The rest of the JIREH story

Jireh rescues street children from a dangerous life

None of the 40 children living on the streets of Cochabama admitted to the Jireh program run by OBADES, the social program wing of the Bolivian Baptist Union, sniff glue, use drugs or alcohol, Tomas Gabriel Huiza (Gabriel), the project director asserted at his meeting with Laurier Heights Baptist Church advance team.

The team had been scheduled to meet with Gabriel at the Jireh site near the main plaza of Cochabamba the first Saturday, but the demonstrations by the camposinos (mainly poor rural farmers) forced a cancellation and the team was not able to reschedule a visit of the Jireh site until the afternoon of its last full day in Bolivia. Nevertheless, it received an insight into the program during a meeting attended by Gabriel on the Thursday of the Laurier team’s first week in Bolivia.

On hearing the program was drug free, one Laurier team member asked how Gabriel could make such a bold statement because Canadians are familiar with drug addiction issues and know the temptations are strong.

Gabriel was un-phased by the question admitting that absolute certainly is difficult, but he has become close friends with the children and that is why he is confident he can make the statement that the street children in his program are not users. Besides, the children all know each other and if one was sniffing glue, or drinking, another would tell Gabriel.

A program volunteer, Mabel Libni Benavidez Maranon, says Gabriel is more than a social worker to the Jireh clients. “Tomas is like a second father.” She says Gabriel is able to solve many of their problems and runs a good project and loves the kids.

The word Jireh means “God is my provider” and through support from OBADES and the Sharing Way, run by Canadian Baptists Missions, Jireh is attempting to address some of the needs of 40 children and it will soon increase that number to 45. If it had resources (space, money and volunteers), it could take in many more. The need is immense.

Jireh offers the children a chance to attend school and provides them with a place to do their homework. Without education they will have little chance to escape the streets and face a high probability of ending up in jail. Jireh also aims at Christian formation, provides one meal a week, addresses some health issues and arranges for some technical training.

Initially Jireh served only shoeshine children, but it is expanding its scope to accept children who live and work on the street. It cannot accept all children who have a need. Younger children are taken first and they must not abuse drugs, glue or alcohol. At the moment glue sniffing is a particular problem and visitors to Cochabama have no trouble identifying the glue sniffers on the street.

Most of the children Jireh serves are from families who have emigrated from other departments (provinces) or from adjacent country places around the city of Cochabamba. The first achievement of Jireh has been to motivate them to study again. Some of them couldn’t get to attend school without the intervention of Jireh because they do not have identification cards. Without identification cards it is impossible to register in school. Jireh helps them through the red tape and provides the children with an identity. Last year 80% of the children finished their grade and advanced to the next level.

Although it receives financial support from the Baptist church, Jireh has a limited budget and does not have full time paid staff. It currently operates out of a small building behind a parking lot. There is one large room, three smaller rooms including an office and a kitchen. Space is a problem. Gabriel would like to rent an apartment, but landlords are cautious about having street children on their property. Gabriel has been looking for two years. One possibility for more space could be provided if funds are found to buy a property adjacent to Casa de La Amistad that would benefit both programs!

A new initiative is to provide scholarships for five children to take technical training at a cost of $20US/month in fields such as computers, industrial sewing and electrical construction.

Thomas Gabriel presents a picture of the Jireh kids to Laurier


In a question and answer portion of the meeting, Laurier pastor Steve Simala Grant offered to find prayer partners for each of the children and Gabriel will forward a list of the children. Gabriel, understanding that Laurier is in a partnership with the Bolivian church, also said that the Jireh children are praying for Laurier Heights Baptist Church.

Laurier member Norma Whittle read one of the prayers Laurier members sent with the team for the purpose of being shared with the Bolivian Church. A Laurier young adult prayed: “That the children and people of Bolivia would see and readily experience the pure love of God that is so unconditional.”

Gabriel was moved by the prayer and the emotion Whittle displayed when reading it. Gabriel said that a verse, Mathew 18:5, helps him. The King James Version, favoured in Bolivia reads: “And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.” He asked that God bless Laurier’s endeavours in Bolivia, especially among the children.

Carlitos rescued from streets he fled to when aged eight
Tomas Gabriel Huiza told the story of one child, now a teenager, who attends Jireh in order to illustrate the problems faced by street children.

Carlitos escaped from his home when he was eight years old, unable to continue witnessing the fights between his parents. He slept on a mattress outside near a lake on outskirts of downtown Cochabama, or sometimes under a bridge or in the main square.

When Gabriel first met Carlitos as a 12 year old, it was Gabriel’s intention to restore Carlitos to his family. By then, Carlitos’ father had died. Gabriel found Carlitos’ mother who worked in the market. When he told her he knew where her son was and asked if she wanted to see him, she broke down crying. There was an emotional reunion. Nevertheless, Carlitos never returned to his mother permanently. While he did not see her often, he did provide her with some money or clothes on a regular basis.

Carlitos’ mother also passed away recently, but Carlitos could not face going to the funeral as he felt it would only make him feel worse. For a time he sniffed glue, but he realized the dangers of that lifestyle and is now free from drugs. He is living with his brother. He is enrolled in school and passing. Education is a key to escaping the street life.

Laurier Advance team leaves hearts in Bolivia

Laurier team left Bolivia on Thursday Jan 25, 2007.
As was mentioned at our farewell dinner to our Bolivian hosts, "We may easily leave our hearts behind." There will be a few more blog entries over the next 10 days to complete some of the stories of our incredible experience.

(Profiles written about three young missionaries are the focus of this posting. See story below.)


