Today is the day of Salvation

There are certain things that you just know are going to be so good even before you do them.  So, I went into my latest adventure fully expecting God to do great things... and once again, I wasn't disappointed in the power of God's transforming love in the lives of Colombians.

I had the opportunity to travel to Medellin, Colombia at the beginning of August to partake in a church planting/evangelism/discipleship team from the US. The object of this type of trip is quite simple, to help an established church begin a new work in an area of the city that desperately needs followers of Christ.  First off, this city is unlike any that I have ever been to in Colombia.  It sits in a valley with beautiful views in every direction.  And from what I saw, it's one of the most advanced cities in Colombia.  At times I thought that I was in another country.  You have to love a city that has several Dunkin Doughnuts.

The hope during these trips is to equip Colombians to share their faith and to learn how to disciple a fellow believer.  We taught them how to use an evangelistic tool called the evangecube (http://www.e3resources.org/) and taught them how to use a series of discipleship materials that will help the new believer come to a much deeper understanding of who God is and what His purpose is for us.  We really tried to communicate the importance of discipleship, because many people here will do just about anything to help secure their salvation.  Medellin is an extremely Catholic city, and from what I saw, many of them would pray or do just about anything if they thought it would help them have access to God.  We had the opportunity to tell them that it was only through Jesus that we have access to God.  Discipleship is really the process where God's word can really start to strip away the lies and deception that we can earn our salvation by just trying to do our best.

I wanted to share one of the experiences that I had while I was there.  This picture shows just part of the family that lived in the house that we visited.  When we first arrived, we were met by one of the moms of the house.  When we told her why we were there, she left us and got all the rest of the members of her family that were living there.  So in about a minute, I had 4 generations of Colombians sitting in front of me as I shared my testimony of God's love for us.

You know when you're doing something or saying something, and you can tell that the person that you're sharing with is just being polite, but they really couldn't care less about what you were saying; well this was the total opposite of that.  Every single one of the 9 family members was intently listening as I shared about our problem (sin) and God's amazing solution to that problem (Jesus).  It was one of the those experiences that I will hold in my heart for a very long time because I could clearly see the penetration of God's word as one of the young mom's began to cry.  At the end, I asked if they would like to express their faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the entire household prayed with us to confess Jesus as Lord!!  The power of God's truth to change lives is truly amazing, and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to witness God's power working in so many lives.

Since this time, I have had the opportunity to take what I learned in Medellin and share it with the many people here in Santa Marta.  I know that my Spanish isn't perfect yet, but I'm really trusting that God is going to communicate the truth of His word to the hearts of those who hear His word, even if all my words aren't perfect.  I'm so thankful for that. 

This was my first team that I worked with.  The lady on the left helped me with my Spanish which was a huge blessing.  I was so impressed with the young lady on the right though.  She was only 17 and had only been a Christian for a month.  She watched me share the gospel many times the first day, and on the second day, she was leading our team.  She had no fear at all.  So great!!  But the thing that brought such joy to me was that on her way home that night, her mom and her took out a cube, and led two guys on the bus to Jesus.  That's a disciple of Jesus.  She took what she knew about Jesus, and she shared it with others.  What a great testimony to all of us.  What a blessing to work alongside of Colombians to reach other Colombians!!     

 This was the other team that I had the privilege to work with.  All three were under the age of 22.  They had such great energy and they were so willing to learn and to use what they had learned to spread the gospel.  

Some young girls checking out an evengecard

A group of young ladies at our end of the week celebration

We just want to thank all the families and the churches that are taking part in what God is doing here.  We are so thankful for each and everyone of you.  We pray that God will continue to use us here to see many more Colombians become disciples of Jesus.

Praises and Prayer Requests:

1. Amanda continues to meet with a group of 10th graders at the school for a discipleship time. Pray that the girls would become more excited and interested in allowing God to work in their lives.  Even though they are young, God can use them in mighty ways.

2. We recently started small group bible studies with our youth at church.  We will be taking them through a program that, prayfully, will streghten their faith and help encourage both new and more mature believers.

