The Mennonite Colonies

Hey Guys again sorry for the length of time between posts, I've just been doing other things I suppose. Well anyways the other weekend we went to Pailon and we got to see first hand what the Mennonite colonies live like down in Bolivia. First off what we saw was not what every colony is like, there are a huge range of what these colonies live like and this is just what we saw and were told.

That being said it is for the most part a very sad situation. Most of the colonies (not all but most) still live without technology of any kind. Some groups don't even allow tractors, others only tractors with metal wheels. All in all not an easy situation to live. That is not the sad part however, the sad part is how they live with all the strictest rules that regard to their faith but they don't have any true faith.

What I mean is this, all their sermons are in High German but the people only understand and speak Low German being they don't actually know what is being taught for the most part. In a lot of cases even the pastor doesn't understand the sermons, but they are handed down from pastor to pastor so they just rotate through the pre-written sermons. Also for the longest time Low German was not a written language and only 10 years ago was it written down, at which point and Low German Bible was written which would make it possible for the people to read the Bible for themselves. But the heirarchy in the colonies have decided that the High German Bible is the proper Bible and so the Low German one has been forbidden. So the people are again stuck without being able to read about their faith.In some colonies if you are caught with a German Bible you will be kicked out of the colony, this is a very scary fact for them because they are told that those who have the power to kick them out of the colony also have the ability to kick them out of Heaven and the two go hand in hand. So these people live in a constant state of fear and it is very sad.

Also because their faith is not one built on knowledge but on fear, a lot of bad happens in the colonies today. Drinking is a huge issue and so is abuse. Another big issue is rape, apparently it is not uncommon for a father to rape his own children. All in all it is a very sad situation. That being said there is hope!

Through ministries like the one we visited, the people are learning about their faith and it is changing their lives and the lives of their colonies. This specific ministry was a radio ministry. They run Christian radio programming for the Mennonite and Quechua (indigenous group) people. This is a huge blessing for these people because it is often the first time that they are able to hear the Bible preached with true faith and love. In the Mennonite colonies the people often have hidden hand held radio's in their houses so that they can listen. As well many of the colonies are now progressing forward which is awesome to see.

We visited a Mennonite church in one of the colonies that has changed as a result of these ministries. It was cool to see, because although they still had a lot of their traditions in place such as their clothing and modest lifestyles, there was room for growth. They had microphones and things in their service which is huge for progression and their service was in Low German so the people can understand and it was actually planned specifically for that week rather than a set sermon that the people have hear hundreds of times. And not only that but the people also had their own Bibles so that they could learn and grow. It was truly an awesome thing to see! We were only in the community for on morning but we could clearly see the hope in that colony which is so different from a lot of the colonies down here. We also drove through a couple other colonies and were told about them so if you want to know more you can message me. 

Anyways all in all it was definitely an eye opening trip and these people really need ministries like the radio ministry we visited so if you could pray for that that would be wonderful! Well I hope you have had a God filled and bless last few weeks and I will try and start posting more regularly again.

Shalom and God Bless

Michael

Carnaval

Hey guys just thought I'd let you in on what I did this past weekend. But first I will explain what this weekend was. This past weekend was Carnaval and for those of you who don't know what it is, it's a huge holiday in Latin culture. It involves tons of drinking and sex and things like that and is all around not a good time. It also involves people spraying you with dye or hitting you with water balloons and things being completely fair game. Anyways it happens every year 40 days before Easter, just in time to do everything you wont do during lent, great eh. Needless to say, the Christian community does not participate and seeing as we are missionaries here, it would be frowned upon if we did, so obviously we didn't. But many churches here leave the city for those three days in order to escape the whole situation. 

So Tim and I went out of the city to a camp for the weekend. The first day three of the guys from Ken's place came and the rest stayed to do homework and things, then for the next two days it was just me and Tim, it was still great though, we made a bunch of friends with other people there and it was a really good time. We hung out, played soccer and volleyball, threw a Frisbee, swam, had chapel, and ... slacklined! All in all it was a really good weekend. Also some of the people we met were super awesome and we'll be staying in touch long after we leave Bolivia for sure. 

We got back on Tuesday afternoon just in time to go out with the guys from Ken's place to participate in the city wide water fight. It is the one part of Carnaval that even Christians participate in. So we hopped in the back of Ken's truck with a bunch of water balloons and had some fun. By the time we were done both Tim and I were covered in dye which was pretty entertaining as it is a lot more visible on us Gringos than on the Bolivians. 

