I had an interesting afternoon today. Corina asked me if I could help her move one of El Jordan’s (the centre where Corina works) families (a street family who are trying to get their lives sorted out). They were having problems with their landlord, and need to move as soon as possible. So off we went, Corina in her SUV, her husband in his and me in my truck.

We drove…and drove…and drove…to the very edge of the city where the “roads” are just sand trails and it’s a mix of houses and fields. The family had everything packed up when we arrived, and it didn’t take long to get it all loaded up. There’s only so much you can fit into one room. Because I had the cab space, the family rode with me. Mom and Dad and the two youngest (a baby and a three year old) and the dog in the back seat, and me and the two older girls (five and six) in the front. I don’t think the girls had been in a vehicle much, because it seemed to be quite the exciting ride for them. Every vehicle we passed would get a “BEEP BEEP!” and a wave to tell them to get out of the way.

Then the problems started. The roof racks on Corina’s husband’s truck came off along with the mattresses and bed frames they were supporting. That meant repacking everything in the other vehicles to try to fit everything in. The older girls were sitting in the drivers seat of my truck pretending to drive and for some strange reason, I thought it would be funny to teach them how to honk the horn. Like trying to repack my truck in the blazing sun wasn’t annoying enough. Then the baby overheated. And I got stuck in the sand. And the mom kept breastfeeding the baby to try to settle him down. I’ve grown accustomed to that, but somehow today it was throwing me off. I was trying to drive in crazy traffic and she’d ask me a question and when I glanced back at her to answer…there they were…

Ah life.

But it was fun. The girls sang “I May Never March in the Infantry” for us and Corina stopped and bought us all a pop. I accidentally hit a bump as one of the little ones was taking a drink and she ended up with Sprite covering her face from her hairline to her chin. It was pretty cute. She had that big eyed “What just happened?!” look on her face. =) I did have a very interesting conversation with the mom about her past. She’s had a difficult and sad life. But there was a definite joy when she talked about Corina and the help that she’s been. Then we talked about the fact that God has a purpose for her and her family, and you could see the hope that she had. It was good.

That’s all. Just another little snapshot of a moment in my life. If you have a moment, pray for this family. They have a long road ahead of them, but they seem determined. They sell little Christmas trees and Santa Claus dolls that hang from your windshield to support the family. So now I have another little Christmas tree for my house and a Santa Claus hanging from my windshield (he’s actually a bit scarey looking and just keeps singing the first line from “Jingle Bells” over and over again…I think he’ll become a gift for someone…).

Have a great day!

Ken

It’s a good thing I put those new tires on my truck last week! Sunday morning Edly (the director’s wife) called me and asked me if I could drive her to our other home in Postre Valle. It’s a small home we have for kids who have siblings so that they can live together and don’t have to be separated. There are 15 kids from five different families living in the home right now. The challenge with this home is that it’s in a small town in the most beautiful middle of nowhere you’ve ever seen. You drive two hours up into the mountains on the highway and then two or more hours on a dirt road that twist and turns up even higher. What made the trip even more interesting is that it had been raining for two days. Normally we wouldn’t try to make the trip in the rain, but it was an emergency, so off we went.

It was fun! There were a couple of “Oh oh” moments, but in the end my truck pulled through and proved it’s worth! =) I have to say that it’s actually a lot more fun driving that road when it’s wet than when it’s dry. It’s kind of a boring drive normally, but add some mud and the element of death into the mix, and it get’s a lot more exciting. On the way in, we passed the bus that makes that trip daily and wondered how he thought he was going to make it. The next morning as we were leaving, Edly commented that the bus hadn’t arrived the night before. Then as we came around a corner…there he was. We inched our way around him and carried on. I guess a tractor was on it’s way to help him out.

It was great having the chance to hang out with these kids. They’re a lot of fun and don’t get many visitors, so they enjoyed having us there too. We made empanadas for supper and the ladies were all impressed that I was willing and able to help…being a guy and all. Of course, being a guy I had to make it a competition to see who could make the best empanada. And being a competitive (and sneaky) guy, when Dorkas (one of our volunteers) wasn’t looking I switched my rather pathetic empanada for one that the experienced lady had made. Dorkas was suitably impressed with my empanada making ability. Don’t worry…I confessed my sin later (after we took the picture of my “winning” empanada). But I did get better as the evening went on. All in all, it was one of those, “I enjoy my life” moments.