A surprize at Santa Cruz Airport ... 2 taxis


Viviana takes the Laurier Team on a tour of the Santa Cruz Plaza

Young People put their Christian faith into Action!!

Missionary work can be performed regardless of age, as three young people encountered by the Laurier Heights advance team proved. At this stage in their lives all three are volunteers who want to put their Christian faith in action.

Two of the young people are Bolivian and one is a Canadian. All are in their early 20s. The advance team met Mabel Libni Benavidez Maranon (Benavidez) in the first week when she attended the team’s meeting with OBADES, the Bolivian Baptist Union equivalent of the Sharing Way (see previous story on this blog) and she also was at the children's fiesta at the Casa de La Amistad to act as an interpreter. (See the blog entry "A Big Party")

The team encountered Chris Mager, from Richmond B.C. Canada on their first Sunday at First Baptist Church (Calama) in Cochabamba. He accompanied the team on its visit to the Baptist Theological School, where he stays in the residence. Mager also helped us paint at the Casa one morning and attended our farewell dinner.

Viviana Claure Veizaga (Claure) appeared unexpectedly on the last day as the team was leaving Bolivia. She rescued us from 10 hours in a strange city with our limited ability to communicate in Spanish. The team’s first leg from Cochabamba back to Edmonton was a 45 minute hop to Santa Cruz. The schedule had us arriving about 1 p.m. and leaving just before midnight. We had to change airports and either sit there bored, or find lockers to store our baggage and then take taxis back downtown. Instead, to our delight and astonishment, an engaging young Bolivian woman approached us and asked us if we were Canadian....in English!. It turned out that after we were in the air Emigdio Veizaga, one of the two principal coordinators of our trip in Bolivia, had phoned his granddaughter who was on a vacation break in Santa Cruz and asked her to meet us. She did. Not only did she facilitate the change in airports, she arrived with two taxi's and took us to a church in central Santa Cruz to store our belongings securely. She then took us to a great place for lunch where we met her Aunt and another friend who lives in Santa Cruz. Lunch was followed by a grand walking tour of the city’s main plaza and the surrounding area. (See two photos above)

Volunteering in order to make a difference for kids

Mabel Libni Benavidez Maranon has lead a comfortable life, but says she volunteered with the Jireh program (one of Laurier’s two focal points) because she wanted to feel useful.

“My family has everything,” she says, “not that we are rich.” However, her life is still a big contrast to the children she works with as a volunteer. They live and earn their keep on the streets, primarily shining shoes.

It was her father who referred the Jireh program to her. When confronted with the suggestion that many fathers might consider working a project aimed an inner city street children too risky for their daughters, Benavidez reacted with surprise. “I’m never scared,” she says.

She has found that street children do not trust people easily, but she has earned their trust and many tell her their troubles. She takes their problems to Jireh director Tomas Gabriel Huiza and they act as a team in their attempts to find solutions.

She likes working with Gabriel calling him a “good man”. Further, she observes that, “Tomas is like a second father to them. He is very nice.”

Gabriel is taking public accounting in university at Cochabamba. Public accounting could lead to jobs with the civil service or with non-governmental agencies. She intends to keep volunteering to make a difference where she can.

Encountering the challenges of cross-cultural ministry

His Christian faith is providing Canadian Chris Mager with an opportunity to pursue his interest in different countries and cross-cultural encounters.

“There is nothing more rewarding that hearing God’s word and following it. If you are thinking about going to different countries and cross-cultural settings, it is really exciting and worthwhile,” Mager says.

Cochabamba is his second mission experience. In his first year out of high school he attended a short term mission in Guatamala where he learned “a bunch of Spanish” and fell in love with Latin America. The experience gave him a head start in his current one year placement in Cochabamba. He has over 10 months left before he returns to Canada.

Sometimes living in a different country can be challenging, Mager acknowledges, but he does not think courage is an issue. “I’ve never thought about it that way. Maybe I’m more ignorant than scared,” he reflects modestly.

Canadian missionary Terry Janke is Mager’s mentor in Bolivia and Mager appreciates the opportunity to shadow an experienced missionary. He says he is learning the language and seeing how the Gospel is delivered in a different culture.

“I’m growing closer to God in an amazing way,” he says.

Mager’s placement is part of his four year program in Intercultural Studies at the Columbia Bible College located at Abbotsford, B.C., the same institution attended by Laurier member, Alex Wiens. (The two don’t know each other.) The third year of the program is a field placement designed to give students experience in the field. In the long run Mager would like to be a long term missionary and he would like to train local leaders around the world.

If people want to share his experiences, Mager invites them to look at his blog at: www.xanga.com/cloudedjourney.

Scramble needed to meet need of kids in jail
The passion to serve has been passed down the generations. Viviana Claure Veizaga, granddaughter of Emigdio Veizaga, and fourth year Medical student in La Paz shares her grand father's concern for social justice. She related the following story over lunch in Santa Cruz with the Laurier team.

Just before Christmas in 2006, Viviana hoped to provide relief from jail for a few children living with their parents in a large crowded La Paz prison, but instead found herself in a mad scramble to meet an unexpected response.

Claure was aware of the Casa de La Amistad program in Cochabamba, one of the two focal projects for the Laurier Heights Baptist Church Bolivian partnership. She regretted there was no similar project for prisons in La Paz and so decided, of her own volition, to run something similar to a vacation Bible school for children living with their parents in a prison in La Paz. The children themselves are not accused nor convicted of any crime and in fact their parents might be still awaiting trial and not yet convicted either.

