Exciting update on the Christian School of Bocachica

Greetings from NC. We are thankful not to have been hit hard in Burlington with Hurricane Florence. Praying for those who have been affected in the path of the hurricane. It has been nice to have Nate off of work and Alicia home from college during the storm. This bit of down time has given me some time to share with you all what is happening with the school in Bocachica.

 Earlier this year the school had to go through some extra engineering code upgrades.  The government had okayed the previous plans for the school. However, with some new buildings in Cartegena that had been deemed as uninhabitable, the local government recalled the permit and stopped the building. Some adjustments had to be made to ensure all new building codes were met. Those changes have taken place and once again we can continue with more construction.

The new school year has started for the children of Bocachica. Right now though, they are not in the new building. The changes that needed to be made put construction a little bit behind. We are thankful to have a borrowed place that can hold the classes until the construction is complete.

For now, they are finishing up the fourth classroom. The large latrine that will service the first phase of the school has been built, and they will now work on the construction of the bathrooms. We are currently collecting funds to complete the bathroom project. If you would like to help Juntos complete that goal please look below on how to send money.

We were blessed to hear that the Colombian and American Navy gifted a playground set for the school. What a blessing to children of the school.

  Nate has been busy for the past two months helping a church in the United States ship a container of Bibles, and Tracts on John and Romans to Colombia. This material will be distributed in Colombia and Venezuela. The church reached out to Nate needing his help with interpreting for the American senders and for Colombian customs and the pastors receiving the materials. Nate now knows the ins and outs of paperwork, cost, and logistics of sending a large container to Colombia. In total there were 1521 boxes, 33,000 pounds of Christian material. It took about 30 days to complete the process.
Now we are working with them to ship them to various places around Colombia and Venezuela.

The container full from the U.S. ready to be shipped

Ausberto, our good friend, helping with transportation of the container to storage.

He helped us with logistics in Cartagena, Colombia.

As always it is a blessing to help in the Lord's work. Thank you all for taking a moment out of your day and reading what's new with our work. Please enjoy these last few days of summer. I know the excitement of fall is upon us.

Many blessings and love from the Ariels.

If you would like to support the school project:
 1. You can click on the Paypal logo above.
 2. Send a check to:
          Juntos
          3706 Union Ridge Road
          Burlington, NC. 27217

Colombia Spring Update

Perhaps this will be my annual update in honor of the greatest holiday. Happy Resurrection, He is Risen. This past January we took a team to Bocachica to start the classrooms for the new Bi-lingual Christian School.

The local construction team is still working on the classrooms. We planned on fully building out 2 classrooms, but they decided to do four. Right now we are still in need of more funds to keep working. The church has expressed to us multiple times how encouraged they are by all the support they are getting. They are excited about investing in the next generation, bringing change that will last. This is a quote from one person " ESTAMOS MUY AGRADECIDOS CON DIOS QUE NOS ESTÁ CONECTANDO CON CORAZONES SENSIBLES  POR LAS FUTURAS GENERACIONES."
They are commenting that they are grateful to God to be connected to sensitive hearts for future generations. It is encouraging to us as well to see their response as they work to serve the Lord in building a new school that will build up the whole community. This is something that they desire and is not an agenda or plan that outsiders put into place to try and change them. Pray that this momentum will continue with the school and that it bears a lot of fruit.
  While we were there we met the new English teacher from the USA. She had just arrived so we talked a little about the island life and welcomed her to her new home. We were updated recently that she is having a hard time adapting to the cultural style of the island. Pray for her to adapt and feel at home, she is planning on being there long term.

The children also got new desks this past month.

The plastic filters are now being made, we have word that the first 50 are ready to be installed. We are waiting on logistics before they are shipped to us. We are partnering with the NGO to have five installed in Bocachica and five in Bogota to be used for field testing. These will be tested for a period of time to measure the quality of water produced by these new plastic bodies.

 Even though we are not in Colombia to be able to host people at our house, another family from the church lives there. So it is a blessing to hear that they are able to use our house for hospitality in our absence. This past week a music band we know from Medellin was going to a concert in Cartagena. They came out to Bocachica to play in the church and they stayed at our house while on the island. They had made a song about Bocachica and made another music video on a previous mission trip. Click on the link if you want to see the song and our neighbors too!  "If Your voice isn't there" They were making filters as well. These young people are good examples of using your talents to serve Christ.

 The Ariel family is still at home busy in North Carolina. Juntos is now a 501c3 recognized mission. This will help us with taxes and keep everything organized. So if you want to support a project you can send the money directly to Ariel Missions/Juntos. We still can receive funds through Antioch Community Church, if you send money there make sure to write in the memo what the money is intended for.
 The address for us is
Ariel missions/ Juntos
3706 Union Ridge Road
Burlington, NC 27217

This season we celebrate our salvation:

"Your Lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year... And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel. Now the blood shall be a sign on the house where you are. And when I see the blood, I shall pass over; and the plague shall not...destroy you."

So God gives atonement. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for your soul.

John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

" So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many," and "this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God."

 We are thankful for His salvation and we are thankful for the work He has given us. Thank you, too, for the support and partnering in this work. Hope you all had a great Easter!

Dear family and friends, 

We wanted to share with you an update on the Ariels and what our mission work looks like
for the year 2018. 

While we as a family are still not able to go back full time on the mission field, it is in our hearts
to do as much mission work as we can from the states, such as raising funds for the school in
Bocachica and putting together teams to do short-term mission trips, as well as visiting Colombia
as much as possible. . 

Many of you know that Nate and three of our daughters had the opportunity this month to go back
to Bocachica with a team and start on the building project for the first Christian school on the island. 

As of right now, the school has a kindergarten and first grade. Their desire is to add a grade

each year. This school is run by the local church. Once the building project is done, this school 

will be self-sustaining. The school also has a missionary from the states who will teach the 

children English. This is important so the children can learn English properly,  This will enable

the students to be able to enter into university and seek higher quality jobs. The school and the

church are working together with the families, giving them the tools they need to help their

children succeed in school. 

While we are not on the ground doing the work, we are very involved with the church on the island.
We are in constant communication with the locals. We are putting forth a lot of time and energy in
putting together teams and doing all the logistics from here.

So where does that leave us? We are in need of funds to keep the work going. We had funds that 
were collecting over the past two years while we were here in the states, but we used a lot of those 
funds for the building of the first three classrooms. We are currently in process of putting together 
a team for this August. Your support allows us to serve the Lord and those who live on the island by 
enabling us to plan and do these things. Please consider supporting us monthly or with a 
one-time donation. It's an exciting time to help those on the island receive an education that will 
set them on a better path for their futures. Wouldn't you like to be a part of that?

If you would like to support us you can make your checks out to: 

                       Ariel Missions - Juntos 

 Send to:       3706 Union Ridge Rd.

                      Burlington, NC. 27217

Thank you for your prayers, your support, and love for our family. 

We are thankful we can serve the Lord!

Blessings,

The Ariels

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Nate and Guillermo working

Attachments area

A wonderful team! From NC, MD, Germany, and  Colombia