Current Reading Update

I finished reading "The Pleasures of God" a couple of weeks ago, and put together a short summary of the book at: http://eggen4jc.googlepages.com/pleasuresofgod for anyone who is interested.

Currently I am working on a Bible Study guide for When Invisible Children Sing, which will hopefully be completed within the next month. It is both an exciting and challenging project. The reality of abandoned street children presents a lot of challenging theological questions about the responsibilities of the Church, and the state of individual souls. It is exciting to have such a great book with vivid experiences to highlight these issues, yet challenging to come up with a Bible Study that will be both challenging and encouraging to the reader. I will keep you posted.

-J

What a week!

This was one of those weeks where it seems like nothing more could happen that would make the week worse... yet things kept on happening. First we started the week with the news that Tito was missing and was swept away by the river at the camp. By Tuesday they had found his body, and we knew he had died. A huge loss for our church here. A great, young father, friend, church elder with half his life ahead was gone. That same weekend we got a call that one of the boys in the Renacer home had fallen off his bike and hurt his arm. A few hours later we find out that his arm was broken in three places and he would have to have surgery. His operation was last Sunday morning. Everything went well and he was back in the home by Monday night.

We later had some exciting news of two new boys, Fabian and Juan Carlos, in the Renacer home. Then brought back to reality by Tito's funeral. Then our cat went missing. Our cat leaves for a day at a time, sometimes a full night, but has now been gone for almost five days. We think that Nube used the last of her nine lives. (Seems kind of minor in comparison to the rest of the week.) Friday brought the admission of another boy into the hospital. This time Juan Carlos, who has been sick since he got to the home. Diagnosis: Tuberculosis in the lungs and kidney, pneumonia, and a urinary tract infection. Saturday he was admitted into the hospital. We think the hospital should name that area the "Barnabas Wing" after this week. He will be in the hospital for about three days being treated with IV antibiotics and once his TB is confirmed we will start the six month treatment for that. He is starting to get better, but at only 63 lbs he has a lot of weight to gain to become a healthy 12 year old boy.

Friday also brought the excitement of finding our checking account balance at -23.88 after someone (not us!) bought some nice clothes, travel, hotels, etc. on our debit card and emptied out our bank account. We will eventually get it all back, thanks to the Visa fraud protection, but not without filling out paper work, talking on the phone, and doing a lot of other things that don't fit into our schedule at this point.

Finally, today we found out one of our street kids died. Jamie was about 20 years old, and we have known him for a few years. We haven't seen him in at least nine months, but used to hang out with him a lot. He was jailed about 18 months ago, and ever since he got out he drank hard liquor about 24 hours a day, so it was just a matter of time. Still sad though.

So the summary for our week:
1 dead friend
1 dead street child
2 kids hospitalized
1 lost cat
1 emptied out bank account

Hopefully next week will be a little easier. Can't imagine it any other way! Life here in Bolivia isn't always fun. We have been to more funerals than we care to count or remember. Until this week they have all been for kids. The unfortunate reality is that the street is a hard life, and kids die. Sad, but true. Fortunately Juan Carlos made it to our home, or he would have been one of the ones who end up in a pine box within a few more weeks on the streets. We are glad to have him as part of our family and can't wait to get to know him better.

Rembering Tito

This past weekend was Carnaval, which is a large celebration in all of Latin America to mark the beginning of Lent. Carnaval is marked by traditions of dancing and drinking. In Bolivia it is also marked by making sacrifices to the "Pache Mama." Our church here has a tradition of going to the church camp every year for these four days. The purpose is to get away from all of the drinking in the city, and just have a nice wholesome weekend as a church family.

This year our church tragically lost one of our elders during the camp. Tito Gonzales, a church elder, husband, and father of two daughters (2 and 4) was hiking down into the camp when he dropped his backpack into the river. He went into the river to retrieve the backpack and was last seen with the backback a few hundred meters down river. After not returning for a few hours the church members at camp began looking for him. First it was by foot, then by rafting (in level 4 or 5 waters). Search and rescue was done both by church members and a professional rescue crew from La Paz. Yesterday, on Tuesday, they found the body about 70 km down river from the camp.

