Continuing

Good morning. We are now two weeks into outreach. The teams seem to be doing well, one is in the coast and the other team is in the capital: Bogota.

And as for us girls:

Lorena (on the left) is living with me so I'm not alone in the house. She is also studying dance in one of the major universities in Medellin. And Mayer (on the right) is our pregnant girl. We're getting along well, it's fun living and keeping house and cooking together. It almost feels like little girls playing house, expect it's for real.

It's exciting to have our first girl living with us, but without Cristina being here, we are very limited in what we can offer. We're both great, and well prepared, for counseling sessions. But even though Cristina and I are clear in the goals we want to accomplish when we help girls, but we don't have curriculum or the steps to go about doing it. Conversations and counseling sessions are one thing, but living 24/7 with someone is quite different. Starting something new means there is always more to get ready than I realized! Please keep us in your prayers: Mayer with her pregnancy complications and me with the providing the best support I can.

Big News

First of all, I now have a boyfriend! This week Hector and I announced it formally to the base, the university students, and King's Kids. It's been quite the week. We've been friends over a year, but pretty intentional in getting to know each other for a few months. It all started when my dad was here teaching and Hector was doing a lot of the translating...

So here's the scoop on the boy: he's 26. And, yes, he is Colombian, but his English is better than my Spanish. He's been working some at the base with the DTS and in King's Kids. He's also studying upper-level English so that he can do more translating. We are both pretty outgoing and serving oriented. He has been helping us a bit in Esperanzas de Vida, too. So we are pretty happy doing missions work together.


The other big news is that I will have a pregnant girl living with me during outreach. All of the students leave for outreach tonight along with Cristina. So our girl will be moving in with me on Wednesday. She is 22 and has 2-year-old daughter. She is 6 months along and has been having some complications; this week she was spotting quite a bit. Right now all we can really offer is food and a place to live and friendship. We will start having daily devotions together and that sort of thing, but I will really have to learn as I go.

It's so exciting! But as a ministry this will also require more resources. She is coming here without sheets or a towel or anything really. She will need baby clothes, money for doctor appointments. She is trying to work a little, but part time jobs are very difficult to find and she also has a two-year-old to care for. Cristina and I are looking for anyone who would be interested in sponsoring her through the end of this year. If anyone is interested or would like some more information, please email me: rachelanman@yahoo.com

It's so neat to see how God is working. We have this big house that we had to use for the counseling school; but as soon as there is empty space, along come girls who really need this ministry. God is so faithful.


We just finished making a new ministry movie! We will have the English version out sometime this week so that you can see two of our girls and hear their experiences first hand!

School

We are getting close to outreach, we've almost finished the theory part of the school. This week the counseling students are doing their presentations, and today the first two boys went. One is 31 years old and had more experience teaching. He did well, a little short, but well. The next one was our 17-year-old all dressed up in a suit (I tied his tie because he didn't know how to) and he taught us for an hour and a half. It was incredible, I had no idea he was a good teacher. But it was so cute and made me feel so proud to watch my little student up there so confidant and prepared. I wish I could see him on outreach.

I will not be going with the students on outreach. The 6 students will go with Cristina to Venezuela, but I will stay in Medellin. I need to start the process to make Esperanzas de Vida a legal non-profit organization, in Colombia and in the states. I also am printing our fliers and making contacts with churches and clinics. We have been wanting to do these things all year and didn't have time to devote to them. But please pray a lot that all of the legal stuff makes sense to me and I can do it well. Also that we have open doors with clinics, family services, churches that could support us, and people to donate more things to get the house livable for women (Livable for missionary teenagers is one thing, but we want a more organized, family-feeling home for young moms). This is our plan for this year. Next year, we dive in to working full time with women.


And for our last announcement: the twins arrived on Sunday! They are adorable! Abby and Gaby

Abby Alejandra is the oldest

And Gabriela the youngest.

Missions week photos are coming soon...

cookies

I just spent a wonderful and interesting afternoon with the girls from King's Kids. We wanted to have a girls day, so I taught them to make chocolate chip cookies. But it's not very normal to bake here, so none of them have any experience with measuring cups or with ovens.

The funniest moment was when I was telling them the ingredients. I explained it all, but one girl wasn't listening very well. So she really thought we were going to put "soda" (as in soda pop) in chocolate chip cookies. How cute, but thank goodness she wasn't in charge of adding ingredients.

They did turn out pretty yummy though. But within an hour they were all gone. That's what happens when you live with four guys that just got back from playing soccer.

Direction

This week has been my week of pure accounting. Finally I can see light at the end of the tunnel. But I feel like I am in the middle of a tug-of-war game. Because there are many needs at the base that I would love to help with. But there are many things we need to do this year for Esperanzas de Vida, and there just isn't time for both.

This year we need to make our non-profit legal, contact clinics, print fliers, and get our counseling material ready. All of those things take some time. Right now Cristina and I are in the process of encouraging our director to let me stay in Medellin during the outreach time so I can work (some of that will also require a trip to Bogota). He doesn't really see the need for me to stay...yet. So, a major prayer request for us would be that we can know with assurance how we should be using our time.

This is also bringing up a life "crisis" I have. I am often tempted to do good work that I enjoying doing, but it's not actually what I've been called to do. We've got to trust that God knows what he's up to and can provide for the needs in the base as well as our ministerial needs. But in trusting we have also, as YWAMers, got to take the time to really search out what God is desiring for us in this time. When we get to busy sometimes it is really a discipline to be quite and still and listen to God, and yet when we're busy is when we need that time the most. God, we do need your direction!

Wedding!

Yesterday I got to see my first Colombian wedding, and even more exciting was that it was our first pregnant girl getting married. It was a simple wedding in the Catholic church. We will continue counseling the couple in their relationship as spouses and their upcoming responsibility of being parents.

This week we have an American teacher visiting, Dean Harvey, who was actually the founder of the School of the Bible in YWAM. It's very exciting to have him, and because it's special to have him here, both the counseling school and the DTS are in class together. So things are a bit different this week, but very good. The class is about moral government, which is a weighty subject, and excellent for us all to hear and process together.

The King's Kids are about to start their last week in China. They have found a couple Christian contacts that have let them do cultural stuff, like teach Colombian dances in a coffee shop. It has opened up doors because people wonder what a bunch of Colombians are doing in China. What a great way to start a conversation. It's hard to tell exactly what's going on because they can't write about anything God related in the emails. I'm excited to hear all of the stories when they get back. Please help us pray that they have an amazing impact in their last week and can make good contacts for their next trip.

Famous for a Day

Yesterday I got to spend all day with DNA, the music group from Puerto Rico. It was amazing to get to hang out with them. The concert went very well. They danced and sang great, and the two acoustic songs with the guitar and piano also went well. Afterwards a couple of kids even asked me to sign CDs for them. It was neat to be apart of something quality and I just love to play piano.

But I think the best part of being with them was seeing what they are like back stage. They always pray before they start a concert or presentation, and they reflect such hearts for helping young people understand what love really is and making wise decisions. Often before presentations or shows people are running around and stressed (at least in my experience). DNA however, even though we were running around, have a peace about them too. They know they can depend on everyone to do their part and there is calmness in their attitudes. What a privilege to work with people who know what they're doing and do it well, and also people that live what they preach. I will be sad to see them leave tomorrow.

But the entire experience also motivated me to find more opportunities to use my music. I do love playing, but I also love being around musicians, we just connect. If I wanted to build more relationships with non Christians (which is sometimes difficult when we have such full schedules in the base) I would want to hang out with musicians and tell them about Jesus. The best things in life are what we have to intentionally work for: relationships and music are worth it though.