3. Jon continues to meet on Wednesdays in one of the neighboring barrios.  This area is in need of an evangelical church. Pray that Jon and our Pastor Julio would have an effective ministry shepherding and teaching a group of young believers.

Health Ministry

This update will mainly be a picture post of the health ministry of our church that we have the privilege to serve with.  Our church has initiated a ministry to help poorer areas of the city with basic health needs.  This past Saturday we entered a neighborhood called "La Paz" (The Peace), with the hopes of serving this community.  This was the first time I had taken part in one of these health ministries and now I would like to do one every weekend.  There is something so special about being able to see people helped physically and spiritually...there's is just something so powerful about that.  We are so thankful for all those Christians who God has called to serve our physical needs.

Our church has several members that are either doctors or nurses that graciously give of their time and their gifts to help others.  So this Saturday we offered essentially free medicine (cost of about 50 cents), haircuts, medical exams, family counseling, and anti-lice shampoo.  You'll see in some of the pictures the kids who had shampoo still in their hair...so cute.  Again, we hope you can see the beauty and love in their faces.  We are so thankful for all of you who are praying and supporting God's ministry in this great country.  Thank for allowing us to be here.

A makeshift washing station for the kids

Missionary Sam helping

Letting the shampoo work

The youth from our church came and helped with the kids.  I was very proud to see their love for these young ones.

Teaching them a song about Jesus

The pastor's wife helping give haircuts

Had so much fun talking with these girls.

How cute is this little one?

Adventure in the Desert

Over the 4th of July weekend, I joined a fellow missionary and the pastor of our church for a weekend retreat in the desert of Colombia.  Our pastor did a series of talks on conflict...more about that later.   The Guajira is about a 4 hour journey from our house in Santa Mara to the city of Rioacha.  I’m always amazed at how in just a four hour trip one can see such a transformation in the countryside.

Upon arrival at CENFO (local seminary for the Wayuu Indians to train for 1 week a month for 3 years), we were greeted by the local pastor and many of the young people who had arrived before us.  The facilities here are very crude, but they met all of our needs.  Just to get an idea, the bathroom consisted of a toilet, with no seat or tank, and of course it did not flush, and a cup hanging on the wall for when it was shower time.  These are the times that I wish that I had camped more in my life...well not really.  My short time in the boy scouts cured me of those desires.  These kinds of things are always a great reminder to me that we not only can you survive on less, but you can thrive.

The purpose of our time there was to lead the activities that helped support the theme for the weekend.. Conflict.  We all know that conflict in any culture is difficult, but from what we are starting to understand about this culture, conflict with Wayuu can be extremely serious.  For example, if I’m on your property and you are the cause of some form of harm to me, I will exact harm on you or your family.  They are still living out the principle of an "eye for an eye".  Therefore, looking at how to biblically resolve our issues is really something that needs to be talked about...not only in this culture, but our's as well.

We had a really fun time teaching them games and activities that required them to work together and get to know each other.  It didn't take long to hear all of them laughing and giggling as they tried to un-tangle themselves when we played "human-knot".  God was so good to us during this weekend as we continue to be amazed at all the new things that He is teaching us about His people and how He has intricately designed all of us, and provided us with amazing cultures through which this beauty is demonstrated.

There is just something so beautiful about these people.  When we first arrived, they were quite reserved around us...they giggled a lot as we caught them staring at us several times.  The other missionary Sam, is from Asian descent, so he was quite the oddity here.  The younger ones had tons of questions for him...it was so neat to see his interaction with them and the sharing of cultures between God's people.

The women wear these beautiful robes, or mantas, that are the more traditional clothes.

So these are our sleeping arrangements here.  Not really worth mentioning except for the fact that we are the only men in this covered area.  We are "roughing" it with the teenage girls who are sleeping 2 to a hammock, while the "real" men had hung their hammocks in the trees outside.  This provided us with endless amounts of giggles.  One other side note here...most everyone was up by 3:45 a.m... I don't think my body functions at this time, so I stayed in till 5:30 a.m.
I am such a gringo.

           Picture of Sam with a couple of the ladies

This is a picture of our kitchen

Can you tell where we are in this pic?

