Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
WHAT IS FAITH?
"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."
-Martin Luther King Jr.
As a child I read the Acronym for FAITH
Forsaking
All
I
Trust
Him.
It is something that I have remembered at various times as questions of faith arise.
This last month a lot of the ministry staff, us included have learnt new lessons on faith. Mostly this has been through the adoption of a 15 year old ministry girl to an American family. There were many obstacles and setbacks and the process took more than 4 years, from when it first begun. This year Carlos and I became more involved in the legal process and the last few weeks as the go between the family and the government adoption department. Three weeks ago our director told the girl that the family had for various reasons stopped the process all together.
Many tears were shared and questions asked. Had God told us that the adoption was to occur? Yes, he had. Where was our faith in what He said? It’s not the circumstances, the obstacles in the way or our timing. It is all about God and Him doing his work. Nobody but God can take credit that today the girl flew to the USA with her new family. Fully adopted by the family that had said no just a few weeks ago.
One of the many lessons that we learnt was that our Faith in God can move mountains. If you know anything about red tape, international laws, government officials, where everything is done by the book, kids are just case numbers not individuals. You would be astounded to know that in two weeks, what normally happens in 3 months was completed.
I wrote a project nearly 20 years ago, about coming to Bogotá to work with the street children. In the evaluation part, one of the ways of measuring the effectiveness of what I was doing was “when red tape was frequently broken and that we had favor before the eyes of government officials”
These last two weeks has shown that we are being effective in what we are doing. It is at times like these that we know it is worth all the effort.
Forsaking
All
I
Trust
Him.
It is something that I have remembered at various times as questions of faith arise.
This last month a lot of the ministry staff, us included have learnt new lessons on faith. Mostly this has been through the adoption of a 15 year old ministry girl to an American family. There were many obstacles and setbacks and the process took more than 4 years, from when it first begun. This year Carlos and I became more involved in the legal process and the last few weeks as the go between the family and the government adoption department. Three weeks ago our director told the girl that the family had for various reasons stopped the process all together.
Many tears were shared and questions asked. Had God told us that the adoption was to occur? Yes, he had. Where was our faith in what He said? It’s not the circumstances, the obstacles in the way or our timing. It is all about God and Him doing his work. Nobody but God can take credit that today the girl flew to the USA with her new family. Fully adopted by the family that had said no just a few weeks ago.
One of the many lessons that we learnt was that our Faith in God can move mountains. If you know anything about red tape, international laws, government officials, where everything is done by the book, kids are just case numbers not individuals. You would be astounded to know that in two weeks, what normally happens in 3 months was completed.
I wrote a project nearly 20 years ago, about coming to Bogotá to work with the street children. In the evaluation part, one of the ways of measuring the effectiveness of what I was doing was “when red tape was frequently broken and that we had favor before the eyes of government officials”
These last two weeks has shown that we are being effective in what we are doing. It is at times like these that we know it is worth all the effort.
OUR KIDS WITH THE NEWLY ADOPTED GIRLWe are truly thankful that God has allowed us to serve these children and to see them become restored and placed in families. Many who are reading this are a part of making this possible. To you thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers and financial support. You are making a huge difference not only in our lives but in those we serve.
Family wise:
Alex and Simon continue to enjoy drum lessons; Alex has also started learning the keyboard. They both are excited about playing drums at the school´s Christmas musical. Simon is keen to read, he is learning both English and Spanish at the same time so it slows the process down a bit. The important thing is that progress is occurring. Gabriela is doing well. She is making new friends. We are praying for the finances so that she can start preschool in January. In August she will start at the big school with her brothers. She needs to start getting used to school life and not being with her parents all day. Otherwise it will be too big a change when August comes, as they leave home at 6:45am and return at 4pm. A very long day for a girl who will just turn 4 years that same month.
Carlos is finishing translating a book about Faith in his free time (“Re-Discovering Faith” by the USA Today best-selling author Myles Munroe). An apt subject for what we have been learning lately.
THANKSGIVING DINNER AT THE MINISTRY FARMWe have our Christmas tree up, as has most of the city. We really enjoy this time of year as not only are there Christmas decorations and lights everywhere but also many beautiful nativity scenes.
Merry Christmas to you
and Happy Birthday to Jesus.
Love The Paez family
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Miracles and more miracles
This last month has been one of seeing small miracles happen.
The farm has passed a health inspection and now we are getting ready for the licensing of the program. Also three cows were puchased and soon they will have calves, the farm is becoming more productive.
The ministry newsletter was written and sent, some small things are happening with a new webpage underway and we have a new profile of the ministry.