Anyways that was my weekend, oh and it was sunny and like +40ish the entire time, (Jealous Ken)? Well I hope all of you also had a wonderful weekend and that God worked in your life in some knew and exciting way. Shalom and God Bless.

Michael

God's Wisdom and Grace

Hey guys, so I didn't blog for a few weeks and now I'm going to write a second blog in one day, oh well. So first off, God is great! At El Jordan there is a lady who was giving up her baby for adoption at birth and there was a family willing to take her. This may seem like no big deal, but it is a rare occurrence, people look down on adoption here, it's a pride thing, so it rarely ever happens but this lady wants to do it because she knows its what is best for her baby. Also, there is a possibility that the baby will have HIV and yet this family is willing to take her which is awesome. And this family is a loving Christian family so it's great! 

One other situation you should know about, this lady is choosing to have her baby at great risk to herself. She had Tuberculosis earlier in life as well as some other disease that eats at your lungs, which is caused by bugs that live in thatched roofs down here and as a result of these two, she only has part of one lung working anymore. So she could not have a natural birth, but a C-section may kill her and even though that was the case, she chose to go through with it anyways. So this morning she had her baby and both her and the child were completely healthy! Praise God! It is such an awesome situation, but at the same time please pray for it as well, because although the family should have been able to take the baby home from the hospital, there have now been complications with the paper work so they are still waiting, so pray that everything works out.

Now for a little bit of a different situation. Pray for the kids we work at in the orphanages as well as the guys at Kens place. They come from really hard situations, either they were born on the streets, they had bad family situations, or they had such bad family situations they left and lived on the streets by there own choice sometimes as young as 4 or 5. This really is hard for the kids in the homes and even the guys at Ken's place, no matter how old you are, those scars are always there, until they allow God to heal them, so pray for healing. Now I'm going to tell you the story of one specific kid at Talita Cumi, he is amazing and I'd like you to pray for him and his sister.

Now this kid, I really connected with him when I first got to Talita Cumi. He is a loving, kind, joyful kid. He's about ten and just is full of life, and I was shocked when I learned his story. He has only been at Talita Cumi for six months and the reason he came there is because his dad killed his mom right in front of him. He saw everything. His dad was sent to jail and him and his sister ended up at Talita Cumi. So all at once he lost his family and now he's lost every other person who has cared about him. That's because his dad escaped jail and is looking for him and his sister to kill them too, so none of his family and friends are allowed to know where he is otherwise his dad could find out. So outside of his younger sister he has essential been cut off from everyone he has ever known. He also has really only one thing left of his old life, his moms wedding ring which he wears 24/7, it is his only reminder of his mom, no pictures nothing, just the ring, and he will never be without it.

Now you'd think, at least I would, that these situations would cause a kid to be bitter, angry and unable to trust, but this did not happen. Now at first he had a bit of anger and things, but in only 6 short months he is one of the happiest most lovable kids you can meet. Now that is healing from God! But pray that that healing would continue. I feel that although the situation is horrible God is using it for good. This kid is full of love and is going to do amazing things. He has leadership qualities and is a really strong kid, I think he will do amazing things, but I also feel that had he stayed in his abusive family situation he would never have reached his potential. So although man did evil, God used it for good, feels Biblical doesn't it? 

So yes, pray for this kid, pray that God would use him and mold him into the man of God he wants him to be, and pray for all the other kids in this country, although this is only one story, each kid has their own and most are not great, so pray for each and every one of them, pray for healing, for Gods will and for me and everyone else who works with these kids that we would know how to show them love and help them find themselves and Christ in the process.

Thanks everyone, shalom and blessings,

Michael

El Jordan - La Rincanada

Hey everyone, first off sorry for how long it is between blog posts right now, but we don't have internet at the house so we have to go to internet cafe's for that and it just doesn't happen that often. Anyways I hope this post finds you all well and that God is showering blessings on all of you.

Hmm now where to start, a lot has happened since my last post, I guess one thing is both Tim and I are healthy, so praise God for that! I guess the most entertaining part of the last week and a half came this past Saturday, the 19th I do believe but it might have been the 12th.

Anyways on that Saturday we worked with El Jordan. They were having a celebration day where they took all the kids they work with who got over a 50 on their report card. Now that may not seem like much, but everything is marked out of 70 here so it's actually about a B + or above. Anyways, there were 20 kids, and the original plan was to take them out to El Jordan's property outside the city and do a bunch of activities with them, including: slip and slide, swimming, horse rides and a scavenger hunt. Sadly however there was too much rain and the roads were too bad to make it there.

