Today we welcomed our first visitor of the year! Johan, from Varsovia, Sucre, a town about 2 1/2 hours from Cartagena, has joined us for a couple of weeks to help us get ready for this new year. Johan has felt the Lord calling him into full-time missions for several years now and after he fulfills a commitment back home, he hopes to join us, possibly in February, for about 6 months, before doing his Discipleship Training School (DTS) to embark on this new journey and direction for his life.
We’ve gone a few months since our last update so in order to catch everyone up with the latest, here is a month-by-month overview of what has been going on with us ever since:
NOVEMBER:
In late November, ministry directors, Jorge and Karen, headed back to the USA for some medical check-ups. Unfortunately what was intended to be a few weeks stay has turned into another year-long journey as doctor’s discovered that Karen has had a relapse of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which was first diagnosed when she was a young teen. Karen is now undergoing chemotherapy and if all goes well, she and Jorge hope to be back in Colombia full-time by the beginning of 2017. In the meantime, Erika continues to do an excellent job of leading and directing the ministry in their absence.
The Cruzate Family returned from 6 weeks in Iquitos, Peru where they were attending a YWAM school of leadership development. After almost 13 years serving with Proyecto Libertad, Samy and Marley are considering moving to the city of Pereira to help launch a new mobile worship team with the YWAM base there. They are still praying about this decision and about the timing but they are excited about the possibilities.
DECEMBER:
Jorge was able to travel back to Cartagena for almost a month and a half to help tie up some loose ends and to spend the holidays with our staff.
Christmas dinner.
We were happy to have Astrid with us again. Just like old times.
The Colombian beauty…Marley.
Moises, Jorge’s little helper.
JANUARY:
Just a few days after ringing in 2016 we welcomed our first volunteers for the new year.
We have been so blessed to have these three young ladies join us as volunteers. Louise and Ida (left and right) came for three months from Denmark and Ricarda (middle), from Germany, will be with us for six months.
Shawn, from Colorado, came for a month to help us tackle our long list of mission maintenance projects! This was a specific answer to prayer and also to the SOS we issued back in October! We thank the Lord for Shawn and his servant heart.
Our biggest focus during the month of January was tackling an ever-growing list of maintenance projects that desperately needed attention: deteriorating walls, rotting stairs, and termite infested paneling, just to name a few.
Scraping paint and tearing down wood ceiling paneling.
Out with the old rotting wood stairs…
…in with the new metal stairs.
Our first customer.
Scraping, repairing, and painting dorm room walls.
A fresh coat of paint in the men’s dorm.
Due to termites and water damage, we had to take out the wood paneled walls on our back porch.
Ida and Louise
Daddy’s little helper.
Almost done.
Ricarda sanding and helping to repair bed frames.
Meanwhile, Elisabeth has been working hard on all the paperwork required by the Health Department. We are getting so close to finishing this process and having our clinic officially and legally registered! And last but not least, check out the new hand-rails installed at the clinic:
FEBRUARY:
We are so excited to welcome our newest full-time staff member! Esther is a Colombian doctor and will be directing the clinic. What an answer to prayer!Goodbye get-together for Shawn! We were so blessed by all your hard work and servant’s heart!It was great having new friends and old with us… Mari (left), a nurse from Florida visited us for the first time and Yolanda (right), a nurse from Bogota visited us for the uh…millionth time? We’ve lost count! Here they are with Ricarda and Esther.
We had a great week with a short-term mission’s team from Hope Lutheran Church from Minneapolis, MN, led by our long-time friend, Ben Sollie, who is now on the pastoral staff at Hope. This group was also an answer to prayer and a direct answer to our October SOS!
MARCH:
We started out the month by welcoming our first ever volunteer from Lithuania:
Aiste, a nurse from Lithuania volunteered with us for 2 weeks.Early in March our staff attended a weekend city-wide YWAM staff retreat outside of Cartagena. It was a time for all the staff of the different YWAM Cartagena ministries to come together for fellowship, worship, prayer and teachings. Proyecto Libertad is part of a family of about 10 different ministries operating in Cartagena.
This month we also hosted a group of 13 German volunteers for 5 days. They are volunteering in different parts of Colombia with a sending organization called “Weltwärts” and came to Bocachica to meet together for a time of debriefing and retreat.
Jorge was able to return to spend the month of March with our staff. He was able to work with Elisabeth on finishing up the clinic paperwork, help host the German group, and take care of a few other items of official business. He will be returning back to the USA on March 31st as Karen prepares to start her second round of chemo.
We are happy to welcome Yolanda back for 3 weeks of service in Bocachica. This lively Colombiana is full of energy and comes to volunteer at least a couple of times each year. She is always a great blessing helping with the infirmary, hospitality and teaching craft projects to the ladies in the community. Yolanda is a friend who has become family.
In addition to our checking out our last two posts, you can click on the photos below for the latest on what we’ve been up to at the mission over the last couple of weeks:
MEDICAL:
Health screening for children from the Compassion program operated by the Foursquare church.
A little girl with a broken arm gets help at the infirmary.
Swedish volunteer, Birgitta and Colombian volunteer, Martha work together in the pharmacy.
