Loneliness

It's interesting that after being away from the U.S. for about a year, JM and I are experiencing culture shock on a whole new level. Everything we knew would be a struggle about Latin culture seems to be amplified here in Santa Marta- time, language, fact-finding, and assumptions of us being wealthy gringos. We have adjusted little by little. We now know to wake up at the time someone says they will pick us up in the morning. We have gotten better at understanding "cotton ball in mouth" Spanish. And we've learned to not offer to pay and to ask the same question multiple times to try to find a answer that's actually true, not just what we want to hear. But not having other Americans close by has been tough. Add that to our lack of reliable internet for communication and it makes for lonely times. And yet, I think The Lord is using these times to better relate to these kids. While there are pros and cons to an institutional setting (vs private homes), I think one of the biggest struggles for these kids is loneliness. Yes, they are surrounded by peers their same age, but they ache for their parents, their siblings and home. I think of summer camp and even in the middle of all the activities and fun, sometimes you just miss family. This weekend, two of the kids broke down in my arms, one in silent tears, the other sobbing, because they missed home. And all I could do was hold them and love on them and pray for God to comfort their hearts, because honestly it's just tough. I think of Mercy Me's song "Homesick" and of how as believers we ache for heaven, to be in the presence of our Heavenly Father. And I am comforted that even though we're not there right now, our Father is totally accessible- all of the time.

Struggles of a Parkie

One time while in Parque Tayrona last year, we met a guy traveling
South America from Austin, Texas. When we made the Texas connection
he asked where I went to high school. After saying Highland Park, he
was so impressed he gave me his awesome Panama Jack hat stating that I
deserved it for being so adventurous, coming out of such a snobby
school. I typically don't volunteer the fact that I went to HP, and
try hard to not appear part of the stereotype. Thank God for summer
camp where I had to actually "rough it" for a month without air
conditioning.

But as tough as I think I am, my roots run deep. I realize we are far
from Africa, but Bolivia was tough with dirty water, widow-makers and
smells that would make you gag. And since we've been in Colombia this
time around, my creature comforts have hit an all time low. We are
currently residing in an apartment for free that belongs to a
missionary who is undergoing chemo in Bogotá. Free is great, but we
share the place with a mouse, an extended family of roaches, a pool of
green slime, a shower that does not drain, and smell of mildew that no
matter what we try, simply does not go away.

So we where happy (ish) to head to Venezuela to get our visa. A
wonderful woman hosted us and even gave us her own bedroom (Latin
hospitality is amazing). However, Venezuela has water problems. So
much so that it's very typical to have giant plastic container of
water in your shower with a pitcher so in case you have no water that
day, you have a way of washing yourself. Sounds reasonable for sure,
but stagnate water attracts one thing- Mosquitos! So every night in
bed we were attacked, even in a high rise building.

I'm not sure why I'm being so tested in this, but man oh man, to have
a place with some creature comforts just sounds overwhelmingly
wonderful! And just to add insult to injury, we just came back "home"
to a bed with mouse poop all over it! Please pray this Parkie finds a
new place soon!

"Stuff" Cochabambinos Don't Say

Said someone from Cochabamba never:

• I hate how everyone is early to my parties!
• Did you get that at Target?
• What's a trufi?
• I really need a tan.
• I'm so worried I won't be able to find a wedding dress store in this city!
• Let's go get a juicebox!
• I pet every dog I see.
• Are you on the school ski team?
• There's too much quinoa in this soup!
• Buckle up everyone!
• Gee, that grass at the Mormon Temple is getting dry!
• Do you know where I can buy a legal copy of that movie?
• My quince is only going to be 4-5 people.
• The volume on my radio is too high!
• I love Evo!  He's the best!
• I think manicures are just too expensive!
• You know what we need more of?  Rotisserie Chicken restaurants!
• Yummy tapwater!
• Let's listen to some country music y'all!
• My dog is my child!
• You won't get typoid from street food!
• Hey honey, will you pick up a gallon of milk from the store?
• I can't find a pharmacy!
• What's do you use a llama fetus for?