But that is okay because we had an awesome secondary plan! We got to El Jordan in the morning and had a brunch of pancakes with the kids, and once that was done we went to this park outside the city, but not so far as to make it impossibly to get there. It was called La Rincanada and was insanely gorgeous. We started out by playing on what is probably one of the coolest playgrounds ever, continued on the look at the fish in their aquarium, and then headed off exploring. There were ton's of beautiful things to look at. First off there was the pond which was super beautiful and then there was all the paths through the trees with tons of different cool plants and things to look at, and just when the kids started getting bored we found the... zipline! The kids loved that, it was not super huge or anything but it was definitely big enough for them to have an awesome time. Then once everyone was done with that we went swimming in the pools. There were multiple pools to swim in but we spent most of the time in the kiddie pool since not many of the kids knew how to swim. Even still, the kids had a blast and it was totally worth it! All to soon the day was over and we had to go back, once we got back to El Jordan we had corn on the cob and hot dogs which the kids really enjoyed and it was all in all a good day. Once the food was finished the kids left and we headed home. 

Here are just a few pictures from the day:

The entrance to La Rincanada

 The Playground, it was all made out of cement and all of it was in the shape of animals. Frog teeter-totters, elephant and crocodile slides, a snake swinging bride, and a turtle climbing dome, pretty sweet.

The group of guys Tim and I were in charge of, just hanging out on an elephant slide, no big deal.

The Aquarium

Just a few of the many colorful fish at the aquarium

The pond and its backing

I found a bit of time to try out the zipline, as you can see I was loving it.

The kiddie pool, again everything is in the shape of animals.

The guys enjoying some spraying water from the singing frogs (see below)

The Singing Frogs!

Just hanging out in the pool, the ball caused a lot of mischief however

 As you can see the kids loved it an it was a huge success even if it wasn't what we had originally planned. Thankfully it didn't rain at all even though the forecast said it would all day! Praise God! It is such a blessing to be a part of these kids lives, they are some of the most amazing people I've met. Anyways hopefully you enjoyed hearing about the day, God Bless.

Shalom, Michael

Quick update

Hey guys just a quick update for you all. No super funny or crazy stories to report but rather an answer to prayer and a new prayer request. First off thank you for your prayers, I have gotten back to 100% health so that is awesome! And now I ask that you would pray for Tim, he has obtained a stomach bacteria of some kind and now has a stomach ache, head ache, fever and is just all around not feeling good. We went to the hospital last night so now he has antibiotics, but for the next week he probably wont be doing much and has a specific diet he has to follow. So if you could pray for a speedy recovery that'd be awesome.

And I guess on quick story couldn't hurt. Last night at the hospital while we were waiting for Tim's test results, I pulled out my Ipod and was listening to some music, then Tonchi (our pastor and the guy to took us to the hospital) saw it was was immediately interested. Now one thing you must know, Apple is not big down here and Ipod's are basically no where so this is a pretty new thing for a lot of people. Anyways, Tonchi saw it and was like a kid in a candy store. He continued asking me to show him different games and apps and was loving every single one, he literally turned into a little kid, it was awesome. Then we went to the music, he was so impressed with my music collection and continued to say over and over that he "needed all of my music, all of it". Anyways that's the short story it sure brightened my day even though the situation was not awesome it still made for a good time.

Oh also one other quick note, I am reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan right now, if you have not read it, I would recommend it highly, amazing insights and it really makes you think long and hard about your faith, awesome book.

Anyways thanks again for praying, love you all.

Shalom and God Bless,
Michael

God is Good

So this past week God has been good. Well actually He has been great! And no, he didn’t do anything miraculous and not much has changed, but I guess it’s more that I have changed and realized God’s goodness which has always been there. That being said He has answered some of my prayer requests. For those of you who read my past blog you will have read about a boy named Christian, well he is now in school so praise God for that! We have also been quickly improving in our Spanish which is awesome! Sadly I still feel sick, but that is no reason to doubt God’s goodness. He is an awesome God! And although I still feel sick, it has not stopped me from doing anything yet so praise God for that!

So anyways, this week was good, we went to Talita Cumi, El Jordan, did Spanish, and Ken left and all was good. This week had its fair share of interesting moments however. First off we learned that catching a bus in the rain is easier said than done, they run a lot less and are often too full to get on. We worked through it however and made it to our destination, even if we were over 40 minutes late… Secondly we went to the plaza on Thursday and Ivan showed us this place where you can get frappuchinos, which were only the best thing ever! Then we watched a live band play which was super fun. And finally we played with a monkey, that’s right a monkey.

