Bolivia City Team 2015

Hi family, Francis here! We miss all of you like crazy, but are having so much fun here in Bolivia. We really wanted to update y'all daily, but have been so busy with doing God's work. So here is a synopsis of what our days have entailed...

Wednesday 6/24: A couple of people went furniture shopping for Iglesias Kairos with Vanessa, while another group stayed at the church to finish up painting and cleaning. The church looks amazing. Even though we are great painters now, we don't want our families getting any ideas! Of all the places to eat, today we ate Burger King for lunch. That's another thing… lunches here are eaten late in the day and the people take 2-3 hours for lunch time. All of the shops close for three hours. I want to take that aspect back home!

After that we went to meet with some ladies from El Alfarero, which is a University Student Help Center that has a branch similar to a Bolivian True to Life Ministries! Then we went to the University and  half of the team played a game called, Solarion with different students and the other half passed out flyers advertising El Alfarero and prayed with students. That game consists of a deck of cards with different images used to gain insight on each of the student's perspective and relationship with God. Even though we got kicked out by the security guards, it was such an amazing experience that impacted numerous students as well as ourselves.

We had the honor of not only attending bible study at Iglesias Kairos, but leading the bible study with a message on forgiveness. Rosie, Brittney, and I prepared fried pickles, a vegetable tray, and ranch dressing (which Bolivians LOVE) for the night. Everyone loved the fried pickles and ate every single one. We are going to have some Texans at heart over here!! Brittney was amazing and led our study with Chuy, Nancy, and I each giving our testimonies. Each of us gave a personal testimony in regards to forgiving ourselves, others and God.  Not sure what it is about telling your story, but even though it is tough, seeing the impact it has on someone else truly a blessing.

We continued to have fellowship with the people of the church and really got to know one another. When bible study ended we went to Boston Grill, with some of our new friends to have a late night dinner. We were tired, but if someone puts food in front of you here, you EAT IT!

Thursday 6/25: HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORAL!! This lady here is such an amazing person!

Woohoo! We got to sleep in a bit extra today. We have been super exhausted, but God continues to refuel us in every aspect. A couple of people started to feel sick with the weather change (it's cold and rainy) so we appreciated the extra rest. Brittney stayed home sick today with a horrible cold, so we are asking for prayers for healing.

Today, the gals and guys split up so we could get the finishing touches done. While the guys finished up the church, hanging things up and playing with power tools, us chica's went in to town for more supplies. When we finished up, we met up to have lunch together at Cafe Republica. We celebrated Coral's birthday and surprised her with a delicious cake.

After the celebration, we split up again to go back to work. We finalized everything that needed to be done for Iglesias Kairos' renovation. Iglesias Kairos now looks even more beautiful and with the church members  it all blows me away.

We were invited to visit a plant church in San Isidro and Chuy was asked to give a lesson on 'Jonah and the Whale' to the children. This church is in the middle of a yard owned by a gentleman named Manuel. It is sandwiched between two of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Santa Cruz. He gives the space so that people can hear the word of God every Thursday. The way the children praised and worshiped gave me such an overwhelming joy and the holy spirit was so evident as it moved amongst them.



Chuy was able to interact with the kids during the lesson and made them laugh. They were so excited when answering questions about the story and knew that God loved them to no limit. Some of the kids came to us and talked to us. Kids sure do have so many questions, but they were all so welcoming and full of joy after worshiping and listening to the lesson. The opportunity to love on these kids and receive the same from them is a blessing from our Lord.

The night ended with a yummy caldo that was made by our house mom, Noemi. There was no talking at the dinner table, because it was so good. Now, we are all gathered around the living room at the moment, discussing our day and sending you all greetings from Bolivia!
Buen Noche.

June 22, 2015 update!

Hey Hey Guys!!

This is Brittney! The past couple of days have been so great. Traveling to Santa Cruz, Bolivia was actually quite easy as far as getting to and through the airports. The overnight flight was a little rough for most of us and didn't come with much actual rest, but we made it!!! When we arrived on Sunday morning we were greeted by Danny, Vanessa, their son Isaiah, and Pablito- a friend from the church that will be helping the city team!! This group of people were so warm and welcoming, it was refreshing to get off of an airplane after long travels to such sweet people! We left the airport and went straight to Kairos Iglesias (the church that we will be helping with). Kairos (pronounced "ky-rose") is a German word meaning time. So the church name basically means God Time or Time with God. It was amazing to go to this church service and worship with this group that God has chosen for us to work with and for! The service was about how everything will happen in God's way in his timing. No matter what you have planned for yourself, God is going to make things happen that are for his greater cause. We have to be completely open to God and even though sometimes it is not easy, or not what we had planned, we follow his plan. We praised our Lord and worshipped. Just being in this church, the people there were so loving and grateful that we were there. I've never met friendlier people!! The rest of Sunday we went to eat and then to the house to rest and spend time together. The Pastors and their wives came to our home Sunday night. We got to know their stories and how they all came together and how they came to Kairos. We ate dinner together, shared stories, a lot of hugs, and laughter. Monday morning the City team went to the church to start getting some work done and the wells team left for the town where they will be staying (about 5 hours away from the city team).  In the time we spent at the church on Monday we all got to know each other better, started to form some amazing bonds, and surprisingly got a lot more accomplished than we thought we would. We are starting to see a little bit of what God has in store for us and it is incredible to see a small piece of his great picture!!