The funeral was this afternoon, and we all consider the loss of Tito a painful loss for the church. He was a wonderful father, was an elder of our church, and a friend to many, including many of the staff and boys of the homes. When someone so young dies, you realize how death is the great interrupter of life. Remembering Tito, we recognize the mourning that even Christ experienced at the loss of his friend (John 11:35) and also find hope in the words of the Apostle Paul, who says that "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)

We ask that you keep Tito's family in your prayers - his wife Katia, and his two daughters Augustina and Martina as well as his mother, brothers and sisters.

Coffee Fanatic?

We have been busy this week doing a lot of different things, but not anything super exciting. It has been one of those weeks where you look back and feel like you worked 80 hours, but you can't really recall how all of that time was spent. A lot of time goes to a quick meeting here, a quick meeting there... and all of a sudden it is Friday! That has pretty much been my week - meeting with everyone and their brother about anything from how the homes should share the minibus, to future construction projects, to meeting with the new tenants of our old office.

Anybody who knows me knows that I love coffee, and I love to drink coffee in almost any form at any time during the day. (Except for gas-station cappuccinos, which I would consider more sugar than coffee.) In any case, I put together a list of indicators that might mean you are a coffee fanatic. I would say that anyone who could say yes to five or more of these would be considered a coffee fanatic. I can confess to a full 8 of them... wonder if you can guess which ones they are. The remaining four (and some of those eight) I have learned from our fellow SIM teammates.

• You pre-heat your mug with hot water so your coffee stays warmer longer.
• You know how paper and permanent filters affect the flavor of your coffee.
• You think the phrase "Folgers Coffee" is an oxymoron.
• You are concerned about the date your coffee beans were roasted.
• A coffer grinder is the cornerstone of your kitchen.
• You have participated in an advertisement for a coffee shop.
• You take with all of your coffee equipment to team retreats (where you need to hike to the cabin), including a large 220 to 110 volt transformer to run the coffee machine.
• You think "Nescafe" is better pronounced "No es cafe."
• The first thing you hear when arriving to the office is "would you like some coffee?"
• You have started a micro enterprise to roast and sell coffee.
• You keep a package of instant coffee in your backpack "just in case."
  

-John

Pato's Wedding - FINALLY!

Pretty much anyone who has been to Bolivia to visit the Barnabas house over the past five years knows Pato. They probably also know that since they day they met him he has been talking about getting married that year. When we first met Pato in 2003 he told us he was going to get married that December. Years have come and gone, and Pato was still single and still dating his girlfriend. This week the single chapter of Pato's life has finally come to a close, and he is now married to his girlfriend of five years, Carito.

From Pato's Wedding

Here in Bolivia the evangelical church has no legal right to marry a couple, so couples here often have two wedding ceremonies - a civil and religious. Pato and Carito celebrated their civil wedding on Thursday night with a small gathering and dinner at Carito's parent's house. The religious ceremony was yesterday (Sat, Feb 10th) and was both large and elegant. There were about 300 people at the wedding and reception that came from all over the country. The wedding was very elegant, and was held at Pato's church - Dios es Amor. The reception was held at our church (and where the boys go to church, La Communidad. The wedding was at 10:00 AM, and the reception lasted until about 4:00 PM. We had a great time with some of our friends there and all of the staff and boys of the homes. Ethan got to dress up in his suit, and Lola (former street girl) and her little boy also came with us.

If you want to congratulate Pato feel free to send him an e-mail or a card. If you can write in Spanish send it directly to pato@ centrobernabe.org or if you want to write a short letter in English, send it to letters@ bolivianstreetchildren.org and someone will translate it and give it to Pato. If you want send a written card you can send it to:
Luis Carlos Ruiz Carreno
Centro Bernabe
Casilla 3-34985 SM
La Paz, Bolivia

From Pato's Wedding

From Pato's Wedding

From Pato's Wedding

Did you say "da-da"?!!!

