Prison visit

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and oh what I would do to have a picture of the San Antonio men’s prison to share with all of you. Unfortunately though, that is illegal! My words cannot possibly capture the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and feelings that encompass life for the men and children in this prison (or for me as a visitor), but I will do my best to share my experience with you briefly on the blog, and in more detail when I return.
Yesterday Randy and I were invited to join the Casa staff in the prison. After passing security clearance and being greeted by men hanging off the prison gates, we climbed a narrow metal ladder and met in a small upper room - the prison chapel. The room was full with the 8 of us from the Casa, as well as 15 men and 5 of their children (sons and daughters). The staff shared their job descriptions and expectations for the upcoming school year, the chaplain gave an inspiring message from 2 Tim 1:7, and then the men who had birthdays from Jan-Mar were celebrated with crème puffs and coke! This was a big honor to these men as we recognized their value and worth and showed them the dignity they deserve as fellow humans (something that is quite foreign to them in prison life).
These men, along with their children, live in concrete cells that are 6’ x 10’ at best, with a single mattress on the floor and a blanket covering the 5’ x 2’ entrance. Others who can’t afford a cell sleep on a blanket in a common area. Men and children wader throughout the prison, some men use their skills to hand craft bed frames and build model ships, others weld BBQs and metal door frames, all to sell on the outside, still others cook or work in the prison office and store handing out goods to purchase. Everything costs something - food, clothing, cells, blankets, showers, laundry etc - nothing is free. Children roam freely; all have greasy hair and scraggly clothing (girls dressed in Hannah Montana shirts, boys in soccer jerseys). The smell is unbearable; indescribably horrid. Large garbage heaps are piled throughout the prison. It is dark, filthy, and completely inhumane.
During our visit I was captivated by three children in particular. Ruth, a 5 yr old girl, took me and Randy by the hands to guide us on our prison tour. She clung to me for most of our visit. I wondered if she has a mom, and if she does if she ever sees her. She seemed to long for some motherly love. She spoke nonstop, obviously delighted to have our attention, although the only word I recognized was the name she called me: “Tia” (auntie). She melted my heart. Another young boy, maybe 6ish, had the most beautiful dark brown eyes. He looked somewhat sad, yet also content to be in his dad’s arms – he has probably known no other life. His gaze was mesmerizing. It spoke so loudly of the love of Christ. A toddler sat across from me, hiding behind her dad’s legs every time I smiled at her. She enjoyed playing hide and seek but was quite attached to her dad. The love from these children for their fathers was evident.
I often pray for God to break my heart with the things that break his heart. My heart has reached a new depth of brokenness as I come to realize how deeply God’s heart breaks at the gross injustice that takes place in these prisons. No one, no matter what they’ve done, deserves to live like this. My life has been forever changed by the images I now have engrained in my heart and mind. God, I pray that you will bring justice.
Posted by Lyn

Safe and Sound

We are here! We all arrived safe and sound in Cochabamba early this morning. Unfortunately two of our luggages did not (but arrived a few hours later on the next flight). Bolivia is beautiful. The weather is perfect. The people are so nice. We are truly blessed to be in this gorgeous country for these next few weeks. The day was spent getting accustomed to the city, with a few attempted naps, and some delicious food. Brian, Norma, and Randy enjoyed getting to see some familar faces and the rest of us were eager to finally meet people we had only heard about in stories or saw in photos.

Fatigue started to set in after dinner however so please pray for a good night's rest for us so we are ready to go for the teacher's retreat on Monday.

Our time here so far has reminded some of us of the well-known story in Exodus. When God first meets Moses within the burning bush He tells Moses of his plans for him and how he is to rescue the Isrealites. At first Moses replies with "Who am I that I should go to Pharoah and bring the Isrealites out of Egypt?" God replies with "I will be with you". Such a simple reply from God for such a fearful servant. Moses was terrified at the responsibilty of his calling, afraid that he wouldn't know what to say, or what to do, and certain that there was someone much better than him to do this job. Much of this story relates to how some of our team is feeling right now. Though we all know we were called to Bolivia for a reason, some of us still are unsure of what that reason was, and what good we will/can do. Fact is, I truly believe that each and every one of us has our own amazing gifts and that we will all make a difference in some form or another. We are not alone. God is guiding our way through this journey and will be with us every step of the way. And just as He is with us now and will be with us forever, He has also been in Bolivia far longer then we have and will remain here far after we leave. This is not our mission trip, this is His mission trip. He has such big plans for this country and I am so honored that I was chosen to be part of it and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us.

Many blessings to you,

Shenaigh

Almost there!

We can almost see the end of our long journey to Bolivia. After having an amazing final commissioning from our church on Wednesday night we got driven to the airport. After a quick hop to Toronto and a small skip to Miami, we have spent ten hours in the Miami airport waiting for our next flight. I can honestly say that I would much rather a layover in Miami than in Toronto- snow compared to gorgeous sunshine. After trying to figure out what to do we kinda wandered outside to enjoy the sunshine and ended up napping for two hours enjoying the beautiful weather. It was a much needed break from the squishy airplane and freezing cold airport. Darren mentioned afterwards that he thought that God actually led us outside because he knew we needed that small dose of beauty for the last half of our trek, and I couldn't agree more. We are slowly getting more and more emmersed in the Spanish culture and although it will bring challenges, I know our team cannot wait.

Thank you for all your prayers. We send you much love from warm and sunny Miami. :)

Love,

Shenaigh

Pre-Trip Challenges

Three more sleeps and four more days until this fantastic team of eight go leave for our adventure. I think I speak for the rest of the team when I say how excited we all are to finally go after months of planning.

This past week has been extremely tough on our team. It seems like the devil is attacking each individual member in a variety of ways to discourage us, we even got kicked out of our church for Sunday morning service because of some construction in the basement. We ended up having our final commissioning service in a small chapel next door in a senior's lodge. A change that in my opinion, made our final Sunday before we left incredibly powerful and one to remember. It amazes me to look at everything that is going on in our teams lives right now and see that instead of being discouraged and distracted from our main focus, we instead have bonded together in love and in fellowship, all looking forward with excitement and anticipation at the amazing things God has planned for us. I know we are going to do incredible things in Bolivia because if we weren't, then the devil would not have to try so hard to give us reasons not to go.

So as we draw nearer to our departure date please pray for strength and for peace, pray for our families and the things we cannot control, praise God for calling such an encouraging, compassionate, and loving team together, and remember that with Him, all things are possible.

Much love to all of you.

Shenaigh

Is it time to go yet?

In 12 more days 8 of us will begin the journey to Bolivia. For some of us it's a return trip with excitement to re-connect with familiar faces, sights, foods and yes even smells. For others this is a new adventure with hopes and dreams and maybe even fears. For all it will be 16 days of another culture, language and stretching of ourselves.

Am I pumped? Absolutely yes! Not only do I get to return to a country where I lived for a year but I get the opportunity of leading a team of 7 other fantastic people. I am excited to see the plans God has for us, the ways in which He will use us and grow us and the ways we will gel together as humans. We will be working directly with our church's partner the Casa de la Amistad during those 2 weeks. The first week with the teachers in a supportive workshop setting as well as in their classrooms preparing for the new school year. The second week we will be at the Casa as the program begins a new year, helping and supporting however we can.

We want to invite you to join us as we together begin this next phase of our ongoing partnership with Bolivia. Your prayers and support are crucial to this ministry. You are as important in that role as we are going and for that we are thankful.

Stay tuned and we will try our best to keep you up to date as we journey along.

Norma Whittle