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New York City – Day 5 of 31
In the morning we met out at Iglesia Nueva Vida in Queens. We did some work to help the church prepare for their three day evangelical concert that starts tonight. After that we met with Pastor Orlando Galeano of Nueva Vida. Pastor Orlando had one of the most amazing testimonies we’ve ever heard.At 16 Orlando emigrated illegally from Columbia to the U.S. In his first few months he slept on the streets, avoided the police and was attacked by the KKK. He moved to Alaska and got a good paying job. After several years in Alaska he was deported back to Columbia where he got involved in drug running. He became a major player in the Columbian drug circles. While in Columbia he murdered dozens of people, sometimes just for sport. He was forced to go on the run to avoid authorities. He spent several years in Europe under false identities. He came back to the U.S. and got involved again in heavy drug running. He became a Christian, changed his life, and got married. He was ultimately pardoned for all his crimes by the U.S. and Columbian governments. He personally tracked down and apologized to the families of everyone he killed. He became a Pastor, and now works at a church of 800 people. He has helped plant churches in over 25 countries…including the town in Columbia where he did most of his killing.
In the afternoon we returned to our “home” church where we participated in a class on church planting by Bill Yarbrough.Check back frequently in July as we will be sharing lots of stories and pictures from our month in New York City.