Life on the island

You know you have lived on a tropical island for a year when... 
you wake up and it's 77 degrees out and everyone in your family is desperately searching for long sleeve clothing. Your seven year old tells you she can not wear pants cause they are to restricting.
and  your three year old thinks socks are the best thing ever. (he doesn't remember ever having to wear them)

House update: We have officially moved into our house! Typing this to you cannot accurately express my excitement. I am thankful to have the majority of the work done, and look forward to the honey-do list of small jobs we still have to tackle.


October 30th marks one year of living in Bocachica. As I reflect on all the memories I have, I thank the Lord for all he has taught me! I have seen my family grow in so many ways. We could not be here with out your help! Please know we are very thankful for each one of you who support us monthly, and for all of you who continue to lift our family up in prayers! We remember you all in our prayers often.

I am please to let you know Guillermo, (in the blue) our friend, has accepted the Lord into his life. We are excited
to see seeds that have been planted grow.

Please pray as he learns how to be a Godly leader of his
family and they too would give their lives to the Lord.

Please continue to pray for our friend Jaime. He asks many questions about becoming a Christian, however has not taking the step to do so! I am thankful for his honesty & openness, but I pray he will see the light and desire to become one of His.

Exciting news here on the island. Nate has researched a certain type of water filter for a couple of years now. It's a BioSand  water filter. Nate had this water filter made in Bogota that is now done and is here in Bocachica. We are hoping to assemble one in the next coming weeks. In Bocachica most people do not drink purified water. Most locals here can not afford a filter or the replacement it needs every 3-6 months.  This BioSand filter system uses mainly natural materials, is affordable easily reproduced, and doesn't use any energy and it can last as long as 10 years. This is a huge need here on the island. Parasites is one of the most common treated illnesses here on the island. Think in the year 2012 and people here are getting sick from something as simple to the lack of pure water. If you would like to donate to this project please let us know!

We were thrilled to have our friends Nathan and Julie Heafner from our church visit us on Oct 8th. They took a cruise which had a stop in Cartagena for 6 hours. They choose to spend that time visiting us! Top it off all of their luggage they brought was goodies for the islanders and our family. It is always hard to say goodbye, but the time was so special! 

I thought we would share with you what our days look like here on the island.

We are constantly busy! From Nate doing maintenance at the mission to helping out the locals with work on their houses. Electrical and plumbing seem to be the top requests.

I have started school with the kids. Many times I think to myself I am blessed to have this quality time with them!

We also are cooking up a storm here on the island. Adults to children love to cook with us.  They enjoy looking at our cookbooks and trying new things. Most common requests are pizzas, cakes and cookies. The families buy/ or pay for the ingredients and we all assemble together. Most people here on the island only have stove tops or charcoal cookers. Ovens are not common here in Bocachica. Another interest of ours is to make brick ovens here on the island. Not only will this help save cost on the charcoal they buy weekly, but this will also allow for healthier eating as well. People here fry, fry, fry.

We are also busy with English classes at our house for the locals.

Nate has had some opportunities to preach at the local community bible study held at the mission Thursday nights. He has enjoyed this time and we pray more opportunities come for him to do more.

One of my favorite things to do here in Bocachica is to fellowship with the locals. Weather we are walking down the street and being invited in to someones home or opening our house up to the many visitors who come to see us. This time I cherish. I am thankful for and love to see how our relationships with the locals here are enriched.

Prayer needs:
Please pray for us as we get our water filter system up and running and funding to help support this
project.
Our house as we get things organized.
The kids and their school work.
The electrical would get finalized at our house. 

How can you help support us? 
You can make tax deductible checks payable to:
Antioch Community Church
P.O. Box 40
Elon, NC. 27244
(write Colombia in the memo line)

Blessings to you all,
With love,
The Ariels

Water filter!

