The Latest in Bocachica

Here´s an overview of what has been going on in Bocachica the last few weeks...not necessarily in this order:


BASKETBALL WORKSHOP

A last-minute contact brought a basketball team from the USA to do a one-day workshop with the kids in Bocachica.

PHYSICAL THERAPY

For those of you who didn´t know, our new staffer, Guillermo (from Brazil/Chile) is a Physical Therapist and God is using his profession to help the people in Bocachica. What an incredible blessing it is for the them to have this opportunity right on thier door-step!

BUTTERFLY WORKSHOP

Yolanda is back doing her decorating workshops with the local ladies...this time they are making butterflies.

YWAM SWITZERLAND TEAM

We had a DTS outreach team from the YWAM base in Lausanne, Switzerland with us this month. There were 11 of them but none of them were Swiss...we had 1 Brit and 10 Koreans. They did all kinds of activities with the kids, youth and elderly.

CHILD SPONSORSHIP

Last month was the beginning of the second semester of the local school and our staff girls got together school supply packets to hand out to the kids in our sponsorship program.

KID´S STUFF

Every Thursday night during our cell group meeting Pili and Josefina take the kids out for an age appropriate activity while the youth and adults stay to hear the teaching. They usually really have their hands full but they are very gifted to work with kids and it´s a blessing to have them!

CLINIC PROGRESS

Last week we took down all the scaffoldings and supports (I don´t know the correct terms in English so I hope you know what I am talking about) from building the concrete roof on the second wing of the clinic.

MISSION IMPROVEMENTS

Samy and Guillermo built a few new sidewalks in the mission, just in time for the rainy season when things get muddy and yucky!

2009 Teams

Wow! Our 2009 Team Calendar is filling up! We are already full for the first half of 2009! Would you like to bring a short-term missions team next year? We still have the months of July - November open so please contact us if you would like to reserve a spot! The cost is $20 usd per person per day which includes food and housing. Additional costs are construction projects, transportation (land and sea), flights and personal spending money. We can send you more details if you are interested in coming! But hurry...time is running out! :)

Here are some great memories from our 2008 teams:

North Heights Lutheran Chruch from Minnesota ...guys bringing tons of sand out to the island for clinic construction. Hard labor!!

Northside Presbyterian from Burlington, NC (my home church)...making a new door for our children´s feeding center.

Antioch Community Church from Elon, NC ...group photo...they also did lots work projects and kid´s ministry.

A team from South Korea doing traditional cultural dances at our cell group meeting.

Matthew´s United Methodist Chruch from Charlotte, NC ...latrine construction.


YWAM Denver DTS outreach team...heading back to Cartagena after a week in Bocachica.

Friendship Community Church of God from Greensboro, NC... Floor construction. They built a floor in the house right behind them.

환영 Grace!

Well, I hope that means what I think it does...WELCOME GRACE!! Grace arrived from Seoul, South Korea last week and we are thrilled to have her here for the following 6 months. She will be working in the Hospitality Department as she is learning more Spanish. Grace finished her DTS in Seoul and despite the language barrier has been very eager to arrive to Bocachica! She doesn´t speak much English or Spanish so it is a challenge for all of us. Please keep her in your prayers especially as she adapts to the new culture and language. If you have ever had to live in a place where you don´t speak the language, well you know how hard it can be at times! I remember when I was first learning Spanish, there were times when I was surrounded by people but felt so useless and alone...that just goes with the territory of learning a new language via the submersion method. Nevertheless, we want Grace to feel at home and like part of the family. She has a sweet spirit and is eager to help in any way she can and she got put to work her first night in Bocachica! We had a special Thank-you Dinner for our community volunteers and she just jumped in with both feet and helped us to serve them!

Korean team in Bocachica...Feb. 7th

It was great to have a team from Korea with us in February...they wowed everyone at the cell group with their beautiful cultural dances! I don´t think our crowd in Bocachica had ever seen anything quite like it before!

Overdue Update

I am way overdue for an update! Sorry about that! I have a few ¨excuses¨ but I won´t bore you with them.

First of all this entry will not include any photos because my dinasaur digital camera, the one I have had for many years, finally has given out on me so I haven´t been able to take any photos these last few weeks.

We continue to get settled into our new house...it is feeling more and more like home! We are really thankful to have this place to come home to although we also miss being full-time on the island. There are pro´s and con´s to both sides of this coin but we trust that the Lord will help us to find the best solution to balancing our time between the island and the office and we believe that in the long-run it is for the best for us personally and also for the ministry. Focusing on the positive, some of the pro´s are: having our own office with our own internet, printer, scanner, fax, telephone with international line...no more internet cafe´s and public phone booths, thank the Lord! It makes a huge difference to be able to stay connected to the ¨outside world.¨

Last month we received our first team of 2008. A team of 12 people from Antioch Community Church in Elon, NC. Our dear friends, Thom and Tina Southern, brought their whole family (3 kids) and 7 other people from their church. We had a great time with them and they were a blessing to us and the community. Among other things they built latrines and floors for needy families plus helped with painting the feeding center and organizing and sorting school supplies to be handed out to our sponsor children. I am planning on getting photos from some of our other staff and the team and I will post them later.

