How I can explain some of the things that happen here...

Luke 10:2 "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

My week reminded me of this verse. I am here on the island, and there is no hiding. The island life reminds me of a camp ground. Everyone lives very close, many houses share one outer wall. The island seems to wake up around the same time and the routines makes me think of the movie Ground Hog's day. You walk everywhere and so you have to speak to many as you pass by. Gossip here on the island is a way of life, everyone participates. My husband laughs and says many times if I am in Cartagena running an errand, he knows before I get to the house that I am on the island due to everyone talking. They would walk by and say, your wife is here, she'll be up the hill soon. 

This week was harder than normal. The other day there was this boy who is 7 with his 6 month old sister sitting on a tire. I thought I need to snap a photo. When he looked up and saw me, he was so sweet that turned his body around to give me a better photo. Then about 20 minutes later, I heard the baby crying, and the boy yelling for his Mom. I didn't think much of it, but then the boy started screaming louder and louder crying down the hill for his mom's help. I jumped my wall and went into his house to find him alone in the house with this baby. The mom was not in sight. When the mom finally came I had to be firm with her and tell her this is not acceptable and that a 7 year old boy is not responsible to take care of a baby nor to be left alone. The mom just smiled and took the baby back. I went home and was saddened to know this was happening but even more sad to know the Mom is broken. 

But then the next day my husband yells to me with the baby in his hands. You see the Mom had the seven year old carry the baby down the hill to buy juice. He fell while walking with her and dropped her. I went immediately to the house and told her this can not happen. I spoke firmly with her for about 10 minutes, while she smiled and had many excuses, I returned home. Frustrated at the situation, I thought of this through out the day. At one point I heard the mom crying from the back steps. Please Lord, use this time for her to call on Your name. I am reminded that while we teach the Word here on the island, our relationships with others in our everyday life speak of God. When we hold those accountable in love, we show the love of God. 

To finish my day off a different set of neighbors came up to my fence as they were passing by, turned and looked at me and said our neighborhood would be going down hill, but Tara and Nate won't let that happen. Happy to know through trials fruit can be seen.

So yes Lord, please send more willing to labor. Willing to take a stand for what is right. Showing others your love and praying for those who don't know you. No matter where we live, Let us glorify you.

Baseball

Baseball

 

Sunday was the day of the game between the Bocachica with arms against the team with only one or  a disabled arm. It was the excitement of the week here, the sidelines were full of people to watch. It is interesting here because I have talked to a neighbor missing a hand from dynamite fishing and asked if he wanted to get a prosthetic. He scoffed at the idea, he said he could work the same without the hand. He demonstrated the action of fishing using his arm instead of his hand to pull the line up. This is a sentiment that many have here, we have quite a few missing hands due to the dynamite.  I have seen various example of these guys working along side other men doing the same work in a modified manner, but nevertheless keeping up. Sometimes what we think is a weakness or something lacking in another may not be so. It is hard to imagine for many that are used to the push for perfectness that comes in popular entertainment culture, but there is a pride in the team for being able to compete against a team that has two hands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 He would catch with the glove then rapidly tuck it under his other arm to throw the ball.

 

Closer to water but still need help.

July in Bocachica is just as hot as it was in North Carolina. The air seems thick and sun is always present. The good thing is that doesn't slow us down. We have been busy getting ready to purchase the desalinization machine. We have raised a little more than half the funds for this project. Nate, while waiting for more funds to come in has been planning ahead getting everything ready for the day we buy this valuable machine. We have purchased land at the bottom of the hill, dug a well, dug trenches in the street all the way up the hill to put in the tubing for the water to come up our hill. Finally, last week, Nate finished the work by building a storage shed where we will store a pump in the well to have a constant feed of water to our neighborhood.

Trish and Emory McChargue came to Bocachica for 8 days to work along side us.They are missionaries from Louisiana working in Bogota.  Emory was a big help to Nate with all of his projects. It was refreshing talking to them about missionary life and encouraging one another in the Lord.
Not to mention my kids had a blast playing with this couple! We look forward to them returning for another visit.

Emory helping with the footer for the storage shed over the well.

Emory making cement.



digging up the street to lay the tubing for the water.

just keep digging.

Up the hill they go!

