Stuck in the Mountains

Even as I type, my husband is trying desperetly to get home from the mountains. Let me explain. Steve left Tuesday morning for an overnight work trip to Kewina. This was supposed to be a quick but busy time spent working on finishing the roof of one of the homes. He was planning on returning Wednesday afternoon some time. I got a call around 1:30 Wednesday that him, and the crew were stuck in a traffic jam caused by a blockade. After six hours in the car hoping for the blockade to break up, they finally called it a night and headed back to the job site to spend another night. They went to bed hoping that an early morning attempt at getting through would work....no such luck. It's now Thursday evening and the latest report is that nothing has moved as far as traffic. Nobody is going anywhere yet! They will be spending another unexpected evening in the mountains. Steve is feeling tired and irritated, understandably so. The protests have remained non-violent, which is a great thing, but this is a hard time nonetheless. I am still struggling with culture shock and this is a hard thing for me to handle. The kids are being very well-behaved for me, which I never take for granted, but I NEED my husband. Please pray that the blockade breaks up soon and our family can be reunited. This country is in turmoil in so many ways, so prayers for Bolivia would be appreciated as well.

Blessings,

Cara

Jungle visit

One of the perks of living in Bolivia is being so close to the jungle. We've been here for over two months and just got the chance to visit this amazing place. We traveled with our whole team (24 of us!) by bus to get to CHAPARE. This is the location of one complete orphanage home and the site of two other ones. After five hours we reached the home. It takes a moment or two to adjust to the extreme climate change when you get there. It's 100% humidity and very sunny. Unfortunantly, due to the isolation of the home, there is no phone service and the house parents were not able to be notified that we were going to be there and they were gone with the kids. We did, however, get a chance to tour the village a little and hear some history of the home and surrounding village. Villa Tunari is the name of the village. It is a very impoverished place with a great many needs spiritually as well as physically. Although a beautiful place, there is a lot of unpleasant beliefs in Pachi Mama (earth mother) that influences the indigenous people of these small villages. Our prayer is that God will use the house parents of the homes there to have a positive influence on those around them
We also had the chance to visit a monkey rehabilitation park. This adventure started out great, but did not end well at all. About half way up the hill we encountered several little monkies being very friendly with the visitors. It went well and was very fun to interact with God's wildlife until that wildlife attacked and bit Emma twice on the arm. This pretty much put a stop to the fun, we headed out of there pretty quickly. Fortunantly, Emma is just fine, we did learn a little about the monkey's vaccination routine after that! She will be fine, but it was scary all the same.
We spent the evening and the next day at a resort in order to relax and bond as a team. We have 16 children on our team, so it was a wonderful chance for the kids to get to know each other while swimming in the pool. They had a blast. The adults of the team took this opportunity to meet and go over important details of the ministry together. Like the children, this was a great chance to spend time together and get to know each other and hear ideas. We are a very new team, but God has put us all together right now and we had a great time together. We praise God for that opportunity! All in all, it was a great two days in the jungle. We feel so very blessed to be taking in all these experiences and seeing a little corner of God's great earth here in Bolivia! We pray that God will arm us with courage and perseverence to continue to do HIS work here.
We pray too that you will be blessed by God's work down here. He is alive and working here and all our supporters and family and friends are a huge part of that. We appreciate all the support we get from all of you. We couldn't be here without your help!

In his hands,
Steve and Cara and Girls

Mission Moment

Check out this great mission moment brought to you by Bolivia's Best Coffee!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=476680913643&oid=181264554416&comments

Bolivia so far....

