Day 7

We are reaching the end of our time here in Bolivia, and we know that God has so much left for us...

To reflect on all of the amazing things that we have seen and participated in, I need a little bit of help :) I want you to hear the perspectives of some different team mates. So, to begin where we left off on Saturday, one of our team leaders Cristina Targa shares her experience in Kara- Kara on Saturday evening:

"Through leading a youth night at Kara-Kara, I experienced my favorite blessings here in Bolivia. At the beginning of the youth service, I had the team and the students of Kara-Kara interact in the Birthday game. This is where the group must line up chronologically without communicating vocally but you can communicate nonverbally. Everyone had a great time. We all communicated to accomplish the goal. And at the same time the barriers of language and culture did not stop us. I loved seeing two different groups coming together. I loved seeing both groups interacting and realizing they could work together. Following the birthday game, we did Bible trivia. The groups were separated by girls, guys, and the 12stone team. The girls and guys had a riot! They were all laughing and being highly competitive. Sadly the guys won, but only by a point! 12Stone on the other hand, couldn't handle the trivia questions ; P However, the best part of the night were the testimonies given by Jose, Juliana, and two girls from Kara-Kara. I translated for the all the girls, but one must have caution because one might end up crying. The second girl's testimony touched everyone in the room. At first she was very timid and didnt want to speak, but after several questions, she began to talk and talk. As she was decribing her life, we saw God's redemptive power. She stated, "There are times I want to separate from God, but my dad would call me and insist that I go to church." This is important due to the fact that her dad wouldnt let her go to church in the beginning. When her parents separated, she was able to attend and through time God started to move in her family. God moved in such a powerful way that her dad began to call and insist that she go to church. At this point, I was traslating her story, and I broke into tears. Being able to see that God is redemptive in her life broke my heart. But the tears didnt end there, Juliana gave her testimony after her, and I was blessed to have translated for her, but I didnt want to. :) Juliana's testimony brought about the same brokeness, for seeing God's redemptive power brings about a grateful/broken heart towards God. This was a powerful night for me, and for several others, seeing God impact lives across different cultures. I left in amazement and in awe of God's amazing love."

Sunday

Kara- Kara Morning church service

The next morning we had the opportunity to go to the church service with all the adults, kids, and youth (it was just youth on Sat. night) and while Pastor Mark Eiken brought the message that morning, the rest of us were doing a VBS for the children. The group of kids was split into two groups by ages (1-7) and (8+)

The group that Alys, Kat, Cristina, Heather, and I spent our morning with was the younger ones. They were precious as you can see from the pictures below, however--

They were a HANDFUL. These kids are so used to roaming the streets and running about that they don't know what it means to have structure or discipline. They may have a few family members that they live in a shack with, but they are, for the most part, left to fend for themselves. They were the dirtiest and poorest kids we've encountered. To me, they were the cutest..

Lunch, Shopping, & Jesus statue visit

After church at Kara-Kara we got to have a buffet lunch at a nice restaurant:

Me & Kat giving 10-year old Brodie "cooties" :)

We visited the big Jesus statue and it started raining just as we were leaving!

Palabra de Vida staff meeting

The Palabra de Vida student SUMMER camp (Yeah, it's kind of weird to think that this is summer down here & they are out of school) started on Monday. On Sunday night, however, the entire staff had finally arrived and they wanted to have a prayer meeting and service where they shared 2 worship songs with us and we sang 2 for them. Our pastor, Mark Eiken also brought a really great, encouraging message that was translated by this really funny guy :P Here we are, the new 12 stone traveling choir :) singing "Mighty to Save" by Hillsong:

Monday

We worked very hard on Monday. Yesterday's post shows a few pictures and descriptions on it. We bascially worked our tails off until dinner time- and then for some of us (Jose, Norbert, Juliana, and myself) we had a little bit more energy to exert for the day...

The camp officially started that evening as all of the kids had arrived throughout the day. The welcoming service was a really fun "Cowboy" themed event. There were videos and songs, acting, singing, and dancing!

Well, a few of us were asked on Friday or Saturday night if we would be willing to help out with a cowboy dance for the welcoming service on Monday night. Like I said- Jose, Norbert, me, and Juliana were the chosen dancers and we practiced the dance so many times that we had the song in our dreams and I even woke up with it on my mind!! It was a catchy, but kind of annoying song- and I didn't understand what the lyrics were...so anyways, we performed last night and it was really fun & the kids loved it!