Claure delivered 70 invitations to a seemingly disinterested staff member at the prison and Claure expected she and two other volunteers would easily deal with a handful of children. Instead 170 turned up the first day putting Claure’s well intention plans into near chaos. She had to deal with a surprised bureaucracy inside the jail which stated she had not issued her invitations in a proper manner. Claure apologized and promised to do things right in the future.

On the first day there were moments of panic when a boy in a wheelchair kept yelling that his brother was lost, but eventually it was found the brother had simply gone on ahead.

Even though she recruited four more helpers, it was clear she could not cope with 170 children and so told them only girls could return one day and boys the next. She also went to the Canadian Baptist Institute in La Paz to borrow school space.

Word was out in the jail that presents would be given out on the final day and 230 children showed up. She was thankful that she and her friends had obtained 250 small toys just in case some extra kids might arrived.

The experience might overwhelm some volunteers, but not Claure. She scrambled to find the space, the extra volunteers and the food and drinks to make the children's time special and memorable. When she returns to La Paz she hopes to run a “happy hour” on Saturdays for the same children. Claure also hopes to work with children in her future career. When she completes her fourth year of medicine she wants to specialize in pediatrics.

Visit to Free Hands, Jireh and then a farewell

Bolivians want us to be one in Christ

At a farewell dinner in Cochabama on Tuesday evening, Emigdio Veizaga, administrator of the Canadian Baptist Missions program that brought Laurier Heights to Bolivia thanked the Laurier team for having open hands, hearts and minds, and for being open to God leading us in our future together. (In the background is Tomas Gabriel Huiza, director of Jireh). A story about the farewell will be added to the blog in the future. This entry may mark the end of the entries written in Bolivia. Appreciation was shown by Laurier in the form of small gifts, including a drawing our church, an Alberta flag and other items. By the way, the Laurier team assures all viewers that the bottles in the photo are not beer.

Jireh is one of our focal points

Laurier visits Jireh program

The Jireh program for street children in Cochabamba is one of the two projects for children Laurier Heights Baptist Church is focussed on. A group of kids were happy to have their photograph taken with Jireh director, Tomas Gabriel Huiza, today (Tuesday).
Putting a sparkle on her shoes

Norma Whittle´s shoes received a makeover, thanks to Marcos, one of the street kids served by Jireh. Looking on is Juan Carlos.


Sharing love

Delia, one of the children Laurier met at Jireh, hugs an unnamed little girl.












Free Hands supports women and children in
San Sebastian prison

The Laurier team had their picture taken with women of the Free Hands Cooperative.
The Christian organization provides income for inmates and inmates recently released from jail. The income earned by the mothers supports many of the same children who attend the Casa De La Amistad.

Free Hands provides a complimentary service

Free Hands Cooperative is a complementary program to Casa De La Amistad, one of the two projects in Cochabamba which will be the focus of Laurier Heights Baptist Church´s partnership with the Bolivian Baptist Union.

Free Hands was started by Suzanne Windsor, a Welsh woman who came to Cochabamba with the intention of starting a program for children eight years ago. Instead, she took on a mission with women prisoners, realizing that any help she gave them would help children.

Laurier learned about the program from Alison Currie when it attended a service at First Baptist Church (Calama) in Cochabamba. Alison´s laugh and outgoing personality encouraged Laurier to visit the cooperative and purchase articles, knowing that by supporting Free Hands, the purchases were also supporting the children at Casa. Some of the handcrafted goods will available to Laurier members at future fund raisers.

Currie has been at Free Hands for about a year. She was born in Glascow, but calls London her permanent residence.

Free Hands has about 25 members. A story run earlier on the blog about San Sebastian prison for women mentioned there was a room with sewing machines. Currie says there are actually 15 machines. Not only are the machines used by members of the cooperative, other inmates use them when they take sewing lessons. The two hour lessons also include a five minute Bible dynamic, which Currie says is presented in simple terms.

The members of the cooperative may supply their own materials and have their products purchased by the cooperative, or more commonly, Free Hands supplies the material and pays the women for their work.

Currie says the intention of the missionaries is to train the women to take over the cooperative. The women need to acquire business skills, including the use of computers and learn a minimum of English.

Anyone wishing more details may check the internet at: http://www.freehandsbolivia.org/.


Products from Prison
Sue Hunter and Norma Whittle pose outside the entrance to the Free Hands Cooperative in the photo at left. It will soon move a block away.







In the bottom left photo, Daniel Johns shares a joke with Alison Currie, volunteer and short term missionary to Free Hands, as well as a friend to CBM.

It is up to Steve Simala Grant to perform the most important task, spend money (bottom right).

Our Trip to La Paz leaves indelible memories

Worship in the world´s highest city
The Laurier Heights Baptist Church advance team worshipped at First Baptist Church on El Prado on Sunday. Pastor Steve Simala Grant preached, as the photos below show. There is an interesting story about the location of First Baptist. The founderers began building on another site, but encountered opposition from people who did not want to see a Protestant Church in La Paz. The church was forced to move to El Prado, but ironically El Prado became one of the main streets in Bolivia offering the church an ideal location.



Simon Bolivar provided local sermon illustration for Pastor Steve

Pastor Steve based his message on a sermon he preached in 2001 which used an illustration about Simon Bolivar freeing the last slaves after achieving independence from Spain. He challenged the listeners to accept God´s grace to free them from the slavery of sin. Steve told the congregation we are all chosen by God.

Translation was provided by Ivan Gutierrez. All weekend Steve told Ivan he would find a word Ivan could not translate. The word that stumped Ivan was "iceskate". The Laurier delegation broke into laughter, leaving the rest of the audience puzzled. Ivan confessed to the Spanish speakers his confusion and all joined in laughter. Ivan matched Steve´s words, expressions and gestures very accurately.