   We are moved into the house, that is a praise report! There are still a lot of unfinished details, and one of those is we have to walk a good ways to get pure water. Someone then has to haul it back, and it is all up hill. Yes, this will be one of those grandpa stories about the old days of walking a quarter mile just to get a glass of clean water, and by then it will be uphill both ways.

 The way down

















The way back up

This soon could be history now that we have our form for a water filter. It is designed after the biofilters originally made by David Manz
http://www.manzwaterinfo.ca/index.htm. We hope to get started on this project in the coming weeks, and try it on ourselves first. This will open the opportunity to help provide clean water for others on the island here. The good things about this system is it uses mainly natural materials, is afforadable, easily reproduced, and doesn't use any energy.

One of the main health concerns here on the island is parasites, and this will make a difference in Bocachica! It's is hard to believe that in the year 2012 there are still people in the world without clean water.  If you would like to help us help those in need, please contact me on funding this project. Thank you to all of you who help out so much already.
Blessings
Nate

The house so far...

Here are some picture of the house, I know it has taken a while. The house is very unfinished, but livable, and about twice the size of where we were before. In total there is about 880 square feet, before we had about 450 square feet at the apartment.

 The view from the fort of our house

 The bathroom with the tub, the other bathroom
 is being used as the temporary kitchen

 The boys room with a triple bunk bed, they really like the bed...

 The living room is the our bed room for now.

 The girls' bedroom

 The outdoor kitchen, we still need to put up the mesh on the columns so we don't have night intruders

 The utilities area, with rain collection, eventually this will also be access to the roof.

 The front of the house, we still need the front shade put on, and the rock wall finished.

Thanks for checking out the picture update. 

Blessed are the peacemakers

   The other month I saw a vivid picture of a peacemaker in Brazuto where we buy groceries.  It's an open air market, but not like the quaint farmers markets in the U.S. Suburbs. Here we enter the door of the market on a boat through a channel where, because Cartagena is at sea level, all the old buildings dump the sewage into the channel. You can imagine the smell of the black water, yes, the same smell as cleaning our your sewer back home.  The market streets are about the same. Lined with feces, rotten foods from vegetables to meat, and garbage from packages. Thousands of people go through this market daily. 50 foot tractor trailer loads of different foods are dropped then distributed to the different vendors there. Vendor storefronts range from concrete bodegas to four sticks with a piece of plastic over it and rickety table underneath.  It does have a little police station somewhere in the maze of alleys, it is so hard to find that is must be imaginary.

   That's why when I heard a bottle break I turned and looked. A small and wiry man broke a whiskey bottle on the edge of the curb, it crumbled so he reached into the trash to grab another. He broke it into something he could use as a knife. In front of me another man with a confident stride and a bit healthier build followed him across the street with a machete. In seconds bystanders started shouting with excitement, a fight with out having to buy tickets! They danced back in forth taking swings at each other, you could feel the tension rise from the crowd and the intensity of the men increased in seconds. There is an instinct in us that we either turn our heads for fear of what happens, or we stop and can't take our eyes of what is happening. At the climax of the face off, a large bus passes in front of me like the channel getting changed in the last seconds of the football game. After it passed the man with the whisky bottle had blood running out his arm, and the man with the machete is now in hot pursuit, when suddenly a man stepped in between them. The man looked ordinary, not particularly big or small, and instantly the fight de-escalated. A few more fake attempts at each other and both men melted away into the crowd. As I walked deeper into the market the only sign left that anything had happened was a bright red blood trail.