Yes, Ethan is a star. He's feeling better again, so he's crawling around and trying to climb everything in sight. Today he was feeling pretty talkative after his nap, though most of his "talking" is silently moving his mouth as if he were talking. (For those of you who know my cat Orville and his famous "silent meow," you've seen this kind of pseudo-talking in action.) Without further adieu, here's Ethan's latest movie, showing his developing language skills in all their glory. Enjoy!

Barnabas Family Vacation

On Friday morning I left to spend the last couple of days with the boys at camp. The church camp is about three hours outside of La Paz. Taking public transportation takes about an extra hour, but fortunately Michelle let me take our truck, which made the trip much quicker and allowed me to spend more time in the camp with the boys. The road to the camp used to be considered the most dangerous road in the world. Most of the deaths on the road are from people like myself, who are on vacation and don't know the road well, which is why I have always used public transportation. Besides being the most dangerous road, it also has to be one of the most beautiful drives in the world, being basically a part of the mountain itself including water falls that fall onto the vehicles. The old road is a one lane road, with huge drop offs... and I think you can get the idea of why it is so dangerous. Below is a link to a BBC article on the road.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6136268.stm


I say all of that not to bore you, but to give you the same appreciation I have for the new road. It is much less intimidating to leave La Paz knowing you will have a two-lane paved road to get yourself down into the Yungas (a drop from about 15,000 feet to 3,000 feet over about 30 miles of road.) The new road still has incredible views, and is worth driving even if you are not going anywhere. The new road is not without its own problems though as there was a section that had a very rustic detour since there was a landslide that covered a stretch of the road.

From 2007 Barnabas...

From 2007 Barnabas...

Once you get towards the end of the new road there is just a short jaunt on a dirt road into the camp, and then a quick hike into camp across the river. One thing you immediately notice about being in the Yungas (in comparison to La Paz) is that it is HOT, and HUMID, and very green.

From 2007 Barnabas...

That is how I got to the camp. The boys, however, took a slightly different route. While I got to enjoy the new road headed into the Yungas, the boys left from the Cumbre (about 20 minutes outside of La Paz) and headed into camp by foot. It took them three full days to get to camp - they all had a great time. By the time I got there there were pretty much exhuasted, having hiked for three days and having spent six days in the camp. At camp, the schedule involves a lot of physical activities - swimming, playing soccer, playing team building games, and repeating that as often as possible in any given day. The boys also have devotionals in the morning, afternoon, and evening, and this week the devotionals were focused on friendship and specifically on Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. At the end of the time at camp each of the boys shared something special about the trip, and named someone they had become better friends with over their stay.

From 2007 Barnabas...

The boys were also divided into teams for the entire trip, so every game was a competition and then all of the points were summed up at the end of the trip. The winning group got to ride home with me in our truck, and also gets to pick a dinner at any restaurant in La Paz as their prize. Besides the team competitions, these teams were also the basis for dividing up responsibilities at camp, and were also small groups for devotional times during the day. We also set aside time each day for the team leaders to spend one-on-one time with their team members.

From 2007 Barnabas...

One of the favorite parts of the "Puente" is always the swimming pool. The boys love swimming, and do it a couple of times a day while we are at camp. We always find different games to play in the pool, and everyone loves throwing someone else into the pool... even if it is one of the counselors!

From 2007 Barnabas...

The last night we had a camp fire, and the boys had sort of a talent show, and then it was off to bed. Saturday afternoon came around quicker than anyone had expected, and it was time to head home. We all had a great time at the camp, and the boys had a great time on vacation. The boys where exhausted, but had also become accustomed to the routine of being on vacation. On Monday, they start the new school year here, and it is promising to be an exciting time for the boys. Some of the Bethany home boys will be going to school for the first time in years.

From 2007 Barnabas...

If you want to see more pictures of the vacation, just click on any of the pictures above and it will take you into the photo album. Once the film pictures from the hike have been developed we will be sure to put a link up.

Thanks to everyone for all of your support for the ministry, that makes things like this possible.

-John