Kia ora
and Christmas greetings from the heart of Colombia!
Below
are some updates on our ministry and family from in what has been an especially
busy and full year. We continue to be thankful for many blessings and
opportunities God has given us to partner with Him here in Colombia. Read on
for some of our highlights.
Feeling Closer to New Zealand –
Choice, Bro!
We
started off 2013 very blessed with a special sense of feeling closer to the
“land of the long white cloud” with three special “kiwi” visitors: Nathan Ram
from Palmerston North, and James and Denise Jordan from Taupo. New Zealanders
have this particular charisma to leave a lasting impression on our ministry and
country. No wonder why, one of our long-term re-parenting homes is called the
“Kiwi House”. Nathan was a tremendous help! He had a neat, humbled spirit and
was willing to help in any area of the ministry. We as a whole (staff and ministry kids) were
really touched by his service and life.
On
the other hand, James and Denise gave us a new and refreshing perspective on
the Father heart of God. It was nice to catch up with James and Denise, as
James was one of our speakers in our DTS in Matamata over 10 years ago.
Hundreds of Colombians have been touched by his teachings and many learned to
experience God as a Father for the first time. Several of our kids and
youngsters found healing through their teachings.
This
year Carlos had the privilege to translate James’ book Sonship into Spanish. This is a must-read that will bless many people
not only in Colombia but in all the Spanish speaking countries of Latin
America.
The Jungle in the midst of Downtown
Bogota
An
average of 130 children ages 4 to 14, who live in Bogota’s Red-Light District,
and one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods of the city attended our Bible
Club “La Jungla”. This year was
particularly special as our son Alex started accompanying his dad to serve in
the Jungle Club. The neighborhood seems like a normal neighbourhood in the
sense that you see kids learning to ride their bikes or playing soccer on the
streets or even going to the neighbourhood bakeries, but also not that typical in
the sense that there are prostitutes and travesties on the streets, members of
gangs, thieves, people sleeping on the streets, and drug dealers and users
selling and using drugs in front of everyone else. Our son Simon now 10 years
old, had his first time serving in the jungle just a couple of weeks ago.
Visiting Teams
We
had the privilege of hosting and organizing the activities of 6 teams from
churches in California, Denver, Texas, Michigan and Venezuela. Teams always
bless us by injecting new energy into our lives. The teams had people ranging
in age from 17 to 70; all in these teams used their different God given skills
in evangelism and in helping us finish the Oaks House, which is still under
construction.
The
Oaks House, like the Kiwi, Chamos, and the Vineyard Houses are part of the
Restored Heritage phase of long term residential care, where the kids become
part of a family. Here kids are in what
might be compared to a foster home. House parents (singles or couples) take
care of them 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The children belong to our ministry
family and receive all that we can give them: education, clothing, food, shelter,
love and acceptance but most of all a safe place to heal and receive God’s
love. Our first goal is to reunite families that function healthily. In many
instances due to parents not wanting to change their destructive way of living
the kids grow up with their ministry families.
Church Evangelism
Our
church, where we as a family have been attending for over 12 years, continued to
bring the light of the Gospel to hundreds of people in Bogota. Carlos served as a counselor in 5 camps this
year including two soccer camps.
The
camp has been a tool that God has used in an incredible way. We have seen a
great harvest particularly with the evangelistic camps known as Día Zero (Day
Zero).
Since
2009, the church has hosted at least two, in most cases three, camps every
semester. Over 2 thousand people have
been saved and it is neat to be part of this harvest.
God
has not only opened a great door of ministry with teens, but also with their
parents. Little by little the light of the Gospel is transforming our society.
Katrina—Busy with Ministry and
Family
Katrina
has had a busy year of administrating the overall ministry (communicating with
prospective staff and regular sponsors, meeting staff needs, training new
staff, overseeing the accounting both in Colombia and in the United States, controlling
the ministry expenditures, handling the budget, making sure utilities of nine
houses were paid, as well as the taxes, making sure there was food for the different
phases of the ministry, transport, tuitions for the ministry kids, uniforms,
clothes, school supplies, staff visas, completed legal requirements, etc.), besides
being part of the leadership team as well as having a busy year with our
children.
Juggling
ministry and family has been very demanding time-wise. Katrina is looking
forward to a break from 5:30 am starts for the few weeks that our children will
be on holidays from the 18th of December until the 8th of
January. However, the 24 hour care phase
of the ministry will still be functioning! Please pray that she can renew her
strength to start refreshed in 2014.
