A friend just sent me the link for these excerpts from Anthony Bourdain´s travel show NO RESERVATIONS , this particular episode was filmed last year in Colombia. The first two parts are in Cartagena and the island of Tierra Bomba, which is where Bocachica is located (on the opposite end of the island) and the last three parts are in and around the city of Medellin. This will give you a great taste of Colombia!
Don´t forget to PAUSE my playlist on the right hand margin so you can hear the video sound.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
New Hope to Continue Clinic Construction!
We are in awe and very excited to share that we have received a large donation to continue the clinic construction!! North Heights Lutheran Church in Arden Hills, MN adopted our clinic construction project this year during their celebration of Lent. The donation they will be sending should be enough to come close to 95% of completing the construction!!! We need to update our budgets since prices here are constantly fluctuating and the value of the dollar see-saws but please pray with us that we can make the most of this opportunity to get the clinic close to finished. Last year we hosted a team from North Heights and had an awesome time with them and we are really looking forward to their return at the end of June!
Last year´s Minnesota team bringing a load of sand for clinic construction!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
New Accountant
We are very thankful that we were able to hire an Accountant last month to do monthly revisions of our bookkeeping records and to make sure we are doing everything required by Colombian law. Marley has been helping Estela (orange shirt) get oriented to all the nuances of our ministry as she takes on this new job. Estela is Erika´s sister-in-law and we have known her for many years now so we are blessed to have someone we know and trust in this job. She just recently moved to Turbaco with her family so it´s very convienent for her to come over to our house/office a couple of times a month while her kids are in school.
Birthday Party
Tuesday night we had a party for all the sponsorship kids, to celebrate the birthdays from January through April. Games, snacks, music and fun.Feeding Center GRAND RE-OPENING
Tuesday, April 14th, was the day we re-opened our feeding center for 2009. We have changed a lot about the way we operate our feeding center and child sponsorship program this year. If you are interested in that you can read about it HERE. You will have to excuse the wrong dates on some of the photos, my camera batteries don´t work very well and I have to change them every 5 minutes almost so I guess I pushed the wrong button during one of the changes!
Luz Neira and Hermelinda prepare the plates in the kitchen. The menu for the day was rice, lentil stew, salad and a boiled egg. The cooks and most of the community volunteers are parents of the children in the program.
Mensi has been a faithful friend since the very first day we set foot in Bocachica!! She has two children in the program and volunteers at the feeding center.
A member of a DTS outreach team from YWAM Oregon helps decorate the tables, getting ready for the kids to arrive.
Josefina ¨steps up¨ to welcome the kids and give an orientation on the way things will operate for this year.
Daniel (PL staff) and Yeison (YWAM Cartagena Staff) volunteered to be mimes to help liven up the festivities!
Katrina gets escorted to her table by the mimes.
The YWAM DTS outreach team from Oregon singing a song for the kids.
Erika helping to serve the first of the plates.
These girls have been in our sponsorship program since they were little.
A full house. The middle and high school kids go to school in the afternoon so they arrive to the feeding center at 11:30am for lunch. The elementary school kids have classes in the morning so they arrive in the second shift at 12:30pm.
View from above.
Yeison goofing off with the kids.
Daniel doing the same.
Our new mural looks great, don´t you think?!
After the kids eat, they get in line to wash their own dishes, before heading home to change for school, or heading to class if they are already in their uniform.
Daniel again...the mimes did a great impromptu job at entertaining everyone!
Conny made cookies for all the kids too! As they leave, each kid pays 200 pesos. It is a very small amount, less than 10 cents, but added all together it helps us to cover the expenses of paying the cooks and a few other basics. The rest of the expenses are covered through the child sponsorship fees.
Luz Neira and Hermelinda prepare the plates in the kitchen. The menu for the day was rice, lentil stew, salad and a boiled egg. The cooks and most of the community volunteers are parents of the children in the program.
Mensi has been a faithful friend since the very first day we set foot in Bocachica!! She has two children in the program and volunteers at the feeding center.
A member of a DTS outreach team from YWAM Oregon helps decorate the tables, getting ready for the kids to arrive.
Josefina ¨steps up¨ to welcome the kids and give an orientation on the way things will operate for this year.
Daniel (PL staff) and Yeison (YWAM Cartagena Staff) volunteered to be mimes to help liven up the festivities!
Katrina gets escorted to her table by the mimes.
The YWAM DTS outreach team from Oregon singing a song for the kids.
Erika helping to serve the first of the plates.
These girls have been in our sponsorship program since they were little.
A full house. The middle and high school kids go to school in the afternoon so they arrive to the feeding center at 11:30am for lunch. The elementary school kids have classes in the morning so they arrive in the second shift at 12:30pm.
View from above.
Yeison goofing off with the kids.
Daniel doing the same.
Our new mural looks great, don´t you think?!
After the kids eat, they get in line to wash their own dishes, before heading home to change for school, or heading to class if they are already in their uniform.
Daniel again...the mimes did a great impromptu job at entertaining everyone!
Conny made cookies for all the kids too! As they leave, each kid pays 200 pesos. It is a very small amount, less than 10 cents, but added all together it helps us to cover the expenses of paying the cooks and a few other basics. The rest of the expenses are covered through the child sponsorship fees. Bocachica Memories
Andrew Burnette from Mission Trek International recently visited our ministry and made this short video of his time with us. It shares a great overview of life in Bocachica!
Pause my playlist on the right hand margin so you can hear the video sound.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Staff Stuff
A recent photo of our staff and a few extra friends & volunteers from the community.
Erika has served with us for over 6 years and last month we named her as the Operations Director of the mission in Bocachica. She is hoping to attend the YWAM School of English in Richmond, Virginia in the Fall and then return to continue on staff. 
Conny, from Germany, has served as our mission nurse for the past 6 1/2 years. Currently she is working in a new area at the mission, in the area of Family Follow-up and Discipleship with our Child Sponsorship Program.
Yolanda, was with us again for several months, overseeing the Infirmary. A few days ago she returned home to Bogotá.
New short-term staff member, Alexandra, is working in the Hospitality Department and trying to raise the funds to do her DTS in the summer.
Katherine completed her DTS last year and joined our staff with a 2 year commitment. She is currently working in Hospitality.
Daniel Sohl, from Germany, has been with us since December and plans to stay until July. He completed our Mini-DTS in February and is working in a variety of areas such as community construction projects and maintenance.
Josefina was home in Mexico on vacation and just returned with a new 2 year commitment. She will be on our Children´s Ministry Team, overseeing the Feeding Center.
Robin and Grace... Grace, from South Korea, served on staff for 5 months and just returned back home to prepare for her June wedding!
Yorcelis, from Bocachica, is with us for 3 months, serving in the Infirmary.
Grant, from Oregon, was with us for a month and just returned to the USA a few days ago.Boat Out of Drydock!
On Saturday, April 4th, we were finally able to take the boat out of drydock! What we thought would be a 10 to 12 day project turned out to take 25 days! Which of course means more money, time and energy...but thank God, He provided all we needed!! Below are more photos of the continued process of carpentry and fiberglass repairs and getting her back into the water. What a blessing and an answer to prayer to see this project completed!! Now the boat is anchored once again in Bocachica, awaiting the arrival of her new motor from Germany. It could take several months to get it here but we will keep you posted.
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