From the very beginning, it felt like someone else was steering.
That’s how Laura and Nick Sharp describe the start of their journey with Mennonite Mission Network in La Mesa, Colombia. Even before they fully settled into life at Colegio Americano Menno and Iglesia Cristiana Menonita de Colombia (IMCOL—Colombian Mennonite Church), the signs of God’s guidance were hard to miss.
It started at the airport. Their connecting flight was delayed. Suddenly they had only about 10 minutes to race from one side of one of the largest airports in the United States to the other. Nick remembers sprinting toward a gate at the far end of the terminal, arriving with just minutes to spare. The gate agent insisted they would not make it. Somehow, they still boarded.
“The whole trip was kind of like that,” they recall. “Things just… working out. Coincidences.”
Once in Colombia, more pieces began falling into place in unexpected ways. The family had originally planned to live in a different part of town. That housing option fell through, and they ended up in a smaller apartment closer to the school their children, Jesse and Brielle, would attend.
On the daily walk to school, they met a woman who quickly became a friend. She was struggling with addiction. Laura’s background in social work and addiction counseling helped her notice what others might have missed. Around the same time, through Jesse’s soccer team, they met a local man in recovery who was passionate about helping others facing the same challenges.
None of these connections would have happened if the first housing option had worked out. They wouldn’t have met if their children hadn’t been involved in soccer. And Laura might not have recognized the woman’s struggle without her professional experience.
“All of these things sort of came together,” Laura said, “and we were like, ‘Oh wow, God is doing something here.’”
Rather than feeling they needed to fix everything themselves, Laura and Nick simply connected the two locals. A woman seeking help and a man passionate about recovery — both already part of the community — were brought together. In that simple act of introduction, the Sharps saw God’s work unfolding beyond their own efforts.
Laura and Nick, along with Jesse and Brielle, served with Mennonite Mission Network in partnership with the Mennonite church and Colegio Americano Menno in La Mesa, Cundinamarca. They provided English enrichment, academic support, and other gifts as needed at the school, while also walking alongside the congregation in music, children’s and youth ministry, and outreach.
Their story is a quiet reminder that mission often begins not with a perfect plan, but with open hands and attentive hearts. Sometimes the “wrong” apartment, a near-missed flight, or a child’s soccer practice become the very places where God weaves new relationships and new hope.
God is still at work — in La Mesa, and wherever people are willing to notice.