Inside is the well, and the pump that will drive the water up the hill for our neighborhood.


 We are fighting just to have access to water daily. If you would like to give to this project please email us or click on the donate button on this page. Thank you for joining us in praying for a solution to this problem.

Many blessings to you and your family. Have an enjoyable August!

The Ariels

~Wedding in Bucaramanga~

We went to a wedding in Bucaramanga yesterday, it has been quite a trip. Our kids have lost the ability to ride in cars on land, put them in a boat, no problem, but a car? They cried after the first time of motion sickness and throwing up, but by the time we got to Bucaramanga they were used to throwing up. Hopefully the trip home will be less eventful.
 The weather here is awesome, a relief to the continual peak summer of Bocachica. The kids loved playing outside, lots of soccer in the park. Everything is green here. The mornings here are like a fall day, and it heats up to about 80 and then starts to cool down.

 The wedding of Lina and Javier was a fun experience as well, the couple has a wonderful testimony about being faithful to the Lord to wait for the right person. Their testimony before this day is great, and the celebration of the next chapter is great to be a part of. Both parts are what I am glad that our family could be a witness of.
 One the of the things that is a privilege about a mature Christianity is to be part of the redemption and expressions of the action of matrimony. The setting was beautiful, the sermon presented Christ in marriage, the food was good, the music was top quality. This may seem common, and many people today are trying to downsize the celebration of marriage, but it is a powerful testimony to the next generation of young folks coming up. If you are investing in marriage this much, it must be important. In Bocachica, the majority see no need to get married not because of the cost but there is little value given to marriage. Christ could have picked any physical relationship to represent His relationship to the church, but He chose marriage. Christ could have chosen the relation of  a general to the army to express the relation between Christ and the Church, but He chose marriage. This is where marriage gets it high value. Part of the gospel then is honoring marriage and holding it in high esteem.
 We enjoyed being a part of the marriage yesterday, and we look forward to the future for Lina and Javier. It is a joy to see my kids look forward to such events in excitement because they enjoy it now and are looking forward to their own possibilities of the future.

Photo update for June

June is gone, it went by fast, here are some photos for the month:



Vincent helping with the filters.

stripping the mold on a new filter

 

 

 

the second floor walls are about half way, we are waiting on brick from the company to be able to finish



This is the building for storing the filter tools at Werlin's house. The Maryland team gave funds to build it.

Leni from Germany is visiting friends in Bocachica during her vacation. It is great to have her here.

Tara with the ladies at the mother's day party

Alicia, Jaiden, Kristen, and the other dancers did a thank you dance for the moms.

Though not hygienic Patrick dutifully washes the table ~ cute

The girls made a tippy tap which washes hands. thoroughly with little water 

We have lost electricity a lot this month, one day we went to the city to watch the game at the mall, there was quite a crowd there.

Boys playing with the Yeiker.
 

The family with  Julia, a visitor from Pennsylvania, celebrate Germany's victory with Leni.

That concludes the photos for this month, next month we are looking forward to getting started on the desalinization project, getting the rest of the brick for the second floor delivered, and we have more visitors stopping in. Hope you all have a good month, thank you for the prayers and support.

“The Lord bless you and keep you;
 The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26

Water costs

Being poor cost more. You may think that if you are poor only cheap things are available since that is all you can afford. Quality wise that is true, the quality of tools, building material, electronics, food are worse. Yet, basic food prices are higher, people buy the necessities for the day, and a result a single tomato costs more than if you were to buy by the  kilo. All this adds up to the poor paying sometimes double what middle income person would pay for any particular item.
  The greatest disparity is water here in Bocachica. Some people can't get their head around the difference. Normally a desalinization machine would be economically crazy to buy to clean water because water is so cheap, but that is not the case here.
 I will give a comparison of Burlington, NC to Bocachica, Colombia:
 Burlington, NC base rate for water in the city is per 1000 gallons:
                1000 gallons = $2.92 USD
 Bocachica, Colombia rate per 1000 gallons:
                 1000 gallons = $22.32 USD
This is the price if you have a cistern available to store water in bulk

The price for water delivered to your door in Bocachica costs a minimum of:
                 1000 gallons = $44.64 USD
if you live farther and have to pay transportation the cost can go as high as
$88.00 dollars per 1000 gallons.