Women's Anniversary
The women lined up at the front of the church in recognition of an anniversary that would be marked by a special service later on Sunday and in the following week. For more details see an early blog entry by Isabelle Johnson.




Collegial handshake

At the end of the service Pastor Steve shook hands with the Pastor at First Baptist Church in La Paz. Prior to the arrive of the Laurier delegation, the Pastor lead an adult Sunday School class which focussed on God´s love.



Empty hole soon to be filled

First Baptist Church on El Prado in La Paz used to stand on this site. A skyscraper was built next door which damaged the church and it fell down. In compensation, First Baptist has been meeting on the second floor of the skyscraper. The good news is construction on a new building will begin in 60 days on the old site and it will be a 10 story building.



The story of our road trip to La Paz is yet to be told

The trip from Chochabamba (elev 2550m) was a climb of 2000m up some twisty well engineered paved roads (to Cdn prairie standards) and provided outstanding scenery and glimpses of life in the Andes. The photo at right is the high point of the climb.

The high points of the trip were vists to several sites related to the history of Canadian Baptist Mission to Bolivia. There have been terrible sacrifices and stunning successes. We can be be proud of our accomplishes. More on these visits will be put on the blog at a later time.

Children need to escape jail lifestyle

Children need to escape jail lifestyle

by Daniel Johns

The Laurier Heights team visited the San Sebastion prison for women last Friday. We were not allowed to take any photos. It is important to know what the living conditions are in this prison because the children that the Casa de La Amistad serves come from San Sebastion, and from two nearby prisons for men. I will describe what San Sebastion was like physically, but I can only leave it to the reader´s imagination to consider how it would feel to actually live there. I can tell you that living there will be worse than my description of the physical surroundings. I know this because as part of my job I have visited every prison in Alberta, but one. I read inmate files. There are under ground power struggles and overt violence in all jails, no matter how civilized some of them appear on the surface. This is true no matter whether the jails house men or women, but men´s jails may be more dangerous.

One hundred and thirty eight women and their children currently live in a space that occupies a piece of ground roughly 35 meters by 35 meters, just a little bigger than the piece of land an average Canadian home occupies. The building sits on a street corner, is square and has a courtyard in the middle. From the outside the building is not remarkable and unlike San Sebastion prison for men, which lies kitty corner to the prison for women, there are no guard towers or barb wire.

Again there is little remarkable about the entrance, which is staffed by both men and women in uniform. The jail starts for the visitor, when you step through door leading into the courtyard. It was not as traumatic an entrance as many of us feared, but probably more dramatic than expected. The immediate impression is colour, movement and faces. A lot of people exist in a small space and life centres on the courtyard. It is almost impossible to see the sky, first all because the residents sit under awnings and secondly because the space between the buildings is criss-crossed with clotheslines, so thick it would be hard to string many more. The clothes belong not just to inmates, but to people outside the prison who pay inmates to wash their clothes. Inmates need to earn cash. The government gives them a daily amount to buy all their supplies. It is equivalent to about what it would cost to buy a two litre bottle of coke. This means many live in extreme poverty.

Other businesses in the jail include restaurants, stores and a sewing room where Pastor Steve Simala Grant purchased a table cloth. The sewing room is approximately the size of the average Edmonton living room and had 10 to 15 sewing machines. The restaurant and stores were in the courtyard, as were cooking and washing facilities for inmates to look after their own needs. Cooking is done on a series of hot plates with bare wires strung down the walls leading to precarious looking breaker switches. The inmates were adequately dressed. Unlike the nearby men´s prison, which emits a strong unpleasant ordour, there was no stink and conditions were reasonably clean, considering the population of the facility.

On one floor we found women dancing to taped music. The mattresses on which they sleep were lined up against the wall and some children were sleeping along the walls. Another wing had the commercial laundry facilities and we were told a day care, although we had trouble identifying the day care. Our guide, one of the inmates, told us it was not in operation because visitors like to see it, but don´t help. We were asked to pay for fixing the dryer because in the rainy season it is difficult to dry the customers’ clothes quick enough.

We were also asked to pay for five small electrical heaters used to warm water for the showers. Ivan Gutierrez, who accompanied us, said we could agree to this because the children the Casa serves need the showers. Inmates are allowed one shower a day, but the cost varies depending on when the shower is taken. It is free in the middle of the night and children may shower free, but only at certain times of day. The toilet and shower facility is cramped and dungeon like.

We didn´t see many of the sleeping rooms, but we did pass by one. It was about three meters square with bunk beds on three sides. I understand that in some cases a woman may live in a cell one meter wide with children.

Moving up and down the outside staircases surrounding the courtyard means brushing against people, some sitting breast feeding their babies, some calling across the courtyard and other visiting with each other. Several were obviously pregnant. Children of all ages, including teenaged boys were mixed throughout. A loudspeaker made periodic announcements and at one point I noticed a female guard interacting with an inmate in a friendly manner, giving her a hug. There were window boxes hanging from some railings, many containing house plants that would be familiar to Canadians.

The children are not inmates. They run and out the front door and across a fairly busy street to a square with trees and benches. Casa De la Amistad is on the opposite side of the square. Older children perform errands. I saw one girl, approximately 13, return with two bags of potatoes.

The children also live in the men´s jails. Conditions for the children may vary, depending on the wealth of the inmate who may be able to afford a private room and bring his wife and family into jail with him.

