Wrapping up 2014 with a bow~

Merry Christmas from our part of the world!

The holiday season is always busy. It starts with being thankful for the year in November, and then it seems to rush to Christmas. Many people travel to see family, or take time to relax. It is a great time of year. Being in Bocachica makes us miss all the celebrating.
 This is the time of year for reflection and hope for the future as well. New years is right around the corner. When looking over the past year there are accomplishments, and things that could have been better. This will inform the next year, and there is hope for the next possibilities.
 Of course the foundation and capstone for this time of year is the birth of Christ. Sure Christmas is commercialized, but this means we need to celebrate better. Christ as our salvation is the greatest gift, what better way to remember than to give gifts as well. Though is doesn't mean gifts are only those bought.
 Working in Bocachica for 3 years now has taught us a lot. The most revealing thing is the value of relationships. Relationships in hospitality are vital, but I think a greater and harder relationship is purposeful discipleship. More than random acts of kindness or mercy missions and better than FB likes is purposeful discipleship. Discipleship being the example of Christ and the 12 disciples. Globalization and the demand for our attention from various organizations, even the evening news of the world can seem dim. Hopeless. Trying to fix everything doesn't work, but being responsible for what is in front of you can have a big impact.  One relationship that has accountability.
 I have heard two testimonies in particular this year. Both men are retired with a full career of experience and wisdom, one was a pastor the other a mechanical engineer. The pastor told of a village that he worked at when he first started pastoring. The village was tough to work with, and he was supposed to help start a church. After a couple years of work there weren't enough to even have a church. He still went to the houses and visited the families. One woman finally became Christian, and he discipled this woman and her kids the rest of the time he worked in this village. His denomination called him to work in another area, and he kept in contact with the family. The pastor went on to work in large churches, but this story he told impressed him the most. Years later when the kids were grown, one of her boys went to seminary and is now a pastor of a successful church. He said that all that time in the village was just to affect that one woman who affected her children and later bore fruit. It took years to see the fruit though.
 The engineer came to visit us with his son who is grown, and we had lots of time to talk with him over the weekend. He shared how he started out Catholic, but changed to "evangelical" later, one thing he has always done is mentored specific young people. He gave examples, but the best is his son. His son has been to the island several times with mission trips, but this time he came to visit two young boys in particular that he is friends with. Because of the model of his dad, he has put his life into people here. It has required a portion of his life to invest in these young men, and he is continued fruit of his father's discipleship.
 Discipleship isn't something you measure in the short term, but it is something that takes time. It is a purposeful relationship. A popular version of this are the padrino or sponsor programs, but they are usually distant and only require money and an occasional note. They are not entirely wasted programs, but they fall short of what purposeful discipleship can produce. It is not something a church can create a program to make people do. Discipleship has to be a decision on your part to be faithful to another to walk with and follow Christ. It is accountability, communication, time. It is awkward, tiring, confrontational. It produces the fruit of the Spirit, brother and sisters in Christ, a redeemed future.
 In the new year ahead I think a good resolution would be to find someone in particular. It will be someone close to you, you don't need to head hunt for someone. It may be your children, co-worker, nursery kids, neighbor. Then purposely walk with them, more than just a weekly devotional.
Be the person that you can say to them "...you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ". If you feel unqualified to make that statement, then look for someone to disciple you. Purposeful discipleship, this is the mission.

 Merry Christmas from the Ariels, God bless your new year. Thank you to all who work with us and support us here in Bocachica.

Discipleship in action

Sometimes when you do short term missions you come away with more than you thought you would. That happened with Juan David. He has come to Bocachica 4 times now since 2012. While coming to do small work projects and witnessing to the kids in the community. He made a friendship with 2 boys. One of them being Yaiker an 11 year old boy. A sweet kid with an infectious smile. He is always happy, loves his family, does well in school, and goes to church by himself regularly. This past May when Juan came he told both boys he's would like to take them for their summer vacation to Bogota. They would spend time with Juan's family, his church and tour the "big" city. Both boys were thrilled with the possibility to go.  Juan returned in Oct. with his father for a week visit and talked with both boys. He found out that one of the boys was having issues. You see he has flunked his grade 2 years in a row now, and not just an education situation, but also a rebellious situation his home life. This gave an opportunity for Juan to witness to the father of the boy. Encouraging him to be active in his son's life and guide his son to do necessary things. Giving him ideas to challenge his son and hope for him to work on things.

Juan with Yaiker last year during Holy week.