Today we recieved another team but this one will be with us for just a little over 24 hours. They are a team of 10 people from South Korea and they have come to get to see the ministry, learn more about what we do and they will also participate in our weekly cell group meeting tonight. Again...I hope to post some photos of them later.

Jorge is heading to Bogotá tomorrow morning. He will be there for a week, attending a workshop that will help us to learn how to present the ministry to charities and foundations for fund appeals. It should be an intense week for him and we hope that he is able to learn a lot...part of the assignment is to actually make a presentation and appeal so we have chosen a foundation based in Texas that a friend told us about and we will make an appeal for additional funds to continue with the clinic construction. We estimate that we need around $50,000 to finish the building (that doesn´t include the equipment and furniture). So pray with us that the Lord will open His doors of provision. Our goal is to finish the clinic this year.

The boat renovations are coming right along. Martin has done a really nice job on the woodwork and still our main need is for the motor and drydock to install the motor and do more fiberglass work on the hull. We have recieved a sizeable donation from Germany plus we have a donor willing to help us get the motor from Miami but we need to get it shipped here...it will require a lot of legwork and logistical juggling so Jorge is investigating what needs to be done next to see all of this become a reality. He really needs an assistant to help him so that he can be in more than one place at a time...

In about 12 days we will recieve our next team, a group from my home church in N.C., Northside Presbyterian. I am really excited to have them, it will be their first time to visit us in person on the mission field and it is really an honor for us to have them! I will tell you more about that later though, after they have come and gone!

Now, on a more personal note... we have mentioned over the last couple of years our interest/intention to adopt a child (children) once we got settled-in again back in Colombia. Well, now we are back and basically settled in so last month we started taking our first steps in the right direction. It´s funny how the Lord uses different people and circumstances to encourage us! Some of our friends at YWAM Ensenada, a British family with 4 kids of their own just adopted 2 mexican children and hearing their story really nudged us along! Also, our new neighbors have encouraged us ALOT. They invited us over to dinner one night and as soon as they found out we didn´t have kids they shared their story of how they adopted their little girl 7 years ago. They were so totally gung-ho about helping us and since they went through the whole process they were eager to give us all their connections and take us to the right places. So far we have had three meetings. The first day I just filled out some forms with basic information. The second day Jorge and I went through an interview process where we had to each write down answers to a list of questions. It was all based on what our motivations and expectations were in regards to adopting. Today was our third meeting and we each had to list the ¨positive points¨ and ¨negative points¨about each other...our personality, temprament, habits, etc... It was an interesting assignment. One thing they told us during the last meeting was really neat...they encouraged us to see this whole process as if it were a pregnancy and that we should go through it with joy and anticipation and enjoy each aspect of it. Jorge especially grabbed a hold of this analogy and sometimes he rubs my belly and asks me how I am feeling...ha! ha! They also told us that the process is a lot faster than it used to be. Our neighbors waited 4 years to get their little girl! However today we were told that it would probably take around 8 months...YIKES!! :) So, I´m not sure exactly but we could be about one month along in this pregancy! :) In regards to sex, age, etc... we told them that we didn´t care what the sex was (surprise us!), we said we prefer an infant but we are open to getting a small toddler. Ultimately I believe that God already has the child picked out so it´s just a matter of us waiting for the arrival... uuummmm that´s kind of how it works in pregnancy too, huh?! Soooo... we will keep you posted! We still have more interviews, workshops, meetings with a psychologist, etc... and then eventually there will be a board that has to officially approve us before the child can be assigned. Pray for us and for God´s control over each detail.

Signing off for now...love and blessings to all of you out there. Thank you for your unconditional love and support of us and for believing in us and what the Lord is doing with us here in Colombia.

Karen and Jorge

"New"s from BC

This is Jeeye from Seoul, Korea and Julie from Oregon, USA! They both arrived about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Jeeye is learning Spanish (and English too) and is serving in the Hospitality Department. She is really sweet and even though I'm sure it has been trying to not be able to communicate very much, she always has a gentle and sweet spirit about her. Jeeye plans to be with us until February. Julie came for only 3 weeks and we are already going to miss her when she goes. Back home she is a Physical Education teacher and a Soccer and Track Coach with middle and high schoolers. While in Bocachica she has been doing a sports camp with the boys.

This is the new addition to our office. We knocked down a wall in our existing office and turned our storage closet into more office space. Jorge and I will be sharing this part of the office.

Jorge and Julie take a break during an afternoon soccer practice.

COLOMBIA!!!

On January 28th Jorge and I were able to travel to Colombia for 2 weeks. We were in Bogotá for the first 3 days and then in Bocachica and Cartagena and then the last 2 days we were back in Bogotá before catching our flight back to Mexico City. We had a WONDERFUL trip!! We came back with our hearts full and excited about getting back as soon as possible! Here are a few highlights from our trip:

While in Bogotá we got to visit with our dear friends, Nelly and Lucho! We just love them, they are friends that we can just be ourselves with and we laugh and have fun together! Lucho and Nelly have brought many mission teams to work with us in Bocachica over the last 7 or 8 years.