Well, it surely has been way too long since we posted last. Our lives have changed very much in the last two months. On October 27 we arrived in Cochabamba, Bolivia. We were very warmly greeted by our new team members, the Timmer family. We spent our first two weeks in the Timmers guest home which they call the Hacienda. Our time there was very limited due to the busyness of getting settled. We spent much of our initial time in Bolivia looking for a house and getting Visa stuff situated. The house was found after about two weeks of searching and the Visa stuff is still on-going. We have been in the house now for six weeks and we are starting to feel a little bit more at home. It is such a blessing to be able to set up a home here in South America! God is so faithful.
Although we are not fully immursed in the ministry yet due to adjusting to our new culture, we have had several chances to get a feel for the work God is doing down here. One of our favorite parts of the ministry is the Saturday baby washing. This is an chance for homeless mothers in Cochabamba to come to the Plaza and have their children washed, dressed and fed by a host of volunteers. One of the greatest blessings has been watching our own children embrace this part of their week. Steve and I are amazed at how fast both our children and the bolivian children have opened up to each other even with a massive language barrier. We are truly touched by the smiles and laughter we witness every week. This is a precious time for the bolivian mothers as well. To have their children washed, clothed and fed every week is an awesome opportunity for them as well as for the volunteers. God is touching many lives in that plaza every Saturday!!
The girls are adjusting well to their new school environment. They go to Carachipampa Christian school which is located about 15 minutes from our house. Kendra is in 7th grade, which is High school here. Grace is in 4th grade and Emma is in 2nd. The school staff has been very friendly and helpful with the transition. We feel they are in very good hands during the day. This is an answer to our prayers!
Steven has been able to spend considerable time with Mike Timmer, our team leader since we arrived here. He has even had the chance to spend one night and two days up in the mountains. As part of a team of men, he spent two days clearing standing trees that will be used to build the next two orphanages. It was grueling work (partly due to altitude), but they accomplished a lot. And no one was hurt! Another answer to prayer. We also have both been able to spend some time at the IOU homes visiting with the house parents and the orphans. This is always quite an experience due to the language barrier. But the sense of welcome we get from the house parents is so very comforting. And the kids...we love the kids!
Steve and I are also staying busy with language classes three times a week. This is going as well as expected. It's difficult and frustrating at times, but we can see slow progress. We have to continually remind ourselves that it WILL take time and God will be faithful in this area of our lives as well. What a blessing our tutor is to us!
In the upcoming weeks and months we look forward to getting more involved in the day-to-day operations of IOU. We pray that God will fit us into the roles he has designed for us. We feel certain that he made us the way we are and brought us to this place for a purpose. We can't wait to be used by him now and in the future.

We appreciate all the support we get from friends and family. We covet your prayers for the adjustment to our new surroundings. Please pray that the language barrier becomes less and less of an issue and we can start to feel more at home in Bolivia. We are excited about this minstry and can't wait to contiue to share it with all of you. Thank you!

Steve and Cara

Moving forward....

It has been more then a month since our original departure date was unexpectedly delayed due to a health concern with Cara. She has been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder that has needed to be addressed. With the help of International Teams and several experienced professionals, we feel she is getting the help she needs. She is making great progress! Her doctor and International Teams feel that she/we will likely be ready to leave for Bolivia by the end of October. This in no way effects Cara's desire to serve in Bolivia. Her Dr. also has no reservations about her serving there. We as a family are learning to trust Gid through this unplanned event and feel as if it is another way that God is preparing us for the uncertainties of life as missionaries.

We continue to covet your prayers. We thank God for you and look forward to keeping you updated on the path God has us on.

Steve

Not our will, but his will be done....

It is with heavy hearts that we feel we need to let our friends and family know that our plans to leave for Bolivia on Tuesday the 24th of this month will not be happening. Due to some personal issues that need to be dealt with, we will be spending some time with family in Michigan. We are still trying to process this and figure out what God wants us to do for now. Our thoughts at this point are to spend approximently two months in Michigan seeking wise counsel and spending much time seeking our Lord's will for our family. After two months, we will re-evaluate the situation. This is a disappointing and painful time for us, but we do rest assured that our heavenly father has a far more perfect plan for us. It is our hearts desire to serve the Lord in Bolivia, but for now, we know we need to be here, surrounded by our family. We would be greatly comforted to have your prayers regarding this hard situation. We ask for prayers for strength and guidance. More then our desire to serve in Bolivia, we desire, and even long for, our awesome God to be glorified and worshipped in the midst of this storm. He is the love of our hearts and our only true hope in this world. Again, we want to thank all our family and friends for loving us and walking with us on this journey!

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." ~Proverbs 16:9

Cara and Steve

Bolivia Bound!!

Well, the time has finally come for us to pack up our house and head out of town! The Lord has been faithful throughout the last two years of preparation and we are thrilled to start this new phase of the journey he has us on. Purchasing the tickets turned out to be a bigger fiasco then we anticipated, but they were finally issued last week. Our plan is to leave for Michigan on Monday the 16th. We will drive through the night so that we get there on the 17th. This is our normal cross-country routine, it's tough on everyone, but it's so nice to get it over with quickly! We will spend our time in Michigan having some fun with family and of course...saying goodbyes. Our flight leaves on the afternoon of the 24th. We will fly through the night and arrive in Cochabamba on the morning of the 25th. This all seems very surreal yet! We are so excited to get down there and acclimate to our new surroundings. As we adjust, we look forward to our heavenly father drawing us closer to him. He is the reason for all missions and we feel honored to be used in Bolivia.
Thank you to all of our family, friends and supporters. We could never have gotten to this point without all your help. We can't wait to keep you all updated on what God is accomplishing through the IOU ministry. He is so incredibly beautiful and sovereign. Praise Him from whom all blessings flow!

Steve and Cara