We have new electrical wiring nearly finished in the offices. This will be good as we didn't have a ground wire before and the computers are at risk of being burnt out. We had to unplug them all the time. There have been a few good electrical storms lately and lightening strikes have hit the houses- two TV's were burnt out through the antennas, thankfully no one was hurt as when one strike occurred the TV was in the process of being unplugged.
The adoption process of two girls has been going slowly forward. One girl's adoption papers are through and she is now waiting for her visa and the other girl's adoptive parents are trying to get over the last few hurdles so that they can come to Colombia and meet her. It is amazing the amount of hurdles that are faced in the adoption process. We have seen time and time again Miracles when in all intents and purposes the door is shut and God has made things happen and the process goes onto the next level.
There have been small financial miracles also. The ministry bus was sitting in front of the offices one day for lack of money to buy diesel. I mentioned this in a email to someone and a few days later heard from them that they would give money to buy diesel for the next year. Wow.
We said goodbye to Madeline our office assistant as she returned to France so things have been even busier than usual.
The boys continue in drum lessons and show some talent . Alex has had his first keyboard lesson too. It is a good way of keeping them occupied. At school they just celebrated Christian character day. Simon went dressed as the Centurion and Gabriela not to be left out, as a princess.
My brother Bruce has kept us company this month-( kind of) he is still in the country but has done quiet a bit of traveling and has a girlfriend so we don't see him that often. He is here for a few more days before returning to Aussie.
Carlos has started translating another book. This one is called Re-discovering Faith by Myles Munroe.
Our directors are going to the USA soon, they will be back in the New Year. Carlos has a few more responsibilities in their absence. We would appreciate your prayers during this time. Also as Christmas gets closer, muggings become more frequent, please pray for our safety and for those we serve with.
The ministries Bible and fun club was held up last month- no one was hurt but there were over 150 kids in the club when armed men came in and stole anything that had any value. Please pray for safety in this neighbourhood , specifically for the volunteers that work there and the kids they serve.
The farm has passed a health inspection and now we are getting ready for the licensing of the program. Also three cows were puchased and soon they will have calves, the farm is becoming more productive.
The ministry newsletter was written and sent, some small things are happening with a new webpage underway and we have a new profile of the ministry.
We have new electrical wiring nearly finished in the offices. This will be good as we didn't have a ground wire before and the computers are at risk of being burnt out. We had to unplug them all the time. There have been a few good electrical storms lately and lightening strikes have hit the houses- two TV's were burnt out through the antennas, thankfully no one was hurt as when one strike occurred the TV was in the process of being unplugged.
The adoption process of two girls has been going slowly forward. One girl's adoption papers are through and she is now waiting for her visa and the other girl's adoptive parents are trying to get over the last few hurdles so that they can come to Colombia and meet her. It is amazing the amount of hurdles that are faced in the adoption process. We have seen time and time again Miracles when in all intents and purposes the door is shut and God has made things happen and the process goes onto the next level.
There have been small financial miracles also. The ministry bus was sitting in front of the offices one day for lack of money to buy diesel. I mentioned this in a email to someone and a few days later heard from them that they would give money to buy diesel for the next year. Wow.
We said goodbye to Madeline our office assistant as she returned to France so things have been even busier than usual.
The boys continue in drum lessons and show some talent . Alex has had his first keyboard lesson too. It is a good way of keeping them occupied. At school they just celebrated Christian character day. Simon went dressed as the Centurion and Gabriela not to be left out, as a princess.
My brother Bruce has kept us company this month-( kind of) he is still in the country but has done quiet a bit of traveling and has a girlfriend so we don't see him that often. He is here for a few more days before returning to Aussie.
Carlos has started translating another book. This one is called Re-discovering Faith by Myles Munroe.
Our directors are going to the USA soon, they will be back in the New Year. Carlos has a few more responsibilities in their absence. We would appreciate your prayers during this time. Also as Christmas gets closer, muggings become more frequent, please pray for our safety and for those we serve with.
The ministries Bible and fun club was held up last month- no one was hurt but there were over 150 kids in the club when armed men came in and stole anything that had any value. Please pray for safety in this neighbourhood , specifically for the volunteers that work there and the kids they serve.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Sight seeing
This month we had a great break away for 6 days. We traveled to the coffee growing region, we enjoyed seeing a wide variety of animals, went horse and bull riding. Swimming, relaxing and lots of road traveling. It was good having Bruce ( Katrina's brother) with us as it was a great opportunity to see this part of the country, thanks to his generousity. We celebrated Alex's 12th birthday while away and then he got to celebrate it again with his cousins on returning... We did work in the ministry the rest of the month though the following photos may make you wonder.
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