This is a picture of the school

Woman at the well

Trying not to get hurt

For some reason, we really enjoy goats...not eating them, just watching them...but we did eat them

 Praises:
1)Amanda has finished her time with Evangelism Explosion for the year. It was a wonderful blessing to be apart of this program and share the gospel with the kids. Many of the students have already begun to share what they learned with family and friends.
2) A team from the US came a few weeks ago to construct a new roof for one of our sister churches. Jon was able to travel every day to help the team.  During this time, we also hosted our bosses from the States for 3 weeks. It's always nice to receive encouragement from them and small gifts from our families at home.
3)We received our homeschooling materials for Kendall and she is doing well. She will continue to go to the Esperanza School in the morning, but focus on English in the afternoon. It's been a little complicated learning to read in English and Spanish at the same time, but she's hanging in there.
4) In the last month, we have both been able to share our testimonies with the youth group. They responded well and we were encouraged with our Spanish.

Prayer Requests:
1)Amanda will start a discipleship Bible study with a group of 10th grade girls at the school every Wednesday morning. Pray that this would be a time of growth for the students as they learn more about the Christian life. Pray that they would also develop a new friendship with Amanda.
2) Pray for the youth as we continue to meet with them every week. Pray for clear direction and wisdom about lessons and activities for the group.
3)Jon will be traveling to Medellin at the end of the month with a group from the US.  They will be doing evangelism and discipleship with Colombians in the city.  Pray for safe travel and growth of God's Kingdom during this trip. Pray also for the encouragement of local leaders and workers who will be involved.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

In Christ,
Jon, Amanda, Kendall, and Parker

Guajira 2010

Click here to view these pictures larger

Three Important Things

I was recently reading a book that said, "There are only three things in this world that have eternal significance: God, God's Word, and the souls of men." This statement has really hit home for me the last few weeks. There are days that I struggle with feeling lonely and battle missing my family and friends back home, but I keep coming back to the fact that God has called us to Colombia. I do not doubt His calling, but I do need to keep reminding myself of it.  It is easy for me to be distracted by the routines of the day (tutoring, cleaning, laundry, shopping, Kendall's homework) and just living in Santa Marta.  Our way of life is so different now, but God and His Word are not.  We came to Santa Marta for the purpose of His glory and to further His Kingdom. When I start to question, "Why are we doing this again?" I must stop myself and think--the souls of men, the souls of men.  There is nothing more precious and more valuable then the souls of God's creation.

I continue to help the Esperanza School with "Evangelism Explosion".  Each week the kids are learning more and more about how to share their faith and how to have confidence in their salvation. Two weeks ago I was able to sit down with my group of 5 girls, go over the gospel, and question each of them about whether or not they believed. They were able to communicate that salvation comes only from the belief in Christ and His work on the cross. In a culture that is so heavily influenced by Catholic principles, it is important for us to communicate that it is through Christ alone.

Jon and I continue to work with the youth and are still trying to formulate a team and goals for our group. The kids have been very welcoming as we continue to build relationships with them. Good relationships take time, especially in another country with a different language.  Jon and one of our new teammates, Sam, have started playing basketball in the park on Sunday afternoons as a way to meet non-believers in the city and strengthen relationships with the youth at our church.  Just last week Jon meet several kids who were interested in why we were here and what we were doing. Our skin color is an open invitation for us to start talking about our presence in Santa Marta (for some reason we just don't fit in--I have know idea why).  We plan to continue going to the park as a way to meet people and share Christ with them.

Praises:
1. We have another SAM teammate here now named Sam. He's actually from Canada and will be working with university students. He has been living with us for the last month or so and will continue to do so for a couple more weeks until he can get his apartment ready.  It's exciting to see our team grow more in Colombia.
2. We are feeling more comfortable here and have had lots of opportunities to entertain our neighbors and people from our church in our home.

Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for our ministry with the youth that we would gain more confidence and develop a vision for the youth of our church and their parents.
2. Pray that the children in EE would continue to grow in their knowledge and love of the Lord.

