How Rich ARE you??

Some new friends of ours that will be serving in Bolivia with Food for the Hungry posted this link on their blog.  You all have to check out this website.  Type in your annual income and it will tell you how rich you are compared to the rest of the world.  It amazingly puts things into perspective and reminds us how thankful we should be for what we have!!

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

A meeting set by God!

I have been eagerly waiting to blog about this until it was official.  Now it is!  So here is the story...

In July we announced to the congregation of Hope church, our home church, our plans to serve with Food for the Hungry in Bolivia.  After the church service we met with many people who were interested in what we would be doing and just wanted to share their excitement with us.  Then, out of the corner of my eye I see this beautiful young woman anxiously waiting to speak with us.  With a huge smile on her face she excitedly begins to share her story with us.  Her name is Jenn Weber (now Jenn Weber Sinclair) and she is a Christian recording artist in Nashville, TN.  She was in Cincinnati visiting her family.  Her family does not normally attend Hope Church, but just happened to be visiting that Sunday.  Food for the Hungry has a program (The Artist Program) in which they partner with Christian artist to promote the plight of the poor around the world and connect them with ways they can help through Food for the Hungry.  So obviously Jenn is a huge advocate for Food for the Hungry and was so excited to hear that we would be working with FH as well.  After talking with Jenn for 5 minutes she immediately offered her musical talent to help us with our fundraising.  We have been working out the details and are thrilled to announce that Jenn will be doing a benefit concert for us on Sunday Oct 5th!  Our youth pastor, Brian Mease will be opening for her that evening.  

It has been a huge blessing to get to know Jenn and her music over the past two months.  We know that our meeting was not just a crazy coincidence, but an amazing blessing from the Lord!

Here are the links to her web-sites: http://www.jennweber.com/  and  http://www.myspace.com/jennweber

We highly recommend her new CD!!!

 

Last bit of Summer

We were blessed to be able to go on an end of the summer vacation with John's family to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina.  It was a great week to spend time with family and relax on the beach.  Getting Ella and her cousin's all set up in the backseat of the van with the three carseats was quite a challange, but we came out victorious as you can see.  The girls enjoyed their "sleep-over" as we left town around 10pm and drove through the night.  

This was Ella's first time at the ocean and first experience with sand! 

 She didn't mind it as long as she had shoes on her feet!  Otherwise she refused to be put down!!  I think the feeling of sand between our toes is somewhat of an acquired luxury.  

We can't believe how quickly the summer flew by!  We are looking forward to the fall and preparing for the journey that lies ahead.  Hope you all had

 wonderful summers!  

Coming up for air!

It has been a busy few weeks for the Warden family, yet productive and encouraging none-the-less.  We've been working hard to get our home ready to be placed on the market, and last week it officially went up.  We wanted to get everything ready just before we left for a week visit to South Dakota to see family and do a little fundraising on the side.  Packing for vacation and preparing your home for the market at the same time was a chore but we were able to get it done.  Now we feel our hard work has paid off as we have had two showings the first week!  Please pray that our home sells quickly, as I'm finding that keeping it clean is definitely going to be quite a task with a 14 month old living in the house!  

We had a wonderful time visiting with my family in South Dakota.  It's always refreshing to get away from the fast-pace of city life and enjoy the small town atmosphere.  (Not to mention having extra hands to love on Ella!) 

 While there we also had the chance to visit with the missions board of my parent's church.  It was a wonderful and valuable experience for us to share our vision and passion for our ministry with Food for the Hungry with them.  It was also encouraging for us to see others get excited about our ministry as well.  

Here are a few pictures from our trip! 

Four Generations!

Ella at the Yankton City Pool.

  

Ella in her frog pool at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Weekend of Hunger

It was a busy weekend for the Warden family. On Saturday we had the opportunity to be apart of the grand opening of Kids Against Hunger here in Cincinnati. We packaged food all morning that will go to feed hungry children around the world. There was a feeling of excitement and joy in the warehouse that morning as we all worked together. It was a great event!

Sunday we were able to share with the congregation of Hope Church, our home church and where John works, our plans for serving in Bolivia. It was a wonderful morning! We can't express how much it means when someone approaches us to say how excited they are for us and that they will be praying. It was a very encouraging morning.

Back to hunger.....

So last night I could not get to sleep. It was such a busy weekend my mind would just not stop racing. As I glanced at the clock that read 1:38 am I realized that my stomach was hurting. I felt like I was starving! Then it dawned on me that with the business of the day, getting Ella fed and put to bed, and then starting back in on getting the house ready to sell, I had forgotten to eat supper! As I lay there I began to wonder if I would be able to fall asleep without going downstairs and getting something to eat. I was really hungry! It then hit me like a ton of bricks....there are millions of people that go to bed hungry every night. Their stomachs are aching more than mine was yet they don't have the option of running to the fridge to get something to eat. They will probably wake up in the morning with the same dull pain. I tried to remember the last time I even felt hungry and I could not think of one. We are so blessed that eating is more of an event for our own pleasure than a necessity.

While these are hard thoughts to entertain, I'm glad that the Lord laid these thoughts on my mind last night. So often we don't want to even think of such things and we often use the excuse that I am just one person, what can I really do to help the millions of starving people and children around the world? Deep down I know that thought is a lie and I have been convicted that I need to do more! There are so many opportunities out there for all of us. Donate food to a shelter or local food pantry! Donate money to organizations that help in this cause! Do Something! Be Encouraged!

Cocha....what?

It is a strange name, Cochabamba.  Strange as it is, that is the city we will be living in.  Here is a good description from Wikipedia:

Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the third largest city in Bolivia with a metropolitan population of more than 900,000 people. The name derives from a compound of the Quechua words qhocha, or lake, and pampa, or open plain. Residents of the city and surrounding areas are commonly referred to as Cochabambinos. Cochabamba is known as the "City of Eternal Spring" and "The Garden City" due to its spring-like temperatures year round.

We will be getting an apartment in Cochabamba, which is at about 8000 feet in elevations.  Our ministry will take place mostly in the rural areas outside of Cochabamba up in the Andes which we will be traveling to each week.  Some of these villages are over 14,000 feet in elevation!  Most people in the city speak Spanish.  In the rural villiages, Spanish is also used but Quechua is the more common language spoken.  We will be in language school our first three months.  We are praying that we pick up Spanish quickly.  Once we get Spanish down we may try to tackle some Quechua as well.    

Here are some pictures John took of Cochabamba, and some of the rural villiages when he visited last May. View of the Andes from the airport

A few apartment buildings in Cochabamba

Traveling to the rural villages

 

Pictures of a village

Bolivians are much shorter than Americans.  While this is great news for me, you can see that John is going to stick out like a sore thumb!! (John is actually bending his knees in this pic!)

Sweet village girl.