Concert Invite!

In Bocachica the biggest holiday of the year is New Years Eve. Not Christmas, nor Easter. Not for what the Lord has done for us, not for a meal with the family or any tradition like that. Why New Years Eve? The people here believe that if you go to church and give money this day, you will receive an extra blessing from the Lord for the up coming year. The church here on New Years Eve is packed. So much so there is a waiting line to get into the church.

New Years Eve 2014
photo credit Pastor Jorge Carvajal

Now, afterwards the non-Christians celebrate the night with drinking and parties. If you have visited us here in Bocachica you know the people here spend a lot of money drinking. There is no mall here, no movie theater, no grocery stores, (we do have mom and pop stores) There is no sports center. They do have bars, and lots of them. The people here in Bocachica drink a lot! Youth start at a young age. They is no one that regulates what age you can drink here. They have the largest speaker systems I have ever seen that literally hurt my ears as I walk down the street. You can hear them all the way to my house. Many times there will be three or four houses on the same street blaring music. No matter if they have kids, if it's time for the neighborhood to quiet down. They will drink for days and enjoy their music.

Part of a weekly delivery 

Unloading the other half

This year Nate and I thought we'd give a try at something new. This year we are hosting a Christian concert. A time to celebrate and remember what the Lord has done for us!  We have 7 bands, of which a local musician from Tierra Bomba who is well known on the Island, three local churches, and a band from Medellin and Barranquilla. We have teams from Bogota, Medellin and Barranquilla who will be coming as well to help make this night a memorable one. We are busy getting everything organized.

We are inviting all the villages on this island. We have been handing out save the date cards and invitations. Setting up meetings, scheduling housing arrangements, even getting goodies to hand out in the crowd. We will have areas to hand out bibles, take prayer requests, talk to anyone who wants to know more about the Lord. I am excited to be able to have a night where we can include families, have an event that is not at the bars and a way to glorify the Lord.

We are excited to put this concert on, but we need some outside help! If you would be willing to help make this night a hit please consider helping us. It can be a donation of any quantity. You can send it to our paypal or to Antioch Community Church, P.O. box 40, Elon, NC. 27244.

Here are some costs we need sponsored:

Paper and ink to print out posters, invitations and save the date cards
Bottled water for those performing the night of the concert
small meal provided to all singers
prizes to hand out to the crowd

April 3rd in the concert, if you feel led to pray for us we would be thankful.

Blessing to you all,
Enjoying celebrating the Lord's resurrection with your family.
Tara

February update

February has flown by! This month has been busy from beginning to end. On Jan 26th we welcomed Raphaela to Bocachica. She comes from Germany and will be working the next 5 months with us and our project Juntos. Her brother Florian met up with her in Colombia, where they toured a little bit of Colombia before coming here.

Raphaela and Florian

This month we housed a team from a private Christian school in Cartagena. We housed 15 teenage girls and three teachers for 5 days. The purpose of this trip was to complete a social credit needed to graduate from high school. After having 7 kids I would always say...aww, what's one more? Well once you add 15 teenage girls I have realized a whole new level of noise. :) At the end of their time here we had 2 teenagers ask to come and possibly work 6 months with us. The director of the school was happy to hear that some kids walked away with the desire to help more. The school also liked Raphaela so  much they asked her to volunteer teaching English at this school 4 days a week. This keeps Raphaela busy working in both Cartagena and Bocachica, but she never complains. :) She enjoys all opportunities she can have to influence other's lives.

Team from Cartagena

Nate and Luis have been very busy building a house for Luis's family. They are ready to move in this week. This is Nate's 3rd house he has built here in Bocachica, while he is blessed to work in the cooler months, Luis is having his first experience of construction in the hot sun.

Luis and Adrian's house in the works! 

Building Luis's house doesn't slow Nate and Luis down. They are still busy with making filters, providing sanitation classes, and weekly movie night. Luis has also been busy with his bi-weekly check ups of how the community is using the filters. It is our desire to follow through with the filters that are installed and make sure the families are using them correctly and answer any questions they have.

Dan enjoying a cup of filtered water!

This past weekend Nate and Luis went to another village called Recreo. There is approximately 80 houses in this village. A church from Bocachica has started a church there in Recreo, and asked for a filter. There is no potable water in this village. They get their water from a river that is full of sediments. They add a powder to the water and all the sediments fall to the bottom of the tank and they drink the water on the top. Nate also handed out bibles that Antioch had bought in Jan. The church there had mostly New Testament bibles. Nate and Luis spent the night there in the church and had a wonderful time.

How the locals in Recreo treat their water.

The church who asked for a filter

The filter is installed

Adriana has been asked to tutor more kids in the neighborhood. She has 4 days a week that she provides one on one attention for kids needing help with their school work. She will also start March 2nd working at El Shadday helping tutor kids through Compassion International.

Adriana tutoring

This past week we opened our house for El Shadday for medical appointments for all kids in their program. A week full of 400+kids getting medical check ups! The Doctor from Barranquilla, Colombia wanted to learn how to make American pizza. We were happy to show him.

A doctor from Barranquilla doing medical exams for El Shadday.

Our waiting room. :)

Dr.Jaeder ready to make American Pizza

I will leave you with exciting news from our family. Nate and Alicia have purchased their plane tickets to go to NC in May. They are both excited to go back for a visit. If you would like them to come to your church, bible study, or school and give a talk about missionary life and our projects here, please email us! They would love to share with you!

We need your help! If you would like to help Project Juntos here's how:

We need more funds for filters here in Bocachica. Bless a family in need of clean water.

Want to help a local Colombian family? Luis and Adriana are looking for monthly support. They are doing a great work here in Bocachica!

Contact us at ariel.family.mission@gmail.com for more information!

Thank you all for your support and prayers for our family! We are thankful to be able to work here and look forward to the following month. Many blessings to you and your families.

With love,
Tara