It has taken us all a while to settle back into life here, but it is finally happening.The weird thing for Katrina who is not overly fond of cooking is that she finally started feeling settled when she did our first grocery shopping and put food into the pantry yesterday.
She had speed around the supermarket while most of the fellow shoppers were glued to the TV sets listening to the Organization of American States (OAS) Permanent Council session with the presidents of Latin-American Countries to find out if there was going to be war declared against Colombia or not. The big change in the supermarket was the extra guards. As well as the normal ones that check bags and cars as people come into the building there were also guards walking around the aisles, not looking for shoplifters but possible bombs. It was then a 30 minute wait for a taxi in the basement of the supermarket, it had started to rain and since there were so many passengers outside, the taxis didn't want to come inside. While she waited with Gabriela and a trolley of groceries she thought about the small bomb that went off in another of the supermarket of this same chain a few days ago.
Earlier that day she had received an email of a student for our training school for workers of children at risk. The students’ parents were deciding if they really wanted to send their daughter to a country on the point of war. Other students had already arrived for the school that starts in 2 days. The majority of the students are from English speaking countries including New Zealand. The school’s staffs are Spanish speakers, Carlos has been helping out translating papers for them and Katrina with correspondence and she will also be a small group leader. Security is still an issue here but actually we have felt pretty safe, thank you for your prayers for our protection. There is a lot of unity among the Christians and Colombians in general in praying and taking action for peace, there have been a couple of protest marches against those who are kidnapping and taking violent actions. We look forward to seeing some positive changes in the country.
Last weekend we left the city in the company of the rest of the ministry leaders. The weekend was spent in making sure that relationships were right and writing down the goals for the coming year. By the number of goals we would say it is for the next 2 to 3 years. Nearly half of the goals are in the administration area, so this is keeping us busy. We have three people fulltime in this area and another 4 part time. It is great to have a team to work with. There are 32 people on staff now and another couple of families planning to come soon. God has given us the people, now it is our job to organise us all so that we can reach the children effectively. 
Carlos has officially taken on the role of personal assistant to our director. He has a full schedule as he organizes and gets projects completed, this is a new role for him and he is learning a lot as he makes contact with official government entities and others.
Family wise
Simon has started to settle into school, he has made friends, which is great. Gabriela is learning new words, her latest is “taxi tarde” (the taxi is late). She had an accident and her two front teeth were broken in half. Alex is happy at school with his friends; he spends at least 2 hours a day doing homework. We have a meeting with the school staff next week. We are trying to keep Alex in the 4th grade so that he is in his peer group, but it may not be possible to do so.
Prayer
We would greatly appreciate your prayers for the following points:
- For a car we have around NZ$5000.00 toward one, we need at least another NZ$5000.00 to buy a second hand car that is between 10 to 15 years old.
- For Alex and his school work, especially that he would retain what he has learnt.
- For good friends for the children
- Ministry wise, for wisdom, favor and grace with staff, kids and outside entities with which we work
- For safety for Gabriela as she toddles around and has to spend a lot of hours in the office.
- For Carlos as he organizes things for a church team of 23 people that arrive for Easter week from the States. Half of the team will do construction projects (an infants’ playground for the farm and a climbing wall and playhouse in the auditorium in the drop in centre). The other half will be doing street evangelism among other things.
Thank you for your prayers and support. We won't be here with out it.
Many blessings,
Carlos, Katrina
Alex, Simon & Gabriela
