Tears Shed on Titus - Colombia

When you think of missions trips, you normally think of fun, adventure, and new experiences, not tears. If you’d ask anyone of the 6 MLS students that went to Bogota, Colombia they’d all say they had the time of their lives. Most of them didn’t want to come home. If their parents had let them, they would have stayed.

Colombia is a country full of culture, history, art, landscapes and coffee. There’s not much there that would make you cry, but one day we did.

The congregation based in Bogota is made up of a very talented and gifted group of people. There is no comparison to the love that they showed our small group while we were there. They housed us, fed us, took us on mini adventures, and showed us what it means to be united in Christ. God has permitted this small group to run and maintain an all girls’ school ranging from kindergarten to eleventh grade. Our mornings were spent with these well behaved young ladies. We had morning devotions with them, ate snacks, played basketball, soccer, and volleyball. From the sidelines you could hear people shouting “U- S-A”, but mostly all you heard was the loud chanting of “Co-lom-bi-a”.

Although these morning events were a ton of fun, the most meaningful time we spent together was in the classrooms. We split our MLS students into groups of two.  Each day the students would go to two classrooms and share a lesson that pertained to the life of Moses, sing a few songs, memorize a Bible passage and share their experiences concerning MLS.

My wife, Andrea, and I were paired up together. We got to teach mainly the upper grades. The lessons that we touched on were Moses’ birth, his flight from Egypt, his return to Egypt, the 10 plagues, and the Passover. All of these histories were somewhat familiar to the girls because they had learned them in their Bible history classes. Our goal was to reinforce the meanings of these stories for their lives. Little did I know that God would be using these stories to comfort my wife and me.

Last February my wife became pregnant. It was very exciting for both of us. After about ten weeks though she started to have pains and shortly thereafter we found out that she had miscarried. It was a very painful time for the both of us. What’s amazing though is that soon after God granted us another child. By the time we headed down to Colombia, Andrea was already 3 months pregnant. With all the activities that were planned for us, Andrea was unable to get here regular afternoon nap in. By the end of the week she was exhausted. One evening she started to have stomach pains similar to the ones that she had had with her first pregnancy. This obviously scared her and she was unable to block out the idea that she was having another miscarriage. That night I kneeled next to her bed and I reminded her how God had watched over baby Moses. He gave him a wonderful mother to take care of him. He permitted Pharaoh’s daughter to find him and protect him from harm. God never left Moses’ side. Moses’ God is our God too. She closed her eyes with a peace that surpasses all understanding.

The next day I left my wife at the hotel. She needed the rest. She ended up sleeping till about 2:30 that afternoon. While she stayed behind, I went to school to teach the girls about the Passover. This was the last lesson that I was going to be able to share with these girls and I wanted to make it memorable.

Unfortunately it was the last hour of the day and you know how antsy students get. At first I wasn’t sure if I had their full attention but as I later saw they were all listening. At the end of the lesson I told the girls that I knew that they had heard these Bible stories before but I wanted them to know that God’s word is much more than a story. It is life. Through tears I shared with them how Andrea had miscarried and about her fears that she was having. I told them how I comforted her with the same stories we had been teaching throughout the week and I pleaded with everyone one of them to hold on to the gospel because if I never was able to see them again on this earth, I most definitely wanted to see them in heaven. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

After class three of the girls came up to me. They told me how much they believed in Jesus and that they would be praying for my wife. It was a blessing that I did not expect to receive. Their prayers have worked.

Yes there were tears shed in Colombia, but they were tears of joy.

Pastor Daniel Schmidt

Palabra de Vida, Detroit, MI