This also gave a testimony to Yaiker. On December 6th Yaiker graduated the 5th grade. It was then we gave him the print out of his plane tickets to go to Bogota. Juan paid for a 3 week visit. The smile on Yaiker's face was priceless. I asked him, "Yaiker, what will you do for three weeks in Bogota?" He replied, "I will just say thank you and thank you over and over again." He came up often between the 6th and the 13th when he left for Bogota and one of those time he shared with me that God has blessed him because he is doing good things.

Yaiker's graduating gift: A trip to Bogota!

I am sure anyone would be thrilled to go on an all inclusive vacation. This is a huge process for him and his family. First let me give you a picture of why. Many people here, especially kids on the island stay on the island. Parents  buy their groceries at small Ma and Pa stores daily. They might go into the city for a doctor's appointment or maybe go to the (smelly) market. Many young kids here don't leave the island and go into a mall, a grocery store, or business. Yaiker would leave everything that was normal to him to visit someone special in his life. When we got to the airport he was so nervous to go into a public bathroom. He saw his first ATM machine and thought that was the best invention on earth. :) I have received many updates from Juan sharing about their time together. It has been a blessing to see their friendship. God knew in 2012 he had "bigger" plans for them both than a short term mission trip.

Yaiker with his mom at the airport.

Juan and Yaiker relaxing with a good book.

Yaiker visits Juan's office.

Yaiker, reads the morning news. :)

Drinking water from the ocean and more.

We have good news! Yes we have the desalinization machine here and running.
  It has been a long process, and there has been a lot of learning involved. We have now imported our first piece of machinery into Colombia. This was quite a job in itself.  We have learned what the desalinization process is, getting the pressures right, water quality. I didn't realize how much work goes into potable water.

 This week we finished setting up the tanks and piping, and we are getting ready to make it more available to the locals. You think this would be easy, but the people are very skeptical of new things. The next step is training the locals about the water and advantages of pure water over contaminated water. Some in our barrio are excited for this, others are afraid and think that it is impossible to drink water from the ocean. We have been using the water for about two weeks now, and it is great to  have water when we need it.

 The next step is to get a permanent place for the machine. The plan we have is to build a house on a lot near the ocean so that we can get more water and sell more due to a better location. We have a lot, but we need to put the building on it now. This will provide Luis and Adriana with a home, but will also be the site for the water machine. Lord willing, this will keep us busy for the near future.
 If you would like to help in this next step let us know. The cost of the house will be about 6.000 dollars to get it livable for Luis and his family. This will be a multi-benefit project. It will provide living space, the desal machine storage, and central location for distributing the water.
 This is a new addition to the project, but it is necessary. We weren't initially planning on building more, but the necessity to operate the in the most efficient and best manner requires that we include this.  Pray we can get this under way quickly because we are running out of water quickly for the neighbors!

 Other news, we have a new neighbor, they are building a house next to ours. We have advanced a bit on the second floor in between the setting up of the machine.

The new owners are the couple who are working at the YWAM clinic. The wife is a doctor, and the husband does media arts.

 The kids are busy doing school, and helping out whenever we have people here to stay with us. This month we have had Tara's brother, and the workers who were working on the neighbor's house staying in the apartment.

Tara and I went to Medellin to the year end reunion for "Snoot" and we were able to view the work done in this year and the plans for the following year.

The water program is one of the projects they support, and they bring a team to Bocachica each year. We were blessed to spend this time with them.







Thanks for your prayers and support to our family. If you would like more information about our projects here in Bocachica or would like to support one of our projects please contact us at:

ariel.family.mission@gmail.com

Faithfulness

Everything we as humans have that is valuable is given it's value in Christ. Christ, as the determined sacrifice for us, became human and was made a little lower than angels, though now crowned with glory and honor. In Christ we are children of God. This present life then becomes valuable as a result of Christ's becoming human. (Hebrews 2)  The daily activities we participate in now have value. Why? Because Christ thought it worth while to participate in this life.
 

“The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of our legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality was much more terrifying than all the atrocities put together.” 
― Hannah Arendt
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963)

 This was concerning a trial after World War 2 of a German officer involved with the killing of innocent people by government order. He wasn't a monster or a scary personality, just a normal man. This idea was stated as the "banality of evil", the fact that the most evil actions in recent history were done by such ordinary people is shocking. Whole populations and political powers were swept up in incremental actions that created something so terrible. The people when seen up close seemed normal.

 In the wake of the "Do hard things", the pendulum may be tempted to swing back to the other side of whatever the opposite of doing hard things would be, but I think that after seeing the affect of normalcy there is something to be said for being ordinary.

 The idea of faithfulness, which is a fruit of the Spirit, becomes much more pivotal in determining the future. Faithfulness is becoming more rare these days, just look at the success of marriage rates in America. The future opportunity, though, relies on faithfulness in the present. I think it goes without saying the better environment for the family is if the parents are faithful in keeping their promise to the significant other. There are studies that confirm that children thrive better in homes that have both parents present to raise them.

