Yup. This weekend is Mother´s Day here in Bolivia and it´s almost as big as Christmas! lol...we´ve now been to ... uh...at least three Mother´s day celebrations which are the coolest! HAPPY MOTHER´S DAY MOMMY BOVEN, WILSON, HAMILTON, HUTT and PHILIP :)
So sorry about not updating this for the past week! Man..time gets away before you know it. Our week was pretty packed between going to school every morning; monday and tuesday afternoon we spent at La Casa De Amistad (a school for kids who´s parents are in jail...one of the most heartbreaking things i´ve ever had to do was walk tiny kids back to jail after school was done to go back to their mom or dad for the night....); monday evening we played horrible volleyball with the church league; tuesday evening we had a surprise good bye party for Ivan who left for Canada; wednesday we were at school in the morning, painted at the seminary, and went to the Mother´s Day service at the church; thursday we were at school for the morning, painting at the seminary at night; friday at school we spent the morning gettting ready for the Mother´s Day celebration at night, left to go painting at the seminary, and then back to the school for the celebration. It was so wonderful to see the kids we´ve been working with in a different light and meet their parents and stuff...
and today we took some time this morning to practice worship for tomorrow (we are leading it for the english service in the morning) and then went to Jireh for their Mother´s day celebration and then to babywashing in the center square, and tonight to the church for a youth meeting.
So yeah...that´s pretty much it in a nutshell...our last three days are pretty full, and just so you know, we are actually leaving cochabamba earlier wednesday to make sure we get our connecting flight to Miami. So we´re leaving around noonish and will have to spend the day in the Santa Cruz airport waiting for our overnight flight.
Oh yeah...and one more thing. we are now sleeping in a hostel across the road. The place we´ve been (the Baptist Center) had been rented out before we got switched to coming here, so we had to move. It´s all good!! and we have seperate rooms..none of this all one room stuff...no worries :)
Love you all dearly! Have a wonderful day tomorrow!
Love from your buddies over here :)
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Saturday, May 19, 2007
¡ TITICACA !
Hola everyone,
The reason for our lack of updates for the last few days is due to the fact that we have been in La Paz since Thursday morning. We left early Thursday morning for the highest capital city in the world (La Paz), and the highest salt-water lake in the world (lake Titicaca).
The drive to La Paz was scary, to say the least, we needed to climb to 11000 ft. above sea level up mountains on roads with hairpin turns, broken gaurdrails and memorial crosses everywhere. I was, as always, the most calm and collected member of the group during this terrifying time (by that I mean, I may or may not have passed out a few times... haha). As you can all tell, we did live to tell about it (barely, haha). Dispite the fear which gripped me for the majority of the ride, the view was breathtaking... and after 8 hours of travel we made it to La Paz.
While in La Paz we had the opportunity to visit the local market where we saw the locals and experienced more of the sad truth that Bolivia is the poorest country in South America. We also saw many shops which sold Incan idols, good luck charms, spiritual remedies and dead animals to sacrifice to the earth. We also saw lake Titicaca, where the Bolivians don´t swim (because the lake is sacred), and we got to see some reed boats and the people who live on the lake making boats and goods to sell. The encouraging thing about the natives at lake Titicaca was that the majority of them were evangelical Christians. The influence of the Baptist church in the Titicaca farming areas was huge and we saw several churches in Titicaca.
We are now back in Cochabamba after another long day of travelling and we are preparing for another night of baby washing in the city square followed by young-adults Bible study and fellowship this evening... Anyways, Ivan is here to pick us up, so we are off for now.
Ciao,
- Felipè
The reason for our lack of updates for the last few days is due to the fact that we have been in La Paz since Thursday morning. We left early Thursday morning for the highest capital city in the world (La Paz), and the highest salt-water lake in the world (lake Titicaca).
The drive to La Paz was scary, to say the least, we needed to climb to 11000 ft. above sea level up mountains on roads with hairpin turns, broken gaurdrails and memorial crosses everywhere. I was, as always, the most calm and collected member of the group during this terrifying time (by that I mean, I may or may not have passed out a few times... haha). As you can all tell, we did live to tell about it (barely, haha). Dispite the fear which gripped me for the majority of the ride, the view was breathtaking... and after 8 hours of travel we made it to La Paz.
