All dressed up and ready for Church. Carl continues to spoil us with breakfast every morning. This morning it was scrambled eggs and onions. mmm mmm good!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Baby Washing in the afternoon
After a three hour shopping trip we were off to wash babies in the main plaza. Every Saturday the homeless mothers are able to bring their babies to be washed and given a fresh set of clothing. The older children and their mothers are given bread, milk and a chance to wash their hair.
The Villa Israel Orphanage
The second home is approved and just waiting for kids. They've had lots of requests already this week. Maybe before we go home there will be kids in this living room.
The Muyurina Orphanage
That afternoon we were able to meet the children in the first home. As we were leaving they put on a mini concert and sang to us in Spanish, Quechua and Aymara about their love for Jesus.
Helping at the Children's Nutrition Center
We took a few hours to help the nurses feed the children in the Albina Patino children's hospital. These kids were brought here because they were starving to death. Its hard to believe these are the lucky ones.
We Made It! Sort of...
Well, we arrived safe and sound...at least to Santa Cruz. Now we have a nine hour ride to Cochabamba. At least its in this luxury bus.
The Play Center
This play center is a monument to God's family working together for His children. The children of Corpus Cristi school raised the money, Bedford Church started the construction and Beechwood Church continued the construction.
Beechwood in Bolivia
Team Beechwood 2007 makes repairs and additions to the home Team Beechwood 2006 helped build. Projects this year included painting, varnishing and the continued construction of a play center.
The Play Center
This is the play center Corpus Cristi kids raised funds for, Bedford Community Church started building and Beechwood Church continued to build. Its a monument to God's family on earth working together to care for His children.
Beechwood at Work
In the home Team Beechwood 2006 helped build Team Beechwood 2007 visits and makes some needed improvements and additions. Paint touch-ups, varnishing and a play center for the kids.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Saturday Night at the Cafe
Last Saturday night (June 16th) we had a very special night at the Cafe. It was Ayla´s last Saturday night at the Cafe. The night started out with some praise and worship around a campfire. We sang both English and Spanish songs. We tried to teach the kids the hand motions to ¨Lord I lift Your Name on High¨ but we confused them because we all knew different variations of the motions. After we sang we played some games. One particular game envolved embarassing the loser of the game. Some of the ¨losers¨ had to sing songs (all the kids enjoyed Steven´s version of ¨I´m a little teapot¨) some of the other ¨losers¨ had to dance. After all the games Ayla gave message about Jesus. She spoke in Spanish and definately kept the attention of the kids. After Ayla´s message we cooked smores. Most of the kids were very skeptical of the smores at first. They had never tried them and weren´t sure about the weird looking sandwich. But, after they tried them they loved them!
The night was a huge success; all the kids had a great time and it was a nice way to say bye to Ayla. All us interns really miss Ayla´s beautiful singing voice and her art.
The night was a huge success; all the kids had a great time and it was a nice way to say bye to Ayla. All us interns really miss Ayla´s beautiful singing voice and her art.
Psalm 139: 14a
How Great Is Our God!
It´s been quite an experience here so far in Cochabamba, Bolivia even though I was here 2 years ago but a lot have changed since then.
Being here for 6 months (now 5 months) knowing how everyday is different and we won´t be in Chapare all the time would sometimes make me feel that there isn´t much work here to be done but these past few weeks I´ve learned that going on a mission trip isn´t always about what I want but it is what God wants. Even working for the missionaries here, such as doing little things like clean the truck, clean the dog, clean the guest house, would be considered ministry work. A lot of people out there do not know that and would always think that going on a mission trip is always about doing the actual ministry work (building orphanages here in Bolivia).
Something that I´ve noticed is the word COMMISSION. If you spell the word commission with only one M, it would be Co-Mission, and the first part os Co-Mission requires us to spread His Word to different nations of the world, and the other part of Co-Mission is building relationships and bridges and that´s what I´ve been doing when working in Chapare.
Everytime I travel to the orphanages and see the orphans, I wonder why and how these kids that are so precious can be abandonned.
This morning doing devotions and dong some reflection with God, I read Psalm 139:14a.
Psalm 139:14 (New International Version)I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
After reading that, I recognized that we should not take anything for granted that our God has given to us. I should praise Him daily because He is the one that created me and that I should be happy for the family that He has given me because not a lot of people get that opportunity.
