Medical Brigade 2008

We just finished hosting a team from MMI (Medical Missions International) for two weeks, from Aug. 16-30 and were able to see just over 1000 people. It was a great time and we made new friends that we know will be with us for a long time!! Click on this blog entry title to see more photos!

PS: One of the cool things at the brigade was that 3 of our nursing student scholarship recipients from Bocachica were able to help at the brigade this year!

Reinel Graduated!

We were really happy that Reinel was able to complete his nurses training and last month he graduated from the program offered through the Colombian Red Cross. Reinel was a recipient of our scholarship fund and we especially want to thank his sponsors (you know who you are!) who made this possible.

Reinel and his Dad at the graduation. His dad was proud!

He recieved his diploma from one of his instructors who really took an interest in helping to encourge him and push him forward when things got tough.

His diploma says he is certified as a Technical Nurses Assistant. It is more than a Nurses Aide in the USA...but less than an LPN...somewhere in between, I guess.

And just for fun, this is Reinel about 8 or 9 years ago. My first memory of Reinel was one day when he was a boy, a year or so before this photo was taken, and he was helping us do odd jobs around the mission and we offered him a tip, it was probably less than a dollar at the time but his response was, ¨No thank you, we are brothers in Christ and I just wanted to help!¨

WHAT`S NEW IN BOCACHICA!

¡THANK YOU!
About a month and a half ago (see blog entry dated Dec. 2, below) we shared about a need we had for financial help for Reinel, the second recipient of our nursing scholarship. We are very grateful to the Lord and to two very special families who have adopted Reinel and have committed to help him during the 2007 school year!

MINI-DTS
Some really neat things are happening in Bocachica! As I write this, our staff in Bocachica are holding the ministry`s very first Mini-DTS for the youth of Bocachica and the other communities on the island. Yesterday I recieved a report from Erika and this is what she shared:

¨Some very good things are happening with the Mini-DTS, God has been ministering to the youth very deeply in many areas, including deliverance. The Mission is like a Temple where the presence of God is living. We have recieved a lot of help from the YWAMers in Cartagena and we have really enjoyed this time a lot. There are young people from both churches in Bocachica and also from Tierrabomba and Punta Arena. Today we are going to be ministering inner healing and later this week we`ll share about missions and we will also give a presentation about the ministry... Several of the kids are motivated to do their DTS in Cartagena and some are thinking about serving here at the Mission. We are convinced that God is bringing something new to Proyecto Libertad this year, through this school. We are seeing that God`s purpose in this is bigger than what we inicially thought and the impact is going to be big.¨

NEW STAFF

We welcomed a new member to our staff. Josefina Hernandez is from Tijuana, Mexico. Jorge and I met her when Josefina did her DTS at the base in Ensenada and she later did part of her outreach in Bocachica. Josefina is going to be working with Chilren`s Ministries which includes the Child Sponsorship Program, Children`s Feeding Center, Children`s Library/Study Center, and Discipleship. Her arrival was an asnwer to prayer because the person who was in charge of Children`s Ministries, Blanca Rosa Salcedo, has finished her committment and is now working with YWAM in Costa Rica.

Soon we will try to add a photo of the Mini-DTS and the staff with Josefina. For now we would like to show some photos and share what has been going on with Proyecto Libertad.

GRADUATES!

Yorcelis (left) was the first recipient our our nursing scholarship. With the donations of a few generous supporters, Yorcelis was able to complete her first level of nursing. We are very proud of her! Marley (right) has been on staff with us for several years and over a year ago we sent her to study a computer course in Cartagena. She was very diligent in her studies and along with fulfilling her responsibilities at the Mission (bookkeeping, children`s discipleship, etc...) she also graduated in December ´06.

Many of you remember Samy, he met the Lord through our cell group meetings at the mission and since he gave his heart to Jesus we have seen beautiful growth in him! Even though he was very behind in his education, due to not being able to afford school fees for several years, he really applied himself and was able to finish like 5 grades in about 3 years and in December he graduated from High School! Now Samy is praying because he wants to do his DTS this year. He is a very special young man who wants to serve God with all he has and we are sure that God has many things planned for his life. It has been a priviledge to have him with us these years at the Mission and to be able to help him in this whole process. Samy was one of the recipients of our Child Sponsorship Program. If you would like to help Samy financially to be able to do his DTS this year, please write us and we can give you more information. We would love to be able to send him on an international outreach too! (In this photo Samy is with Marley and his Mother.)

OUR SYMPATHY

Martin Hakenjos, who has been with us in Bocachica since the very beginning, had to fly home to Germany because his mom was very sick. We were sad to hear that on December 13th his mom passed away. In spite of the sadness, we are thankful to know that she went to be with Jesus and we will meet again one day. This photo of Martin and his mom was taken a few weeks before she passed away.

CONSTRUCTION COURSE
In September we were able to host a construction course at the Mission. This time was extra special because the course was approved by the SENA, a Colombian governmental institution that give free technical level education. The men from the community spent several months learning skills like how to build walls, cement work, drainage and metal structures. In order to put what they had learned into practice they were able to work on the clinic and library projects at the Mission.

NEW LIBRARY

We were finally about to start the construction of a second floor over our Feeding Center in order to house our Children`s Library. The library was founded years ago by Lucha, now my sister-in-law, and from the beginning we were using a borrowed building which was owned by the local church. It was a blessing to us for many years but the building was in bad shape. When our contract ended with the church we decided to build our own place. The library is a place where the kids and teenagers can go to get help with their homework and school projects.

THE BOAT

As you know we have been working on renovating our minisry boat for years, as the Lord provides the funds to do so. This past year Martin was able to focus on this almost full-time and he accomplished a lot. Now what we are mainly lacking is the motor. We have about half of the money in savings but still need to raise the other half. We continue with the vision of sailing to other islands and river communities of our region taking physical and spiritual help to the needy.

This is what the boat looks like today.

Meet Reinel

This is Reinel from Bocachica. He's been one of our volunteers at the mission since he was little and he was in our Child Sponsorship Program through high school graduation. Now Reinel is a recipient of our scholarship program and he is studying nursing. Even though the scholarship he has received covers the costs of his school fees, books and uniforms, he is still responsible for some of his own expenses, like transportation. Unfortunately the financial situation of Reinel's family is very critical and he has not been able to meet these expenses. We at the mission have helped make ends meet so far but in order for Reinel to continue studying we urgently need to find some additional sponsors to help cover these costs. He has to travel round trip to Cartagena by boat each day, and then once he is there he has to take two buses plus he needs to get at least a small bite to eat during the day. Ideally he needs $5 USD per day, 5 days a week...this comes to about $100 USD a month. I know a lot of you who have come to Bocachica know Reinel and we wanted to let you know of this need...if any of you would like to sponsor Reinel so he can further his education, please contact us so we can give you the details! THANK YOU!!