I have heard suggestions, even before I went to visit the jail, that perhaps the Bolivian system is better than the Canadian system because at least the children stay with the parents and are not put in foster homes. Canadian foster homes, as we all know, can fail (although they often perform very well). Casa de La Amistad program does not agree children should be jail. They say the children are exposed to a culture that does not give them examples of how to escape from a criminal environment. They are exposed to violence, ways of speaking and acting that are not appropriate, and can not study for school nor do homework. School may be their only chance to get ahead.

The tour was arranged by the acting director of the Casa de La Amistad, Carla Botani, who accompanied us. It was gratifying to see the affection with which she was received by the children and their mothers. When we left, two young girls hung on to Carla´s hand and walked across the square back to the Casa for the party. Carla´s dream is that one day there will a residence where the children can live outside the jail and its influences, but still be able to pay regular visits to their nearby families.

Meetings & Greetings from the Bolivian Baptist Women's Union!

The Bolivian women Isabelle Johnson met are (left to right): Martha de Sanabria, Antonieta Valencia (President Bolivia Baptist women) Lidia Bascon de Rivas, Hermegilda Torrez, Isabelle Johnson, Sonia Zubieta de Riffarachi.

Isabelle is welcomed by Sonia Zubieta de Riffarachi, vice-president for Baptist women in Latin America.

Story by Isabelle Johnson

On our second day here in Cochabamba, we were just finishing lunch at the BBU Center when five women walked in to have a luncheon meeting. Imagine my surprise to discover that they were members of the Bolivian Baptist Women’s Union! I spent an hour with them, finding out about their work here. No, my Spanish isn’t up to that, but one of the women, Sonia Zubieta de Riffarachi, vice president of UFBAL (Latin American Baptist women), was able to translate for us!

They told me that their main areas of ministry are missions and leadership training, the same as ours. They invited me to their conference in La Paz, but we’ll be heading home by that time. Too bad! However, at their request, I was honored to write a letter that will be included in their conference docket. It is printed below, along with the Spanish translation done by Ivan Gutierrez, our multi-talented host here.

When I think back to the prayer before we left, that we would connect with people in similar positions, I am amazed at how I “happened” to meet these women. Who knows where this initial connection will lead?

By the way, the current president of the Baptist Union here is a wonderful woman, Yolanda de FloresJ

ALBERTA WOMEN IN FOCUS

Friendship, Outreach, Character, Unity, Service

“Focused on our calling, through Jesus Christ” Ephesians 1.18

Warm greetings to you, dear Bolivian sisters in Christ!

Do you remember receiving an unexpected gift? Were you delighted? That is just how I felt when I met five of your Baptist women leaders at the UBB office on January 13, just two days after arriving in Cochabamba from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada! What a wonderful gift from God!

It is my privilege to bring greetings from our Baptist women in Alberta. We share your passion for missions and leadership training. We have an annual retreat in Alberta, and a bi-annual leadership conference for Western Canada. I am thankful that Judy Shierman and her daughter, Lisa, are serving on our Alberta committee!

How I would have enjoyed meeting with you at your conference in La Paz, but our team of 6 from Laurier Heights Baptist Church in Edmonton will be leaving on January 24. We have been involved with a project close to your hearts, the Casa de la Amistad. We are praying as we paint two classrooms there. One is bright yellow, and the other green! We will continue to partner with the Casa, and Jireh, over the next three years.

We appreciated the Baptist Women’s World Day of Prayer service last November. Thank you to Latin American Baptist women for preparing the service! We gathered from various churches in Edmonton, including a Spanish speaking congregation. What a thrill to pray in a small group with several who prayed in Spanish!

This has been my first visit to Bolivia, or to any country in South America. Your country is very beautiful, and we have been amazed at the warmth, kindness and vibrant faith of those we have met. We have been truly blessed and encouraged!

If you would like to know more about Baptist women in Western Canada, see our website: www.womeninfocus.org

“May the God who gives endurance and unity give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus.” Romans 15.5

Dios les bendiga!

Grace and peace in Christ,

Isabelle Johnson
President, Alberta Women in Focus

MUJERES DE ALBERTA EN ENFOQUE

Amistad, expansión, carácter, unidad, servicio

“Enfocadas en nuestro llamado, a través de Jesucristo” Efesios 1:18

Reciban nuestros calidos saludos queridas hermanas en Cristo

Se recuerdan el recibir un inesperado presente? Les gusto? Es así como yo me sentí cuando conocí cinco lideres de las mujeres bautistas en las oficinas de la UBB el 13 de enero, después de 2 días de nuestro arribo a Cochabamba de Edmonton, Alberta, Canadá, que regalo tan especial de parte de Dios!...

Es un privilegio traerles los saludos de las mujeres bautistas en Alberta. Compartimos su pasión por las misiones y el entrenamiento del liderazgo. Tenemos un retiro anual en Alberta y una conferencia bianual de liderazgo en el oeste de Canadá. Estoy agradecida que Judy Shierman y su hija, Lisa están sirviendo en nuestro comité en Alberta.

Cuanto disfrutaría reunirme con ustedes en la conferencia en su próxima conferencia en la Paz, pero nuestro equipo de 6 miembros de la iglesia Laurier Heights en Edmonton tendrá que retornar el 24 de Enero. Estamos involucrados en un proyecto que capto nuestros corazones, La casa de la Amistad, estamos orando al tiempo que pintamos los cursos allí. Uno es de Amarillo brillante y el otro verde. Continuaremos nuestra sociedad con la Casa de la Amistad y Jireh en los próximos 3 anos.

Apreciamos el día mundial de oración de las mujeres bautistas del mundo en el pasado mes de noviembre. Agradecemos a las mujeres bautistas de Latinoamérica por preparar el servicio, nos juntamos con varias iglesias en Edmonton, incluyendo congregaciones de habla hispana, que tremendo poder orar en pequeños grupos donde muchas oraron en español.