  As a result this affects every part of the people's lives. We have visitors who come and ask why people don't have gardens. The lack of the basic needs increases the poverty. A hand up isn't possible if there is nowhere up to go. After an extended period of poverty to this degree, a new normal is established. People here don't see this as great need, they have adopted to the lifestyle of living off of 30 gallons of water a day for a family of four. A price that is affordable to their wage. Try and live a day off of 30 gallons for your family, and you will quickly see how limiting it is for you. The world today has the technology to make the water cheaper. The problem here is what is the acceptable norm as well as the corruption of the government won't allow for the ability to obtain clean water. When I say government I realize that it is made up of people, and that is who are corrupt. The people steal and cheat their own people.
 As Christians we are called to preach the gospel, and part of that is the works that accompanies the good news. We are trying to ease the burden and a way we can do that is finding a way to meet the immediate needs here. We can do that through water, a tangible way to help the people.

 We are looking at purchasing a desalinization machine which will extract the salt from the ocean, and give the people here clean water. The cost may seem high but it will pay for itself quickly, and provide a greater quantity of water at a better price. If we were to sell the water exclusively at the rate they sell here we could regain the whole investment in a year. This technology will actually allow the cost of water to be lowered which will open doors for higher water usage and the ability for new projects like gardening.
  The water project presents the possibility to provide water for the least of these (Matthew 25:40)
We would love for you to join in with us to make this happen soon.
Please consider this opportunity, and thank you for your support.

 We need about $15,000.00 dollars to buy a machine and install it here in Bocachica, right now we have about 4,000 dollars. Invest in the people here, and bring the gospel to them in a real way!

We have videos from Snoot photography about the water here as well, if you would like to see the context of what we are taking about, click here There are others on the main channel here as well

 You can give by sending checks to:
Antioch Community Church
1600 Power Line Rd
Elon NC 27244
 Write pure water in the memo

Or on the left hand side of the above bar click on the "partner with us" logo and give via paypal.








                 

Pure water project happening now!

Urgent~
We have a problem here in Bocachica. As many of you know there is no fresh water on the island, as a result the water is shipped in from Cartagena.Many of you know we also live up on a hill. It isn't to high, but it adds to the problem.
 Our neighbors have a cistern, and for the past year have been kind enough to share it with us. Recently, they have been expanding the project there, and wanted us to get our own cistern. The cost of a cistern is high.
 Another problem now is the ships that bring the water to us don't want to do it because the hill is too high for the pump. So it is hard to get someone to bring us water,  we have no water service to our neighborhood. The folks around us have to walk about a half mile to get water everyday now. (the other local cistern is closed) That means a family of four, which uses about 30 gallons of water a day,  needs to make three trips to carry two 5 gallon jugs, or pay someone to bring it by donkey.

 There are a lot of solutions to these problems, but the most cost efficient long term and best answer is to use a reverse osmosis machine. It takes the salt water from the ocean, and removes the salt giving us pure water.

this is a sample of what the machine may look like

 This cost a bit more in the beginning, but pays back very fast.
 The biggest benefits of the system are:

Water on demand
No more waiting and fighting with the water ships.
More water at a cheaper price in the long run.
It will provide water for about 30 + families in our neighborhood, a total of about 135+ people.
This will give the missionaries that live behind us a salary by selling the water. (The system needs very exact maintenance.)

 We are researching the best system, right now the best price for a system that we need here is going to cost about $15,000.00 USD. This will give us enough water for us and enough to provide the neighbors with water also.

 We have about $3000.00 allotted for water purification. The church mission behind is going to put money in, but we need more money to be able to buy this machine.
 
 If you would like to help with this project we would really appreciate it.
This is very important to daily life, and this is an investment that will produce a living as well as give water to people who need it. It is a small price in relation to all the benefits that will result from the technology.

If you would like to contact us directly you can do so by emailing us at: ariel.family.mission@gmail.com
 If you want to give there are various ways:

You can send checks to:

Antioch Community Church
P.O. Box 40
Elon, NC. 27244

or click on "partner with us" in the left hand side bar above


Thank you for all you do already!
With love,
The Ariels