3. Pray that Jon and I would have wisdom as we seek to parent our kids in a different culture and in the midst of ministry.
4. Pray for boldness in our language as we meet to share the gosple with others and develop relationships.

Two Main Ministries

Our family has been in Colombia now for about 3 months. We have had some adjustments, but we are enjoying our new life here. Kendall is doing well in school, though we have to keep her from visiting all her friends in other classes during the day.

Jon and I spend our mornings working on language study and doing things around the house. You really have to stay on top of the cleaning here or you will be covered in dust and have ants crawling all over you. Our tutor comes to our house 5 days a week while Kendall is at school. Parker usually plays or watches a movie while we study.

After being here for a couple of months now, we have finally started to plug into some of our own ministries. In addition to regular church meetings during the week, on Wednesday mornings I go and help a group of people from the church with "Evangelism Explosion".  EE is a program for young kids to teach them the gospel and then in turn teach them ways to share the gospel with their friends and neighbors. I have greatly enjoyed the time with my group. The first week we had a mini-carnival with games to present various verses from the Bible to support the gospel. Each week we continue to reinforce this verses with activities, songs, dramas, and movements.  This week we taught the gospel in miniature with hand motions.  I don't always know what my group is saying, but I have been able to communicate these truths of the gospel with them. I am looking forward to the next 10 weeks with these girls.

Our second big activity is the youth meeting on Saturday nights. Jon and I are working with the assistant pastor and his wife to plan these meetings. Right now we are relying on them to do the majority of the teaching, but we hope to share the teaching times with them in the future when our Spanish is better. We are able to plan interactive activities for the kids and get-to-know-you games.  We are really praying that we begin to make strong relationships with the kids and with their parents.  We are also inviting one family a week over to our house to get the know the people of the church better.

Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for continued progress with language. The more you know, the more frustrating things become at times.
2. Evangelism Explosion-pray that the kids in the class would fully understand what Jesus did for them on the cross and that they can have security in His payment for them on the cross.  Pray for continued excitement with the kids as they learn more about God and what He has done for them. Pray that I would be able to answer their questions and communicate clearly with them.
3. Youth Group-pray that the kids would begin to be unified and more and more interested in spiritual things. Pray that we would have a good working relationship with our assistant pastor as we help the church develop the youth program here. Pray also that Jon and I would have wisdom about how to plan for meaningful activities and family interaction.

Thank you so much for your continued interest in our ministry. God bless.

Amanda, Jon, Kendall, and Parker

This is why we came

When I was a youth pastor, some of the most memorable times that I had with students was on retreats.  Something just happens when you pile into a van, sleep in bunk-beds, and eat junk food at all hours of the day.  You really get to see and know people for who they really are.  Maybe it's all the coke and cheetos, but a lot of the phoniness that comes with being "in" the church, gets stripped away on a retreat

I have such funny and rich memories from these times, so I wondered how my first experience with the youth from our church would go.  I ended up riding with some of the adults before the kids to help get things ready.  One thing that I have become accustomed to, is never to have any expectation about what I'm about to encounter.  I had no idea what their concept of "retreat" or camping might be.  Well it turns out that we really did camp.  Those of you who know me, know that I am still scarred from experiences as a   Boy Scout, but thankfully this time camping was a much more pleasant experience.

The kids had an extremely difficult time getting to the campsite.  They actually ended up having to walk a good part of the journey up the mountain, in the dark, by foot.  When they came they were so tired, but for the most part they were really good sports about it.  Myself and my team-mate were the only ones that spoke English, so my Spanish got a real work-out.  Have you ever wondered what the young people in your life were saying, ever felt like they were speaking another language... Haha, well, needless to say, this was one of the most frustrating times I've had trying to communicate.  But, thankfully, the kids were super sweet and patient with me and taught me a lot of Spanish.

Ministry is all about relationships, and I'm pleased to report this was a great start to our ministry of young people.  One of the most memorable things was a relationship I developed with one of the kids who belonged to the folks that maintained the camp.  If you've ever been to another country, you realize pretty quick with kids that it doesn't matter if you speak their language, but if you demonstrate love towards them then you don't really have to say much at all.  He was always around me.  For our lesson times, he would come and sit with me and look at my Bible or look at my work book.  Well, he eventually looked at me and asked me point blank if I was a Christian.  I said that I was and I proceeded to ask him some questions.

