I am so blessed to have my own church family here this week. Eleven members of my church (as well as Kim´s mom and Kirsten´s brother) are here this week working at the Life Center. None of them speak spanish :) but they are off to an amazing start. They just took all 80 boys to get ice cream after church (this is the first time the boys have had ice cream this year). We´re looking forward to a great week with them.

the team that just left friday was from the youth group at Christ Fellowship. I had an amazing time with them and was sorry to see them go. My kids from King´s impressed me so much with their dedication to the boys and their hard work in everything they did. I´m so proud of them!

I don´t have a whole lot of time, but I want to thank you all for the emails you´ve sent. the encouragement i´ve received has been exactly what i needed to hear every time i read it. Please, email me when you think of it. I may not be able to respond to them all, but i will definitely appreciate reading them. :)

I hope everyone is doing well. Please remember to pray for us down here in Bolivia. There is a lot to do and not too much time left. :)

Love to you all.
Adam-Geuder-Tio Azul

since i emailed from the airport, i don´t have much of an update yet. but i´ll let you know what´s happening so far.

the christ fellowship youth group is here. it´s great to see some familiar faces from last year´s trip as well as the five king´s kids here (COlton Jones, Priscilla Babrick, Megan Kintz, Lauren Bender and Zack Lowe). We´re having a great time so far. They were lucky enough to have Jeffrey DeLeon as a guest speaker last night at the church´s youth service. he´s from the states and translated his own sermon as he went to the team could follow. :)

Trevor is here too... he´s a good friend who i went to africa with three years ago. it´s fun to see him in bolivia now! also kirsten´s little brother chris is here too. they are both here for two weeks so when my church´s team arrives, they´ll both be here to join them!

i´m heading to the phones in a minute to try and make a call or two. in the meantime, happy father´s day, dad (and any other fathers reading this) and keep up the prayers. they have helped more than you can imagine!

God is doing amazing things here. God bless you all, and i love you!

adam/geuder/tio azul

week one is just about done.

Içm in the airport. for some reason my apostrophe is coming out like a french c with the thing hanging below. also i cançt use parentheses. oy. no exclmation points either. my style is cramped. sheesh

weçre dropping off the first team. andy and i are here with them. the second team arrived this morning. anna and kirsten went to pick them up. kim and matt stayed behind to clean up the apartemnt in between teams since there is approximately a twenty minute lapse between the one team leaving and the next arriving. kennedy, bless her heart, is not feeling well and took a much needed rest.

this team has truly tested me this week. there were a lot of Ts in that sentence. :D there are twelve of them. some i have come to love dearly. others have tried me every step of the way. i know this is a way for God to help me to grow. but itçs hard. my main goal as part of the host staff is to assist them team in their ministry and minister to their needs. my patience with them has been pushed to the limit, though, and even though they are waiting to get on a plane, i would truly appreciate your prayers. i donçt want the emotions içm struggling with now to cause me to treat the other teams differently. last summer i was here for about a month to five weeks before i cried the first time. içve cried three times this summer already and içve been here for nine days.

many have asked for an update on victor so here it is: heçs the MOST adorable kid in the life center. and if youçve seen my pictures from last year and thought he was cute, just wait. he has gotten better. He came running up to me the first day and threw his arms around me and i struggled to not lose it right then. he has his front teeth again, thank goodness. and his smile is enough to brighten any mood. thatçs good with the week içve had. he has friends this summer too. last year he was so new that he didnçt know many of th eboys. this year i see him with another kid each time i see him. i have been so blessed to spend this week with him. içm very excited about strengthening our bond throughout the summer too. one absolutely amazing thing that i learned when i arrived is that his cousin is here! (i found the punctuation i love) Josue Brando Torrico is one of our new boys. he is a grande (meaning he is one of the older boys) and at some point before the BLC they lived under the same roof (with a grandparent i think). he doesn´t have a sponsor yet so if anyone is interested! (hint, hint www.cinonline.org) it is so great to see them together!

thanks for all your prayers. the christ fellowship youth group is here this week. 24 plus my friend Trevor and Kirsten´s little brother Chris. i´m prettty excited about what God is gonna do. Keep praying.

God is Great and worthy to be praised. I must decrease so HE may increase!

love to all.