While in La Paz we had the opportunity to visit the local market where we saw the locals and experienced more of the sad truth that Bolivia is the poorest country in South America. We also saw many shops which sold Incan idols, good luck charms, spiritual remedies and dead animals to sacrifice to the earth. We also saw lake Titicaca, where the Bolivians don´t swim (because the lake is sacred), and we got to see some reed boats and the people who live on the lake making boats and goods to sell. The encouraging thing about the natives at lake Titicaca was that the majority of them were evangelical Christians. The influence of the Baptist church in the Titicaca farming areas was huge and we saw several churches in Titicaca.
We are now back in Cochabamba after another long day of travelling and we are preparing for another night of baby washing in the city square followed by young-adults Bible study and fellowship this evening... Anyways, Ivan is here to pick us up, so we are off for now.
Ciao,
- Felipè
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Hola
...and that´s the beginning of my limited Espaniol. lol. This is Kristen coming to you...finally again to update you all on how we´ve been doing. There´s just so much, but I´ll try to fill you in as best I can.
We are all healthy! Praise the Lord for that! There is nothing worse than puking, pooing and sleeping all day to make for a long one...but as of right now we feel right back to normal. We are heading to La Paz tomorrow which is a few thousand feet higher than we are now, so we are praying that we won´t get altitude sickness in the next few days.
We´ve been at the Baptist school every morning helping with classes any way we can. Ryan´s in love with the kindergarten kids, Phil´s an awesome English teacher, and the rest of us go where we´re needed....or pulled and prodded to go by the children:) We spent yesterday afternoon painting the principal´s office which was an absolute blast! and very encouraging for the principal to have an office that´s now been painted within the last 50 years...
The afternoons are filled however and wherever we can find a place to work. We´ve been to Jire a couple times and just hung out with the kids. It´s a ministry that gives shoeshiner kids and kids that spend more time working than doing school a place to go after school and get help with homework. There are ESL classes at the church Ivan goes to that we sat in and helped one night. The guys went and sang at the six hour praise night that night I was in bed sleeping my grossness away. Saturday we got to go wash babies in the center park. SO cool!!! This missionary couple comes every saturday and sets up a tent with five or so little plastic tubs in it to wash kids in. All the mothers line up with the kids outside and one my one they are taken inside the tent, washed and given new clean clothes and then get milk and bread. It was one of the most incredible things I´ve ever seen done!!!
Amoung our ministry opportunities, Ivan has been introducing us to different aspects of culture by taking us different places. We went and saw the Christo (a massive statue of Jesus that looks out over the city of Cochabamba), he took us to the market and gave us some funky fruit that had the hugest seeds in it EVER..but it tasted good..and if you are ever sick, rumour has it to drink ´coka tea´. That would be tea make out of the leaves from coke plants. Sounds a bit sketchy, but it actually is the natural cure for pretty much everything around here!
I realize this is pretty condensed and not really that detailed, but I hope it gives a bit of an update for you!
Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouraging comments...especially the ones from when we were sick...they were super cute :) Please keep us in your prayers as we head out to La Paz tomorrow till Saturday and as we continue to be seeking and learning new things. There are times it all seems so overwhelming, but we are continually reminded that even though we´re halfway across the world...or is it the whole way??? I don´t know...it´s too late to be thinking....anyway, even though we´re so far from home, God remains the same. He is working just as powerfully here as there and has been holding us just as close as ever.
Love you all in Christ,
Kristen
We are all healthy! Praise the Lord for that! There is nothing worse than puking, pooing and sleeping all day to make for a long one...but as of right now we feel right back to normal. We are heading to La Paz tomorrow which is a few thousand feet higher than we are now, so we are praying that we won´t get altitude sickness in the next few days.
We´ve been at the Baptist school every morning helping with classes any way we can. Ryan´s in love with the kindergarten kids, Phil´s an awesome English teacher, and the rest of us go where we´re needed....or pulled and prodded to go by the children:) We spent yesterday afternoon painting the principal´s office which was an absolute blast! and very encouraging for the principal to have an office that´s now been painted within the last 50 years...
