Christmas Fun

We did our best to get ourselves in the Christmas spirit this season, despite being far away from family and enduring temps in the high 70's low 80's.  :)  We enjoyed a nice Christmas lunch with our good friends Phil and Jan Train...and then Ella enjoyed a dip in the pool.  I must say that would be one tradition that I could get used to!

We purchased a Christmas tree last year, so it was fun to get all the decorations out again this year.  It was amazing to look at pictures of Ella decorating the tree last year compared to this year.  She has changed so much!

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

We were also invited to a Christmas party for all the foreign missionaries living here in Sucre.  We were surprised to see many new faces.  You would think, after being here for over a year, we would have already run into all the other "white" people in town.  But we were happy to meet some new people and make new friends.  We had an enjoyable evening doing all things American...potluck, singing Christmas carols and playing games.  It was wonderful to participate in some of these familiar traditions and get to meet some new friends at the same time.  (And not have to speak any Spanish the whole night!)

We had quite the set of musicians and instruments for caroling...piano, violin, guitar, and harmonica!

Ella feeding a rabbit before the Christmas party started.

On Christmas day we had an enjoyable, lazy day.  Just the 3 of us at home.  We had cinnamon rolls, opened up presents, and watched Christmas movies.   And of course we were able to skype with many of our family members which was special.  Amazing to believe that it's all over and we need to start taking down the decorations already!

Hoping your holidays were wonderful!

Bolivian Christmas Traditions

It's hard to believe that this is our second Christmas in Bolivia.  We are slowing learning all about the Bolivian Christmas traditions, some of which are similar to our's in the US, and some very different.

One interesting tradition is the gifting of the canasta or basket from the employer to the employee.  It doesn't matter where you work, this is an expected practice among all Bolivians.  These baskets typically have staple food items, like flour, sugar and rice, as well as special Christmas items, like Christmas bread, cookies, and candies.

This Christmas, we not only were the recipients of a canasta from FH, but also had an opportunity to give a canasta.  With Jennie being pregnant we hired a Bolivian woman named Ciria to help with things around the house.  Ciria comes 4 hours a week to help with some cleaning and most importantly she walks to the market, purchases our produce, and brings it home for us.  Making weekly market trips over the past few months has been nearly impossible, so the help of Ciria has been a welcomed blessing.    Not only has Ciria's help been a blessing to our family, we are also happy to be able to give her the opportunity for employment.  Ciria is a single mother of 2 kids and works very hard (3 jobs total) to support them.    Putting a canasta together for her was fun for us to do.  Since we have gotten to know her and her children over the past few months, we enjoyed finding special items for each of them.

Christmas with FH

Of course, Christmas is never the same when you are away from your family and living in a foreign country, but this past Friday we enjoyed our second "FH Christmas."  The Food for the Hungry offices close for about 3 to 4 weeks during the Holidays.  To celebrate this long awaited break, the FH office typically plans a few special surprises for their employees.  This past Friday we participated in a day of events that jump started the Christmas vacation.

In the morning, the office hosted a "bring your child to work day" event.  In total, around 30 children attended the event which included games, a clown, songs, and competitions.  Ella joined John at work for the morning and came home with a bag full of prizes.

John and Ella ready for work! 

Ella won many of the competitions despite her lack of Spanish skills! 

Morning snack with daddy

In the afternoon John competed in the annual soccer competition between the FH staff from the various work zones.  Though he does not pride himself on soccer knowledge or skills he had a good time and held his own quite well.  Unbeknownst to him he was selected as the "striker" due to his height and potential for "headers."  Comical, considering he needed to verify exactly what those terms meant.  Though John did not score, he did have some real nice plays and even stuffed the stat sheet with a few spectacular assists.

Team Horna C'Kasa in action!  (Thank you Hope Church for providing the attire!  We wore our Cincinnati Reds jersey's)

In the evening, John and Jennie attended the FH Christmas dinner to conclude the day of events.  The highlight of the dinner was a surprise visit by an "Evangelical" Marachi band.  It was quite a way to end the evening and usher in the Christmas season.      