We have more work left to do at Kairos, evangelism planned at the university, and we are leading the worship service on Wednesday night! Tons of exciting things happening. We can't wait to see what all is in store for this week and to share it with all of y'all!

2015 Kickoff

Hey guys!!! Michelle here.

We made it to Bolivia on time and with all of our luggage this year…woo-hoo! We went straight from the airport to a church service at Iglesia Kairos. It was incredible…a member of the team will tell you more about that in another post!

After church, we walked to the "social club" in downtown Santa Cruz to have a buffet style lunch. Chicken & veggies, rice, peanut soup…it was quite a smorgasbord. It felt good to sit down, drink some water, and eat some food.

Then we came and got settled in at the guest house…it felt good to stretch out on a bed for a little bit and check in with you guys back home! Then Thomas Lee, Nathan Mitterling, and I went with Danny Beams (our missionary host) to the Hipermaxi to pick up some groceries for the well-drilling team. We got some fruit, cereal, oatmeal, coffee, tea….you know, all the super healthy stuff that well drillers need for sustenance. And also some Oreos. :)

After that the whole team had an orientation with Vanessa Beams (our missionary hostess) to learn more about Bolivia and "hot climate" cultures. Great stuff! Then the pastors from Iglesia Kairos and their families joined us for dinner! Rotisserie chicken, fries, & fried rice. One of the ladies, Vivi, brought dessert…I would call it a snickerdoodle cupcake and it was as delicious as you're thinking it was.

Then we finished cleaning up and hit the hay……

This morning we found out that our two additional teammates, Scott & John, will not be able to join us. There were problems with the plane and the soonest they would have been able to get here was Wednesday. :( We are all very disappointed, but know that God was not caught off-guard.

The city team just left with Vanessa to start their work for the day at Iglesia Kairos…painting! Cody Mueck and Chuck Pate went with one of our helpers for the week, Pablo, to pick up some extra supplies for sharing our faith with the villagers where the well site will be. The "Evangecube" is very effective here and they're also getting some Bibles to leave with the families we get to meet.

Thank you for joining us in Bolivia through prayer…you are truly every bit as much a participant in what God is doing here as anybody on the team. We love you!

Stay tuned for more this week...

Friday morning update

Here is a pic of the team. In between John and Michelle are Rudy and Erna Friesen, who have been our gracious hosts this week. They have kept us well fed and rested at The Bridge, a dorm and conference center building located about an hour drive from Santa Cruz that they use to minister to mission teams, local teams, churches, and others. 

On Monday through Thursday we divided into 2 teams and drilled 2 wells and helped lay brick to expand a church. We were joined during the week by Pastor David Fuertes (far right in pic). A team from Agua Yaku drilled a well near Pastor David's church a few years ago. He explained that since then he has felt compelled to learn more about ways to minister to other Bolivians. He joined us to help with the projects and learn more about mission trip logistics.

Thursday night we left The Bridge and drove back to Santa Cruz. Today we plan to spend some time in the city.

The team is doing well and we have had a lot of fun together.

Thank You Gift

We just received a thank you gift from the members of the church where we helped with construction this week. They told us they were thankful for our help and look forward to working with and seeing us again. Here we are in our new shirts.

A couple of pics...

The first well site:

Construction at the church:

Thursday

Update from Nathan::

Finished work @ well & church & drove to SC. Staying @ Agua Yaku guest house. Wifi is not working tonight. Team is great. Having lots of fun. Plan to shop tom & maybe visit sand dunes. Hopefully wifi will work tom. 

Wednesday Update

Here's the latest update from the Bolivia Team. They will have access to wifi either tonight or tomorrow, so y'all should get more detailed update very soon. 