Esta fue mi primera visita a Bolivia y mi primer país en Sudamérica, su país es muy hermoso y nos admiramos por la calidez y bondad y fe vibrante de todos los que conocimos. Verdaderamente fuimos bendecidos y animados.

Si gustarían conocer mas acerca de la mujeres bautistas en el oeste de Candad pueden acceder en nuestra pagina Web: www.womeninfocus.org

"Que el Dios que da eternidad y unidad les de un espíritu de unidad entre ustedes siguiendo a Jesús.” Romanos 15.5

Dios les bendiga!

Gracias y paz en Cristo,

Isabelle Johnson

Presidente, mujeres in Focus, Alberta.

A Big Party! ....and now for a Road Trip

Laurier advance team finally gets to meet the children at Casa de La Amistad


Party time
Children who live in nearby prisons had a chance to inspect their new brighter surroundings at Casa de La Amistad Friday afternoon, thanks to the painting efforts of the Laurier Heights advance team. Even in the happiest of times, an element of sadness may exist. Why did the girl at the top right not eat her cake and pop? She took it to the prison, probably to give to someone else.

Below Norma holds a baby









Story by Norma Whittle

The long awaited meeting with the children from the Casa de La Amistad arrived. Today (Friday) we had a Fiesta!!

The children were all waiting for us when we arrived back at the Casa this afternoon after we went home and cleaned up upon the completion of our task of painting two classrooms. As we entered the room we had painted yellow, the children were very excited to see us. I must admit it was total chaos.

Many children were anxious to have their picture taken and more than eager to give us hugs. Only a small group of kids were actually invited but word got out in the prisons and lo and behold about 45+ showed up.

After we spent a good chunk of time taking their pictures and working our way throughout the group, one of the teachers got everyone to gather into a large circle. Each of us took a turn introducing ourselves to which the kids yelled back a very enthusiastic Hola!! She led them and us in a Spanish version of Head and Shoulders which Isabelle followed with the English version. The kids got great giggles out of the way Isabelle repeated the song, but accelerated the action with each repetition.

They were all then treated to a plate of sweets (cakes) and a glass of either orange or blue pop. Wow look out tonight!! They also went home with balloons and plastic sunglasses. Before we knew it they were all rushing out the door and back down the street to the prison. I kind of stood there wondering what had just happened. It was all very busy and seemed so short. I wished I had had the chance to find out their names and hear their stories, but for today it was only a brief encounter. Each little life had so much more behind it. Each set of eyes held the secrets, the joy and the pain.

A now a word from our Editor

It´s true. We´re holding back some good stuff.

The Laurier Heights team has learned a lot more about Casa de La Amistad and Jireh than has been reported to date. They are exciting programs, but events have accelerated for us in Bolivia and we can´t get it all on the blog. This has not been a holiday trip and it never was intended to be one. We are having fun, but our program is full. We have to sleep. Ray and I are up late most evenings finalizing our stories.

Even though you aren´t hearing everything now, we seen an advantage. It might be more effective and more fun to share some of this information in first person. Even if parts of the story aren´t reported until we are back in Canada, we will make sure that the missing parts will be reproduced on the blog so that those of you who can´t attend Laurier will still get the whole story.

Besides, we aren´t sure many of you are actually reading the blog, judging by the few comments we´ve received to date. Let´s have some interaction. It’s what the blog technology is designed for.
---Daniel Johns














Party favours
Isabelle places a Canada tatoo on a willing girl while the boys try out their sunglasses beside a bunch of balloons.

A message from our team leader

After transforming two classrooms, Laurier hits the road

Story by Pastor Sue Hunter

Friday has finally arrived. We have been working hard all week at the CASA - preping, painting, and cleaning. It has been good to watch the transformation of the two classrooms all week, but it was extremely satisfying today to finally finish our work. Even more satisfying was to see the children enjoying the bright new space and to hear how encouraged the teachers are by our efforts here.

On top of all our work at the CASA, (check out the paint including the ceiling detail in above picture) we have had a very full schedule this week, as you have been reading about in this blog. We are so happy that we have access to this sort of technology, someone who knows how to run it all (Ray), and a journalist (Daniel) who knows how to write it all down. Being able to communicate with you like this is an unexpected blessing. And we greatly appreciate your comments!

When we began this adventure, we prayed that we would see God around every corner. And I have seen that - in our team and in the Bolivian people. Our team is growing together and it is great to see how our gifts and talents work together.

It has been inspiring to see the passion that God has placed in the hearts of his people here. The people we have talked with overflow with compassion. They are deeply committed to what God has called them to do and they keep doing it, even when they do not have all the resources in place. They are not afraid to have big dreams - and they seem to have a faith in God that will carry those dreams to fruition.

Now, this phase of our hard work is done and we will be going to La Paz for the weekend. We do not know if we will have access to the internet while we´re gone, but we should be back here at the CBM offices later on Monday. We trust that God will keep leading and guiding and opening our eyes to his work here.

However, we expect an new entry Saturday evening because we will ask Pastor Lawrence Kim to post an article from Isabelle Johnson about an event that took place earlier this week.

Bolivian Baptists link social action with evangelism

Social action linked to evangelism

In Bolivia the Baptist Church has never separated social action from evangelism, Juan Guaygua, Director of Organizacion Bautista de Desarrollo Social (OBADES) told the Laurier Heights Baptist Church advance team Thursday.

