Tuesday, July 26, 2016

In the News

A good friend of the family, Jordan Carey, writes for the local Teens and Twenties newspaper column. She wrote a great piece about our family for the paper. Follow the link to read it
 Times News Story

Nate, Tara, Valerie, Alicia, Jaiden, Kristen, Than, Patrick, Vincent and Lincoln. At first, these might seem like a jumble of names, but this is the Ariel family.
In 2011, the Ariels moved from Burlington, N.C., to Bocachica, Colombia, South America. At first, it seemed like a crazy feat to move to another country with that many kids, but maybe it wasn’t.
Their reason for moving was to become missionaries for the people of Bocachica. For four years, they lived on the island in order to teach the people there. Before their move to Colombia, the Ariels were members of Antioch Community Church, and are once more after moving back to Burlington earlier this year. Within the church, mission trips to Bocachica happened yearly. That was how the idea of moving to Bocachica came into being.
   “I got the first idea of moving to Colombia a lot later than my husband did,” said Tara Ariel. “For me it wasn’t until 2010.”
It might be hard at first to understand why someone would want to live there. Many people in Bocachica go without clean water, full-time electricity, indoor bathrooms and other essentials most people in the United States couldn’t live without. In Bocachica, the people are isolated in a way, which is why Tara says, “it’s about teaching them to do things correctly,” such as hygiene and sanitation.
Part of helping with those things includes teaching the people how to construct and use water filters. On Bocachica, there isn’t any clean water. Because of that, water is shipped from the mainland in large tubs. Unfortunately, the water is always contaminated by the time it arrives at the island. To help the people with that, the Ariels started a project to make water filters for families on the island. Each filter will provide clean water for 25 years and only costs $60. In their years in Bocachica, the Ariels have install around 100 of these filters.
Perhaps one of the hardest things about adjusting to life on Bocachica was taking seven kids.
“My first impression of the island was that everything was really dirty and I didn’t want to touch anything,” said Jaiden, age 12. “But now I love Colombia. I was really sad when I had to leave there.”
After a long time of living on the island, almost all of the kids are fluent in Spanish, one of the many things they have learned from their time in Colombia.
The youngest, Lincoln, wasn’t even born when they moved down to the island; he was born shortly before the Ariels moved back to the States. When they moved to Bocachica, the oldest, Valerie, was only 12 years old. The youngest at the time, Vincent, was only 1.
As missionaries in Colombia, they also wanted to teach the people of Bocachica about Christ. But besides teaching, learning from the people also is important.
“I learned to serve where I could and see the love of the Lord the locals had,” Tara said.
The Ariels hope to be in the states for two years before moving back to Colombia to continuing their mission.
For more information about the Ariels’ project in Bocachica, visit colombiamissionfamily.blogspot.com
Jordan Carey is rising freshman home-schooler and a Teens & 20s writer.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

A mixing surprise.

 Here is some good news to share with you from Bocachica!  This is from June 20, 2016, but we wanted to share this with you all.

There are times in life when we experience discouragement. Have you ever invested in something only to have it wasted? Like a tree that you buy, plant, and take of only to have it die after a short while. It isn't only the money but time and care that hurts.
 We had a similar incident in Bocachica recently. After we came to North Carolina, we left Luis and Adriana in charge of the everything in Bocachica. Things were going well until a few days after we left, yes that soon, the Kitchen Aid mixer was stolen. Nobody knew anything about what happened to it. It made us sick to our stomachs because of what it took to get the machine there, and that it was well used for the work there. Adriana used the mixer daily to make cupcakes to sell. That is how they supplement their income as missionaries. The machine is irreplaceable due to cost but also getting it there. So, like most all things in Bocachica they continued the work doing it the hard way. Not that mixing by hand is too hard, but when all of life is hard this luxury was a blessing.  They regularly sell about 90 cupcakes a day.
 Last night Luis sent us a message in the middle of the night.

"Mira Dios es fiel no lo puedo creer no sabemos quien fue la acabamos de encontrar es por la mesericordia de Dios. Estamos felices."

Translation: 

"Look, God is faithful. I can not believe it. We don't know who it was, we just found it by the mercy of God. We are happy!"


 Someone for some reason decided to return the mixer last night. They set it over the wall that surrounds our property. Though we don't know who or why, we are really thankful to the Lord who cares about even the small things. Pray that the Lord continues to work in the heart of whoever returned the machine. Thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray for the lost in Bocachica.

Blessings,
The Ariels

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Photo update for July

Being a tent-maker missionary takes more time than normal. We are back in the USA and working full time as well as catching up on things that we miss, this leaves little time for writing. Obviously we haven't updated the blog in awhile. We are busy and enjoying our time here. The transition to the privilege of States life is easy and luxurious compared to Bocachica. Showers, washing and drying clothes without manual labor, driving instead of walking. We can get so much more done in less time.

We have some good updates to share from Luis and Adriana, but we will save them for the next update. Hopefully they will follow closely behind this update.

Some fun things have happened over the past 6 months ...take a look!

This March my twin, Kevin, flew in for our 40th birthday! My kids hadn't seen him in 6 1/2 years. It sure was good to spend some time with him. 

In April we enjoyed strawberry picking. Something we longed to do while living in Colombia.
Before moving back to the States we bought a new house. It backs up to a river where my boys can enjoy endless fishing.
One of the things Nathanael Quin missed most was our city park. They have many rides for the kids and this is one of their favorites!
Our city also opened up a splash park that is free to the public. My kids give it two thumbs up.
Lincoln is big enough now to enjoy an occasional swing now and then.
If you asked me what Lincoln's favorite thing to do is...I would answer you with one word...EAT!
We still enjoy hospitality here State side. We invite people over weekly for a meal or some games. Roy and Jeanne Southern have turned us on to a game called Qwirkle. It's a blast. My kids play it daily. 

In June my boys (minus Lincoln) enjoyed a father/son camping trip with some families from our church. This is them pumped up to go!
My boys enjoying a morning hike with their dad.
We asked our kids what they wanted to do for vacation and unanimously they said visit the Mancuso's  & Lohrs. A blessing as we stayed 5 days in Maryland. Our time went by too quickly. We sure do love these people! Only one of them have not made it to Bocachica! Mrs. Lohr, I think we will have to change that! We are thankful for their love, support, and prayers.
Chef Rob with Sous chef Nate make a wonderful pulled pork with Rob's new smoker. It was AMAZING!!!
We even still get to do ministry here. Nate put in a foundation for Living Free, an addiction rehab facility, in Snow Camp, NC. We have had a relationship them for many years now, and Ja Doss and his son have made trips to Bocachica in the past to work with us as well.


This is just a short list, but we have more news to share.
We will write again soon,
blessings~