Here's a brief text I got from Nathan last night...Going to bed after long day. Good progress @ well & church. Will finish tom & drive to SC in the evening (should have wifi there!). Adam & Cody have been beasts @ the well site. Went to church tonight where we're working. Daniel, Cody & Laura shared testimonies/stories. John & I sang (mostly John- he brought songs but no one else would join him!). We all laughed ALOT about it. 2 girls from the church sang "10,000 Reasons." Precious. 

Keep praying for them as they finish today! It sounds like they are having a great time. 

SC=Santa Cruz 

Arrival in Bolivia - Finally!

Posted Sunday, June 22 (updated June 27)

Nathan here.  The team is in Bolivia!  Weather delays in Miami caused us to reroute our trip. We arrived in Bolivia this morning (Sunday) at 3:30, about 18 hours, a hotel stay in Miami and an impromptu trip through Lima, Peru, later!  We are doing well. Tomorrow we will begin construction and drilling a well. We praise God that we arrived and are excited about the week ahead.

2014 Team Departure

Our 2014 BPF short term mission trip team has departed, en route to Bolivia.  This years activities will include construction projects and water well drilling outside the city of Santa Cruz.   We have 3 teenagers and 7 adults on the team.  Several returning Bolivia, Kenya, Cambodia mission team veterans.  But also several first time participants.

God's mission is never delayed.   We however have been rescheduled in our flight plans. Due to weather problems in Miami last night, we are planning to arrive a day later, at 2pm on Sunday.  

Pray that we would remain focused on serving others and growing individually.  More later...

An Evening With the Beams!

On Monday evening, our Bolivia Team (made up of past & present trip participants) was able to spend time with Danny & Vanessa Beams (our missionary partners) right here in southern Brazoria County!  It was such a fun night of eating, hanging out, meeting families, and hearing updates.  Although we'll miss them (they'll still be stateside) when we go on our trip, it was great to see them beforehand and we're looking forward to working with their co-workers!

To learn more about the Beams and their work:  http://beamsclan.blogspot.com/

Sooo...what exactly will our team be doing while we're there??  We'll be working with our partner organization, Agua Yaku (http://aguayaku.org/) to drill water wells in rural communities.  This will not only bring clean water to that community, it also opens doors for the local pastors to share and minister in that community.  Please be praying that not only will God's love be shown, but that His truth would also be heard!

Here is a picture that Danny took last year!

More to come!
Michelle

Easy as Pie (Wednesday in Santa Cruz)

3 Apple, 2 Pecan, 2 Buttermilk

We spent all day on Wednesday in Vanessa's kitchen baking, baking, and baking to get ready for Thursday night's dinner and Friday night's sale.  Not pictured above are 3 chocolate sheet cakes (sheet? sheath?  I never know the difference), and 2 bundt cakes (which inspired many "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" references).

It was a crazy, laughy, flour-covered day.

Incidentally, I totally just Wikipediad the phrase "easy as pie" and my suspicions were confirmed.  It refers to the eating of pie...not the making of it.

Back im the USA

So we all got back on the states auccesfully. Only a few of us got sick on the trip. Myself included. Nothing slowed us down though. It is good to be home but I miss Bolivia and our friends there already. The transition home sale was a big success.  The ministry of EFCCM reaches much farther into Bolivia than I ever knew and is present in many cities there. It was interesting to hear about all the powerful thjgs God is doing there. Hope to go back soon and I hope many more will come. We eveb went to South Beach tonight for dinner. Too bad we only had time to stick out toes in the sand

Well team returns!

We just got back from Yapiroa!  What an awesome time. 3 wells successfully completed and the Guarani people are fantastic. It is hard to tell you how hospitable they are and how welcome they make us feel. Every day a different well and a different family slaughtered a goat or sheep for our lunch. Definitely some hard work and good eating. I am very proud to be part of such a great team. Everyone pulled together to overcome all obstacles. From old to young it was amazing. Last night we had church service, sang, and gave testimony (Robert R. and Kent E.). It was fantastico!  Our host team was the best as well. Danny, Marcus, Andrew, and Stephen. I wish everyone could be here. It is hard for me to understand how the Guarani/Bolivian people can be so nice and accepting. I wonder if we would treat missionaries the way they treat us. They may not have a lot possession wise but they are generous and sharing with everything. When we had no plares, they gave us theirs. When we had no gas for cooking they gave us theirs. When we had no bread they made bread for us. Anything we needed they found a way to provide. God may use us to bring them clean water but He uses them to give us much more!  It us really they who minister to us. Showing us what it really means to be content in all circumstances.

Tuesday (in Santa Cruz)

We spent the entire morning on Tuesday shopping for supplies for cooking and baking!  We're having a "Texas Dinner" on Thursday night for all of the transition home staff and all of the girls who have stayed there over the past 2 years.  It's going to be a great time of experiencing each other's cultures while serving them and just having fun. And then on Friday we're having a bake sale.