Elisabeth and Karoline discuss a plan of action for treating a patient.
CLINIC CONSTRUCTION:
Ceiling repairs.
Building an internal wall to create a space for taking blood samples.
Building an external room for our generator.
MISC.
Thursday evening cell group meeting.
Jorge organizing his receipts to turn in to the accountant.
Last week we were blessed by a special visit from a South Korean family (Jun, Esther, & Daniel) who have spent the last year and a half in Colombia learning Spanish and preparing to go to Guinea Equatorial as full-time missionaries. They visited us in Bocachica and shared about their vision and passion for Guinea Equatorial with the Bocachica churches. We hope to see them in Guinea Equatorial next year with our DTS outreach team! The Kim family will be returning to South Korea in a few weeks to make all the final preparations for their departure to Africa next year.
Jun, Esther, and DanielJun sharing with church leaders.Jun sharing at the Foursquare Church.Daniel and Moises
In one of our recent posts we hinted at a special announcement coming soon!! Well, here it is:
We are excited to tell you about a new challenge that we are taking on for 2016 and to invite you to be part of it!
For many years we have talked about the idea of one day being able to take a group of “Bocachicans” on an outreach to Africa. But, for the most part,it was just a mixture of daydreaming and talking; until last year. During all of 2014, our Proyecto Libertad Staff formed an African Alliance and met faithfully each week to learn about and intercede on behalf of the continent of Africa. Since most of the people of Bocachica are the descendants of African slaves that were brought to Colombia over 450 years ago, we always thought it would be a powerful experience to help facilitateeven a fewto be able to go back to their roots, to return FREE, preaching FREEDOM IN CHRIST. We talked about this idea off and on over the years; however, it was not until recently that we felt God moving the pieces of this puzzle and encouraging us to act and take steps of faith.
In recent weeks, we have been meeting with the pastors and leaders of the two churches in Bocachica to discuss this project, and we have been so blessed to see their interest and eagerness to work together in unity and harmony. It is especially significant because more than 15 years ago the church experienced a painful split and this has been a source of tension in the community over the years. Now we are so excited to see what God is doing in their midst to bring healing and restoration. We are overjoyed that He has given us the privilege of participating in this new and beautiful thing He is doing!
This new challenge we have accepted is to hold the first Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Bocachica with a focus on Africa, and to take our students for outreach to Equatorial Guinea, the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa. The first 12 weeks of lecture phase will be held in Bocachica at our mission. The last 8 weeks, the outreach phase, will be spent working alongside fellow Colombian YWAMer, Rubiela Vaca, who has been serving full-time in Equatorial Guinea for the last 18 years. We have also been encouraging the local pastors to consider sending their graduated students back to Equatorial Guinea as missionaries for a minimum commitment of two years after successfully completing the DTS.
The following promotional poster has some basic info about the school,including dates and prices. It is in Spanish because the school will be offered in Spanish.
If you would like to be a part of this new adventure here are a few ways YOU CAN HELP:
1. Help us get the word out about the school! If you know of anyone who is a Spanish-speaker with a specific call to Africa who would like to do the DTS, send them our way! Here is our poster in PDF form so you can share it with others: DTS BOCACHICA-AFRICA POSTERWe need to have a minimum of 8 students to be able to do the school and our maximum space is for 20 students. We hope to have a full house!
2. Help sponsor our Bocachican students! Even at a special discounted rate, the $1,500 dollar school fee plus air fare to Equatorial Guinea is a pretty big mountain to face! However Matt. 21:21 says: Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.” Help us throw those mountains into the sea!! Click here for instructions on how to donate!We as a staff have started a fund especially designated for air-fare and so far we have $1,200 dollars saved! That’s almost enough for one ticket already!
3. PRAY!! If you are especially inclined and gifted for prayer and spiritual warfare, PLEASE, add this to your prayer list! We know that we will need much prayer coverage to see the many miracles needed to make this all come to fruition! Here are a few things to be praying about:
Visas! Our friend Rubiela told us that the biggest mountain we would face would be the approval of the visas! This is a process that involves bureaucracy, egos, power-trips and spiritual forces of darkness.
Finances! We have tried to lower the price of our school as much as possible to make it more accessible to Colombians and Bocachicans;however, in this economy it is especially difficult to come up with such a large sum of money.
The teachers who will come to teach in our school. Over the next few months we will be inviting our teachers, and putting together the curriculum and weekly schedule. May God guide us and orchestrate every detail to bring the people He has chosen for this task.
The students who will come; that God will hand-pick each person He wants to be a part of this DTS. May He especially bring those whom He is calling to serve long-term in Africa. Luke 10:2 says: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
The staff who will lead this school. May God bring God-fearing people of integrity who are passionate about discipleship and mentoring and who lead by example.
Thank you for sharing in this challenge. We can’t do it by ourselves!
UPDATE: Sadly, our plans to hold a DTS with a focus on Africa had to be canceled due to a lack of committed missionary staff and major health issues (Soon after making this post Karen Silva from YWAM Proyecto Libertad and Rubiela Vaca from YWAM Guinea Ecuatorial were both diagnosed with breast cancer).