The meeting at the Bolivian Baptist Union (BBU) board room in Cochabama was called to give the Laurier team a description of Casa de La Amistad and Jireh, the two programs that Laurier has agreed to focus on in its partnership with the BBU. Guaygua provided an overview of the five programs OBADES runs across Bolivia and then Carla Botani, Director of Casa de La Amistad and Tomas Gabriel Huiza, Director of the Jireh project, described their projects in detail.

The Laurier team was moved and excited by the description of both Casa and Jireh, but the amount of information received at the meeting is too much to write about all at once and so, at the risk of saving the most relevant and exiting for last, this entry will concentrate on the activities of OBADES and report only the brief description of Casa and Jireh provided by Guaygua in his overview.

Earlier, the Laurier team spent most of its day at the Casa and finished the painting of two classrooms just in time for the meeting. Pastor Steve Simala Grant prayed over a paint bucket, asking it to extend to allow a second coat of yellow paint around the entire room. Miraculously, or so it seemed, there was at least half a litre left at the end of job. Tomorrow morning will be spent partly on clean up and, hopefully, on a tour of the jail so that Laurier will have understanding of the conditions the Casa children live under. The tour promises to be difficult. Just walking by the outside of the prison is enough to assure a Canadian that it will not be like an Alberta jail.

OBADES has been set up as a separate legal identity to run the BBU´s social program, Guaygua explained. While it is a separate entity, the distance between OBADES and its parent organization, BBU, is small. OBADES is registered for planning and tax purposes as a Non-Governmental Organization and at present it runs five social development projects across Bolivia.

Guaygua began with a description of Programa de Alfabetization Quechua (PAQ) which offers literacy programs for adults in rural areas who speak Quechuan, a native language. The students did not have an opportunity to attend school or church as children and are being provided a second chance. Once they achieve literacy in their first language, they are also taught Spanish. The program has had a visible impact and the first students are now teachers. In addition to literacy, farming advice is offered.

Another program aimed at rural Bolivia is Proyecto de Auto ayuda y Desarrollo Integral a Familias del Area Rural (PADEFAR). This program is supported by Canadian Baptist Mission´s Sharing Way (as are Jireh and Casa de La Amistad). PADEFAR operates across the country in 20 communities involving 500 families. The general idea is to offer loans which can come in the form of seed and livestock or money.

If seed or livestock is provided, it will be certified seed and animals with a known pedigree which assures the borrower of a decent return. At the end of the agricultural cycle, the farmer repays with a share of the produce. If cash is loaned, the interest rate is 16% which accounts for defaults and inflation. The aim of the program is to break even. Money that is returned is loaned to someone else. In some cases communities have proven to be good money managers and they have control over their own fund, making decisions on which project will be funded. Again, repayment is expected at the end of the agricultural cycle.

One of the difficulties has been getting borrowers to understand the concept of repayment. Other NGO´s give away their assistance, but OBADES does not believe this is good because it creates dependency. Surveys show that OBADES´ approach benefits the local economies.

A third segment of the PADEFAR program concentrates on providing skills such a tailoring to rural women. Also, guidance in agricultural practises is an element of PADEFAR. Technical advice covers a wide variety of crops and livestock such as llama, cattle, pigs, geese, chickens, rabbits and bees.

Guaygua noted that rural Bolivians are very poor. Statistics show that 96% do not have basic services such as electricity and running water. In many areas there are no roads and farmers must walk and carry their produce to market. Most of the projects are run in association with established churches. Overall, OBADES takes great satisfaction in the accomplishment of PADEFAR, Guaygua stated.

A third program, Residencia Estudianti unversitaria en Santa Cruz, Autofianciado (RUBA) is self-supporting and provides low cost housing for rural students who wish to attend university in Santa Cruz.

As noted earlier in this entry, Guaygua provided only a brief outline of Jireh and Casa de La Amistad. The stories told by the directors responsible for those programs will be reported in detail on a later occasion.

Guaygua said the main goal of Casa is to support the health of all those children whose parents are in jail. Food, health care and help with studies is offered and as well Casa buys health insurance for the children as health insurance is not a universal social program in Bolivia.

Jireh initially was set up to assist shoeshine kids, but is extending its reach to any child working on the streets. It encourages children to return to school and acquire skills that will some day provide a decent living. One meal a week and some health care is also provided.

At the end of all the presentations the Laurier team presented Guaygua with soccer balls, skipping ropes, frisbees, pencils, tooth brushes and toothpaste and asked him to make the decision on how they should be divided between the Jireh and Casa programs. Guaygua accepted the gifts from Laurier and asked for God´s blessing on the church.


Hands of friendship
Norma Whittle presented Tomas Gabriel Huiza, Director of Jireh, with a drawing of Laurier and a personal gift to thank him for his description of Jireh and to assist him in his work.


Laurier connects with Casa de La Amistad
Isabelle Johnson provided Laurier´s thanks to Carla Botani, Director of the Casa de La Amistad. In addition to a drawing of Laurier, gifts were given to Botani to assist her in her work.


Its about the kids
Jose dropped by the Laurier work project at the Casa de La Amistad. He and Norma Whittle enterained each other for a while. The interuption was welcomed because the Casa program is aimed a children like Jose. Having Jose around did have some disadvantages. His running sole pattern was inscribed more than once on the wet walls.

Rewarded by a Feast after a hard day´s work

Singing for your supper
Music goes with food and fellowship at the home of the parents of Ivan Gutierrez Guzman. Ivan´s father, also named Ivan Gutierrez, told the Laurier delegation they had to sing for their supper. The Canadians didn´t have their sheet music, but managed a passable rendition of the Irish Blessing. Ivan and his brother Ariel then took over, leading a singsong of Christian selections that would be familiar to most Laurier Heights members, although it is unlikely any could have participated in the Quechuan language numbers. As a finale, Ivan and Ariel brought down the house with a customized version of La Bamba, which made a play on name of the city, Cochabama and included a detour into Twist and Shout by the Beatles.