Today (Tuesday)

Today has been a more relaxing day. So, if you have been praying for God to give us rest and energy, we have certainly had a day to receive both. Well, the girls have, atleast. The guys probably want to kill us for having such a light work load, lunch at a pizzeria, and a return visit to shop some more at the market :) But they have had a succesful work day and they eagerly returned back to work after eating the pizzas we brought back for them!

.....

The camp continues to run smoothly and we are anticipating the news of how many salvations come out of this week. We brought several Spanish Bibles with us and they plan to use them as gifts for the kids that receive Christ!

......

We have one more day down here. We will be packing tomorrow afternoon and have to be at the airport at 5pm. We are expected to arrive at 11am in Atlanta. We will be arriving in Miami at 5:30 am and that plane leaves at 9am. SO, if any of you need to reach us about airport logistics (like concerning rides when we get back) then that is when we will be in the states and you will be able to reach us. We are planning to have the same rides come pick us up on Thursday morning around 11am, and our expected arrival time to 12 Stone is between 1 and 2 depending on baggage claim, traffic, and of course flight delays...

I may post one more blog tomorrow before we go, but if not- this is goodbye! I hope you've enjoyed keeping up with our team and our adventures in Bolivia! We can't wait to come home to you and share the extra details and stories!!

Much love & joy,

Kristin

Day 6

So much to catch you guys up on, but we are still running on a really tight schedule and I'm sorry you're not getting much from our end...

To be quite honest...

We are getting an average of 5 1/2 hours of sleep each night and the days run together and never end and 11am feels like it should be 3pm and when you get in bed at night you close your eyes and the next thing you know there are 4 alarms going off in the room beacause what you really took was a nap.

We are all very tired at this point. We are fully aware that the enemy wants to do anything he can to break us down and beat us up. It's tough because it's not only the physical work load that is tiring, there is emotional and mental opression that has risen for each of us in different ways.

We have seen many great moments, however, I find it to be a difficut task and heavy responsibility to communicate how the trip is going for every single member, because we are all experiencing and seeing things differently. We have certainly grown as a unit, but from my perspective I can comment on these couple of things:

• The guys are working very hard on any and everything outdoors related (yard work, hauling more rocks, cleaning the soccer and volleyball field/court.) They are bonding well and deal with their tiredness with light jokes and laughter. They have worked so unbelievably hard

• The girls have helped a lot in the ktchen with preparing each healthy meal, the clean up process aferwards, and any other around the house kind of jobs (Cleaning the bathrooms :)
  

Although we DID get some help from this nice guy:

Pastor Mark Eiken having a little bit too much fun :)

We have another busy busy day tomorrow, but I am compiling a few responses tonight from different team members that capture their individual perspectives and experiences with different events from the past few days and I will have a big long blog for you people tomorrow :) Please continue to pray for our health, minds, spirits, group unity, protection, & hearts of service.

More tomorrow!

Much love & joy,

Kristin

DAY 4

Wow. Has it only been 4 days? We feel like we've been here for a month! Each day feels 3-days long. We are on the go from pre-sunrise till post-sunset! I'm sure all our brother/sister teams are doing the same, but man, is it kicking our butts. We sleep like rocks each night, and we work, love, and laugh like crazy each day, all day long.

By the way, this is Kat Richards "signing in" on behalf of Ms. Melin

This is going to be a mighty quick update (or at least that's the aim). Kristin and I are currently cutting into our shower time... wow! We are such troopers :-)

Today, we broke off into 2 teams. I, unknowingly, volunteered for a pretty hefty 6AM chore. Yep. By 6AM the 6 of us (Jose, Alys, Melissa, Brodie, Cristina, and myself) were hauled an hour away to pick potatoes & onions- barehanded. The catch was this- a very generous woman of the Cochabamba community had opened her field to us and said that whatever we could pick we could have for free! Love definitely abounds here. The potatoes & onions will be used in the meals of our upcoming camp where 700+ children will be arriving shortly and our hard, hard work will contribute to their ever-delicious meals. But trust me, it was no easy task! Although we were encompassed by beautiful mountains and a breathtaking view of Cochabama below, we made some time to have fun near the end of our fiasco.

...

While away, the other 1/2 of our team held down the fort back at camp while doing more manual labor like fixing a massive fence, leveling the soccer field, cleaning up the cafeteria, and much more. The workload just never ends.