July Update

From our newsletter (but with more pictures):  To subscribe to our newsletter please go here.

It has been over two months since our last update and quite a bit has been going on in Bolivia!  While we were excited to update you with the newest house for one of our orphan families and new coffee recipe blog, many serious changes have been taking in place.  At the end of May, due to some rumors that were getting back to International Orphanage Union's (IOU) sponsoring missions agency, International Teams, the CEO and regional director paid our team a visit.  Much of it was discussing issues between team members and our director.  As we had not been here for even a full three months, we welcomed the visit, but thought the issues were more of a personal nature.  However, after being completely involved in a two-day mediation, it was clear there were some serious issues with the operations of IOU.  A new interim leader was appointed to help with management and finances and we were given a new structure with us still leading businesses.  During the next two weeks, we had almost daily meetings to solve the problems that had come to light and work at our restructuring.  However, our team was invited to a Skype call where our regional director announced that International Teams (IT) and IOU were parting ways and that our director was also no longer a part of IT.  So essentially it was decided for us that our team was no longer part of the ministry that had drawn us to Bolivia.  It was surprising news to say the least, but an investigation had revealed that there were some large legal and liability issues and we were to distance ourselves ASAP.  So then began what we are calling "the great divorce."  It has been an uncomfortable time of dividing assets and responsibilities while trying to focus on the future.  Everything from immigration paperwork to our interns' housing has been affected.  This means we are no longer selling Bolivia's Best Coffee or managing any of the IOU social media.  And to add insult to injury, Weatherly's purse was stolen with all of her ID and electronics (about $1,000 of goods), and we had an incredibly difficult tenant move into our condo in Jacksonville, FL.  When it rains, it pours!

And yet, even the rain, God is good!  We have sought out wise counsel and it sounds like unfortunately our story in not an unfamiliar one in missions.  Further, we have heard many examples of how God calls people to the missions field, but the job changes quite substantially. We have also been blessed with a great team and a wonderful group of interns.  While our interim leader has been focusing on all of the details of the present situation, we have been leading our team of interns in a crazy, extensive research project.  We have been speaking to orphan ministries all throughout Latin America asking them about their ministries- models, government relations, and how to do business as missions.  We have been gathering psychological research on the best models for child development.  We have been looking at other countries and governments in terms of their adoptions rates and specific needs.  We have also had a wonderful time interviewing many different orphanage directors here in Cochabamba.  And just this last week we took a prayer retreat to pray and present all of the information we have been gathering.  While we are still unsure exactly where God is leading us, we are leaning towards a gap ministry- for orphans aging out of the system.  We hope to do business as missions to teach spiritual development, biblical financial management, possible micro-financing and trade skills.  We are not limiting ourselves to Bolivia, but are considering other countries, especially Ecuador and Colombia.  Please pray for God's direction for our team!

 

Even in the midst of struggles, life continues.  We have really enjoyed meeting and playing with the kids at many new orphanages and. helping at the homeless ministry on Tuesday nights.  John Mark has been helping with some house building projects through our Bolivian church and Weatherly got the chance to lead worhship in Spanish.  

We officially have "season envy" seeing everyone's pictures at the beach as it's winter in Bolivia!  So when Weatherly's parents offered to fly us back to the States to meet them at the beach, we jumped on the offer!  So this weekend (with immigration office's approval), we will be headed back to the US of A for some much needed R&R and then heading to Panama to celebrate our ten year anniversary.  While we are away, we will be busy continuing our research, but will be happy to be back in a country with clean water just for a bit.  Our puppy, Pepita, is getting big and we (and Weatherly's shoes) will be oh so happy once the teething stage is complete.  

We welcomed some housemates this month- two of our interns and another guy working in Cochabamba on his master's thesis.  Weatherly will be happy to buy her 3rd point-and-shoot camera this year (yep, first two were stolen) in the States so we can start taking pictures again.  We did not think "stolen items" would be a budget line item, but apparently needs to be in Bolivia.  

