Oh, the things you will see

Dear family and friends,

The book from Dr. Seuss comes to mind when I write this blog. "Oh the places you will go" I think I should write a book titled "Oh the things you will see."

We just finished our fourth month here in Bocachica. I can honestly say, I have seen more things in the past four months to give me great topics to talk about for the next forty years.

     

•  I have seen a bull who was transported to the island to a new home. He got loose, and being distraught, he ran wild in front of the mission. He picked up a 5 year old girl with his horns and threw her. I saw panic break out on the island and watched my husband as he joined the locals to help detain him.

• I took part in enjoying a new delicacy of iguana.

• Though I have never run out of gas while driving a car in the states....4 different times now I have been on a boat and run out of gas.

• I have been with out electricity for days at a time....

• I walked a long ways away to help my husband and locals pick up coral rock and put it in sacks for our new house.
• I go in a boat to a dangerous part of town to get my groceries. I won't even tell you how awful it smells.

• I have seen my husband take on the role of animal control as he killed 2 possums with a machete that occupied our attic.

But more than just this I have seen how my outer shell is getting stronger. My mind is getting sharper and my heart is getting fuller.

I have learned in the past four months that being a missionary is not only about spreading the gospel. The biggest thing I have learned is the people here give you respect and know your heart through your relationship with them. Living among them like they live. Walking up a hill that is barely walk-able to get water to wash clothes.  To understand what they endure everyday, and then having a thankful heart on top of that. That is what speaks to them. Seeing how you can adapt to what they have become accustomed to.

What a gift to get. To have the joy of the Lord where you are and with what you have. I am blessed.

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!




We are enjoying our new lives here and feel at home. Thank you all who pray for us, write to us and support us monthly. We are blessed to have you in our lives and share in our ministry.

With love,
Tara and the Ariel Family.

If you would like to support us monthly please make checks payable to Antioch Community Church. P.O. Box 40  Elon, NC. 27244 Write Colombia in the memo line. (Remember all giving     is tax deductible.)

Minnesota Medical Team

 Hello from Bocachica once again.

We have said good bye to the Minnesota team that has been here for the week. They are headed back to the cold weather of the far north. They got to use the Clinic building we have been working on the last few months, though it isn't perfect it was better than before. They got to see about 480 patients between the 3 doctors, a midwife, and 3 nurses. They also taught 2 classes on health issues. The team of 10 people were kept busy from about 8am to 6pm every day. Even with the full schedule everyone had good spirits the whole week, definitely God's grace was on everyone involved.

 The rooms that were concrete and sheet rock were all painted and tiled, and outfitted with desks and beds. (above is before below and after.)

 The first room was gynecology, the second was surgery, the third was general, and the fourth was general and pain. They're appointment times we close, but everyone seen was prayed with after each visit.

 the center receiving area before and after















One of the good stories this week is about a a man that needed surgery, but didn't have an appointment. He didn't one because he was from the next village over, and didn't hear about it in time to get one. On thursday he came to the clinic, and was told we couldn't see him. His wife persisted and asked that the doctor just look at the growth that needed to be removed. He was told he would have to wait and the doctor would see him when she got a chance.
 On the doctors break she took a look at, said she could do it no problem. They were overjoyed because the growth was about the size of a baseball on his lower back below his pant line. The wife said her husband had it for about 20 years. It hung from him by just a little bit of skin, so he had to wear pants that could adjust to this extra piece of flesh that was there. It also made it hard to sit normal. After a quick 15 minutes procedure he was free from his 20 year companion. He gave lots of hugs and was very grateful to everyone. It was a simple, but because of the money they never had it removed. This is one of the many blessings given during the week.
Check out the site below for additional pictures of the week
http://www.facebook.com/proyectolibertad.ywamcolombia

Once again thank all of you who pray and support us here
May the Lord bless and keep you!
the Ariels

Thankfulness

                                                        

Our loved ones

     It seems impossible to muster up enough courage to jump off a 20 ft. cliff. It is like a cycle: you run and freeze at the edge, you have to throw your shoes in and make a commitment, listen to your loved ones cheer you on and you jump. For that couple of seconds when you feel like you're flying! You let a scream of delight out! That moment ends as you hit the crystal clear water with a loud thud. "I did it" you think to yourself! You are full of pride. You hear the amazing Antioch team cheering you on

The cliffs
(in the back)  

           We did so much with our beloved Antioch team, so many new things I haven't done. We stayed up so late into the night that it made the next morning a little hard to wake up. We laughed so much. I couldn't have had a better week!  They brought us nine bins down.  One only had treats in it.  I have never appreciated peanut butter so much!  2nd Corinthians 9:12 says "This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God."  
        Thank you so much Antioch team for all you gave up for our family.  Thank you all for your prayers and support. We appreciate it so much!                                        
                                           Love,
                                                 Alicia and family

January

As we turn to a new calendar year, I reflect back on all that God has done in 2011. I never would have imagined that 13 years into marriage, 7 kids later, 2 business to close down, houses to have rented out that we would move out of the United States and move to Bocachica, Colombia. A friend of ours from church sent a link from 9 years ago, He and Nate took their first mission trip down here, and they built an apartment on the mission site and today.....9 years later we now call this home. I can look back over the 13 years of marriage and see how God placed certain things in our path to bring us to this point. From moving away from our family to a new state as we began marriage. My husband owning his own construction company. Having the desire to show others how to construct things properly and well. From homeschooling our children to placing us in a church that believes and supports us in what we are doing. How great is our God! It is nice to see how many years the Lord had this in his plan and we can see it come together.

