Family/Familia

Hey All!

Well I'm posting this in the Toronto airport (yay for free wifi!) and I guess I should tell you that I arrived here safe and sound. It's almost 1 and I'm just waiting for my bus but I assume that should go fine as well. Anyways the rest of this blog was written in Miami but their wifi is expensive so it didn't get posted until now, anyways enjoy!

Well I’m now officially back in North America, in the Miami Airport drinking a Starbucks coffee, the coffee is amazing by the way. Although this will not be posted until later because I’m not willing to pay $5 for 30 minutes of wifi. Anyways I’m thinking to myself, how did I get to this point. The point where I feel like South America is my home, Bolivia is my home, the guys and Ken’s house are my family. And it’s a cool thought, I know I still have a home and family back in Saskatoon and I am very excited to go home but I also have another home, and a family in Bolivia who I already miss like crazy. Those guys are my brothers and the people I worked with were my closest friends, the kids I hung out with are like my kids and in every way I miss all of them. I think I like the way my pastor in Bolivia said it: “Remember all of us and let your family and your church family in Canada know that you also have a family here in Bolivia”. It’s not that I’m replacing one for the other, it’s that I now have two and I feel truly blessed!

I’m already trying to make plans to visit again in a year, and it’s looking good that it will happen so that is super exciting! And while I am in Canada I will definitely keep in contact with everyone back in Bolivia, but I need to not live missing the people where I’m not.  I realised the reverse of this part way through my time in Bolivia. I was really missing my family and friends back home but then I realised it was just lessening my experience there and holding me back in my relationships with the people there, and I think that the same goes for this. Like I need to continue to work at my relationships in Bolivia and keep in contacts but I have to remember that where I am is where God wants me to be right now and so I shouldn’t live with regret or anything like that. So I find joy in that and excitement at where God is taking me next. So to all you friends and family in Canada I can’t wait to see you and thanks for being so awesome while I’m there and while I was away! And for those of you in Bolivia, I will see you again soon hopefully and don’t worry I won’t forget about you and you are some of my dearest and closest friends! And to all of you God Bless!

Shalom – Michael

God's Protection

Hey everyone,

So I was planning on blogging today about what I've been up to on my road trip. To tell you guys about all the cool things I've been up to like visiting Lake Titicaca and things like that, but plans change. So today I had an experience I will never forget. We were heading from La Paz back to Cochabamba, driving through the Andes mountains and our brakes went out. We were coming down the mountain and just kept gaining speed since we couldn't break and we were quickly approaching a semi so Yimy (one of the guys from Ken's home who was driving) went into the on coming traffic lane. 
Unfortunately there was a taxi right there and so we swerved again, clipping the side of the car and went careening down the mountain. We bounced a bunch and side note Tim and I were not wearing seat belts, smart right? Well that's a Bolivian thing, anyways at one point we were almost on our side and we really should have flipped but for some reason we didn't. Then we came to a stop for no apparent reason other than God was protecting us. Well we got out of the car without any injuries other than Ken's friend Amy who had a small cut on her forehead from her sunglasses, God is amazing! Then we look around, 5 feet father we would have hit a drop off and falling onto a bunch of rocks and a few feet in either direction would have caused us to flip, God definitely was watching over us! Anyways all in all it was a crazy experience and one which God was definitely watching over us, and to show you a little more clearly what happened I'll post some pictures of this in the coming days.

So one quick prayer request out of this. Well I guess two, first off praise and thanks to God for His protection. Secondly pray for Yimy. He is a guy from Ken's transition home and his faith is a little rocky right now, he's an amazing guy but he's just really unsure about faith. He says he doesn't believe and we are all really praying for him. Right before the accident actually Ken was talking with him about needing to put full faith in God and if you're in the middle you never know what could happen. So we are really hoping that this enforces that and that God is using this situation to move in Yimy's life and hopefully out of this he will become a strong believer.

Shalom and God Bless

Michael

The Jungle

Hey guys, two posts in one night, I know crazy, well no worries this one will be short. Anyways this is the promised second post about our trip into the jungle. It was pretty crazy from the get go. First off the last night with the team I didn’t fall asleep until  2:30 in the morning and then woke up at 5:30 to go with the team to the airport. After they got through security it was 7 and we didn’t get to our place until 7:30, then we repacked and met Marco (the guy taking us on our trip) at 8:30. We spent the day picking stuff up and then headed on a long and bumpy drive. We got there and went to bed. The next day we got up and drove around finding people who wanted a well dug and had money to pay. The next two days we dug wells, one each day. It went really well and was super cool to get to work with the families and rewarding to get to dig wells for those that need it. Anyways it was all in all a rewarding trip and a huge blessing to get to go.

Shalom and God Bless

Michael

New Experiences - SCS Team

Hey Guys,

So thought I’d give you an update on the last couple weeks because they have been super full and exciting, and I have not blogged about anything I’ve done for a long time. So two weeks ago the SCS team came and Tim and I had the opportunity to work with the team the entire time they were here, it was almost like we were part of the team which was super cool. It was also super fun for me because I knew a lot of the team members and had even had the opportunity to coach a few of them in SR. Guys volleyball this past fall. Needless to say it was a super awesome experience. I got to connect quite a bit with some of the guys and I’m excited to hang out with them when I get home. Anyways, while they were here we got to work with a few different ministries outside of Ken’s place. Such as: El Jordan, Mission Timoteo, YWAM Bolivia and we also got to go to the women’s prison.

Even though we have been here for 4 months, it was an eye opening experience even for me because we got to work and do things we don’t normally do down here. Such as we got to go into the canals and spend time with the street kids. Like we get to work with a lot of people coming off the streets and have talked to random people we’ve met while walking on the streets but nothing so direct. Like these were the kids who were super high and lived in the darkest of places. It was a good reminder of where the people we work with come from. Like all of the guys in Ken’s house lived on the streets, most for more than five years and sometimes it’s easy to forget. They are such amazing guys and often it’s hard to even notice that they have a different past than you and me. So anyways it was definitely a blessing to get to do that with the team.

The other awesome part about being with the team was seeing the growth in the youth. I remember how impactful this trip was for me when I got to go and it was cool to see the same thing happening for some members of the group. I was talking with Tim after the team left and even he was able to see growth in members of the team, even without knowing them beforehand, so it was definitely cool that there was that much change in them. All in all the time with the team was an extreme blessing and I am super lucky to have gotten that experience as I don’t think any SCS alumni have ever had that chance before. Anyways that is a quick update on my time with the team and if you want to know more feel free to email me or talk to me when I get home. Also later on I will do a second post about the trip we took into the jungle right after the team left.

Anyways God Bless,

Shalom - Michael