 The difficult part of faithfulness is if you have to carry the burden of another, especially if the burden is the sin of the other against you. The example we have though is Christ who bore all of our burdens of sin upon himself. As a result of Christ choosing this, it is now given a pricelessness. Therefore to participate in something great may be the daily faithfulness of bearing another's burden or just being loyal. A banality of good. This is something hard, but not spectacular. Rather unoriginal and probably to be unrecognized, but if the banality of evil could produce the atrocities of some of the most evil things the earth has seen, perhaps the daily regime of following Christ that is a little boring drives the world in the direction of redemption.

  The Holy Spirit may be working in the daily activities of those faithfully working the same job for years. An example that stood out to me was a friend from our church talked about how his job was good, but it seems boring in comparison to the lives others lead. The important part of the perceived mundaneness of his job is that he has been faithful for 12 years. Because of his faithfulness he not only provides for his family, but the overflow of his work blesses others. My family has been blessed by his faithfulness. If he couldn't be faithful to his job, if he wanted to do only big or exciting things, perhaps he would find himself unemployed over the past years. Without being faithful he wouldn't be able to provide as well for his family, which would result in less that could overflow in the lives of others.

                                           
  I am thankful to the many people who are faithful in the ordinary times that contribute to a vast network of different people and activities that go unnoticed. They may be unnoticed, but they are not without effect. There are many who support us here in the work we are doing, thank you for your support. Thank you for your faithfulness for the past three years.
 Yes, we have hit our third year here on October 30th. With out your help our work here couldn't be done.




 

Antioch Community Church

We had our church come and help us work again this year. They are faithful to come at least once and most times twice a year. We love hosting them, and working with our friends who support us and love us. We had eight people this time, 4 men with three of them bringing their kids of which 3 kids were experiencing their first missions trip.

 We focused on getting our house here better suited to host and serve the people here in our community. With the money they raised we accomplished a lot here at the house and in the community as well. We got the roof on the second floor partially done, doors, latrine, electrical, walls, and we even had time to do a filter. Some of the time was spent visiting friends in the community from previous trips. Many stopped here at the house to visit, and in the evening the group went out to visit them in their houses as well. Of course there was beach time, soccer games, card playing, cliff jumping, and firecrackers to enjoy also.
 One of the verses impressed on my mind this time is Philippians 4:17  Paul's writing in Philippians is very Christ centered and every subject he talks about somehow turns toward or result in the service and glory of Christ. Even the giving of the Philippians Paul uses to preach Christ. "Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account." This is our hearts desire with the generosity of our home church- Antioch Community Church. The friendship and unity of Christ is not limited to denominations. Our church sent the team, but Ja Doss and his son Payton, of Living Free Ministries, made their second trip as well. Their ministry is a service to people with addiction in North Carolina, but the Doss family's service and generosity overflows even to here in Bocachica Colombia.
 Here are a few more pictures of the team and activities the participated in:

The men talking about the work ahead of them. Nice uniforms hey? :)

Anna Katherine, Julia, and Valerie enjoying each others company!

Nathan and David working on electrical over the patios.

They make a good team. 

Luis and Nate working on the second floor.

Luis and Ja Doss putting the roof on. Luis learned a lot from Ja!

Nathan shared at Larcy's homegroup.  The team members enjoyed being part of this.

Jay Carey working on doors

Jay and his partner Patrick get the doors almost done :)

The doors being installed.

Julia did craft night with the dance group of Cuadrangular. They loved the frames.

The team delivering a filter. Heavy but what a blessing to be part of!

Clean water for Mensi and family. 

Anna Katherine, Payton, Julia and David washing sand and gravel.

The joy of seeing the filters in use.

Anna Katherine shared this beautiful dance with the dance group and then was asked by the church to share it at their church service. She also had time to teach this dance to the group.

We are thankful for our time we spent with each member of the team. Thankful for their hearts to share in the Lords work here in Bocachica. Thankful for their love for our family and most of all their prayers and encouragement.

In Him,

The Ariels

Some selfie fun

We had a week long game of selfie challenges, each day we had a different topic that we would try to get photographed. 1 point was awarded for completing the challenge, and an extra point if it was the best of the day. Julia walked away with the most points. Here are a few of the selfies from the week below:
 Day 1: Selfie with a cow

Day 2 Airborne selfie

Day 3: A selfie with a new friend

Day 4: A difference between Colombia and USA

Day5: Secret selfie

Day 6: Isn't it crazy they don't/do have ...

Day 7: Selfie with a statue

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.