The afternoons are filled however and wherever we can find a place to work. We´ve been to Jire a couple times and just hung out with the kids. It´s a ministry that gives shoeshiner kids and kids that spend more time working than doing school a place to go after school and get help with homework. There are ESL classes at the church Ivan goes to that we sat in and helped one night. The guys went and sang at the six hour praise night that night I was in bed sleeping my grossness away. Saturday we got to go wash babies in the center park. SO cool!!! This missionary couple comes every saturday and sets up a tent with five or so little plastic tubs in it to wash kids in. All the mothers line up with the kids outside and one my one they are taken inside the tent, washed and given new clean clothes and then get milk and bread. It was one of the most incredible things I´ve ever seen done!!!
Amoung our ministry opportunities, Ivan has been introducing us to different aspects of culture by taking us different places. We went and saw the Christo (a massive statue of Jesus that looks out over the city of Cochabamba), he took us to the market and gave us some funky fruit that had the hugest seeds in it EVER..but it tasted good..and if you are ever sick, rumour has it to drink ´coka tea´. That would be tea make out of the leaves from coke plants. Sounds a bit sketchy, but it actually is the natural cure for pretty much everything around here!
I realize this is pretty condensed and not really that detailed, but I hope it gives a bit of an update for you!
Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouraging comments...especially the ones from when we were sick...they were super cute :) Please keep us in your prayers as we head out to La Paz tomorrow till Saturday and as we continue to be seeking and learning new things. There are times it all seems so overwhelming, but we are continually reminded that even though we´re halfway across the world...or is it the whole way??? I don´t know...it´s too late to be thinking....anyway, even though we´re so far from home, God remains the same. He is working just as powerfully here as there and has been holding us just as close as ever.
Love you all in Christ,
Kristen
Friday, May 11, 2007
Hola amigos!
So we finally got the blog to work here, so now you have the sweet luxury of finding out how we are. Pardon my typing, it´s a Spanish keyboard so it´s a little crazy. So we arrived here about 8:30 Wednesday morning and had an opportunity just to relax and get settled in, arriving safely
of course! We pretty much spent the afternoon sleeping, especially me because planes are the most uncomfortable sleep to try and fit 6´-5´body into without getting smoked on the head by people walking by. Yesterday was our first day at the baptist school they have here, and we each had the opportunity to help out and sit in on some classes. Tonight we have a 6 hour worship service we are attending and playing in, so we are pretty excited.
Last night, however, two of the five of us came down with some sickness, and then Kristen our team leader this morning as well. We werent quite sure what it was or is, so if you could pray for health that would be great. Phil is doing ok now, and Dan is still a little under the weather, and Kristen has it quite badly. We talkedf about it and it was strange how we talked last night about splitting the groups up and have Phil and Dan be the translators, and they were the first two to go down creating a problem for the ´language barrier´. Kristen then went down this morning, our team leader...so if you could also pray against the warfare that might be existing here as we do not believe this is coincidence. Ivan, the host here was very considerate and helped the sick ones out through drugs and he got a doctor as well, so it is amazing and we are blessed to have such a great host.
So, we still have a lot ahead of us, and if you could pray for health and safety througout the trip that would be wonderful. We are excited to continue on with things, especially the school we will go to every weekday morning. The language barrier is an obstacle, however the effort and the humility these people have is incredible. We will hopefully be able to continue to update somewhat regularly hoping it continues to work. Thanks fort your prayers and support and thougts already, as they are greatly appreciated! Blessings,
The Missions Team
of course! We pretty much spent the afternoon sleeping, especially me because planes are the most uncomfortable sleep to try and fit 6´-5´body into without getting smoked on the head by people walking by. Yesterday was our first day at the baptist school they have here, and we each had the opportunity to help out and sit in on some classes. Tonight we have a 6 hour worship service we are attending and playing in, so we are pretty excited.
Last night, however, two of the five of us came down with some sickness, and then Kristen our team leader this morning as well. We werent quite sure what it was or is, so if you could pray for health that would be great. Phil is doing ok now, and Dan is still a little under the weather, and Kristen has it quite badly. We talkedf about it and it was strange how we talked last night about splitting the groups up and have Phil and Dan be the translators, and they were the first two to go down creating a problem for the ´language barrier´. Kristen then went down this morning, our team leader...so if you could also pray against the warfare that might be existing here as we do not believe this is coincidence. Ivan, the host here was very considerate and helped the sick ones out through drugs and he got a doctor as well, so it is amazing and we are blessed to have such a great host.
