Working with God and His people

One of the greatest blessings we have received from God in Bolivia was the opportunity to put on a workshop for the whole Casa staff. Prior to coming here, Brian and I (Ken) met to plan a retreat for the teachers. You will be pleased to know the teachers' retreat was a huge success! Brian made a wonderful decision to hire Toni to be our facilitator. Toni is fluent in English and Spanish and has been teaching missionaries Spanish for many years. A photo of the retreat is at the top of this blog.

Each day began with singing and worship. This was a wonderful time of bonding with the Casa staff. Then we followed with a needs assessment where the Casa staff focused on some goals they wanted to accomplish and how we could help them. Their greatest need was having the opportunity to talk and plan together as a team so the retreat would really meet their needs. In the afternoon I presented a session on establishing routines, rules and procedures in schools. Toni was magical as she has such a strong background as a teacher. We came specifically at this time of year so we could help the Casa staff set up for the start of the school year. Establishing these routines sends important life messages to the students:we love you, we care for you, you are valuable and this is a safe place. On Wednesday morning after worship, Randy, Lyn and Carla(the Casa psychologist) presented a session on supporting and caring for families. It was heavy as we heard some case conferences of some horrific situations for children here. There were many tears and hugs and we recommitted to constant prayer and working together to support the children. You will notice in the photo that on this second day half of the team stayed to work at the Casa. There is a long list of improvements we have made at the Casa this week which has kept us extremely busy everyday. In the afternoon, we gave them a choice of planning for the first day of school or working further on responding to student misbehaviors. They chose to focus on responding to student behaviors.

On Monday, we meet with the children so please pray that we will develop relationships with them quickly and that we continue to share the many talents our team has.

Thank God that on Monday morning when we first met with Casa staff, there was a meeting with all the Obades big wigs and we were able to meet with all of them when we met the staff. Thank God that we had also prepared introductions of ourselves in Spanish for this meeting. Our church has a tremendous reputation here. On Sunday we were introduced in church and publicly recognized. On Monday, we had finished two coats of paint on a classroom and now the teacher has moved in with new carpet. We have made a huge difference physically at the Casa all while we were putting on a major retreat. Please thank God for the impact we have been able to have already. Please pray for renewed energy for the team as we have been running hard since we got here. Please forgive us for not communicating with home as well as we might like as we are very exhausted at the end of each day.

Please give thanks for the Whittles whose relationships and ability to speak Spanish have opened many doors for our team and we have had many opportunities to put our faith in action. The Whittles are well loved by the staff at the Casa.

Much love,

Ken