Our Updates

September 4, 2013 Update

This second month here in Bolivia has been very different from our first! The pace has slowed down, the new is starting to wear off and the rush of the adventure is settling into routine mode. We have come to feel, taste and experience what leaving home really means…leaving what we know behind, our identities in our skills, our comforts we took for granted. We took each step in faith, deliberately and willingly giving that all up without knowing what that was going to look like. To be here now, we have come to the realization “that I am not my own.” We have become completely His, to be used by Him, for His will, no matter our circumstances. We have wrestled with God in prayer and in scripture and have come to a new reliance on Him.

Through some health issues and spiritual battles we have had to look into the face of our weaknesses and faults that we have so cleverly kept hidden or disguised (or so we like to think). There is sweet joy in these words. Although painful to endure, we have come out of it with a fresh and renewed spirit. We have wrestled with God in prayer and in scripture. We have been stretched, broken, awakened and renewed!!

An update on a few of our ‘3^rd world challenges’ (not problems) we have faced recently…centers on food! As Callan stated recently, I want to fly to Miami airport and drink the largest glass of milk and fly back. Finding ‘comfort’ food is a challenge, everything familiar is just a little off the mark. So the hunt continues, with our taste buds anxiously waiting for the prize of anything familiar. There is NO FAST FOOD, no drive thru’s! Enough said! So, we concentrate a lot on how to feed our stomachs. Our stove/oven is connected to a garafa (a small portable propane tank). When you run out of gas you change out the garafa. When your garafas are empty, you listen for a clanging sound on a passing gas truck that has no regular schedule (any day, any time). It sounds similar to the garbage truck bell, so we chase after the distant sound of either truck. We have yet to catch that garafa truck. Since we currently are on our last garafa, we light up the stove with the tiny fear we are going to have a half-cooked meal. So after a quick discussion of what to cook first, we cook the main dish and then each side dish in order of taste or familiarity…just in case. Dessert of late is a candy we found that if you think of bubble gum flavor while you eat it, it’s pretty good. And we all enjoyed the brownies Brock and I made in our toaster oven…success at last!

Our home: We have slowly added to our furnishings. We have places to sleep, places to sit and tables to eat on. We are still on the hunt for little useful tables, any kind of table to set your things on…it’s a mystery what people here do with their water glass and alarm clock? Our house recently ran out of water, except the kitchen sink. Mike’s natural handyman skills went into full force as he figured out how to ‘prime the pump’ at 5 am (with a small jolt of 220 to wake him up). Within 8 hours or so, our water tank was filled and we could carry on. He really can fix anything!!

Our boys:

·      Callan has settled in nicely at school. He enjoys his classes and his teachers’ love what they do and it shows! He has really enjoyed his apologetics (Bible) class! His biggest challenge is Quechua class (the indiginous language) because the teacher is a Spanish speaking instructor. Double the misunderstanding! He plays guitar in the praise band for weekly Chapel. PE is fun, but the altitude is still doing a number on both boys. He hangs out with a co-ed group of friends every weekend. They take a taxi or walk to dinner or the coffee shop. His class and teachers came to serve with us at Baby Washing this past Saturday. It is really cool to see him so comfortable in a very international crowd. Since most of the kids he hangs with are Seniors he is having a lot of discussions about college and majors, gifts and talents and doing some soul-searching of his own.

·      Brock loves most of his teachers. He comes home and shares the Current Event of the day with me from his Socials class (history). He is thrilled that they have Recess or “Morning Tea” every day (British model). He said they can walk ANYWHERE on campus they want, and buy drinks at the snack bar! 15 minutes of Heaven! His best friend is Caleb, from Canada. The rest of the students in his class are Bolivian. He has experienced discrimination in a very real sense. Caleb is so glad Brock is there and he said his parents prayed continually for a friend so he wouldn’t have to sit alone. Brock has discovered (with some effort) that he is able to make friends with the Bolivian kids. He said he THINKS he might be able to be a bridge for Caleb so when we leave, Caleb will have friends. (Brock is finding his gift!) He loves PE! The coach is Australian and has a great accent. Since we come from a hyper competitive environment where only 1% of kids are seen as good athletes, he is enjoying the feeling to be noticed and ‘talked-up’ about his basketball skills…keep in mind we have not started ‘the’ Bolivian sport of football (soccer). He said he would soak this up while it lasts!

