On July 25th, 2012, Park Street Church sent 15 youth and 4 adults to Medellin, Colombia for a short-term missions trip.
Their mission? To teach ESL to 150+ high school students from a local public school (Colegio Villa Flora) located literally next door to the Biblical Seminary of Colombia, to perform in front of hundreds of children/youth sharing the gospel through song and drama, to co-sponsor a concert open to the seminary community, the local school and invited guests and finally to sacrificially give of their sweat and tears while clearing away years of trash and construction debris from the seminary campus and painting the front entrance walls.
The result? Accolades from all sides. The Villa Flora students were so appreciative of the obvious preparation and time invested into their lives from people from another country. They kept asking “why are these kids doing this?”. The seminary community was so thankful for the facelift as well as the monies donated which have provided new tools (shovels, wheelbarrows, pick axes, paint brushes, etc.) and plenty of paint to continue the facelift for months to come. The Karakeys were thankful for the visit and the continued partnership with Park Street Church. The Karakey kids were especially thankful to spend quality time with their youth group and to be able to show them a little of their life here in Colombia.
More details? Thanks to Kris Perkins (who wrote an amazing ESL program and provided the leadership to pull of such a wonderful trip) there is a wonderfully written blog with more details and great photos. Please visit it! Park Street Church Colombia Blog