It's awesome, though, because our trip is very different from what I had anticipated. Yes, we have spent a great deal of time in orphanages & doing some killer VBS, but for the most part we have been doing the scrub work around here. Faithfulness in the small things. The annual 700+ kids camp is fast approaching and we are here to serve the missionaries who will be pouring themselves out. We are here to clean up the grounds. We are here to prepare meals. We are here to cut vegetables. We are doing all the non-glamorous work... and that is OK! It has been a change of pace, and a perspective broadener for sure.

But more on this later.

Okay, well I've got to go.

Will write more soon!

To all who are back home in the states, we love you!

To our brothers & sisters on missions also, we think of you often!
Can't wait to swap stories.

~Kat

New Year's Eve & New Year's Day: Bolivian Style


Happy New Year!!! Or as we have heard it for the past two days "Feliz ano nuevo!"

This has certainly been a memorable start to the year 2010. Since I last wrote yesterday afternoon (Thursday the 31st), we have had a fun celebration with new amigos to bring in the new year and we have worked REALLY hard today...


All of the hard work we (ladies) put into the kitchen yesterday afternoon paid off when we got to enjoy a HUGE New Year's Eve feast with the 30 + missionaries on base and our team:

I tasted the BEST meat I've ever had in my entire life! They cooked whole chickens and filet mignon and two different types of sausages on an open grill for hours. The other dishes included salad, a huge fruit salad (with fresh fruit- mmm :) pasta, rice, homead desserts, cooked fresh veggies, and many other delicious things!

The meal took all day to prepare and it was finally ready at 9pm!! Here are us girls waiting for the much anticipated meal:

Brodie (the 10 year old son of the Purgason's that are with us) made friends with the missionaries' kids. He spent most of yesterday playing with them (Wii video games from what we heard). His Mom, Melissa, got on to him telling him that this is a mission trip, not Brodie Vacation time :)

So, here he is today making up for the play time:



We were told that today (Friday) would be the only day that we would get to sleep in and have some down time. We were going to be having a huge New Year's lunch with the Kowalske's at 2pm, so we all stayed up pretty late last night enjoying New Year's Eve together.


Well, we slept in and at about 10am we got an urgent knock on our door. There stood Aaron (the Helping Hand's volunteer that is our guide during the trip) and his 10 year old daughter, Mackenzie who got to come along. Mackenzie looks at all of under our covers and says, "Hey, we have to go do work."

We were all confused..and not to mention, half asleep. She said, "We're hauling rocks and we're already late!"

The 6 of us chicas looked at eachother and half laughed/ half cried. We all got ready in like 7 minutes flat- which is quite the accomplishment with 6 girls using one bathroom. We slapped on some sunscreen seeing that this was going to be the sunniest day we have encountered here so far, and we ran out the door.

The rock hauling went a little something like this:

We needed big rocks, flat rocks, ones that took 4 men... we drove up the mountain and loaded up the truck with SEVERAL. They use them for building walls down here, so even though it was physically demanding and we'll all be sore tomorrow, it was worth it to drop them off at the location where they're building the wall and know that we made it possible for them!

As you might be able to observe in the last picture...we had an injury. That would be Pastor Mark Eiken who came with our team to Bolivia. His finger got pinched between two rocks when he was moving some around and the tip of his finger was split open!! He was taken to a clinic and is totally fine, but it was the drama highlight of the day :) Moms, don't be scared. We ARE safe here. This was a minor incident, and won't happen again! We are blessed to have our leader, Jose that is in nursing school and two doctors (The Kowalske's) on base, so don't worry!


After the rock work out, we got to eat our big New Year's lunch! The food was cooked by Brenda Kowalske who is from Georgia so she knows how to make a Southern home-cooked meal :) I told her that her food looked almsot exactly like my mom's Thanksgiving meal! (Because we had turkey and all the fixings and caseroles) And might I add that she even made some sweet tea! It was so comforting and made us all feel right at home!


After lunch we went right back to work. Manual labor seemed to be the theme of the day. We pulled weeds, mowed grass, distributed gravel, cleaned a volleyball court, and cleaned up the entire yard around the playground and gardens. The kid's camp starts on Monday and there is much preparation to be done. We helped to make it look better outside:

We've been working hard all day and tomorrow is packed with even more activities and projects! Please continue to pray for our health, rest, group unity and spiritual growth. Pray that God would make His presence know among us and that would we would engage with His speaking voice. Pray that He would awaken our hearts to His power within us.

Here are a couple of pictures from the past two days that we were able to upload:

The bus that met us at the airport in Cochabamba. The man to the far left is Dr. Richard Kowalske, the owner of all the land we're staying and working on.


The beautiful place we're staying :)


From the orphanages:

Finally here!!