We met up with Samy at the YWAM base in Bogotá!! Guess what! Remember in my last Bocachica update I mentioned that Samy was praying about doing his DTS this year? Well, he is now in Bogotá and has started his school! We have already seen God´s provision for over half of his school and we only need to raise $440 more dollars for him to be paid-in-full! Would you like to partner with Samy?? If so, please write and let us know and we will get you hooked up!

Our first night in Bocachica we were left speachless when the local FourSquare pastors and a group of 30+ from the church came to welcome us home with a beautiful flower arrangement and a serenade!!

Of course the biggest highlight was to see our staff!! Pictured on top are Robin, Werling, Jorge, Karen and Conny; on bottom is Erika, Astrid, Josefina and Marley. Martin hasn´t gotten back from Germany yet so we weren´t able to see him this time.

Also on our first night we had the opportunity to meet with the students from the first Mini-DTS and to hear them share about their experiences in the school! It was so encouraging to see them excited about their relationships with Jesus and with each other and looking forward to what lies ahead.

One of the main reasons we went to Colombia this time was to film a special ministry video to be able to share with all of you during our USA visiting tour. Wow! What an experience! God just totally blessed us with the way that He put together all the pieces of the puzzle! In this photo you see our Producer, Alejandro and our cameraman/editor, Alvaro (both are from Bogotá) hard at work in Bocachica. Later, back in Bogotá we spent our last day with them editing the video and we are really excited about the results! We can´t wait to share the video with you all! Both Alejandro and Alvaro really wanted this project to be anointed by the Holy Spirit so a lot of prayer and effort went into this venture!

We had a special visit by our very first team from Korea! This was a group of Christian University students from Seoul. They were only with us for about 24 hours but they were such a big blessing! I don´t think we have ever had a team that bonded so quickly with the community, they just totally opened their hearts and ministered, especially to the youth of the community.

Jorge reconnected with his special group of boys that he has ministered to over the years...they are nicknamed ¨the Apostles¨.

Jorge with some buddies, Werling, Luis and Humberto (and Humberto´s daughter, Shirley.)

We were TOTALLY surprised when DESTENI visited us in Bocachica!! Desteni was Jorge´s assistant during our first year in Ensenada and we have continued a special relationship with her ever since. We were so excited when God called her to Colombia!! Last year she did the YWAM School of Counseling in the city of Medellin and now she is working on staff at the base there! So her leaders there in Medellin, who happen to be friends of ours, let her take some time off and she flew to Cartagena to spend a few days with us! What a blessing!!

I have quite a few ¨special little friends¨ in Bocachica but Yorelis has had a special place in my heart for especially the last 3 1/2 years. If God and Jorge would let me I would adopt her in a heartbeat!

Our friends, Chucho and Gloria, came to visit us from Cartagena and then when we went to Cartagena we stayed one night at their house. They have been such a blessing over the years, always eager to use their resources to help and bless us (for example, using their pick-up truck to help us pick up people at the airport or transport cargo to the dock, etc...) When we return to Bocachica full-time they have agreed to be our advisers for our upcoming ¨small buisness venture¨ which we hope will help several local families to own and operate their own businesses. Chucho and Gloria have thier own scrap metal company and a furniture company and they do international importing and exporting so they will be a great help to us!

We were also blessed by the Hwang Family (John, Jonathan, Elliot, Drew and Monica) who invited us over to their house to spend the night in Cartagena and treated us to a delicious homemade Korean meal!! The Hwang´s are now on staff with YWAM Cartagena, heading up a ministry to University students.

A few of our staff girls came to the airport to see us off as we returned back to Bogotá. Here we are with Conny, Marley and Astrid. I already have my sweater on, getting ready for the Bogotá weather!

Back in Bogotá we visited with our friends, the Viera Family and a mutual friend, Irma Raquel. Here Irma and Vilma are making homemade Colombian buñuelos, one of my favorites. Yum, Yum! They are deep fried bread made from yucca and cheese. They are best when they are hot and spongy and they go great with hot chocolate!

The Viera Family used to live in Cartagena but 2 1/2 years ago they moved to Bogotá. Our other mutual friend, Irma Raquel (far right) also lived in Cartagena but is now working in Bogotá. They celebrated a belated birthday for Jorge and we had a great time catching up on the latest with them! Jairo and Vilma (standing in white t-shirts) are both civil engineers and when they were in Cartagena they were our advisers for the clinic construction project. Vilma´s sister, Sandra, (far left) also helped us with our bookkeeping for a year or so.

Everyone in Colombia has to have a Cedula, except for tourists. It is a government identification card that tells what your migratory status is in the country. Jorge and I were issued indefinite Colombian Residency back in 1992 and since then we have had to keep renewing our Cedulas every few years. One of the reasons we went on this trip was to renew them once again. Well, to our surprise we were issued INDEFINITE Cedulas!! So I guess the plan is that these should last a lifetime! Now is that confirmation from God or what?! :-)