Team
Our
team continues to do well. It has been a busy year for everyone with many
varied ministry opportunities in the different areas. We had 31 staff, and for the first time we
had one person from Romania!!!! So far
we have had staff from over 40 different nationalities serving with us.
There
was a staff ministry wedding of Julio and Emily. Next year Fabian, a former ministry kid who
Katrina helped look after in the old days, is marrying Jessica from California. This brings a lot of happiness to us,
especially because the ministry was also a trampoline for our own wedding
almost 12 years ago.
Serving the larger YWAM family
Carlos
has completed his fourth year serving as a leader for the Bogota YWAM council.
He is part of a team of six leaders who work together to oversee the ministries
direction of YWAM in the city and the country. Please pray for us as we look
for ways for seeing new ministries established in Colombia. Pray that we can
receive His strategies and vision; see more staff raised up for Colombia; and
see meaningful ministries established to meet needs in Colombia. YWAM has three areas or pillars of work:
Discipleship, Evangelism and Mercy Ministries. Our ministry falls under the
category of the latter, and just Bogotá has 8 different ministries (i.e., a
Discipleship Training School, School of Biblical Studies, Mobile Teams, Family
Ministries, King´s Kids, Rise and Shine, Manna and Formando Vidas or Shaping
Lives). YWAM also has ministries in different cities of Colombia (Cartagena,
Medellín, Bucaramanga, Leticia, Pereira, Cali and Bogotá). In the last four years, Carlos has been
meeting with the YWAM leaders in those cities, on weekend visits at least three
times a year.
Family Front
2013
has been a good year for us overall. Our days are always full. Health-wise, we
have kept mostly well apart from the usual seasonal coughs, which Bogota is
well known for, and a small car accident.
Katrina was hit by a school bus when she picked our kids up at the
school back in August. Thankfully,
nobody was hurt but the car was highly damaged on one side and the driver of
the guilty party never took on his responsibility. Since we cannot afford car insurance, this
was an unexpected expense that we didn’t budget. However, after few months we finally were
able to repair it.
Alex
turned sixteen this year and he is in 10th grade in High
School. Simon turned ten and Gabriela
seven. Both Alex and Simon have a growing workload. This has been a struggle
but they are adapting. The three of them are doing well and their parents are
very proud of the great effort they put into their everyday studies.
All
three really enjoyed sports time each week. Alex and Simon practice basketball
and Gabriela gymnastics at least 8 hours a week after school.
One
of the highlights this year was the baptism of Alex and Simon. They both are
growing deeply in their love of the Lord, and are maturing and becoming men of
God.
Bringing hope to the Spanish
speaking people in Latin America
Besides
the book Sonship by James Jordan,
Carlos kept busy translating the book Intercessory
Worship by Dick Eastman and twenty four monthly devotional magazines. Each month he translated one for adults and
one for teenagers. He spent many hours translating, sometimes willing to quit because
of the many responsibilities, late nights and hard work but he kept pressing
on, knowing that thousands of people in 14 countries are reading everyday these
devotionals and growing in their intimacy with the Lord.
Please
pray that the Holy Spirit will keep guiding him, inspiring him and giving him
the strength to do it. Carlos was
encouraged recently by his spiritual parents in South Africa who work with
Wycliffe Bible Translators with the following quote from late Nelson Mandela:
“If you talk to a man in a language he
understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that
goes to his heart”.
-
Nelson Mandela
Prayer requests
·
As we have seen many broken marriages
around us, not only in the families of the kids we serve, but even with our own
relatives and neighbourhood, we feel God is prompting us to step up and help
other families. Please pray, if it is God’s will, that we can receive the
appropriate training to do so in 2014.
We had already received an invitation to get some training in 2013 by
the Family Foundations International Ministries based in Bogota which it is led
by a YWAMer. This would be something that we could use in our own ministry and
actually anywhere else.
·
Please pray for the teenagers that we
serve in our ministry. Two of them who live in 24 hour care are losing hope in
life. They had struggled academically
and this year has been hard with them.
Please pray that the enemy don’t deceive them with the lies of this
world.
·
Please pray that we can finish the Oaks
House soon and we can receive more children in 24 hour care.
·
Please pray that we can find key strategies
to work with the families of the kids that attend the Jungle Club and that they
can be born again.
·
Please pray for a real rest for Katrina
during these last weeks of the year. She is on the brink of burning out.
·
Please pray for protection for all of
us. The crime rate in Bogota is rising.
Thank you!
We
thank you again for all your love, friendship and support.
Blessings,
Carlos, Katrina, Alex, Simon and
Gabriela
“Only
fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great
things He has done for you.”1
Samuel 12:24 (NKJV)