Wow!! We made it...

Here we are in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and what an amazing adventure this has been so far!

Oh, the traveling...

The trip began as we all met at the church at noon on Tuesday, December 29. We left for the airport at 1, made it by 2 to check in and make it smoothly and easily through baggage check and security. With a group of 14 and over 30 bags (including carry-ons) this is a miracle in and of itself! We had a short 2 hour flight to Miami which was enjoyable and everyone's spirits were high, then we had a 2 hour and 45 minute wait until our next flight to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. This wait was no big deal considering we still had to eat dinner, make it through security again and then customs. The people with the tiny airline "AeroSur" were very kind to us and helped us with everything. I think we gave them the most business they've had in a while :)
So, we had this crazy over night flight to Bolivia (10:00pm to 5:15am) and there were two crying/fussy/loud babies (one sitting directly behind me) and the turbulence was so bad that even if you did doze off for a minute, the shaking could easily wake you up. So, for the majority of our team members, the over night plane ride and sleep did not mix well. The most frustrating part was knowing that whatever sleep you got on that plane ride was what was supposed to hold you over for the entire day of work in Bolivia on Wednesday.



Well, we had a small delay on our last flight from Santa Cruz to Cochabamba (which- I was wondering how they could so quickly call a delay because of weather and then literally 10 minutes later it is safe to board?) But we were all so tired and delusional that I'm pretty sure we would have gone along with whatever it took to get to our destination.
We finally made it to Cochabamba and our plane had stairs coming down from it that let you out outside. It looked like we were in a movie coming down the stairs and Bolivian people going crazy for their loved ones coming towards them! It's so incredible how well these people love.
Our team was blessed enough to have what felt like family greet us, too. We met Dr. K (Richard Kowalske) and his wife who are head of the Helping Hands Foreign Missions that is in collaboration with Palabra de Vida (Word of Life) camp for kids. They own this incredible piece of land which they purchased after selling everything they owned in the U.S and chased a vision that God had for them in Bolivia. So here we are the missionary team that is getting to enjoy the facilities that they have built down here. We are staying in dormitory style rooms with bunk beds. We have one bathroom for 6 girls- and we can not flush TP here. They don't use it downhere, so we have a lovely trashcan in our bathroom and are wishing we had brought air freshner :)

First Day!


Our first day here consisted of a brief orientation on the bus ride to the camp site, brief unpack/change/wash your face time. We went straight to lunch in the gym (which was really good- homeade soup with veggies and a shepherd's pie) and then we loaded up to head to an all girl's orphanage in town.




We were in for a blessing when we got to visit these chicas. The second we opened the doors of the van, they all ran into our arms and hugged each and every one of us! I have never met children with so much love!! We got to spend a good amount of our afternoon with these precious girls. We taught them some songs, we played games, read them a story, passed out coloring sheets, and then gave them candy and gifts and toys.



We all came away so touched and some of us even crying. For me it was just so hard to believe that these precious little girls have no family, no mom, dad, or siblings...I came away grateful and humbled by the grace that God has shown me with my big amazing family. Their sweet smiles and loving spirits made we want to sweep them up (one in particular that I fell in love with) and take her to my family...

We came back that evening for another great meal- homeade empanadas and a ham and cheese and mustard panini type thing. They were both delicious!
After dinner we had one more thing before bed: "Bless and Stretch."
We had a big group meeting and we all had to go around and share what our bless was from the day and what our biggest stretch was. We prayed after that and departed. It was a great time of fellowship and it ended the first day well. When we finaly got to turn off the lights and go to sleep last night, needless to say- I don't even remember how or when I fell asleep. It was also the hardest I've slept in a long time!

TODAY

That 5:45am alarm this morning was probably the last thing we wanted to experience. Luckily, last night was the only "early" night we would be getting and we did probably get a full night's sleep. And the excitement and adrenaline of the newness probably got us out of bed quicker than any regular day.
We enjoyed a breakfast that "Team 1" prepared (We are split up into two teams for serving purposes.) I'm on team 2 and we were in charge of clean up and cooking the next breakfast.
We left at 8am sharp to head to another orphanage up i nthe mountains. The bus ride was really fun. Our team seemed to be, for the first time, all there mentally (because of a good night's sleep) and we were really able to feel out the dynamic- which everyone is fun and outgoing and silly. We have a lot of fun together and God really blessed us with great members!
We made it to the orphanage (Which- here's the back story:
This orphanage allowed the kids who have some relatives in the area/country to go home with them for the Christmas season and the ones who don't have ANYONE are the ones who we visited today.)
Some of the ones who were there today came from the jungle and have brothers and sisters that they haven't seen since they were taken to the orphanage. The group was mixed- boys and girls of all ages.





