Goin' South... Georgia, South Carolina & Florida

We left North Carolina on May 15th and started making our way south to Florida.

Our first stop was in the mountains of northern Georgia to visit our friend Janice Garrard...we used to work with Janice during our Mercy Ships days, on board the Good Samaritan and the Caribbean Mercy. Janice also spent a couple of months with us in Bocachica back in our early years. We had a great time catching up!

Our second stop was in Charleston, South Carolina visiting our special friends and supporters, Jerry and JoAnn Parrott. They were the first family Jorge became friends with on his very first trip to the USA about 20 years ago. Jerry was also Jorge's best-man in our wedding!

We went to walk around downtown Charleston and saw a sign announcing the arrival of some Tall Ships in the harbor and lo and behold, when we got there it was the Colombian Naval Ship, "La Gloria"!! We went on board for a free tour and talked with some of the crew! You might not believe this but it even smelled like Colombia on board the ship and it made us homesick for Bocachica!

La Gloria is a symbol of national pride for most Colombians.

In Jacksonville, Florida we visited our friends and supporters, John and Anika Magwood! We used to work together on board the Caribbean Mercy and we hadn't seen each other in 11 years. It was such a blessing and an encouragement to hear their stories of God's faithfulness to them in the last years!

At Home In North Carolina

We arrived "home" to Burlington, NC on April 27 and where there for 2½ weeks visiting friends, family, churches and a school. We didn't get to see everyone we wanted to but we had a wonderful time and were so blessed by so many special people that the Lord has put in our lives. Throughout this whole trip we have been constantly amazed at how generous and open everyone has been to take us in and bless us, especially since there were 5 of us!!

Picnic at the Burlington City Park.

A visit by my best friend from high school, Christa Knight Dettman and her twin boys, Garrett and Jason (her oldest son, Ryan, couldn't make it because he was in school.)

We had dinner with my cousin, Renee, her husband Rick and their daughters, Julia and Amelia.

It was a joy and a blessing to meet Pastor Jim Mitchell and his family, the new pastors of our home church, Northside Presbyterian. Pastor Jim is planning to bring a mission's team to Bocachica in the winter.

Fellowship with the Ward Family, long-time members of Northside and precious friends.

The Nall's, also from Northside, took us under their wing one Sunday afternoon and gave us a tour of their restored country home and museum in a historical section of town. Mr. Nall was my mom's basketball coach in high school so we go back a long way!

The Helms family...Nancy and Less... Daniel, Charlotte and Patrick! We had a lively evening of good food and even better fellowship! The next day we were able to share about the ministry with their church family.

As always, it was a treat to meet with Sheldon and Deborah Southerland!! Mr. Southerland and I met about 20 years ago ... in high school he was the director of one of the schools I attended. He also helped to perform mine and Jorge's wedding ceremony! They are now the pastors of Friendship Community Church of God in Greensboro.

Jorge preached the sermon at Friendship Community Church of God. We are looking forward to having a team from the church come for a missions trip next summer!

This is the 2nd period Spanish class at Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point.All the Spanish classes in the school held a fund raiser for Proyecto Libertad and they sent us an offering of $2000 USD! The money was designated to a few different areas such as Child Sponsorship and our Scholarship Fund. We were able to visit the school and speak to some of the classes about Colombia and our work in Bocachica. We are especially grateful to the teacher who organized the whole thing, Debbie Hopper, Brad Hopper's mom, who has served on staff in Bocachica.
Erika sharing with the students about Colombia...I am translating.

It's our pleasure to introduce you to the Southern Family...left to right: Jordan, Thom, Kyle, Tina and Alyssa. They are just the sweetest family and God has used them greatly over the years to bless us!! I went to high school with Tina and Thom and I are from the same church so we go back a good 23 years or so. We had the privilege of spending a lot of time with them while we were in Burlington. They invited all 5 of us to spend 3 nights at their house...they gave us all their beds and basically spoiled us! We can't say enough wonderful things about them!
Thom has led 2 teams to Bocachica so far and is organizing another one for early next year... we can't wait!



Breakfast with the Southern's.

Re-living childhood memories.

Through the Southern's we have been connected with Antioch Community Church (www.antiochchurch.cc ) in Elon. On Wednesday evenings they usually have home group meetings but this particular night several of the home groups decided to all get together at the church for a covered-dish supper and then to have us share about the ministry. This was the night that God totally surprised us with an offering of $11,400 for the clinic construction!!

HIKING AT HANGING ROCK

The Southern's invited us and some other friends to go hiking at Hanging Rock, which is near the Virginia state line. We had a great time and a good work-out that day!

You can see why it's called Hanging Rock.

Jorge and Thom climb up the hard way...

...Erika, Martin and Valerie too!

Conny...on top of the world!



Me and the girls...
Valerie (standing beside me), who served for 2 years in Bocachica, flew down from Ottowa, Canada to spend a few days with us... it was just like old times being all together again!

Bbbrrrrrrr!!!