This weekend was graduation weekend as well for eight of our guys and three of our girls. On Friday night we went to the first grad in the city. It was fine. LONG and kind of boring…but fine. Saturday was a lot more fun. It poured rain the entire time. Did I mention the grad was outside? =) At first (as the guys and I were trying to string up tarps with poles and ropes to make a tent over our tables) I was pretty sure the evening was going to bite. I was already dressed up and completely soaked. But slowly everyone got organized and managed to get awnings and tarps set up and find (more or less) a dry spot. Unfortunately our guys picked a low spot so we were walking in three inches of water the whole evening, but other than that, it wasn’t bad. The grad finally started at 10:30 PM with a fairly abbreviated program. The kids walked up to the front with their parent or escort…received their diploma and walked back down again. We were rescued from the many speeches and ceremonies that normally accompany said program by the monsoon. Everyone was soaking wet and having a great time. We actually had way more time to hang out and visit and eat afterwards than normal. We took LOTS of pictures and had lots of laughs. I actually think it was my favourite grad yet. =) It was encouraging to see our guys make it this far. These guys were some of the first guys in the home, so it was a bit of a milestone.

Today David, Rudy and I are decorating for Christmas. We’ve got lights on the outside of the house, and my little Christmas tree set up and all ready to be decorated. Of course once we got the lights up and plugged in, we discovered that half of them don’t work…but we’ll figure it out. David especially, is really excited. He’s been on me all week to get things set up. He’s running around hammering and climbing up into the tree out front to get all the lights strung. He’s pretty funny… Of course it still doesn’t feel too much like Christmas. Like I said before, I’ve been conditioned to need snow to get into the Christmas spirit. =) But Christmas Eve with the guys’ll do it for me. That gets me into the spirit every time!

I do have some prayer requests for you. This week has felt a bit like I’ve got a lot of plates spinning and I’m trying my best to keep from dropping any. Different situations with the guys…relationships with staff…working on preparations for the new home… It’s all fine, but I’m feeling a bit worn out. So if you could pray for wisdom and strength and patience for me…that’d be great.

Both Rudy and David are dealing with some stuff right now, so if you could pray for them as well. Rudy especially. It can be a bit difficult at times when they’re working through things, since they both live with me now. For the most part it’s fine, but prayer is always a good thing.

Christmas is a difficult time for most of our kids. It’s such a family time and it emphasizes the fact that most of our guys don’t have families. If you could pray for peace and joy for them, and a sense of belonging. And again, wisdom for me to be able to spot those that maybe need an extra moment of my time.

Many of you have been asking how the plans are going for the new place. It’s coming along. A bit slowly at times, but I guess that’s the way life if here. We’re still searching for a house, so please pray that God will show us the right place. I’m working through what the place is going to look like (in terms of rules and how things will function), so please pray for that process as well. It’s a bit daunting. =) Thanks to all of you who’ve committed to supporting the home or specific guys as well! That’s been more encouraging than I can say! If anyone else is interested in being a part of this new project through prayer or financial support, please contact International Teams at 1-800-465-7601 for more information on how you can do that. If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a line at this e-mail address. I’ll be happy to answer them if I can! =) My plan is to open in February with the new school year with eight (or possibly nine) guys. I plan to write soon with more information on the guys who will be starting out with me, to give you the chance to get to know them better. They’re great guys! If you have a specific guy that you know and would like to support, let me know that as well.

Thanks to all of you who’ve written to say hi and wish me a Merry Christmas! I appreciate it! A big Merry Christmas right back at you. =) When I was up at the home in Postre Valle on Sunday, the kids all took my hand and led me into the office where their Christmas tree was set up. It had one string of lights and a few Christmas balls on it, with a couple of home made decorations as well. They were so proud of it. As I sat there later looking at that tree, and thinking about the simple beauty of it, I was really struck by how thankful I am for all that God has given me. An amazing family…good friends…a ministry that I love. It’s good to step back and remember what’s actually important in our lives.

Well…I can hear the guys banging around outside and humming along with the twangy Christmas music coming from the lights. They must be working again. I should probably go help…or at least inspect… Have a great day! Thanks for praying!

Feliz Navidad once again!