I made friends with two older girls (15 and 16)


and we got to have conversations in Spanish and I taught them some English words. These two were attached to my hip and when we departed one of them hugged me so tight and asked me if I would be coming back
"Espero" I said. (English-I hope)
and she looked sad, as if she's heard that a million times before and said "Muy mal" (English-very bad.)
It was really hard to leave on that note, but we were able to shower them in gifts before we left and just pray that God would pave the way for them and their futures.



We came back after visiting with them for the entire morning playing games, singing songs, doing a cool craft, and just loving on them. We have been back at the camp site for a few hours and we have been helping to prepare for the New Year's Eve celebration tonight!! We are having a really big meal with the missionaries on base and our entire team tonight & they also do a white elephant gift exchange that we get to be a part of. (Some of us, including myself, forgot to bring a gift, so we are make-shift borrowing dollar tree items from our supplies we brought down here!)

We will be helping out with the camp that Palbra de Vida hosts a couple of times a year that 700+ kids travel from all parts of the country to attend. The camp starts on Monday, so we get to help out for three full days, and we have been told that our job is to help the missionaries with behind the scenes things and little details so that they are freed up to do their job with the kids! Whish I love the concept of that. We are truly here to serve, and it will be so rewarding to see the kid's faces next week. Please be praying for their hearts and their willingness to accept the gospel of JesuCristo! We brought 50 Spanish Bibles with us down here and they told us that these will be the perfect gift for the children that recieve Christ this week! Thank you Books 4 Less for donating!! yay! (All I did was ask if they would be willing to donate Spanish Bibles for our mission trip and a week later 50 Bibles were ready to go with us! How amazing is that??) What a blessing!




So, we are off to go get ready for dinner & the party! I am writing to you via the Kowalske's laptop and everyone kept saying "Dial-up will be really slow and the blog will take you forever" but guess what? This has been as quick and easy as if I were at home :) Either dial up isn't as slow as they think or Jesus is just like hey I think I'm gonna sprinkle some favor and blessing all over you today, Kristin.
I like to think it's the latter of the two :]


Thank you all for your prayers! We're keeping our eyes peeled for all things that Christ has for us down here. This is a rare opportunity and I know we want to soak it all up!! There is so much to take away from this trip and we ask that you pray for God's continued blessing on our safety and health, spiriutal growth, and group unity.

I look forward to writing each day that I can down here!

It's time to Celebrate!

It's time to CELEBRATE!!!!!

So, I think we can all see that SOMEBODY has been praying :) And God has listened to you, to me, to all of us! God has absolutely blessed the Mission Trip Teams this past week (and for the entire process)

There is just something to be said about a college ministry raising $105,000 for mission trips for 52 students!!

¡Qué increíble!



The entire amount of our trip ($2,500) was due on Sunday, December 6 at our 7pm meeting. Well, the week leading up to this deadline our team was a total of $10,000 away from what was due. Miraculously, less than one week before the deadline, our team found out that our trip cost was decreased by $530 per person!!!
We could not believe the news!!! For so many of us, that meant that our trip cost came to an affordable and less intimidating amount left. Well, for others, their amount due was still a huge number, but God allowed it to happen in this way so that His name would receive all the glory!! Check out the following stories of God's provision from two of our team members Alys Davis and Kat Richards....



Here are two incredible ways that God really showed His power through provision for Alys Davis:

"Sunday November 30^th, I found out that I was still $1200.00 short on making the final payment for the Bolivia trip, and I’m not sure what happened but on Tuesday we found out that our trip had dropped $500.00 cheaper- this alone was a blessing I now only had to raise $700.00 between last Tuesday and Sunday at 7:00pm (which was the original deadline for the final payment)

**Before the mission meeting Sunday night , I gathered and counted all the money that had been given to me I had received $400.00 of the $700.00 that I needed in order to make the final cut for the trip- raising that much in just a few days alone was amazing to me, but I found out that no more donations had been sent directly to the church for my trip so I was left $300.00 short.

I’m not going to lie, I was very disheartened when I realized this, and decided to stop a couple miles from where we were meeting in an Ingles parking lot and just pray for the Lord to reveal His will to me in all of this.