And in terms of family news, Weatherly's sister Leslie had Miss Ansley James on May 4th who we are so very excited to meet soon.

Weatherly's youngest brother, John David is getting married to Ashley Hopewell on September 29th; and John Mark's sister, Mary Elizabeth and her husband Luis are due with our newest nephew or niece in January 2013.  Lots of things to celebrate!

We apologize for the lack of communication, but it seemed that every time we sat down to write an update, everything was completely different two days later.  Even Weatherly's sisters were trying to make sure we were still alive!  We will definitely keep you updated as our new ministry develops.  Please keep us and our team in your prayers.  It has been a difficult, but growing time and we are very excited to see where God will take us next!

Tree Farming

The same day Weatherly headed to the orphanage for the deaf, I (John Mark) went on an adventure with our director, Mike Timmer, to check on our tree farms.

We took a shared taxi-van 4 hours away to the Chapare region. Then we hopped on the back of some motorcycle taxis that took us to a creek that we had to wade across. We looked for a certain place along the road that marked our property then Mike took out his machete and began to blaze a trail through the undergrowth so we could see how our Balsa trees were doing and our recently planted Teak. It's kinda like Goldilocks meets Tarzan except we never found grandma's house. We did however manage to get turned around and almost lost. A hundred mosquito bites later, we found our way back to the road and eventually all the way back home. Overall it was quite an enjoyable experience. I've since bought my own machete as well, just in case. :)

The long road for moto taxing.

The creek we crossed by foot.

Yep.

Enjoying scrumptious coca leaves.

Balsa harvesting = money for orphans!

Laying Floors at the Deaf Orphanage

After completing the project in Kewnia, I (Weatherly) went with the missions team to the deaf orphanage, as JM was busy in the jungle.  We laid new floors for a desperately needed new building.  While the deaf orphanage is not a part of International Orphanage Union, we often help them with projects and certain needs as they do not have much (or any) support from the States.  The orphanage is run by Bolivians, who divide the campus into a girls and boys home, each with house parents.  The campus is a beautiful plot of land, about 30 minutes from Cochabamba.  The orphanage needs about $30,000 for new building as one of the dormitories is becoming dilapitated.  If you know of a church or special interests group who would like to help, please let me know!

The team from Church of the Good Shepard all decided to purchase some new hats, after everyone got pretty burned in Kewina.

Preparing the floors for new concrete.

The manly men with the concrete mixer!

Aren't these kids darling?  Even though I did not know sign language, it's amazing how much we could still communicate.  I never realized how much charades is a life skill :)

On the campus, they have chickens, ducks, rabbits, a calf (who likes to be pet like dog), a puppy, and sheep.  I was taught all of the signs for the animals.

Laying the concrete floors.

Some amazing women at work :)

Rebuilding Kewina

International Orphanage Union has two homes out at Camp Kewina, a Christian camp that can hold up to 500 kids at a time.  It's located about 2 hours away from Cochabamba.  Anyway, we had a crazy storm come through and it did a good amount of damage to our homes.  Thankfully, while we had to deal with a huge eucalyptus tree falling, it just missed one of the homes.  This week we had a team in from Church of the Good Shepard in Leo, Indianna who were a tremendous help!

A beautiful view of the lake on the way to our homes in Kewina.  

Of course, one needs to be aware of sheep crossing.

The eucalyptus trees that were knocked down during the storm.

The roof of one of the homes was pretty crushed.

A close up of even the roof rafters being split.

 

Our project with the team, besides cleaning up the damage from the trees, was to complete a sewage line from the septic tank to the city sewage line.

The neighborhood kids gathered around to watch the gringos at work!  Some even helped!

Camp Kewina inself got hit pretty hard.  This was their brand new dining hall which was directly crushed by a tree.

The camp is beautiful and at the top of the hill are the corsses we hiked to the first time we came.

There is quite alot of livestock just hanging out on the streets of the town.

A typical home (adobe mud bricks) around the camp.

Finishing the day hanging out with Blondie, the camp dog.