A new vehicle for our Colombia team had been funded since April. But after months of paperwork and bureaucratic delays in Colombia, our team was still waiting.
Then, just three days before a planned outreach into Venezuela, they finally received it.
Soon, that long-awaited vehicle was loaded with dresses and celebration supplies for a 14-hour journey from Cúcuta, Colombia to La Guaira, Venezuela, where 24 girls were waiting for a very special day.
The story began after powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24. Families in La Guaira lost homes and loved ones, and many were still living in temporary shelters months later.
Your support helped our Colombia co-Director, Mauricio, travel there to help coordinate relief efforts. During that visit, an idea took root: a shared quinceañera celebration for girls whose fifteenth-birthday milestones had been overshadowed by the disaster.
When he brought the idea to our Colombia director, Isabelina, she wondered how they could possibly pull it off. But after praying about it, she joined him in making it happen.
By the time they began loading the vehicle, her apprehension had given way to joy. She described a deep assurance that God would provide what they needed and bring them safely there and back.
Local church leaders helped Isabelina and Mauricio connect with the families. Volunteers, including neighbors who had themselves lost so much, pitched in with decorating, hair, makeup, and preparations for the traditional waltz.
On November 4, about 150 people gathered, including the girls and their closest family members.
There were beautiful dresses, tiaras, a shared meal, and a chance to celebrate together.
One of those girls was Flor, a young poet who survived the collapse of her family’s building.
Her parents had already paid for her fifteenth-birthday celebration before the disaster. Afterward, they lost that money, along with so much else.
In her poem, “Survivor,” Flor describes emerging from the rubble. These lines are translated from Spanish:
Seconds that became eternal,
buried, waiting for air.
It’s time to get out,
time to compel life to return.
Her words reveal something a photograph alone cannot: surviving a disaster and finding your way forward are not the same thing.
Isabelina told us that mothers kept approaching the team in tears of gratitude. A local volunteer leader described watching the girls begin to laugh and dance after months of carrying profound grief.
Parents joined them. Families shared smiles, embraces, and moments of joy.
One celebration couldn’t undo their losses. But it made room for something precious alongside their sorrow: beauty, friendship, and the experience of being loved and celebrated.
This is why we’re here: to put God’s love into action.
Sometimes that means helping coordinate relief. Sometimes it means making sure a girl who has lost so much still has a chance to be celebrated.
Your giving, prayers, and encouragement help faithful local leaders show up and respond with compassion. You helped put that vehicle on the road, and you help sustain the work that made this beautiful gathering possible.
We couldn’t do this without you. Thank you for helping lift spirits, nurture hope, and remind people they haven’t been forgotten.
We’re deeply grateful that we get to be part of this together.