estoy aqui

hey everyone, i am alive and well in bolivia. after a day of altitude sickness i am back to normal, por fin! (finally)
the trip has been great so far. we´ve had a lot of fun as a host staff preparing for the first team. they came in friday when i was sick in bed, but since then i´ve have a good time catching up with the returning crew from last year and meeting the new team members. they are here from Christ Fellowship in Royal Plm Beach... right around the corner from me at home. They have some doctors and dentists here to work with the boys. I´m hoping for a lot of good things from this team!
Some quick shoutouts (did i really just use that term?!) since i don´t have a whole lot of time:
pino, julie fuselier, and jon wolf... in my day of sickness, you all came to visit me. i know i was dreaming and in a state of somewhat loopiness but each of you came to see me and ask how i was doing. i truly believe that God speaks to us in dreams, and i think that was His way of reminding me that people are out there caring about me even if they don´t know exactly why or how. Thanks!
Caleb, one of our hosts, Andy, reminds me a lot of you. if you can´t be here in bolivia enjoying this, at least i have someone here to laugh and talk with like you!
Tay - sorry you look funny, but i´m glad you better! :)
FBCRPB - i can´t wait to see you in a couple weeks. please don´t make a big deal out of my birthday. i think i mentioned that before, but just to be sure, if you want to do something, don´t make it huge. this summer is not about me...it´s about HIM! :)
mom and dad a- i´m probably not going to call this week, this is a small team and i don´t know if i´ll get to a phone. i love you both and will talk to you soon! make sure you have your phones around this time on sundays!!!
everyone else, thanks for your prayers. keep them up. the boys are struggling with a lot of spiritual warfare... eight year olds sould not be dealing with depression and we have several who are. some of these boys are really struggling and they need all the prayer they can get. also pray for our teams as they come through. there is work to be done and they need strength to make it!
love to you all! until next week!
tio azul\adam\geuder

Buying the Beds

There are so many ways that the boys in Bolivia need our help. One very current need are beds.

We are currently full to capacity but that is limited only by the number of beds we have. There are 80 boys and 80 beds. Our Life Center can hold 200 as long as we have a spot for them.

So, here's how you can help. Buy a bed! :) Each one is $250 for bed frame, matress, pillow, sheets, etc. Everything they need. If you can't afford one, there's an option to donate toward a bed.

Go to http://cinonline.org/may08miraclegrow.html if you're interested in helping out. The information is there and there are links at the bottom to make donations.

I hate asking people for money. It's not my style. But this could change a boy's life forever. :)

Pray about it. Then if you feel led, make a donation. Let me know if you decide to donate and i will let you know if we get new boys this summer because of that donation! :)

THANKS!!

T minus 3 days

It's Saturday night. Three days from right now, I'll be on a plane to Bolivia! Praise the Lord! I've been waiting for this day for so long! There are so many things I'm looking forward to when I return to my second home. One of the greatest one is finally getting to see Victor again. When I decided to sponsor him last summer, I thought that it was a great thing... something that would truly benefit him and his childhood. I never realized just how much it would affect me as well.
There are few days that go by that I don't think about Victor. I keep his picture on my desk at school. He is the first person I remember when I pray. I seriously doubt that anyone I care about isn't aware of my "adopted" son. I thank God every day that I have someone to care about in such a special way. And now, I'm less than four days away from being reunited with him. :)

Leaving a Mark

Bolivia has left it's mark on me. When I spent 7 weeks there last summer, my life was changed. I met four other hosts who I fell in love with. I got to spend a lot of time with my best friend, Anna. I found out that I have 64 little brothers/cousins/nephews/sons who live outside of a small village in Bolivia called Sipe Sipe. I got to know so many Bolivians in addition to the boys... Sandra, Gerson, Julia, Marcos, Diego, Juana, Corina, Jorge, Sergio, Pastor David, Arlet, Aurora. I could go on and on. All of these people touched my life, changed my thinking and molded my heart to something new. Beyond the people I met, however, the country of Bolivia itself was what inspired me to show people the mark that was left on me. I doubt any of my students are unaware of how I spent my summer. I talk about the trip incessantly. I also (until yesterday) had a picture of each boy on the walls of my classroom. My church family knows about the trip too. I sing on stage almost every week, so when I was not at church at all for almost two months, I think almost everyone was aware that I was in South America. My family knows. They were the first people I asked for prayer. They were the first I added to my email list to update them on the trip. But I come in contact with a lot of people who don't already know about the work we do in Bolivia. So, after months of pondering and considering, I decided to make a permanent mark to symbolize the way Bolivia has affected me. Therefore, I got another tattoo. :)
It's on the inside of my left bicep. It's about three inches by two inches. It's a thumbprint. I found a print online (no, it doesn't actually match anyone's thumb... it's artistically created) and recolored it. I took the colors of the Bolivian flag (Red, Yellow and Green) and changed the original black to match the flag. As you can see in the picture, the red portion of the print is at the bottom of the tattoo (closest to my elbow). The flag has the red at the top. No, it's not a mistake. When I considered what to get as a tattoo, I read a lot about flags. When the US flag is flown upside down, I learned, it is not a symbol of disrespect, but rather a sign of distress. It indicates that a life is in danger and help is needed. So, I made my thumbprint match the Bolivian flag upside down... because Bolivia has so many children who are living in the streets, who are doing whatever it takes to care for their families and we as North Americans have the ability to help them. So, I have an eternal reminder of the need of the Bolivians, and I have a way to start conversations with anyone who sees it.
I leave for Bolivia again in ten days. I'll reunite with the 64 boys I love, meet the 16 that I don't know yet but I already love and spend time ministering to the Bolivian people. Please pray for me, for the hosts, for Anna and for each of the missions teams that are coming to the Life Center this summer. God will do amazing things!