Now to explain, El Jordan have just bought a baby spider monkey for their property outside the city, but right now it’s just a baby so it is staying and Corina’s house. But on Friday we were heading out to the property to do some prep for a game day with the kids (which was supposed to be today but sadly it has rained a lot and so it was cancelled) and we got to bring the monkey along. So while we were setting up for things, we carried the baby monkey in our monkey murse as we have coined it, super cool. Then once we were done we were able to take the monkey out and hold it which I thoroughly enjoyed. And come on it’s pretty cool how many people get to carry a monkey around just because? Not many.

Anyways those are a few of the highlight from the week, but outside of those we still had lots of fun. Lots of playing with kids, teaching guitar, playing soccer, things like that! So yes, God it very good! And now for some prayer requests:

1. Praise God that Christian was able to get into school
2. Continued prayer for me as I am still sick. Also that no matter how I feel, I would be able to continue down here with joy.
3. That as we continue at various ministries that God would be working through us, not us working for our own desires.
4. That I would be able to clearly know what I am supposed to do next year, as right now I have no idea and I am a little worried about not knowing.
5. Praise God for our ability to learn Spanish so far and for continued understanding
6. And finally, that we would have opportunities each day to grow and teach others.

Gracias Y Dios Bendice

It's A Wonderful Life

Hola all, and Como Estas? First off, sorry about how long it's been since I last posted, it's been a busy week! Now where to start... Well I guess I give you some highlights of the week. The week started off with lots of Spanish lessons and hanging out at Ken's place, but along with that we did some errands including going to Talita Cumi for the first time to visit. Then on Tuesday we had a professional chef from church come and cook for us which was super cool and really tasty. And then on Wednesday we worked at El Jordan and did a lot of odd jobs for them, including cleaning out their water tank which took a good 5 hours to do! Side note, the water tank is on their roof and it was a really sunny day so in the end both Tim and I burnt our backs.

Then on Friday we spent our first full day at Talita Cumi which was super awesome! We mostly did odd jobs for them that day, but we are now going every Monday and Wednesday for full days so we are getting to do a lot more. Monday was our first full day there with a routine and it was a blast! We taught Guitar and Physical Education to three of the kids who had learning disabilities and don't go to school so that was super fun and I know they loved it which was good. So now we'll be doing that every Monday and Wednesday morning with them! In the afternoon we did some work projects and played with the kids, including taking all the boys to the park. It was a really good time where they were able to run off some energy which the full time staff at Talita Cumi was appreciative of. All in all Talita Cumi is a place we are quickly falling in love with and we can't wait to work there more!

Then today, Tuesday, Ken left for Canada, so we are now living at Ken's place for the next six weeks while he is gone, hopefully that all works out and that Ken's trip goes well! Please pray for him as he is going home to fund raise for a building project for his ministry. They really need to build a new home for the guys but it will cost about 200,000 dollars which he obviously does not have. Anyways it is all in God's hand so it will work out.

On a note outside of mission work, on Sunday afternoon while a lot of you were watching the Superbowl, I was watching a different game. Tim and I along with some of the guys from Ken's place went to the Classico, which is a professional soccer game where both teams from Santa Cruz are playing each other. The teams are Oriente and Blooming, and I was cheering for Blooming. Unfortunately Blooming lost 2-0 even though they played better than Oriente, which caused the crowd to get rowdy and start a little bit of a stampede, which is why there are the police with riot gear in attendance at the game. In the end from what we could tell, two people were taken away in ambulance, but hopefully they are okay.  All that being said the game was super fun and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and coming home to find out the Packers won made it just a little bit better :).

So anyways that was my week, thanks for reading! But finally a few prayer requests:

1. For Christian who is a boy from the family we helped his family build a house. He is extremely smart and was ahead in school but since they moved they are having difficulty getting him into classes since there is no room, which is a big issue here. So as of right now he is not in school. So just pray that that would all work out.
2. For me as I have been feeling a bit under the weather. Pray for a quick recovery from whatever I have and that it would not hinder my ministry down here.
3. For Ken as he is in Canada, that his trip would be safe and a welcomed rest and that he would be able to raise the funds he needs.
4. That as we continue at various ministries that God would be working through us, not us working for our own desires.
5. That I would be able to clearly know what I am supposed to do next year, as right now I have no idea and I am a little worried about not knowing.
6. For the ability to quickly get a hang of the Spanish language.
7. That we would have opportunities each day to grow and teach others.

 Gracias Y Dios Bendice