It´s been quite an experience here so far in Cochabamba, Bolivia even though I was here 2 years ago but a lot have changed since then.
Being here for 6 months (now 5 months) knowing how everyday is different and we won´t be in Chapare all the time would sometimes make me feel that there isn´t much work here to be done but these past few weeks I´ve learned that going on a mission trip isn´t always about what I want but it is what God wants. Even working for the missionaries here, such as doing little things like clean the truck, clean the dog, clean the guest house, would be considered ministry work. A lot of people out there do not know that and would always think that going on a mission trip is always about doing the actual ministry work (building orphanages here in Bolivia).
Something that I´ve noticed is the word COMMISSION. If you spell the word commission with only one M, it would be Co-Mission, and the first part os Co-Mission requires us to spread His Word to different nations of the world, and the other part of Co-Mission is building relationships and bridges and that´s what I´ve been doing when working in Chapare.
Everytime I travel to the orphanages and see the orphans, I wonder why and how these kids that are so precious can be abandonned.
This morning doing devotions and dong some reflection with God, I read Psalm 139:14a.
Psalm 139:14 (New International Version)I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
After reading that, I recognized that we should not take anything for granted that our God has given to us. I should praise Him daily because He is the one that created me and that I should be happy for the family that He has given me because not a lot of people get that opportunity.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
We went out to Chapare with a team from Bedford, New Hampshire. It was an amazing experience being out in the rainforest and being a part of construction for the orphanage. We did all sorts of things ranging from passing bricks in an assembly line to painting the church we are partnering with. We also had the opportunity to play with lots of kids from the surrounding village. We taught them games like Red Rover and handed out toys and candy!
Even though most of us know only a small amount of Spanish, it is always amazing to see how easy it is to communicate love without using words. The bright smiles on the faces of all the kids when we left was a testimony in and of itself about what we had communicated to them that day. It was simply amazing to see the way God is at work in the lives of the people in Chapare, and was such a privilege to be able to play even a small role in that.
Even though most of us know only a small amount of Spanish, it is always amazing to see how easy it is to communicate love without using words. The bright smiles on the faces of all the kids when we left was a testimony in and of itself about what we had communicated to them that day. It was simply amazing to see the way God is at work in the lives of the people in Chapare, and was such a privilege to be able to play even a small role in that.
A day in the life....
A typical Tuesday:
Wake up to the sound of Perdro the parrot insanely screaming
Eat a make shift breakfast
Squeeze in a little devotion
Then it´s off to Espanol class!
After Espanol we head to the orphanage only couple blocks away from the hacienda (our ¨home¨)
After playing with the kids too young to be in school, we eat our lunch (which typically consists of somthing deep fried paired with a soda of some sort).
After the other kids come home from school, we have even more children to play with.
As the day calms down we sing Spanish worship songs. Even though we don´t understand most of the words it is amazing to see how worship can cross cultures.
We head back to the hacienda then catch a trufie (a small, cheap bus) to dinner.
After another fried meal we grab a taxi (in which we shove as many people as possible) back to the hacienda for a relaxing evening of hanging out and getting to know each other.
Wake up to the sound of Perdro the parrot insanely screaming
Eat a make shift breakfast
Squeeze in a little devotion
Then it´s off to Espanol class!
After Espanol we head to the orphanage only couple blocks away from the hacienda (our ¨home¨)
After playing with the kids too young to be in school, we eat our lunch (which typically consists of somthing deep fried paired with a soda of some sort).
After the other kids come home from school, we have even more children to play with.
As the day calms down we sing Spanish worship songs. Even though we don´t understand most of the words it is amazing to see how worship can cross cultures.
We head back to the hacienda then catch a trufie (a small, cheap bus) to dinner.
After another fried meal we grab a taxi (in which we shove as many people as possible) back to the hacienda for a relaxing evening of hanging out and getting to know each other.
Summer 2007 Interns
Joli, Leah, Laura, Jessica, Ashley, Ayla, Lyndsay, Eric, Justin, Justin, Ben, Scott, Dan, Peter, and Steven come from three different countries and all different backgrounds, but came to Cochabamba, Bolivia for the same purpose: to serve God.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
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