  Life here has been busy! Nate works daily on the medical clinic that the mission hopes to open this spring. He is working with individuals in the community and teaching them how to do concrete and working with them on fixing the roof. I still teach the children their studies, and we have Spanish classes 3 days a week. I can see the kids use more and more of the language and must confess my 10 year old corrects me on my sentence structure.

 We have enjoyed making new friends here on the island. We have many people now whom we visit. We have enjoyed 'Than's 4th birthday and Christmas here with our new friends. We are busying helping with needs they may have and my kids now have the desire to bake for families they come in contact with. We are rubbing American food off on them. I have been asked by many women here on the island to have cooking classes for them.

Here is a family we have become close with. Guillermo and his wife Mary Lendi, and their three kids. Nate had known Guillermo from his mission trips here prior to us moving. He works with Nate on projects and any thing we need Guillermo is there to help us. His wife and I have become friends and she has started coming to Bible study here. Please pray for them, that they would all come to know the Lord.

Thank you for your prayers and support for us! We have been blessed to see Him working here in Bocachica. Please pray that a Doctor or Nurse would come to work here at the mission. That the construction on the medical clinic would be finished on time and pray that our presence here on the Island would show Christ's love!

Blessings to you and your families,
With love,
Nate and Tara and all the kids :)

Alicia's thoughts on a Bocachican Thanksgiving

       Your idea of thanksgiving is probably a nice cozy and warm room filled with the smell of turkey roasting in your oven. Mixed with the smell of a cinnamon coming from that perfect pumpkin pie. The children are bundling up filled with the antisapation to go and make a flying leap into a giant pile of leaves. You watch them chase each other laughing as they throw their handful of leaves at each other. Well our thanksgiving wasn't exactly like that ,but it seemed just as good. We had our thanksgiving feast, 2 turkeys and all the fixings, a lively game of charades and dessert covered with whipped cream! We had done this all with thankful hearts as we sat outside in the nice cool night air. Our advantage was having two families learn what thanksgiving was about and having everyone go to bed with a full stomach and a thankful heart. That qualifies it to be the best thanksgiving ever!


              Psalms 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.

My how the time has flown by

Philippians 1:3 I thank God upon every remembrance of you.

Time is a funny thing. I remember time as a child being idle. One year to the next just seemed to creep by. From Thanksgiving to Christmas seemed to be the longest month ever. Even as an adult, when I have something to look forward to; time still seemed to slowly pass. I have had seven children and waiting to meet each one of them, time stood still. 

On April 3rd we started our process to move to Bocachica. From that point on time seemed to accelerate! The process to pack up everything we owned, to sell everything we were not going to take with us, and to finish the jobs we had before us made the time fly by. On October 30th our time came to say good bye to the only house my children have ever known and to board our plane for our new home awaiting us in Colombia. 

Saying our goodbyes was harder than I had thought they would be. Our friends in NC had become family to us. Our neighbors had loved our children more than I ever could have imagined. We had been blessed to have wonderful Godly friends help mold our family. 

When we left our house on Oct 30th it was 36 degrees and when we arrived in Bocachica to a tropical dream. The plants are a hearty green and the weather is typically 80+ degrees for this season. We have been welcomed with open arms from the staff that we now have communal living. 

Life here on the island is very different than what we are used to in the states. No more calm days on my street where our kids made the most noise in the neighborhood. Now we exchange that for music being played from house to house day in and night. It’s amazing how fast your get used to the sound and recognize the songs even if you don’t know the language. Here they are not custom to picking up after themselves as we are in America. The streets here a lined with trash and the animals roam freely. Most children here play with out parental guidance. They flock to us and desire attention. My kids play with them with no hesitation and the barrier of language has not become an issue. In fact we have many new friends for the kids. We now have worked out a schedule and we have daily visitors. All girls have playmates whom we see regularly.  One girl Kelly who is 16 has helped us with our insect bites. Her Grandmother makes this liquid called “cocolina” It is made from a root of a plant and mixed with rubbing alcohol and water. When we first arrived we looked like we had the chicken pox, and with our pale skin it was very noticeable. We put this medicine on every night and the bugs seem to leave us alone. 

The evenings here are so comfortable as the temperature drops with the sun going down. The boats in the water are beautiful to look at as the city of Cartagena starts to light up behind them in the distance. Most of all it’s my favorite time as we take a walk before dinner and visit families here who we are getting to know. It seems like a lot of attention can go to the kids as they are excited to see us, but the adults tend to stay in the back ground. Nate and I would like to establish some good relationships with the families here on the island. 

Stay tuned as in the next couple of months we will share what the Lord is doing in our lives. Please also look at the pictures Nate posted on our blog of the work being done on the clinic. We can’t wait for the first wing to open up and the difference it will make here for the locals to get medical attention. 

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

Blessings,

Nate, Tara and kids ;)

First week in Bocachica

Here are some pictures from our first week here. We will have some more coming soon.

Our new living quarters

Vincent's new friend to the dismay of Marley...

One of the rooms soon to be finished. We are working on getting two open by  the end of the year.

This is the picture of the left wing of the clinic, the government says they will allow the clinic to open if they can  finish this first half.

front view of the medical clinic

4 part septic system, when in operation will allow excess water treated to be available  for   watering plants.

Exit pipe in last chamber

Repairs we have been working on in the first two rooms, getting them ready for stucco and tile.