We got to experience some of the improvements in Colombian hospital
care at the end of June when Katrina had her appendix removed. God answered prayers with the medical
insurance company allowing her to be operated on in a good hospital close by.
There was a bed for her in a room after the surgery. The night her surgery was
first planned the power went off 7 times with a noticeable delay before the
generators kicked in. When her surgery did occur the power was normal. She
healed well and is back to normal activities. We are very thankful to God that
even though there were some negatives experiences during the hospital visit,
the overall care and surgery was good compared to the usual public health
service which has people on gurneys in halls or with drips inserted sitting on
wooden stools.
We are glad that experience is over and are very thankful
for God giving us good health.
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| Gabriela and Simon showing a visitng USA team the ministry farm |
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| The USA team installing the roof to the play tower |
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| Carlos and his brother Sergio celebrating their birthdays |
Our directors have been in the USA and Europe since May,
they return in August. This means a bit more work for us. The ministry, in general has been
going well. There is a good group of volunteers to serve in the different
areas. Financially, there are a lot of expenses, and donations for the daily
food and education has been very low. Katrina in particular finds this hard as
she has to make decisions as to how much money goes where and which bills to
pay. In the middle of this financial shortage God answered a 5 year request and
we received a donation to complete the purchase of the houses used to serve the
children and families in the prostitution zone of Bogota.
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| Simon with his friend and cousins |
Carlos has to deal with all the legal work of the ministry.
Even though we have the money to complete the actual purchase mentioned above, there
has been 3 weeks of delays that continue to occur with paperwork on the
seller’s side. Please pray that everything will be worked out soon. Carlos
needs a lot of patience and wisdom in all of the legal matters. Things here are
not that simple with trips to different offices and receiving different answers
to the same questions.
We can still see God at work in lives of kids though at
times it is hard to see the trees for the forest. Some of the kids in the
ministry are facing difficult situations please pray for kids that are being
evicted for the 5th time and for some 10 to 12 year olds for whom the pull of gang life is hard to resist.
The ministry focus on restoring families has also not been
without challenges. The husband of the coordinator of this ministry area fell
through a roof and down two floors. He was mending when their baby received 3rd
degree burns to his lower face and chest. It has not been easy for the family
but they can see God at work and they have a new dependence on Him. Their baby
is healing amazingly well and surgery and skin drafts were not needed. Please keep
them in your prayers.
Family wise
Alex has his afro at its longest. Someone was finally able to explain how to look after it probably, so his parents have relented and let him keep it. He has 3 more weeks of holidays before he starts his new school year. He now enters 9th grade in the American high school system. A month ago he measured 178cm without the afro.
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| Alex's afro dream!! |
Simon is into video games and basketball. He enjoyed playing
in a competition a few weeks ago. After much prayer we are stepping out in
faith and putting both Simon and Gabriela back into school. We had a good
experience homeschooling but the reason why we are here in Bogota is to serve in the
ministry. Time wise Katrina felt too pulled with the various roles she had to
do. In a couple of weeks Simon will have testing at the school to make sure he
kept up to his grade level while being homeschooled. He is nervous about this.
He prefers homeschooling.
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| Simon's Basketball team |
Gabriela on the other hand can’t wait to get back to friends
and activities at school. Meanwhile she is kept busy over the holidays by
taking daily gymnastic classes.
We ask for your prayers to enable us to meet the schooling
costs. The school board is most likely to give us a half scholarship. We still
need NZD $3000.00 to enroll the kids, buy books and uniforms. Then for 9 months
pay $800.00 a month for fees. Education definitely isn’t cheap here but it is
a worthwhile investment.
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| Gabriela's ballet recital |
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| Gabriela in the middle of her cousins |
Carlos was able to serve at to evangelistic camps run by our church here. In the first camp he lead 7 men and in the second 9 boys. The majority of whom accepted the Lord as their Savior. We thank God for allowing us to serve Him in this way.
Carlos was able to serve at to evangelistic camps run by our church here. In the first camp he lead 7 men and in the second 9 boys. The majority of whom accepted the Lord as their Savior. We thank God for allowing us to serve Him in this way.
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| Alex's real afro |