Mike and Kim: This has been a month of illness. I (Kim) pinched a nerve in my back. I was shocked to wake up one Saturday morning with numbness and the inability to use my right leg. Fear and panic set in after a few days of having to drag my leg around!! This is when the soul searching really began. God had our full attention. Every plan we had was put on hold, questioned, even quiet thoughts of having to give up and go home (TX). With some Chiropractic help here in Bolivia and advice from back home, small improvements began but it was slow. About 2 weeks into this condition, I woke up with the shingles. Now dealing with pain and the inability to sleep, a spiritual battle ensued. In the long quiet hours with prayer and scripture and a strong husband (so thankful that he won’t allow me to slip even inches away)…God brought peace and revelation and physical healing. Still on the mend, but we now have a refreshed spirit, clearer sight and closer walk with Him! (Thank you to daily devotions by Tozer, My Utmost, Howard Brammer, and NLT scripture for allowing the HS to speak into our heart.)

Orphan Care at Fundación Esperanza (FE): Mike and TJ have been focused on getting the final approvals so we can meet the first babies that are coming our way! We really feel close…maybe a week or 10 days from now. We have hired the social worker, psychologist, and the first Tia. Several other Tia’s have been interviewed and are waiting in the wings. A real bonus to the FE team is in the addition of Ms. Anita. She is on the FE Bolivian Board of Directors. She has her own preschool and is a wealth of knowledge and connections here in Bolivia. She will work 15 hours a week educating the local churches in adoption and foster parenting (as a former orphan and an adoptive parent herself she has a beautiful story to tell). She will also advise on employee and government roles and responsibilities and much more. Ms. Anita is a huge win for FE!

We will close here with our prayer requests…

• ·      Callan and Brock as they develop friendships and seek God’s direction
• ·      Our language skills and communication skills to improve by leaps and bounds!
• ·      The final details of preparation for the inspection and legal papers with the orphanage.
• ·      The first infants that are coming our way!!
• ·      Our health, all of us have days with upset stomachs. Continued healing for Kim.
• ·      Communication in all areas! Keep our spiritual life healthy, our marriage, our boys, and our friends here and back home!

We also have many things to be thankful for…

• ·      We are humbled and so grateful to our friends and family who have donated financially this past month to our mission. The funds go directly to preparation and operation of the Baby House getting ready to open.
• ·      We are overwhelmed by the donations of 10 x50 lbs. suitcases worth of children’s clothes donated this summer for Baby Washing for the homeless…and word that there is more to come at the end of September!! A weekly bath and set of fresh clothes for a child on the streets brings a smile that is priceless. As I held a freshly bathed infant in a towel waiting to get dressed, I tried to sing Jesus Loves You…I choked back tears at the powerful lyrics over this child.
• ·      The prayers and support of our family, friends, Advocacy Team, LifeSong for Orphans partner and the FBC McKinney Missional Life team!

We are so grateful to always know that we have a strong support back home keeping us in your thoughts and prayers! We love getting your little shout-outs. We really cannot express the encouragement that brings to us during the day! It is a privilege to have you walk with us on this journey!

With much love and appreciation,

Mike and Kim

Aug 6 , 2013 Update

We have had a very busy ‘first’ month! We have had long days filled with new sights, sounds and experiences as we begin to adjust to our 3^rd world environment. We strive to keep our sense of humor during the roadblocks along our day. It helps for one of us to just mention ‘3^rd world challenge’ under our breath in the midst of the challenges (not problems) to give us a little chuckle and we acknowledge the adventure we are on! Otherwise, our stress level would stay at a 10!! God is working in our hearts to not look at things as if they need to be improved or made more efficient, but to take our time and acknowledge we know very little, have few skills, and need His power to get us through! Starting each morning with quiet time has new meaning…we are weak (pathetic really) and unable to do it on our own but relying on Him to walk us through the day ahead! Total dependence on Him!

A few ‘3^rd world challenges’ we are facing off the top of my head…we have about 15 minutes of water in the kitchen before we run dry while hand-washing dishes, to get hot water to wash dishes we have what they call a widow-maker attached to the kitchen faucet which occasionally sends a small electrical shock up your arms, most things electrical do not work on a regular basis, cell phones that rarely work, no access to Wi-Fi except at home (and too exhausted when we get home to try to communicate to the outside world), not ever flushing TP (yes I said not ever), our brains being so tired we mix Spanish and English while trying to talk to each other, we must remember to not drink from the faucet or use it to cook with, and to let our dishes completely dry on the rack before using to keep us from getting a parasite. So far, we have all stayed pretty healthy!

A major challenge that we face each day is driving in traffic, with motorcycles, pedestrians, drivers who love to honk their horns, a lack of street signs and no standard driving law. One maneuver we made last week made the entire city of Cochabamba honk and even the pedestrians nearby were yelling at us! We really made our presence known! It has been fun figuring out how to be a 1-car family. Mike and I both drive or take a taxi. We are beginning to get our bearings and learning the hidden driving rules. We have made a conscience effort not to get drawn into the stress of road rage but to treat each driver on the road as someone that we might encounter in the Plaza that we give bread to and hope they see the love of Christ in our eyes. The angry man in the car is the same man… created by God, longing for His peace.