So, we still have a lot ahead of us, and if you could pray for health and safety througout the trip that would be wonderful. We are excited to continue on with things, especially the school we will go to every weekday morning. The language barrier is an obstacle, however the effort and the humility these people have is incredible. We will hopefully be able to continue to update somewhat regularly hoping it continues to work. Thanks fort your prayers and support and thougts already, as they are greatly appreciated! Blessings,
The Missions Team
Monday, May 7, 2007
¡AY CARAMBA!
¡Hola Amigos!
¡Nosotros vamos a Bolivia mañana! Needless to say we are all stoked... right now the team is sitting in my kitchen, we are just relaxing and such before our big flight (as you can see posted below). I think that the greatest excitement that we are feeling is a sense of anticipation with what the Lord is going to do while we are on this trip. After He made the big switch-a-roo from Brazil to Bolivia we began to realize that none of this is really in our hands (which I'm quite thankful for!). I am so excited to be heading off to Bolivia (porque yo prefiero español, jajaja)...
Anyways, I am confident that God will bless our endevours and the He is already beginning to do things that we could never imagine!
"Stand back, look and the nations and watch... and be utterly amazed, for I will do a thing in your days that you would not believe, even if I had already told you!" - GOD [Habakkuk 1:5]
Con mucho amor,
Tu hermano en JesuChristo,
Felipè
¡Nosotros vamos a Bolivia mañana! Needless to say we are all stoked... right now the team is sitting in my kitchen, we are just relaxing and such before our big flight (as you can see posted below). I think that the greatest excitement that we are feeling is a sense of anticipation with what the Lord is going to do while we are on this trip. After He made the big switch-a-roo from Brazil to Bolivia we began to realize that none of this is really in our hands (which I'm quite thankful for!). I am so excited to be heading off to Bolivia (porque yo prefiero español, jajaja)...
Anyways, I am confident that God will bless our endevours and the He is already beginning to do things that we could never imagine!
"Stand back, look and the nations and watch... and be utterly amazed, for I will do a thing in your days that you would not believe, even if I had already told you!" - GOD [Habakkuk 1:5]
Con mucho amor,
Tu hermano en JesuChristo,
Felipè
Flight Itinerary
Well friends, we are leaving on our jet plane tomorrow :) Here's what our days of travel are going to look like:
Leave Toronto Airport at 1:50pm
Arrive at Miami International Airport at 5:00pm
Leave Miami at 11:20pm....sleep on the plane all night :)
Arrive in La Paz at 5:35am
Leave La Paz at 7:00am
Arrive in Cochabamba at 7:35am
...and then we have to go from the airport in Cochabamba to wherever we will be staying...
YAY!!!
So prayers for safe travel for the next lil bit would be fantastic!
Leave Toronto Airport at 1:50pm
Arrive at Miami International Airport at 5:00pm
Leave Miami at 11:20pm....sleep on the plane all night :)
Arrive in La Paz at 5:35am
Leave La Paz at 7:00am
Arrive in Cochabamba at 7:35am
...and then we have to go from the airport in Cochabamba to wherever we will be staying...
YAY!!!
So prayers for safe travel for the next lil bit would be fantastic!
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Romans 8:28-30
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
This has really been in my mind the last couple weeks since school has been finished. God predestined all in this world to be like his Son, and in the end we are all to be blessed in the glory of the Almighty. Pray that those kids who are with their parents in jail, and those parents witness the glory, that the kids shining shoes witness the glory, that the mothers with the little babies witness the glory...Luke 1:37 says that NOTHING is impossible with God. We know that we can do all things through him who strengthens me...so let's pray that we can have the courage and the strength in Christ to witness to these people the glory of the Father, if we plant the mustard seed, I truly have faith and believe that God can do the rest.
I want to be the hands and feet of Christ, and we are going to Bolivia as a part of the whole body so that this nation may experience the love and truth of Christ. God is mighty to save! Let's pray that the people we see are glorified in Christ....God is great!!
This has really been in my mind the last couple weeks since school has been finished. God predestined all in this world to be like his Son, and in the end we are all to be blessed in the glory of the Almighty. Pray that those kids who are with their parents in jail, and those parents witness the glory, that the kids shining shoes witness the glory, that the mothers with the little babies witness the glory...Luke 1:37 says that NOTHING is impossible with God. We know that we can do all things through him who strengthens me...so let's pray that we can have the courage and the strength in Christ to witness to these people the glory of the Father, if we plant the mustard seed, I truly have faith and believe that God can do the rest.
