a bumpy road to a welcoming place (Karen comes out of the closet)

Let’s face it: I’m not like my husband David.

I haven’t lived overseas for decades, don’t yet speak Spanish, and am pretty new to Latin America. This is all really new for me.

Last week’s first visit to Colombia, to Medellín, and to the seminary we’ll serve was not an easy trip. After twelve travel hours and three flights, we arrived in Medellín exhausted. Our new friend Humberto picked us up at the airport and promptly informed us that the main highway to the city was closed by a landslide and the alternate route was clogged by a motorcycle accident. So much for my nerves.

The ride into the big city of Medellín went OK, but my first experience of the city itself almost drove me over the edge. The fumes, the sheer numbers of people and vehicles, the bumps in the road. I dozed off in the back seat of Humberto’s car, but with every bump I woke up and peered into the crowds of people out on the streets and in the parks on a Sunday evening. I developed a splitting headache. Things were feeling pretty heavy.

But when we walked into Guillermo’s and Wanda’s apartment at the seminary, received their hugs, and sat down to the dinner they had prepared, I knew we had come to a welcoming place. A huge load lifted from my spirit. It felt like home. I felt thankful.

I’ve wondered over this past year what my contribution to a seminary community like the Biblical Seminary of Colombia could be. It was hard for me to envision really being a part of things, where I’d fit in, whether I would like it, and whether I could learn the language well enough to be myself with the people there.

The whole week’s visit was one long, affirming answer to my questions, over and over again. There is so much ministry there for me, among people who are quick to hug us, delighted to embrace us as future colleagues, and full of expectation about my contribution. I have always loved supporting David in his work, but now I can see that I’ll have my own opportunities for my own kind of contribution. And I can see that what I contribute will matter to the people I’ll be serving during our half-years in Colombia.

The seminary community is amazing. There’s wonderful children’s ministry to the many kids of faculty and students and also to the poor community that lies on all the edges of the seminary. I will probably dig in there. There’s also a craft ministry to children and families that is without a leader. It seems like it may have my name on it. And I’m excited about how my developing role in spiritual formation can be of service both to United World Mission colleagues and to the seminary community as well. My new friend Wanda, who has been such a huge blessing to me already, is scheming with me about ways that what we’re learning together about spiritual formation might be able to serve the seminary students as they arrive from all over Colombia and other countries.

I had a few of my ‘blonde’ moments. Near the end of our stay, I realized that I was the only one who’d been stoically enduring cold showers all week. David asked, ‘Are you serious about the cold showers?’ and then explained to me how the ‘widow-maker’ apparatus on the shower heats the water as it flows to the shower head. I never knew. I just figured cold showers is how things were. How was I supposed to know what this thing was for?

I’m excited about meeting Magdalena, a gifted Spanish teacher who lives near the seminary. Magdalena will be my go-to source for language learning and we’re actually going to begin by Skype this month even before David and I move to Colombia.

During this first week in Colombia, I fell in love with the seminary community. I belong there and I look forward to the day when David and I can make our move to Medellín to dig in as full members of that community. It won’t be easy. I still feel uneasy about not being able to move around entirely on my own, since a person has to be concerned about security in a city like this.

But it’s David’s and my shared ministry that we’re beginning together now. Nothing good is ever easy. And this is going to be very good.