Feast fit for a Rey del Mundo
No one from Laurier would have trouble adjusting to Bolivian food, especially if prepared by Ivan´s mother, Señora Daisy Guzman. The main dish was pollo (chicken) accompanied by Bolivian potatoes which are not like ours, a souffle, rice, green beens and dessert. For those who speak Spanish well, Rey del Mundo is a play on the name a member of the Laurier delegation.



Gracious hostess
Pastor Steve shows Señora Gutierrez Guzman a photo of Joanne and Thomas.




How we earned our supper
The Laurier team is racing to complete the painting of two classrooms at the Casa De La Amistad before Friday at noon. The prep work is done in both rooms. Room one will be done after the application of a second coat and the painting of trim around the ceiling. Less confidence exists on our ability to complete room two, especially since Thursday will be interupted by a meeting which will discuss the Laurier Heights focus on the Casa De La Amistad and Jireh. programs.

Laurier builds relationships

Sharing the joy of Christ
Yolanda Oropeza de Flores, President BBU and Steve


Establishing a STEP relationship between Laurier Heights Baptist Church and the Bolivian Baptist Union is "like a Bolivian marrying a Canadian" Yolanda Oropeza de Flores, president of the BBU quipped this morning at a meeting between the BBU and the Laurier advance team.

"Our partnership brings two cultures together and we have to learn to work together," Oropeza de Flores explained as members of the Laurier delegation were introduced at the weekly meeting of the BBU.

Pastor Steve Simala Grant led a devotional, including a short sermon translated by the delegation´s guide in Bolivia, Ivan Gutierrez Guzman. One of the highlights of the devotional was the celebration of the Lord´s Supper using elements saved from the Lord´s Table at Laurier on October 15 and brought to Bolivia for the occasion. Missionary Pat Janke, who was in attendance, loved how the joint celebration emphasized our global unity in Jesus. So did Oropeza de Flores who said the devotional made it feel like we belonged to one church.

It was obvious at the meeting that learning about each other and the STEP program is an ongoing process. A discussion, mostly in Spanish ensued about whether Laurier was a partner with the BBU or the specific programs we have expressed an interest in, the Casa de la Amistad and Jireh. Gutierrez Guzman and his co-worker, Emigdio Veizaga had answers for the BBU officers and staff in attendance. Laurier is a partner with the BBU, but our focus is on the children´s programs, Casa de la Amistad and Jireh. The advance team will be reporting more on these programs later, presumably after a meeting scheduled for Thursday when more details will be explained. Nevertheless, the team continues to provide direct support to the Casa by taking on the task of painting two classrooms.

Another highlight at the UBB meeting was the reading of two of the prayers written on orange sheets of paper by Laurier members on the Sunday before the team left for Bolivia. "It turned out the prayers were bang on," Pastor Steve noted later, in view of the present political turmoil in Bolivia. One prayer asked that the Holy Spirit influence the leaders of Bolivia to allow His work to flourish and asked that the country´s crops, resources and economy flourish. A second reminded the listeners that we are not alone and God has brought us together to support and encourage one another.

Asked by Laurier delegate Raymond Johnson what the BBU needs most, Oropeza de Flores stated it needs unity and to develop leadership in rural areas. An attempt is being made to promote unity by holding the BBU´s first tri-lingual conference, in Spanish and Quechua and Ayamara, Bolivia´s two native languages. She stated that leadership development can be encouraged by supporting the seminary. An earlier story on this blog outlined the plans of the seminary in coming year.


Leaders meet

Our CBM and UBB Partners: Emigdio Veizaga, Ivan Guitierrez Guzman, Steve Simala Grant, Yolanda Oropeza de Flores (seated)




Breaking Bread with our STEP Partners




Making do
Steve demonstrates to Beuqar, a Casa de la Amistad employee, how he removed a screw with the buckle from his watch strap.

Pastor Does Some ¨Real¨ Work

Steve with his 2.5 inch plastic trowel

posted by steve
Monday, Jan 15, 5:30pm
Chochabamba

Well, I knew I´d miss my wife, but I didn´t know I´d miss Iain Armstrong...

Today we went to La Casa de la Amistad, the children´s ministry, rolled up our sleeves and went to work. It felt good, really good, to get my hands dirty.

The schools here are on a break, so it is the time for work to get done on the facility. Much, much needed work. We attacked two classrooms, removed all the pictures which had been taped (with packing tape...) to the plaster walls, and started to sand and sand and sand, and then I did some mudding. I am incredibly proud of my team - they worked incredibly hard!

Iain, you´ll be glad to know that I can now skim coat with a 2.5¨, curved, plastic, putty knife. Line me up a job, I´ll be home soon.

We made good progress, and we´ll be back tomorrow. We´ll send some before and after pictures, and you´ll get to see.

Hopefully, the resolution won´t be good enough that you´ll get a close look at my handiwork.

And by the time we are done, I hope the Bolivians don´t say, ¨well, those Canadians were good singers, but don´t let them near a paint roller...¨

(and by the way, we are really enjoying the comments posted on the blog site!)

oh, and thanks Dan for the headline. You turkey.

Global Worship

Laurier in Chochabamba

Photo top left: A view of Cochabama from mountain with the Cristo on top.

Photo top right: El Cristo. Look close and you will see Ray Johnson

Bottom: Laurier signs at First Baptist Evangelical Church in Cochabama on Sunday morning.