Our home: We found a beautiful house that was rented by a missionary family that headed back to the states. We have been in our home for about 2 weeks. We bought mattresses, a kitchen table with 4 chairs (there are 5 of us while my niece is here interning for the summer), and a sofa set. I was looking forward to decorating the house with furniture…I had no idea how hard this task would be. Imagine buying each piece of furniture in your home one piece at a time, tying it to your car and hauling it home. Our criterion for buying furniture has changed completely. Comfort and style are way down on the list. We now ask ourselves, can we carry this about a mile to our car and strap it to the top! It would be similar to shopping for everything at Canton or the flea market. So, we are really embracing the less is more look and developing a taste for plastic stacking furniture!

The boys are both adjusting well. Callan has walked to the end of our street, where friends from church picked him up in a taxi, drove to a neighboring village to play soccer with Bolivians. When they divided teams, the “leader’ gave a 15 minute talk in Spanish. Callan was able to get the gist of the talk which was…be kind to the white people, even though they are not the same color, do not speak the language, and cannot play soccer, God still created them and we should show them love. Callan got to experience being on the other side of ‘that’ conversation. They play every Sunday afternoon and he looks forward to playing on a regular basis. He has become friends with a teenage MK (missionary kid) musician named Te from church. She has asked Cal to play in the praise band for the youth on Friday nights and the college group on Saturdays. He has also been asked to play on Sunday mornings. One of our great shopping adventures was finding an amp and distorter! All very difficult to translate! But, now he is equipped and ready to ROCK!

Brock has met a younger MK (Te’s brother) who loves to play baseball. They play in the park every Saturday and invited Brock to join them. He is looking forward to going this week. Another friend he has made is named Christian. He is a Bolivian that TJ Mitchell has been mentoring from the baby washing in the Plaza. He and Brock have a fun, laugh-filled friendship despite the language barrier. Christian’s mom has 5 children, lives in a dirt floor shack with no running water and she is very ill with tumors. Christian is the oldest child and has a lot of responsibility. Brock said he really wanted to hurry and learn Spanish so he would talk to Christian.

They boys are starting school on Aug. 12 at Carachipampa Christian School. There are about 10 kids in each of their grades. It will be a huge transition coming from the large schools in McKinney. Some of the students are MK’s and they also take Bolivians if they speak English. So they will make English and Spanish speaking friends. The boys did well on their entrance exam last week and we are working on their schedules now to get in the classes that will transfer back to the states and keep them on schedule. (This has been a little bit of a ‘3^rd world challenge’.) They will both take Spanish 4 days a week and Quechua (an indigenous language) 2 days a week, as well as Bible and have morning tea in the British tradition. The school is beautiful, open campus with the mountains surrounding it. They boys are excited and ready to start.

Mike and I have enjoyed working together on the preparation for the orphanage. He has been engulfed in financials. I am focusing on equipment and furniture inventory with detailed accounting for purchases. We have shopped at La Cancha, hauled and installed every item on the list with just a short list remaining. It has been fun using our previous careers to help TJ in the start-up of the Baby House. This Friday we will file the request for the final walk thru inspection, which will bring us very close to having babies in the House! We are ready to fill these empty cribs with precious babies.

We had a Mission Team from FBC come the last week of July. They were able to help us get a great start with painting the baby rooms, kitchen and the murals in the huge two-story playroom! They assembled 8 high chairs, cleaned kitchen cabinets, washed all the pots and dishes and stocked the shelves. It really looks fantastic!! We would really be struggling to meet our deadline without their help!

Well, this is a very long update and seems there is much more to write about! But, we will close here with our prayer requests…

• ·      The first day of school Aug 12
• ·      School prep this week (schedules, school supplies and uniforms)
• ·      Our language skills and communication skills to improve by leaps and bounds!
• ·      The final details of preparation for the inspection and legal papers with the orphanage
• ·      Our stress management…to rely on God in ALL THINGS! To give up control and the attempt to control.
• ·      Madison Dampier (Kim’s niece) her last week here, her travel home (by herself), and her adjustment back to life in the US!! We LOVE having her here with us, so pray as we adjust to her being back home.
• ·      Our relationships and communication with the boys and in our marriage as we process all of the changes and challenges! Pray that we have hearts filled with grace and forgiveness toward each other during our difficult days.

We are so grateful to always know that we have a strong support back home keeping us in your thoughts and prayers! We really cannot express the encouragement that brings to us during the day! We are blessed beyond measure that you are walking with us through this journey!

With much love and appreciation,

Mike and Kim