economic development efforts of the community leaders in Medellin were paying off for Rionegro. I predict a huge middle class developing in this town over the next 10-20 years. It will be interesting to see if this results in the construction of American-style single-family housing (of which we saw none during our entire trip).

We arrived at a covered (thankfully because it was a bright, sunny day at 6000 ft above sea level) soccer/basketball court surrounded by apartment buildings. The local church (led by one of the reformed pastors that we met in March) had set up a sound system and we immediately got to work drawing a crowd with face paint and balloons.

After 45 minutes or so, we began our presentations. This time we added back the sketchboard (since we had more time). Gillian did the painting and Micah did the narration. They both “hit it out of the park.” We had an offer to go to another part of the town and make our presentations but we were finding that the students were nearly exhausted. Because nothing had been set up before-hand and because discretion is the better part of valor, we decided to punt and loaded up the bus for the ride back to Medellin to let them rest. This turned out to be a good idea because two of the students became ill from all of the hustle and the altitude.

After returning to the hotel, we allowed the students a few hours of rest and then set off for our traditional end-of-trip dinner with all of our ministry partners. This year’s dinner was a bit more subdued because we were all so tired and ready to get home. At the dinner and at the airport the next day, we bid farewell to our Colombian friends and partners and set off for the long trip home.

Thank you to all of our supporters who made this trip possible. Now that we have been there several times and know the people, the lay-of-the-land, and what works best, we believe that these trips are becoming exponentially more effective each time. Lord willing, there were significant and eternal consequences as the result of your support.