~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.

Snoot Photography for Holy Week

 
 Semana Santa, this year, brought our friends from Medellin, a mixed group of young adults. There were 21 people from various churches, and various focus' in work.
  We had the band "Risen" preform a street concert with Pueblo Fuerte, the local church here, they introduced a song about the importance of taking care of the island in respect to the trash. They are a reggae band, but the song was done in the "champeta" style which is the local sound here. The people here loved it. They also did selections of their other music and shared the gospel story as well.


  A team worked with young kids, offering different activities and crafts. There was no school during the week because of the holiday, so they had a lot of kids there all the time. There was a team that did evangelism and worked with parents also.


  We had a filter crew who made 3 filters while they were here, they participated in the whole process. Bringing the mold, assembling, making concrete, washing the sand, and presenting it to the new owners. The team raised enough to do 9 filters, so we have more that we can install.


 A group of photographers floated between all the activities and recorded and documented all the work that was done.
Here is a video they did about the way they carry water.

 Of course we had a beach day to enjoy, and the evenings were spent with team members who had been here before visiting friends, and fellowship. It was great to get to know more people who want to serve the Lord, and have great hearts. It was busy and time flew by fast.

 Elizabeth and Migue were the team leaders, and organized the team and projects. They are a great help with all they do to support us here, and they mentor and encourage others to get involved with serving others. They have been coming once a year with a team, and visiting in between, this time Elizabeth came pregnant. Their boy, Josue, is due in August. We appreciate their passion for ministry.

 We had 30 plus persons for all the meal times, and a small outdoor kitchen to do it all in. We are thankful to the El Shadday cooks who worked that week to prepare all the food. El Shadday lent us all the tables and chairs for the week. This is a testimony to the Lord, all the different churches and organizations that come together to make this happen. We love having the teams, thank you to all who support us here. There are a lot of different pieces from a lot of different people that all come together to allow this to happen. The glory is the Lord's.

Pic Update

Our new business partner! Friends of ours will be using Tootoy to carry water up the hill.

The road project is still moving forward. The surveyor came last week to take the measurement so they can make us formal plans to present so we can raise the funds to put in the new road.

 Hannah Barbeito has been working at El Shadday, and also helping washing sand for the filters. She is also the big sister to our girls, and they do a lot together.

When Snoot Photography was here we helped with a presentation of their previous work for the locals to view. The use the pictures to teach the people, and present the gospel.

 A lone crab showed up in the kitchen scaring Mom, the girls and Hannah, however, took the opportunity to enjoy a mid-day snack of fresh crab legs.

Damaris on far right, with visiting friends from Chile on far left

 

 

Damaris is busy working at El Shadday with about 450 kids. She is  setting up things for them in the area of psychology. They need someone to counsel, evaluate teachers and kids, deal with the emotional issues, and complete the paperwork for the program. This is the first time they have ever had someone to work in this area. Most of the work is the first time it has ever been done, but she is the perfect person for the job because she did the same job in Chile at a school there.