Our table for the evening 

The "Evangelical" Marachi band.  (They were actually pretty good.  However three songs would have been sufficient.  Nine was a little much :) )     

Visitors to the office

Earlier this month the FH Sucre office welcomed a few special visitors.  Luis Noda, Victor Cortez, and Oscar Montes.  Oscar is the director of FH Bolivia, Victor the director of FH Latin America, and Luis, one of three, directors of FH Global.  For two days John was part of welcoming these men and sharing about the work of FH in Sucre and the rural region.  On Tuesday the group visited Horna C'Kasa and Lajastambo, two peri-urban regions that John works closely in.  On Wednesday the group traveled to Tomoyo, Sorojchi, Sorocopa, and Yurjoca to visit the various projects in that region.  John also participated in a lunch pastors meeting helping to share how God is working and using the churches in this region to transform lives.  It was a great visit and John enjoyed getting a chance to talk to these men and get to know their hearts a bit deeper.  

Mountains outside of Tomoyo.  

Cheese produced from the FH dairy micro enterprise business in Sorojchi 

The best yogurt in Bolivia!  (product of the same micro enterprise business)

Oscar sharing with a few indigenous villagers 

John with pastors Mariano and Simon

Luis, Oscar, John, and Victor

Pastors Training

Over the past year many people have asked us what John’s job actually consists of.  What is church strengthening?  There are many components to the job but one area is the encouraging, empowering, and training of rural church pastors.  To give you a quick glimpse into what that looks like we have included a short description of a final graduation meeting this year.  For the past 8 months John has met with a group of indigenous church leaders and pastors on a monthly basis.  The group consists of 6 to 9 pastors that lead churches in the slums of Sucre and the rural mountain areas of Bolivia.  In April of this year Food for the Hungry started a training program with each of these pastors, teaching them biblical principles in Worldview, the Ethics of Development, and Holistic Ministry with the goal being to encourage mutual character transformation and deeper love for God and His creation.  The program consisted of 15 lessons as well as time for sharing, prayer, and encouragement.  Over the past year John has grown to know these pastors well and appreciate their hearts to serve and glorify God in their lives, families, and ministries.  Many of them have made significant sacrifices to share the Gospel and lead their churches.  They share humbling stories each month of the amazing ways God has opened doors or provided for their needs. This past week we concluded our training with these pastors with 2 final lessons and a celebration with graduation certificates.  May the Lord continue to encourage, shape, and bless these pastors.  Their witness has taught us lots and they remind us of the privilege it is to pursue God and be called one of His own.     

Our Graduates!!  Adelia, Elvis, Pancho, Jillian, Anacleto, Simon, Mariano, Martha,

John teaching the final session on "Kingdom Mathematics."  God's desire to multiply our resources and faith for His glory.   

Anacleto and Mariano working on a lesson activity.

The teacher overseeing the work of his students.

Ella's Blog....

...has finally been updated!

You can check it out by clicking here.

Ella just finished her school year!  Her summer break started last week and she won't be back to school until the beginning of February.  We are so amazed at how well she has done in school.  It was pretty hard dropping her off to school that first day, knowing she wouldn't be able to understand a thing.  But she has done so well and made some great friends.  We are especially thankful for her wonderful and compassionate teacher.  On many occasions I would find Ella in her lap when I went to pick her up from school.  Ella made a special connection with her and we know that is a big part of why school went so well for her.

Fun in Horna C'Kasa

This past weekend we participated in a special year ending event with the children of Horna C'Kasa, Alta Munyapata, and Bartolina Sisa.  (FH work zones on the outskirts of Sucre.)  To close out our work in these zones for 2010 the office hosted a special celebration event for the 800 children living in these zones.  A drama and music group organized the event and shared several fun and enjoyable dances and songs throughout the morning.  The children also participated in a variety of games and competitions for special door prizes.  The event was a wonderful celebration for the kids and a great chance for us to reflect on the special relationships and experiences we have shared with many of these children over the past year.  The first year with these kids has flown by and we are thankful for the ways that many of the children have shown us joy and happiness in the midst of tough circumstances.  We are reminded each time we share a smile or give a hug that God has created each of them with overwhelming love and potential, and for this special time in our lives we are blessed to watch them grow and be apart of their lives.  Thank you Yolanda, Delia, Jhoel, Israel, Miguel, Mayra, Ana Belén and hundreds of others who have touched our lives and shown us a touching side of God's love over the past year.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

There was a great turnout for the event.  There were over 500 kids there!

It was an unusually cool day for this time of year.   For a snack, all the kids got hot chocolate...

...and fried bread.

Cutie Pie

Our friend Ana Belen.  It was hard to get a picture without a mouth full!

Joel, another good friend.  He is usually John's little shadow.