Dear friends and family,
Most of my updates have been so rushed and not filled with information about the actual ministry we’re doing that I decided to write something ahead of time before this internet café stop. Fortunately, Anna has her laptop here so I can use it to type something up and save it to my flash drive.
I think the best way to recap the first two weeks would be to introduce people and places that I’ve met and been to. I’ll start with the hosts. There are six hosts here in Cochabamba this summer.
Anna Hart is the leader of the group… she works for Children’s International Network (www.cinonline.org) full time, so she knows this place better than the rest of us. She has been a great friend of mine since college, and this trip has been a great chance for me to get to spend some good, quality time with her. Please pray for her to remain calm and patient with all the hiccups and schedule changes we’ll be facing all summer.
Katie Collman is the only other host who has been a host before. She was here last summer for a month, and is here this summer for a month. Katie is the girl who gives the tour on the video online. You should check it out. She is amazing, and that video captures the energy she has 24/7. Pray for her and her ministry with the boys… they adore her and she wants to truly share the love of God with them.
Cory Merman is a first time host but has been to Cochabamba four times now. He has been on several trips as a team member and bugged the staff enough this time to come as a host. Cory is a drowning survivor. When he was three, he was in a coma for 8 weeks. His mind is sharp as a tack, but his body doesn’t have the ability to keep up with it. Pray for him to keep his strength. He’s doing great so far, and I hope the next 6 weeks stay the same.
Kim Gorie is a student at Davidson, a school up in North Carolina. This is her first time out of the country, and she is doing an amazing job. She has studied Spanish in high school and in college, so the most help she’s needed from me is the difference between ser and estar or preterite and imperfect (if that doesn’t make sense to you, God Bless You… it’s an everyday struggle for us to remember which to use). Pray for Kim and her relationship with Marcelino… the boy she is sponsoring here. Marcelino has mood swings and she is effected by them daily.
Jon Wolf, also a student at Davidson, is leaving the country for the first time as well. He is an English Major (so he corrects grammar too!!! Yahoo!) and a music minor. He is an amazing jazz guitar player. We hit it off immediately, and it’s great to have a brother on this trip to talk to about just about anything. He didn’t know any Spanish when he got here, and he’s already having conversations with the boys! Pray for him in his relationship with his girlfriend back home. They are going through some tough stuff and it’s hard when you’re 4000 miles apart to correctly convey your feelings.
Gerson, a native Cochabambino, is the administrative director of the Bolivian Life Center. He works here forty hours a week during the year. When there are teams here, that number goes up to about 90 or 100. He’s always here and truly cares for each boy. He knows a little English, but only speaks Spanish to me. I guess that’s his way to keep me on my toes! Pray for Gerson to get rest and time away from work. He has family in town (45 minutes away) but doesn’t get to go home as often as he’d like.
Sandra, also a native Cochabambina, is the lady who runs all the medical records for the boys. She coordinates all the doctor visits, meets with each boy to distribute vitamins or medications, and knows every one of the stories behind how each boy came to live at the Life Center. Sandra is practically fluent in English, she has studied it at a local university. She has been a Godsend to us, since my ears don’t hear Spanish nearly as fast as they speak it down here! Pray for Sandra to also get some rest, as she’s here as much as Gerson is!
There are 64 boys, so I won’t go through all the names (although, yesterday in Church, Kim and I were able to come up with 63 of the names from memory!). I will, however, mention a few names so you can lift them up in prayer. Marcelino, I mentioned before has mood swings. He’s adorable but can be very sour at times! Roberto is one of my favorites. He’s the oldest of four boys who are all here together. He is protective of them and loves them so much. He’s a little past the age of hugs, but manages to ‘wrestle’ with me or with Jon so that he’s getting the same physical attention he would from a hug! Ervin, the littlest guy here, is three. He always wears the same boots, has the same runny nose and shines the same huge grin! I can’t understand half of what he says, but he’s adorable anyway! And finally, Victor. We had flash cards of each boy’s picture for the plane ride down. The only name I could remember when we got to the Life Center was Victor, and that’s because he was wearing a t-shirt with a Maryland Flag on it. Anna told us to try to memorize faces because they won’t always wear the same clothes. Fortunately, we got out of the truck the first day and there was Victor, wearing his Maryland shirt! I stepped down from the truck and looked straight at him and said, “Buenos Dias, Victor.” He looked at me like I was an alien. He’s only been here for a little over a month now, so I was one of the first Gringos he’d ever seen. And I knew his name! He didn’t like to be touched (most of the kids here have been physically and/or sexually abused) but within the first day, he and I had developed a relationship based upon cosquillas (tickles). Now, everytime he sees me, he comes running with a feisty look in his eyes to give me cosquillas, and he’s comfortable enough around the rest of the Gringos to jump on them and give them cosquillas. Thursday night, during a pizza party, I went into the office and signed up to sponsor him. I ran back in to tell him before he went to bed. At first, he wasn’t sure what I was telling him, but when it finally clicked, he jumped into my arms and hugged me! What a breakthrough!!
I mention Cochabamba but I should clarify that we’re not technically in Cochabamba all the time. Cochabamba is a city and a state. We haven’t left the state since we’ve arrived, but we are staying somewhere between the villages of Vinto and Sipe Sipe. We are sending this email from Quillacollo. We went to a park on Saturday to basically go mountain hiking in another village called Pirumaini. There is a village called Kara Kara (which is built on a landfill) where we do some Sidewalk Sunday Schools. The only time we are actually in Cochabamba is to go to church, the airport, the Christ Statue or the Market. It all looks very similar, but we’re learning to tell the difference between them.
Ok, one last thing since this is getting pretty long. We do Sidewalk Sunday Schools every afternoon Monday through Thursday. We meet with Diego, Marcos, Juana, Karena, and Daniela each day at the church to drive to a local village and share the gospel with the kids that might not go to a church. We do songs, skits, puppet shows and Bible stories. This is one of the best times for me to take pictures. The kids of this country are so stinking cute!!!
OK, I’m going to try to attach a picture or two this time. One of me and Victor and one of the some of the boys together. I know they won’t truly capture what I see everyday, but you’ll at least get a glimpse.

The Night Before

So, in less than 24 hours, I will be on the plane to Bolivia. I am very excited!

Tonight, I went to the Children's International Network office to have a meeting and dinner with the rest of the host team. Can I just say how amazing God is for bringing this group together? They are incredible (and I've only known four of them for the last few hours!)!! So, tomorrow night, Anna, Katie, Kim, Cory, Jon and I are leaving the Miami airport to fly through the night into Santa Cruz and then Cochabamba. Please pray for safe travel (although, as our small group decided on Sunday night, God will get us there safely because we're going to do His work). Also, as we are starting this trip, please pray for us to get acclimated quickly to the new environment that we will be encountering.

Life is good. God is good. Bolivia, here I come!

Que Dios les bendiga, les quiero mucho.

Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece. Filipenses 4:13

Still Stateside

I've decided it may be easier to make my updates by blogging. I was originally going to email myself every time I sent out an email. This seems to be much easier. Plus adding a picture now and again might work out better on a blog than on email.

So, I leave Tuesday night. It's now Friday morning. Four days has never seemed like such a short period of time. There's a lot to do yet, but I'm gonna work like a madman. :)

Since I still have a lot to do, I'll keep this first post brief. I'm going to run out to the store and pick up a few last-minute things, then back home to pack before my weekend excursion to Busch Gardens.

I appreciate all your prayers and look forward to sharing the amazing stories of what God is doing in my life in Bolivia with you all.

Que Dios les bendiga, les quiero mucho.

Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece. Filipenses 4:13