Mocoa
Mocoa is a small city built on the banks a river with a population of around 50,000 people. There was heavy rainfall and eventually some huge boulders got loose enough that a chain reaction started and the soil slid right through larg parts of the city. The result was devastating, an estimated 1,200 people (or 500 families) we killed in the landslide, many more were injured and lost their home. It's hard to imagine what it looks like, but there is still a pile of boulders as wide as a road and 10-15ft high, that goes from where the landslide began, all the way down into the city. Even 5 months later the affects are quite visible.
Day 1
Day 1
Tuesday night I sat on the couch with my backpack packed, ready for the 12 hour journey on a bus to Mocoa. We planned on leaving late, but what time that actually meant, wasn't clear. I eventually decided to try to sleep, I was ready anyway.
At 2:30am I felt someone push my leg. It was time to go. I stood up front the couch, grabbed my bag and stepped into a taxi waiting on the street.
Sam, Daniel, and I were traveling to Mocoa, a city in the south of Colombia to evaluate how it was doing since the landslide 5 months ago. Shortly after the disaster, Sam had taken a team of people to Mocoa only made possible by donations from New Zealand (random, right?). The team brought supplies and tried to help the people of Mocoa as much as possible both spiritually and physically.
At the bus terminal we couldn't find a straight shot to Mocoa, so we decided to take a bus to Neiva, then another bus from there to Mocoa. The first bus was like a coach bus, and was comfortable. It was still late though, so we slept the whole ride.
The second half of the journey was less comfortable. We rode in a small van, crammed in, every seat filled. This wouldn't be the end of the world, but I'm 6'2". My neck was seriously hurting from having to cock my head to the side due to the low ceiling. Honestly, it could have been much worse, there was a baby in the van and it didn't cry, not even once.
There was one time when a passenger of the van signaled for the driver to stop by the side of the road. I figured this was just as far as he needed to go. Actually, he just needed some snacks. He walked over to a little shop, bought some crackers, and squeezed back into the van. I thought this was funny, apparently if you get hungry you can signal for a stop whenever you want. To his credit, he did share the crackers with the entire van.
We arrived in Mocoa in the afternoon and walked into the center of the town to find a hotel. That night we went to one of the churches. The music team was practicing so we listened in, played some music with them (no, not me), and then all went for dinner. Sam and Daniel already knew these people from the last trip, so it was a time of catching up and seeing how things were going in the church and their lives.
Day 2
We woke up on Day 2 and made our way down to the street to find something to eat. Some pineapple off the street would do.
We took a taxi to a man's house who is part of a local church, his name was Jonatan. There we talked about the mudslide and what was new since the last visit. True to the rest of Colombia, we tried yet more obscure tropical fruit. The biggest topic of conversation was Sam's plan to hold an event in Mocoa in January. It would be an event for hundreds of youth in Mocoa, and Sam would be bringing in a missionary speaker from North Africa, Nathan Bramsen. After we were done talking we went out for lunch with Jonatan's family.
Jonatan invited Sam to preach at that night's church service so we split up. Sam went back to the hotel to prepare while Daniel, Jonatan and I went to visit some families who had been affected by the landslide.
We arrived at the house and the woman we were looking for wasn't there, but her son and neighbor were. We talked to them for a while, each of us sharing an encouraging message from the bible and ultimately the gospel itself.
When we finished the son took us on some motorbikes up the hill to farm out of the center of the city. The bumpy road was less than comfortable on the motorbikes, especially considering we had to share. When we arrived at the house we met the mother we had been looking for originally. This woman had lost two of her daughters in the landslide who were less than five years old. Again we shared with her, although with my Spanish I'm not sure to what end. I can only hope the message wasn't overshadowed by the errors I made.
Her nephew was also there and we spoke with him as well. He came from Venezuela, which you don't have to know much about to know the situation there isn't great. He was only 15, without his family, in a foreign country, all of this in addition to the tragedy Mocoa. It is sad to see anyone have to go through these things, let alone a child.
In light of what the three of us shared and the tragedy they had lived through, it was an emotional time.
We left on the motorbikes a different way than we had come. We rode right along side of where the landslide had been. It had happened five months ago, but I would have believed yesterday. The trail of gravel and boulders is hard to explain, it was so much bigger than I could have imagined. I don't know what I expected, but I didn't really understand the raw power and devastation before seeing the effects right in front of me. The landslide had come through the town and obliterated anything in its way.
We returned to the hotel and got ready for church. Sam spoke that night to the small congregation, after we ate dinner with some of the members. We returned to the hotel to get some sleep for our last day.
Day 3
On our last day we tried to go on a hike to a waterfall, but by the time we arrived it was too late. We weren't permitted to go because it was too late in the day and therefore too dangerous. This is not an uncommon thing in Colombia. There are often certain hours where there are enough people and/or police where a path is deemed safe, and outside those hours it is not.
Instead we rode the motorbikes to a nearby river and parked. We hiked along the river for a bit, just exploring. Eventually we came back to where we had parked the bikes, the river was nicest there. We relaxed there for a while, there were some other people swimming. I decided to join them and jumped in, the water was cool and refreshing. Sam had to speak again at night so he spent some of this time by the river preparing.
We returned to the hotel, to pack our bags, wash up, and check out. Our bus left right after church ended, so we were leaving directly from the church to the bus station.
The service that night was at a different church, and this one was much larger. We were there early so I had a chance to hang out with some kids who were there as well. They seemed to be pretty interested in myself, English, and the United States in general. They particularly liked some of the foreign bills I showed them.
