Ariels on a Mission: Concierto para el Rey de reyes

This Easter (Semana Santa) season Nate had an idea that we could do a concert for all villages on Tierra Bomba to enjoy. Now we have never put on a concert, but loved the idea that we would have a night to worship the Lord. Many people in Bocachica celebrate this holiday by drinking at the bars. Any holiday on the calendar that is red (federal holiday), they drink. They don't know the meaning behind the holidays which are observed. This year we wanted to have a night for the whole family, a clear way to present the gospel, and a way to provide an alternative to the bars (cantinas).

Yeklin Pao de Avila Seca presenting the Gospel to all!

It was a success! There were at about 1200 people there, a great percentage weren't christian either. There was great music, and a clear message of the gospel given. The people were impressed and loved the event. They already want to do it again. Like our name "Juntos", many came together to make it happen.

Mitchel Martinez of Tierra Bomba

We found out there is a lot of planning that goes into hosting a concert. Finding bands to attend, food vendors to sell, security, and medical team to help and a lot of time going into getting the word out. The Lord blessed us with wonderful help, and sponsors to help make this night a success.
We had Snoot from Medellin bring a team of 30 people. Margarita Osario Cano works with Gospel Park doing Christian concerts, and she helped us by guiding us and showing the vision of what they have done. Her fiance, and brother also helped out with logistics. Risen a band that came as missionaries last year came again to preform in the concert as well as bringing a friend from another band to preform. We are grateful for the partnership with Snoot.

Margarita Osorio Cano of Gospel Park helping us with our logistics team.

Logistics team

Raphaela, the girl from Germany, put in a lot of time with design and promotion of the concert. We are thankful for the work she has done here with us. She is a great team player, and even took the leadership for bringing in a band from Cartagena and hosting them at our house for the concert.

Raphaela always with a smile!

Luis and Adriana's new house is broken in for service. The bands were held in waiting in their patio, they gave hospitality to the Snoot team that night for meeting up. Adriana made popcorn and drinks to sell at the concert. The new house turned into the pivot point for all things needed for the concert. It is great that the Lord is already using this investment for greater things for Him. Juan's bed even became available to sleeping babies that needed a quiet place.

Luis and Adriana's house in the back ground. Singers from Pueblo Fuerte church

The churches in the community came together to provide the instruments and microphones for the concert. They were represented in the performances as well. Volunteers from both churches helped with setup and sound. It helped to create better unity within the Christians on the island.

There are students in Bocachica that are part of the civil defense in Cartagena, and they provided emergency medical if it was needed. The local guys from the church helped them with security as well. We are thankful for them because the emotion and energy surged during the concert and they helped keep everyone safe while still having a good time.

Civil defense practicing backboarding.

Resting with the security guys after the concert.

I am grateful for our family too. We have a large family, but it is a blessing. We can accomplish much more than we could if it were just two of us. All the small errands, the work of setup, cooking for teams, and a myriad of other tasks that would require a staffed team to preform are handled by our children. The size of our house and the daily needs of living required for a large family are easily available for teams that come as well. We can welcome in a team of 10 and the dynamics don't change to severely because we are already used to handling large amounts of people. The last night we had supper here at the house and there were 50 people around the table enjoying themselves. Without the large family dynamic already in place this would be impossible to do.

Group game after supper in our dining room.

Our supporters monthly are the reason we can stay and serve here. Thank you to those who support us and those who especially gave to this event. With the support we rented the sound equipment, paid transportation, bought gifts for the concert, fed the workers who helped. We were able to buy the materials for promoting the event, pay workers to help move heavy equipment, and extra miscellaneous items so that we had everything we needed.