Ken

PS I forgot to mention that I’ll be helping my friend Corina with her “Christmas on the Streets” dinner again this year. We’ll be preparing this over the next few days and Sunday we’ll be taking out around 5000 meals for the street kids and families in the city. She’s asked me to do some videoing, so hopefully I’ll have a video to show you sometime in the new year.

Wow I hate the music that comes from Christmas tree lights…

I just told the two guys living with me that they had too much energy and it was nice out so they should go outside and play some futbol. Even as the words came out of my mouth I regretted them. I sounded so…parental…

For the first time in two months I drove up to the pumps Monday and was able to buy diesel without waiting for hours. It was a good moment. But no one is completely sure if our fuel troubles are over or not. I’m happy though. I have a full tank today and tomorrow can take care of itself. I also bought new tires for my truck yesterday. I know we’ve all had this experience, but I’m going to complain anyhow. Everything kept costing more than I expected. And then finally when the guy was alining the tires, he discovered that one of my many encounters with speedbumps and/or potholes had busted something that cost me another $50. On the upside however, I decided to treat myself to Burger King afterwards and it was a good meal. The fries were hot and the burger was freshly made. I took a $500 ding on my truck but my $4 BK meal was good so it made life happy. I lead a simple life.

Some things to pray about. It feels like the guys are coming under some spiritual attack lately. I’ve talked to different guys who’ve had similar experiences. Crazy thoughts and worries so strong that they can’t sleep at night or think about anything else. One fellow (one of our older guys) even started crying when he told me because he said he thought he might be going crazy. Another (a very stable kid normally) had his bags packed and was ready to leave when he decided that wasn’t the best thing to do. I noticed that something was wrong and took him aside to talk to him. I’ve been able to explain to the different guys what’s happening and pray with them, but it worries me. For every guy that talks about this, there are probably a couple more who aren’t saying anything. On the upside though, it’s been a good opportunity to talk about who we are in Christ and the authority over spiritual things that we have. So far in all of the situations, after we prayed and took authority over these things, the thoughts and whatnot haven’t returned. It was encouraging to see these guys take that step in their spiritual lives. The one fellow who thought he was losing his mind has gone back to being his old fun self…so that was great!

It did bring up another troubling thing though. It’s hard to know how to say this exactly. All of the boys who spoke with me said the same thing. They didn’t go to talk to any of the staff at the home because they didn’t trust them. Let me quickly say that we have a staff here who love the boys and have sacrificed greatly to be here. Unfortunately something that plagues the church here and most Christians, is the lack of discernment and wisdom when it comes to keeping confidences and not talking with everyone else about what you know. That’s something that the home struggles with as well. The result is, boys who need help are not willing to risk talking with the adults in their lives about what’s happening. I’ve spoken to a number of different boys now with the same results. For the most part, they strongly say that they wouldn’t go to or trust any of the staff with personal problems. It’s really hard for me to know how to address this. It saddens me because I know the staff here want to help and have a real heart for the guys. But at the same time, I know that if I speak to this, they might have a hard time receiving it. So…please pray for wisdom for me. I’m not entirely sure how to proceed with this, or if I even can. But it’s definitely on my heart right now….

Please pray about this and for the spiritual attacks that have been taking place here. As always, I can see God at work in powerful ways in the hearts and lives of the guys, but as always, there’s opposition to that. As I continue to plan for the future and for the new home as well, there have been struggles and discouragements at times. But again, I just keep trusting in God’s faithfulness. I’ll be sending out another update on what’s happening with the new project sometime in the next few days.

We’ve also been having some political issues here in Bolivia lately. They haven’t really affected me all that much, but in other parts of the country it’s been difficult. Please pray for Bolivia and for our leadership. If you are interested in knowing more, follow along at this blog. It’s been really helpful for me to understand what’s happening.

http://democracyctr.org/blog/

Thanks again for praying for me. I sent out another video link, so keep an eye out for it. I think for some of you it’s probably showing up in your junk folder. I have no comment on that.

Have a great day!

Ken

PS: I have to say that I’m a good Canadian (or at least western Canadian). I’ve been conditioned to expect snow at Christmas time. It doesn’t matter how many Christmas trees people put up here or pictures of snowmen on their windows (don’t even get me started on that one) it just doesn’t feel much like the Christmas season. But there are some fun things planned at the home and I hope to help again with my friends ministry as they provide Christmas dinner to the street people in Santa Cruz. I’ll let you know how it all goes….