I was talking to the children when all of the sudden the lights went out. Power outages throughout the city were common since the landslide. The sun had already set so it was pitch dark, when my eyes had adjusted I walked outside. The sky above was incredible. All of the power in the city was gone, and another wasn't even close.
After a few minutes I returned to hanging out with the kids, this power outage would likely make a church service difficult. I was playing with the kids for a while when I started to hear people singing. I looked over and through the dark I could barely make out people standing, lit by a few cell phones and candles. I guess they knew the light wasn't coming back anytime soon so they might as well start. We of course couldn't use any electric instruments, microphones or speakers. Instead the music was an acoustic guitar, a cajón and our own voices. It sounded pretty cool echoing throughout the large room.
The singing subsided and Sam began to speak. He spoke as loud as he could and walked through the aisles and between people to try and ensure everyone could hear. This was nothing more than a minor inconvenience for them. I think that sometimes we look at any inconvenience as an excuse to forgo doing something entirely. Rather than what it really is, simply inconvenient.
The church service ended and the three of us slipped away in a car to the bus station. This time the bus was a straight shot back to Bogota and it drove through the night. By the time morning arrived, so had we.
Jonatan invited Sam to preach at that night's church service so we split up. Sam went back to the hotel to prepare while Daniel, Jonatan and I went to visit some families who had been affected by the landslide.
We arrived at the house and the woman we were looking for wasn't there, but her son and neighbor were. We talked to them for a while, each of us sharing an encouraging message from the bible and ultimately the gospel itself.
When we finished the son took us on some motorbikes up the hill to farm out of the center of the city. The bumpy road was less than comfortable on the motorbikes, especially considering we had to share. When we arrived at the house we met the mother we had been looking for originally. This woman had lost two of her daughters in the landslide who were less than five years old. Again we shared with her, although with my Spanish I'm not sure to what end. I can only hope the message wasn't overshadowed by the errors I made.
Her nephew was also there and we spoke with him as well. He came from Venezuela, which you don't have to know much about to know the situation there isn't great. He was only 15, without his family, in a foreign country, all of this in addition to the tragedy Mocoa. It is sad to see anyone have to go through these things, let alone a child.
In light of what the three of us shared and the tragedy they had lived through, it was an emotional time.
We left on the motorbikes a different way than we had come. We rode right along side of where the landslide had been. It had happened five months ago, but I would have believed yesterday. The trail of gravel and boulders is hard to explain, it was so much bigger than I could have imagined. I don't know what I expected, but I didn't really understand the raw power and devastation before seeing the effects right in front of me. The landslide had come through the town and obliterated anything in its way.
We returned to the hotel and got ready for church. Sam spoke that night to the small congregation, after we ate dinner with some of the members. We returned to the hotel to get some sleep for our last day.
Day 3
On our last day we tried to go on a hike to a waterfall, but by the time we arrived it was too late. We weren't permitted to go because it was too late in the day and therefore too dangerous. This is not an uncommon thing in Colombia. There are often certain hours where there are enough people and/or police where a path is deemed safe, and outside those hours it is not.
Instead we rode the motorbikes to a nearby river and parked. We hiked along the river for a bit, just exploring. Eventually we came back to where we had parked the bikes, the river was nicest there. We relaxed there for a while, there were some other people swimming. I decided to join them and jumped in, the water was cool and refreshing. Sam had to speak again at night so he spent some of this time by the river preparing.
We returned to the hotel, to pack our bags, wash up, and check out. Our bus left right after church ended, so we were leaving directly from the church to the bus station.
The service that night was at a different church, and this one was much larger. We were there early so I had a chance to hang out with some kids who were there as well. They seemed to be pretty interested in myself, English, and the United States in general. They particularly liked some of the foreign bills I showed them.
I was talking to the children when all of the sudden the lights went out. Power outages throughout the city were common since the landslide. The sun had already set so it was pitch dark, when my eyes had adjusted I walked outside. The sky above was incredible. All of the power in the city was gone, and another wasn't even close.
After a few minutes I returned to hanging out with the kids, this power outage would likely make a church service difficult. I was playing with the kids for a while when I started to hear people singing. I looked over and through the dark I could barely make out people standing, lit by a few cell phones and candles. I guess they knew the light wasn't coming back anytime soon so they might as well start. We of course couldn't use any electric instruments, microphones or speakers. Instead the music was an acoustic guitar, a cajón and our own voices. It sounded pretty cool echoing throughout the large room.
The singing subsided and Sam began to speak. He spoke as loud as he could and walked through the aisles and between people to try and ensure everyone could hear. This was nothing more than a minor inconvenience for them. I think that sometimes we look at any inconvenience as an excuse to forgo doing something entirely. Rather than what it really is, simply inconvenient.
The church service ended and the three of us slipped away in a car to the bus station. This time the bus was a straight shot back to Bogota and it drove through the night. By the time morning arrived, so had we.
It is amazing to see how a tragedy like this can be used by God. After the landslide the community was much more receptive to the gospel. Not only were people more open to the gospel, but it also brought the evangelical community in Mocoa together. There had never been a joint effort before, but after the disaster the local churches banded together to help and outreach to the community.
Church competition has always been something that really disappointed me when I saw it. As long as the truth is preached it should be a joint effort, not a competition. Remember, we're all on the same team, right? As much as seeing churches compete disappoints me, seeing them work together excites me.
I had some videos from the trip so I threw a few of them together. You can watch below.
Church competition has always been something that really disappointed me when I saw it. As long as the truth is preached it should be a joint effort, not a competition. Remember, we're all on the same team, right? As much as seeing churches compete disappoints me, seeing them work together excites me.
I had some videos from the trip so I threw a few of them together. You can watch below.
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