ADIOS CONNY & ERIKA

We were sad to say goodbye to Conny and Erika... they left from Greensboro on May 14 to return to Bocachica... we have missed them a lot! We had SUCH a special time together, it truly was a gift from God for us all!!

Our Trip East!

DENVER, COLORADO

Once we left my brother's house we headed east to
Denver and Loveland, CO for a couple of days.

One last adventure in the snow... a picnic at a rest stop in the Vail Pass, on our way to Denver.

We stopped by the YWAM-Denver base for a few hours.

Our friend, Cary Snodgrass who has led a couple of outreach
teams to Bocachica, gave us a VIP tour of the base. Thanks Cary!!

Jorge and Peter Warren, the founder of YWAM Denver.

LOVELAND, COLORADO

We were especially excited to stop in Loveland (an hour north of Denver) for a couple of days to visit our dear, dear friends, Franci Wunderlich (in blue) and the Barrera Family (Johanna on the left and her parents, Angel and Pilar on the right). We used to all work together at the YWAM base in Bogota, Colombia about 16 years ago when Jorge and I were newlyweds. Johanna was just 2 years old then! The Barrera's also have another daughter named Carinna but we didn't get to see her because she is serving on staff with YWAM in Puerto Rico.

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

We stopped for a stretch and a snack along this river in
Cadiz, Kentucky, just before crossing the Tennessee state line.


We couldn't go through Nashville without visiting the
Grand Ole Opry... at least from the outside.

With 2 Germans, a Mexican and a Colombian, I had to give a
lesson on the joys of country music...a personal favorite of mine.

Of all the crazy things, Erika shrieked with delight at visiting this Dukes of Hazzard Museum!! She even got her photo with the General Lee, Bo & Luke and the gang...


We also had the opportunity to spend a couple of days at the YWAM Nashville base, which is actually in Adams, TN (about 45 minutes NW of Nashville). They have beautiful facilities and beautiful people who totally made us feel at home!!

We shared at the base community night about the work we are doing in Colombia! Afterwards they had an awesome time of prayer over us and it was so encouraging!!

This is Jessica, our angel at the Nashville base! She helped us and blessed us in so many ways!


CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

Visiting the YWAM-Charlotte base... we had the opportunity to meet with some of the base leaders and share about outreach opportunities in Colombia.

Our highlight in Charlotte was seeing the beautiful Hopper family!! We first met Brad and Jennie in 1999. They did their DTS together at YWAM Denver and then did part of their outreach in Bocachica... they were just friends then. A few months later Jennie (from England) joined our staff and helped us with communications and getting the feeding center started... soon after Brad joined us too! Not too much later the two got engaged and then married and now as you can see they are 3! We had fun with little Aidan... he especially liked the Bocachica style of worship and we had a few jam sessions together with his play instruments!

Dinner at the Hopper's with Rob Paugh, another friend from
YWAM Denver who has led outreach teams to Bocachica!

Sharing with a young adults group at Matthews United Methodist,
where Brad is on pastoral staff.

Just a Quickie

Hi everybody! Greetings from Burlington, North Carolina! I haven't had much internet access lately so that's why I haven't made many updates lately. At the moment I am at the public library and I only have a few minutes. I am hoping to be able to post some new photos in a week or so. In the meantime I just wanted to give you a quick update.

After we left my brother's in Grand Junction, Colorado we headed east. We were able to visit the YWAM base in Denver, dear friends in Loveland (just north of Denver), the YWAM bases in Nashville, TN and Charlotte, NC, friends in Charlotte and then on April 27th we arrived to Burlington, NC which is where I am from (since I was 13 yrs.old).

Since we have been here in Burlington we have been really busy...on the go all the time... it has been a great time! We have been able to share at churches, schools, home groups, and we have been able to spend time with friends! It has been hard because there aren't enough hours in the days and with 5 of us and only one car, I haven't been able to visit everybody that I wanted to but even still, it has been a great time. We have been so blessed to be reminded of all the special people God has put in our lives!

One of our goals during this trip was to be able to raise money for the clinic construction in Bocachica. As you know it has been a long and slow road. We have been working on it for years now, building as we have funds available. We estimate that we need about $30,000 more to finish the clinic. Last week we were PRAISING GOD and REJOICING when we recieved an offering of $11,400 from a church here in Burlington to go towards the clinic construction!! With this donation and the other offerings we have recieved during the trip we have about $14,000... so we are almost half-way there! We are so excited to have these funds to take back to Bocachica with us and "GET TO WORK!" We know too that the community is going to be so encouraged to hear the news!

We have also been blessed with other donations of medications, dental equipment, dental supplies and tools!! THANK YOU, LORD!!

Conny and Erika are going to be leaving us on Monday, May 14. We sure are going to miss them on the rest of the trip!! They are going back to Colombia and together with the rest of our staff will be recieving a short-term team from Matthews United Methodist Church near Charlotte, NC that will be arriving to Bocachica on May 20th.

On Tuesday, May 15, we will be leaving Burlington and heading south. We will stop in Georgia and South Carolina and make our way to Florida. We are still hoping and planning to return to Colombia by mid-June.