I asked him, "do yo believe in Jesus?", and he said "yes".  I asked him, "do you believe that Jesus died for you?", and he said yes again.  Then I asked him if he had sinned.... No.  He said that he had never done anything wrong.  Unfortunately, we were interrupted from our conversation, but thankfully God provided another opportunity to pick up right where we left off.  This time, I brought in reinforcements.  One of the young ladies in our ministry is extremely gifted and an extremely strong believer.  She came over and made an extremely clear presentation of the Gospel to the young guy, and right there he prayed to receive Christ as his Savior.  Praise God!

You know there are sometimes that you might wonder if this is where God would have us be.  But then, God gives you times like these where it's very clear that we are exactly in the right spot.  There are sometimes now, when I'm standing somewhere, and I almost have to remind myself where I am on the globe.  Because when I forget where I am, I am forgetting how far God has brought our family to Colombia.  We are here for a purpose.  I pray that we never forget that.

A couple of the young ladies in our youth ministry.  Tatiana (right) is the pastor's daughter

Boys are always ready for a picture

This is a picture of Louda (right), the young lady that helped share the gospel with Jorge (below)

This is the picture of Jorge, the young fellow that accepted Jesus.

The ride down the mountain packed in a truck.  I couldn't fit :)  But I got to ride down on a motorcycle.  It was amazing to see Colombia from this perspective.  Everyone should ride a motocycle in a foreign country at least once in his or her life.

The Honeymoon is...?

Well, they say that when you transition to another culture you go through cycles of adjustment. The first cycle is the honeymoon phase... If you are married you know about this phase. Everything is new and exciting, and you are much more forgiving about those little idiosyncrasies of your spouse that in the beginning made them "interesting". But after a time, those little things aren't as interesting as they once were..haha. Well, I'm not so sure that the honeymoon is over, but we are definitely feeling more at "home" here. And for the most part, that's a really good thing.

The language still seems to be the biggest challenge here. Now I know that a lot of people might be thinking...why aren't y'all fluent yet? And believe me, I've wondered that too many times. Sometimes it's very easy to forget that fluency really is a life-long process. Just like our spiritual walk, we will never have everything together and there will always be more to learn. But we are thankful for the grace of God and of the mercy and patience of all those poor Colombians that bear with us and our language...haha.

Ministry Opportunities: Right now, If our language was up to speed, we could have opportunities aplenty. But for right now, I try to tag along and hear and understand as much as I can. I'm really praying that I can become very proficient at Spanish, because I think there are some really amazing opportunities here. For example, the school, which has 450 students, needs a Chaplin. Someone that will come in everyday at 6:00 a.m. to give a short devotional to the kids. What a great opportunity!!! To have the chance to start rubbing elbows with the teacher and the students is awesome. I'm going to start attending the teacher's devotional in the mornings as well. This meeting in mandatory for the teachers, but there are still some teachers that don't know Jesus. More opportunities to share the love of Jesus. Our prayer is that we be used by God to develop leaders and disciples. The Church also desires our to help them think/plan/execute a program that will help disciple all the kids of the church. From ages 4 till the you get married...haha. What a challenge, but one that I look forward to seeing how God is going to provide, both in wisdom and strength to see this completed.

We also have opportunities to work in 1 of the 3 church plants that the church has right now. We still don't know which one we will be working with, but that's an exciting opportunity as well. These young churches need lots of encouragement in the beginning, because the enemy desperately wants to discourage these young churches.

I am going on a retreat this weekend with about 25 of the students and some of the leaders of the church. This is going to be my best opportunity so far to get to know the kids and allow them to know me. I will be leading the games and I look forward to laughing a lot about the things that I'm going to make them do.