Ten minutes before the meeting, I received a phone call from one of my roommates telling me that someone that had borrowed $300.00 from me a few months ago had gotten in touch with her, and was able to pay me back. (this person that owed me the money is unemployed right now. I’m not sure how he got the money, but I know for certain this was a God-thing)

I was able to make the final payment after-all!

God was revealing to me that He is a true provider for His children and that His timing is so perfect!!!

**I also had other expenses related to the trip that I was going to have to pay out of pocket, and I wasn’t sure where that was going to come from because to be honest I was already falling behind on some bills because I had to fork out the money for some of the first payment, and passport, etc. (as I’m sure many are facing the same problem). A friend and of mine thst I worked with at the dealership in Athens, named John Ayers walked up to me yesterday (December 8^th), and put a check in my hand and said, “It’s not much, but I know there are things that you need above and beyond paying for the actual trip and I felt a burden to give you this to help with those.”

He also explained that Him and his wife, Anna wanted to give the donation to me personally in memory of his son who was killed earlier this year. John’s son was a young pastor of a church in Taccoa- He was an incredible man of God with such a kind and loving heart! John said that his son had such a heart for missions,and that he knew that he would want to be a part of making this trip possible for me. (He also told me that his daughter-in-law found out she was pregnant with their first child shortly after her husband was killed. This time of year is especially hard for her-he asked that we please be keeping her and the entire family in our prayers.)

I thanked him tearfully for the donation, and put the check in my purse- when I opened I up later, it was a check written for $400.00! That’s such an incredible answer to prayer because that money will cover the rest of what I needed for the trip: my immunizations, supplies, getting a second bag into the country, etc. (I figured I could pay to take a larger second bag smack full of things from the supply list and just leave the bag and all there with the people so I’m only paying to take it one way) Either way that money will make it possible for me to get everything ready and in order. (while paying my bills on time which is such a huge weight off my shoulders)

Praise the Lord! He has truely blessed me in such an incredible way, as he has strengthened mine, and the rest of the mission teams faith during the entire fund raising process! We haven't even gotten on the plane yet, and we're already experiencing such blessings! I can't wait to see what's in store for us in Bolivia!"

And Kat Richards shares her story:

This last leg of fund raising has been the hardest. After the initial benchmark of $1200 was paid, this last $1300 was just not showing up. Nothing was coming in.. maybe $50 here and there but that was it! It was discouraging but I was adamant in believing that God WILL provide & I will trust in Him. He has chosen me for this trip and so He gives His kingdom power for His kingdom purposes. It was 7 days before our final payment was due and I still had $1000 to go! So here's the breakdown on the week:

Monday- $1000 to go

Tuesday- our trip cost has dropped by $530. Somehow, $100 extra has shown up in my account

Wednesday- need $351

Thursday- need $351

Friday- need $351

Saturday- need $351

Sunday 5pm right before our meeting- given a check for $500!!!!

With the extra money plus some of my own, I was able to give anonymously to a team member from another trip, making it possible for that person to go as well. God is so good!!!!!

Thank you prayer supporters for your faithfulness to our team! God is really blessing us! We also had a really great meeting on Sunday where our group unity was effortless. We prayed together and played games together. Our team leader Jose even prayed in Spanish for us to get a cultural experience similar to what we will encounter :)

Our team is now 18 days away from departure and we are SO excited about the coming adventure! We expect God to use us to minister to the lost, hurting, and needy. We look forward to the miracles He has in store and what we will get to share with everyone upon our return!

Please continue to PRAISE God with a grateful heart for all of His provision over our team and the others!! We are soooo blessed to have EVERYONE going on their trips!


We would ask that God please continue to provide our team with unity and relationships. We need to be comfortable with relying on one another because this trip is going to stretch us.

We also are still in need of supplies for our trip. The supply list is as follows:

Craft Supplies
Loose Construction Paper
Crayons/Colored Pencils
Scissors
Glue
Sequins/Glitter/Jewls

Gifts
Shoes and Clothes for the Baby/Child Washing Ministry
Spanish Bibles, Children's Books and Bible Studies
Spanish School Supplies: Math Flashcards, Maps

Kids Toys
Knit Hats for Kids
Simple Games: Jump rope, Yo-yos, Puzzles
Hair Bows and Kids Costume Jewerly
Trucks/Cars/Airplanes
Soccer Balls Deflated with Pump
Beads/Strings
Solar Calculators
Candy


We would really like to have these supplies in by December 20^th so we have time to evaluate what we have.

¡Gracias!

Colossians 4:2-6

^"2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. ³And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ⁴Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. ⁵Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. ⁶Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."