    Right then I saw a picture of a peacemaker, this other man may have saved the others life. But why did they both stop including the crowd? They all knew this man's character previous to the altercation. He carried with him some authority, not like the state as a police action, this man's authority must have been built up over time. Had I or another unknown stepped in between them perhaps they wouldn't have stopped, and there may have been more victims. The lesson was there is a history of character associated with the ability and right to exercise authority in this situation. Something that cannot be garnered in a day, and something that is known over time after it has been developed. Mature Christians should strive for this character and be ready to be available when the time of service comes. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God." Matthew 5:9
 Nate

Brethren and Strangers

If you look up the word hospitality, the meaning giving is a treatment of, reception, or disposition towards. Over the past nine months of living in Bocachica I am leaning that hospitality means more than just the fellowship with those I know and enjoy, it also means opening yourself to those you don't know or may not feel comfortable with (yet).  I am learning this as I have established friendships here on the island, shared in wonderful times of fellowship with team from Minnesota, and as I prepare my heart to say good bye to 3 special German girls who I have lived with for the past 9 months that if I did not allow myself to open up to give a certain disposition towards, I would not have these relationships in which I cherish. 

 Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for the strangers. 3 John 5


                                                      House update!
Casi, casi as the locals would say...we are almost done! What's next? Well, windows are here and are waiting to be put in, We are waiting on more brick to finish the last wall in the bathroom and then to pour the concrete roof! So close! Please continue to pray for safety, strength, and speed as we do the            finishing touches.          
 This is Bethany, Tim, and Annie helping us acid wash the brick in the boy's bedroom. Behind them is the bathroom.
Front view of our house. Do you like our electrical poles??? Bocachican style ;)
On July 17th we celebrated Nate's 35th birthday....and with his strong disposition we thought a Pink Barbie party would be a way to say we love you! Everyone from Staff, to team members to friends came and participated!                                                                                                                       

Blessings to you and your families!
Thank you for your prayers for our family.
With love,
The Ariels

I can see God's hand in this

I am not one to "enjoy" a jigsaw puzzle. I will admit when someone is working on a puzzle I find myself sitting at the table trying to find the pieces that go together. I will sometimes look at the time and say...just one more piece, but then I find a piece that fits to the other pieces I was working on. That one missing piece brings a second wind that brings me to sit at the table longer. Now don't get me wrong, I have only done this a hand full of times,  But seeing how the picture comes together is exciting.

I feel as my time here in Bocachica is like that second wind. I can see God's hand in this. I have been seeing the picture become clearer as time goes on here. I see the Lord given us glimpses of how he has prepared us. Take the example of us building our house. We are building the whole thing ourselves.  From drawing up the plans, to putting in electrical, plumbing, laying the brick (not to mention lugging all 9,000 of them up the STEEP hill) to washing the brick to pouring the concrete. How blessed are we that the Lord has equipped Nate with the ability to do all of this. I am not sure how many people would feel comfortable building there house from the ground up. I take time during the day,while jointing up brick thanking the Lord for Him preparing us for building our house. I choose to think of this time as bonding time with my family watching them all help out. I have met many new people here in Bocachica as they come to look at the construction of our house. We had wonderful helpers who worked on 2 different occasions bringing up the brick with us, and not to mention Guillermo and Wildio who have worked laboring for us.

Exciting news from the Ariels:

Nate has had on his heart to do a bible study with some families here on the island. However, Nate's Spanish is not strong on Biblical terms. A man who translated for the medical team when they came in February, came to the mission a couple of weeks ago and asked Nate if he would work with him on his English. He said he needed opportunities to translate from English to Spanish. What a perfect way to do so. Nate mentioned what his desire was and they both agreed it was a great thing to get started. Nate and Deiver will begin on Monday.

The kids are still working hard on their Spanish. The girls have classes daily and Nate and I have class once a week. My kids can have full conversations with the locals here and are enjoying their new friends. I am amazed to see how quickly they can pick up a second language. Vincent even says commands in Spanish. 'Than and Patrick talk to each other while playing in Spanish.  :) It is fun to hear!

Thank you all for your continual prayers for our family!
Blessings to you and your families!

Nate and Tara, Valerie, Alicia, Jaiden, Kristen, Nathanael, Patrick, and Vincent.

If you would like to support us monthly or with a one time gift here's how:

Send checks to:
Antioch Community Church
P.O. Box 40
Elon, North Carolina

Please put "Colombia" in the memo line.
*remember all giving is tax deductible*

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.)