We started out at the big-outdoor-people everywhere-loud-bustling-multicolored-market.  And it was a blast!  We not only bought a ton of ingredients for the dinner and the bake sale, but we also purchased some things to make table decorations.  We got 4 little chili pepper bushes, some cacti, and some succulents...along with some clay pots and containers...and some "chicken straw."  Then Debra and Vanessa arranged it all later back at the home...they turned out so cute! Debra was so in her element looking at plants and thinking through how to arrange them...I was having fun just from seeing her get so into it!  (Pictures later!) Also at the market, Debra and I used the public restroom which required a couple of coins.  These coins got you a little stack of toilet paper and access to the toilets.  Not too shabby.

Then we had lunch at the home.  One of the girls had prepared it for us.  It was seasoned rice with some different vegetables...kind of like fried rice.  Then you put some fried plantains and a fried egg on top...delicious!

We spent the rest of the afternoon making t-shirts with crosses and bleach...well really, we spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out the best way to make the t-shirts :) and sewing more headbands.  Oh, and we also brought stuff to make S'mores for the girls.  They LOVED them...like licked-the-plate LOVED them.  We kept working on t-shirts and headbands for the evening then we left to have dinner at the Irish pub again, where we had a Bolivian dish that is very "Santa Cruz" apparently.  It's called Pique Macho...or something to that effect.  It's beef, veggies, and sauce served on top of fries.  Then we strolled around the plaza again!

Monday (in Santa Cruz)

On Monday morning, we moved from the hotel to a guest house that is owned and operated by one of the missions in town.  Then we went and visited the orphanage, Talita Cumi.  It's a Christian home for children 5-18 years old. They come from backgrounds of abandonment, abuse, and other situations necessitating "rescue."  A few of the children are technically orphans, but most of them were rescued. 

Most of the kids were in school while we were there, but we got to meet the staff and see the home.  The kids are able to wash their own clothes (for the most part :)), prepare meals, and keep things tidy.  This is one of the only homes that is equipped to take both boys and girls and it's pretty impressive to see the way the staff is able to take care of all these kids.  They are so thorough and they love the kids.

We went downtown to purchase materials to make some headbands to sell with the girls in the transition home. They are super cute...we'll post some pictures later.  Then we had lunch at an Irish pub on the plaza where we enjoyed some great Bolivian food :)

That afternoon we finally got to go to the transition home and meet some of the girls and staff!!!!  They are so sweet and were so excited to have us there. We brought over all the things that we had purchased in the U.S. to make greeting cards with the girls (also to sell) and they jumped right in and started decorating them and playing with all the art supplies.  It was so great to see some of the things we've been talking about and planning for come to fruition!  But that wasn't even my favorite part of the day...

Carlette (who has been on the Bolivia trip before, but couldn't come this year) had sent some cards for the girls and staff...they LOVED seeing these and trying to read them in English...then getting someone to translate them.  She also sent some pictures from hers and Ben's wedding, which they LOVED.  They thought all the flowers were so beautiful.  She also made a little quilt to surprise Dorcas,one of the transition home staff members who is expecting a baby.  She was SO EXCITED!  It was such a great reminder that the most important thing here is to just show the girls and the staff how valuable they are...not only to us...but to Jesus.  Relationship is everything here...more than making headbands, more than making cards. Please be praying that all of these girls would come to know how much Jesus loves them and how valuable they are in His eyes. 

Michelle

Sunday

We all went to Trinity International Church on Sunday morning.  This is where a lot of the missionaries with various other organizations go.  The service was in English, but a headset was available to Spanish-speakers for listening to everything in Spanish.  I have no idea how that works, but I think it's pretty cool.  The timing was great because we got to experience the Lord's Supper AND a baptism service.  It's so cool to experience these two symbolic practices in another place.

The guys headed out to the well site immediately after the service was over.  Vanessa said that we probably won't be able to hear from them in this particular location.  I can't WAIT to hear their stories and takeaways from the experience.  They'll be in tomorrow, but we may not see them until pretty late or even Friday just because of not knowing when exactly they'll be in...and we'll be busy working at the transition home.  Danny was hoping that they would be able to dig THREE wells in this particular community!

The ladies spent the afternoon with Vanessa and Lucy (the Beams' daughter).  We went and saw more of Santa Cruz, including a really awesome view of the city and the jungle and the mountains from the very top of a bird sanctuary inside a park.  Very cool.

Please be praying...

- ...that the community where the wells are being drilled would see Jesus in the guys and through their work.
-...for the people of Trinity International Church as they are transitioning into having a new pastor.

More to come...
Michelle