Amanda is also getting plugged in the with the ladies. Along with helping me, her main focus will be on the ladies and ministry to them. This is a critical ministry because, just like in the States, there are a lot of single parent homes where it's the mom that is bearing the burden of raising and supporting the family. Please pray that Amanda would have many opportunities to support and be apart of discipling the women of the church and the city.

I'll close with a few of the things that we miss from the States, and some of the things that we love about being here.

What we miss:

1. Amanda misses Barnes and Noble and Starbucks

2. We both miss having a car. If you've ever taken a ride in a taxi in South America, you know what I'm talking about.

3. We all miss family and friends

4. The kids miss having parks to go to. There really isn't a place here with grass for the kids to play at. Maybe we just miss grass :)

What we love about being here:

1. We LOVE the people of Colombia. One quick example: We took a taxi to the mall and we left a little plastic cup in the taxi. The driver of the taxi, parked his car, got out, went into the mall to find us to give us the cup back...how amazing is that!!

2. We LOVE our pastor and his family. Julio Caesar and his wife Claudia are some of the most helpful and loving people ever. Their kids have demonstrated so much love to our kids.

3. We LOVE the food here. Big surprise for us, but everything that we have had has been really good.

4. The beach. We can walk two blocks to see the Caribbean. That's pretty nice.

5. We LOVE our church family. They also have demonstrated so much love to us. We are so thankful for them.

6. We are THANKFUL and LOVE all those that are standing behind us and the work that God is doing here.

Prayer:

1. For our family. You sometimes forget how big of a transition it is for the kids until you send them off to a school where they don't know that language, the culture, or the "rules".

2. For clear direction into what ministries we will throw our "weight" behind.

3. For our walks with the Lord. The most important one, pray that we hold fast to the truth of God's word, and we intimately and closely follow him.

Parker loves the beach.

Parker sporting his new hairdo. Amanda doesn't like it, but I think it's pretty sweet. He's a good looking boy, just like his daddy..haha

First day of school. She has done pretty well and the crying has been to a minimum. All the kids wear uniforms to school and each grade has their own style and color.

The typical, "what are you doing look".

Here are Kendall's buddies. Tatiana and Jenny. Jenny just turned 8 and Tatiana just turned 14.

Funny Happenings and Upcoming Ministries

We are thankful that we had a low-stress Christmas and New Years here in Santa Marta. We attended our church's Christmas program on the 23rd. They had singing, a short drama, several readings, and dinner.

We spent Christmas Day mostly in the house enjoying the day and the quiet. Christmas evening we had an impromptu invitation by our neighbors for dinner at their house. They had family and several people from church there, so we were able to practice our Spanish and observe. I was, however, a little embarrassed because we weren't planning on visiting with anyone so the kids weren't wearing shoes and looked a little disheveled after their naps, plus Jon and I were both wearing shorts. We certainly weren't a picture of culture (Colombians always dress up when going out), but we didn't want to be rude either by turning down the invitation. At one point, I zipped home and gave the kids a quick bath and put them in their pajamas and shoes. Believe me, it was a vast improvement.

Jon and I have been doing tutoring in the morning and working on our vocabulary and reading. We are still trying to get to know the ministries here at the church. One blessing has been the music. Jon was able to accompany Pastor Julio this past week in preparation for the worship service. While the songs were presented, Julio and Jon analyzed the words and messages of the songs to make sure they were sound and profitable to sing.

This past Sunday Pastor Julio asked Jon to help with communion. Jon was a little nervous because he thought he was going to have to pray in Spanish, but he didn't. It's a lot of pressure to speak Spanish in front of everyone, not to mention pray. While Jon was passing around the communion cups, he went to rest his hand on the bottom of the plate and inadvertently tipped some of the cups over because there wasn't actually a bottom. This was a prime example of how Jon's good sense of humor can be such an asset to ministry. While I would have been absolutely embarrassed, Jon just kept going, dripping juice on people, apologizing all the way, and smiling.

Praises:
1. Pastor Julio and his wife Claudia have been a tremendous help to us as we get to know the city, church, and the people.
2. Tutoring continues to go well as we build on what we know.
3. Our house is starting to feel more like home.
4. WE ARE HERE!!! Yay!!! Thanks for all your prayers and your support. It's been a long journey, but we are extremely thankful to be right where God would have us to be.