I want to be the hands and feet of Christ, and we are going to Bolivia as a part of the whole body so that this nation may experience the love and truth of Christ. God is mighty to save! Let's pray that the people we see are glorified in Christ....God is great!!
Techy note
Ok folks. I realize I'm not a techy sort of person by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm pretty sure the problem of you not being able to comment is fixed now! yay! If you would like to leave us a message, just comment on a blog. I changed the settings so anyone can comment now...I'm sorry that I didn't figure it out sooner for all you who tried and were rejected. *sheepish grin* And thanks to you who complained and brought it to my attention. So if you don't have a google or blog address, you can simply post anonymous and sign your name, if that's ok with ya'll... :) Thanks. Let me know if there's anything else we can do to make this better for you--our faithful readers and supporters.
:)
:)
Work we will be doing in Bolivia...
I love this. I'm just so excited to be leaving in three sleeps! yay!!!
A question keeps coming up which I decided maybe I should address for everyone to know: now that we are going to Bolivia, what are we going to be doing??? Well!!! Let me let you know what I know at this point :)
The plan as we know it is that we will be working in a school in the mornings. We have been asked to do devotions with the students every day, teach a music class, help with teaching English and play sports with the children. We have also been asked to lead the English worship services and Josh gets the opportunity to do some preaching.
In the afternoons we will be doing something different. CBM has a program called Casa de la Amistad that we may work at. The idea is that when a parent goes to jail and no one is around to care for the children, they go with their parents to jail. Casa de la Amistad takes the children out of the prison each day and delivers a holistic ministry program--nutritious meals, games, medical and dental check-ups and spiritual guidence. Older children receive after-school tutoring and learn skills such as carpentry, baking and sewing.
There are also children who do shoe-shining to make money who we will get to work with.
I think the thing I am personally looking forward to doing is something called baby washing. Mothers from rural areas come into town once a week to wash their babies in the middle of the town. ....I just think this is the coolest idea ever!!!
So this is a little bit of what we may be doing during out time. We have been told that there are many service opportunities and are more than willing to wait and see what else God has ready for us.
A question keeps coming up which I decided maybe I should address for everyone to know: now that we are going to Bolivia, what are we going to be doing??? Well!!! Let me let you know what I know at this point :)
The plan as we know it is that we will be working in a school in the mornings. We have been asked to do devotions with the students every day, teach a music class, help with teaching English and play sports with the children. We have also been asked to lead the English worship services and Josh gets the opportunity to do some preaching.
In the afternoons we will be doing something different. CBM has a program called Casa de la Amistad that we may work at. The idea is that when a parent goes to jail and no one is around to care for the children, they go with their parents to jail. Casa de la Amistad takes the children out of the prison each day and delivers a holistic ministry program--nutritious meals, games, medical and dental check-ups and spiritual guidence. Older children receive after-school tutoring and learn skills such as carpentry, baking and sewing.
There are also children who do shoe-shining to make money who we will get to work with.
I think the thing I am personally looking forward to doing is something called baby washing. Mothers from rural areas come into town once a week to wash their babies in the middle of the town. ....I just think this is the coolest idea ever!!!
So this is a little bit of what we may be doing during out time. We have been told that there are many service opportunities and are more than willing to wait and see what else God has ready for us.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
St. Patrick's Prayer
Christ beside me, Christ before me;
Christ behind me, Christ within me;
Christ beneath me, Christ above me;
Christ to right of me, Christ to left of me;
Christ in my lying, my sitting, my rising;
Christ in heart of all who know me,
Christ on tongue of all who meet me,
Christ in eye of all who see me,
Christ in ear of all who hear me.
This was recited at our commissioning service on Tuesday, and may it be true of every brother and sister, whether going away or staying home.
Christ behind me, Christ within me;
Christ beneath me, Christ above me;
Christ to right of me, Christ to left of me;
Christ in my lying, my sitting, my rising;
Christ in heart of all who know me,
Christ on tongue of all who meet me,
Christ in eye of all who see me,
Christ in ear of all who hear me.
This was recited at our commissioning service on Tuesday, and may it be true of every brother and sister, whether going away or staying home.
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