Prayer Requests:
1. At the end of January, the church is having a retreat for the young people at church. The theme is "Amar es Esperar" "To Love is To Wait." Premarital sex is a huge problem here, as in the United States, even among those in the church. Jon will be helping plan this event and will attend it as well. Pray that this message will pierce the hearts of the young people who attend as they grow in understanding and appreciation for God's design for sex. Pray that this will be a good time of relationship-building for Jon as he gets to know the youth.

2. Pray for the kids as they continue to adjust. Parker has been having a hard time since we have been here and we want to be sensitive to him, yet discipline him in a Godly way. Pray that we would have wisdom and patience with them because they are adjusting too.

3. My tutor, one of the ladies at church, has asked me to prepare my testimony for the first women's meeting of the new year. This will be a good way for the ladies to get to know me, but more importanly for them to see the power and provision of God in my life.





Christmas Day with the horse that Aunt Angie gave to him. Parker just loves horses.












Kendall is pretty excited about this book. I love it when she "reads" to me. She can make up some good stories just looking at the pictures. Thanks Grandma for the books.











We went to a really great Christmas program. This was part of the choir. They sang with great enthusiasm.

A Place Called Home

Well, we have finally made it to our new home in Santa Marta, Colombia. After a long journey of raising support and language school, we are here. Jon and I are both experiencing a combination of emotions. We are excited and energized about being here and yet anxious and overwhelmed. We arrived last Tuesday and had a fairly uneventful trip. We sailed through customs and baggage with no problems. Through the wonderful blessing of a ticket agent in Charlotte, NC we got all our 12 (overweight) bags through without even one being checked.

When we arrived in Colombia, five men from our church were waiting to pick us up. We rode in traditional South American-style, loaded down with baggage, kids sitting on laps, and three grown men in the front seat. We drove for about 1 and 1/2 hours to our new home. As we got off the bus, two families were anxiously waiting for our arrival. People were everywhere giving hugs and offering greetings. Our pastor's wife and another SAM missionary had brought in food and prepared our apartment for the first few days. We had a mini-refrigerator, beds, pillows, pots and pans, a table, and food. It was a wonderful testimony of the body of Christ and how well it can function for His glory.

The past week has been filled with trying to get set up, registering our visas, and getting to know the people at the church. Bob and Ruth Ann Moyer, veteran SAM missionaries from Colombia, spent the first 9 days with us. We would have really struggled finding our way around without them. They also served as a third-party go-between for us. The Colombian culture relies heavily on a third-party to offer introductions, invitations, and information. Bob and Ruth Ann were a great help in all of this. We were able to go and observe several of the ministers that the church is involved in, including AWANA, prayer meeting, and the men's and women's meetings. The kindess of the people here is amazing. After travelling from place to place and visiting so many churches, it is such a relief to have a place that we can call our new home.

Praises:
1. There are several kids in our apartment complex for the kids to play with.
2. Our house is far better than we expected. We have so much room, in comparision to how we were living. I keep rearranging things to figure out the best way to organize things.
3. The Holy Spirit continues to remind us of how He can and wants to use us here in Colombia.

Prayer Requests:
1. We are continuing to study Spanish here with a tutor. We quickly realized that the vocabulary is different here and we have a long way to go before we are fluent. This can be frustrating at times when we think about our ministry here. We need to have the language down to do effective ministry. Pray for patience and a good attitude in this area as we meet with our tutors and talk with people from church and our neighborhood. The only bad thing about knowing some Spanish is that people assume that we know more than we do and start talking really, really fast.
2. Pray for the continued adjustment of the kids. We are going Monday to check into preschool for Kendall. This is the best way for her to learn the language, but we want to be sensitive to how she is feeling about going to school.
3. Pray that we would both covet our time with the Lord and make it a priority each day. The "activities" of the day can be overwhelming, but we know that our spiritual health is what is going to sustain us here when things are difficult.

Thank you for your prayers. We love you all.
Jon, Amanda, Kendall, and Parker