Extreme Walk

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Hello everyone!

Published on March 6, 2008 in Patrick and Rachel Whipple. Closed

We have had a pretty incredible month here in Medellin. Most recently, we took a 9-hour bus ride to Bogota to get our visas…and can you believe it, they actually gave us visas. PRAISE THE LORD! The first ones we received were only valid for six months, but we need to stay here for ten, so after lots of waiting and a little bit of appealing to the head honcho of the office (who was very gracious), we came out with 10 month visas. The whole process was a mere 4.5 hours (really quite efficient…have you ever tried to get a US visa?) Right at the beginning, the lady taking documents asked us to re-organize all of ours…I did not tell her I spent some time getting them all in order the night before. However, she did not make us lose our place in line, which was a huge blessing. We had a great time visiting some wonderful friends in Bogotá, as well seeing some of the sights before another 9 hr. bus ride. We also felt like our group really got a chance to gel…we are proud of how they are looking out for and serving each other.

It has been good (and a bit tough) adjusting back to life here…some good signs that the adjustment has been taking place: “What would I like for dinner? –How about chicken and rice again!” “Let me tell you about these Hebrew vowels I just learned!” “Yay! So many friends right here in the city!” “Isn’t the weather here great?” “The way people here drive is how we all want to drive back in the States.” “Millie Young rocks!” “Praise the Lord for fresh mangoes.” “Whatever, Kayleene, these desserts are amazing!” “I can’t believe how quiet it is tonight…where’s all the salsa music and car alarms?” And some mess-ups too: “I guess the reason Mark’s wireless router popped and blew smoke was because it only takes 5 volts, not 12.” “Nothing like serious talks about politics to remind me how much Spanish I don’t know.” “I can not talk on the phone in Spanish at all.” “This makes me want to run away and bash my head into a wall.” “Lord, what’s going on?” “Lord, are you sure you’re in control of our visa situation?” “I was really looking forward to eating this, and it’s so burnt it tastes like dirt.” “Its ok – the truck swerved to miss us and everyone else is stopped waiting for us to get out of the way. Just go! No, the other way.” “There were like 80 rats back there – we really need to do something.” “Maybe we should keep our trash inside – a vulture just tore the bag and spread trash all over the porch.”

It has been good and stretching too…to adjust to breathing high-altitude air, to lead our small group of young missionaries, to listen to real concerns and not have answers, to make decisions that affect how we will spend our time over the next months, to try and fit everything in, to remember to take time together, to continually take time for prayer and study of the Word.

Patrick has started Hebrew class at the Seminario Biblico and he’s slowly learning to navigate through the city. Rachel is getting back into the swing of things well, handling traffic with ease to visit her friends she hasn’t seen in so long. We both (along with the rest of our group) are taking a “ministry of Jesus” class and a “Colombian culture” class this semester at the Seminario Biblico. The class work is about 10 hrs a week, is immediately applicable to life and ministry, and allows us to be here as students. It will be a continual challenge to balance studies, local ministry, local eXtreme Walk leadership, and international eXtreme Walk leadership. One local ministry opportunity is training pastoral workers in house church leadership. We hope to find out more about the opportunity by next week.

Thanks so much for your prayers…we love you and pray for you. Praise the Lord for His incredible faithfulness.

Patrick and Rachel

Dear Friends

Published on March 4, 2008 in BJ and Andi Williamson. Closed

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. We have definitely felt them these past few weeks. I wish we could get these updates out to you more frequently but our access to internet when we are in Pallatanga is quite limited. Please pray for us this week as we travel around with our friends Bill and Gina Laky from Andrea’s home church in NJ. They are in Ecuador wanting to see more about ministry opportunities and to learn more about OMS International. We shall be traveling with them to Quito until Monday evening.

Also be praying for us as on the 3^rd of March we will be receiving our first work team (there are three this month) at the camp. These teams will be working on replacing a good portion of the plumbing at the camp as well as tearing out some bathrooms and doing some painting. We are very excited for these teams to come and help better the camp. Pray that these teams would accomplish the work that is needed to be done and that they would enjoy the country and people that we love so much. Also pray that the road from Guayaquil to Pallatanga would remain clear. There has been a lot of rain this year and there has been some flooding and mud slides. God has been providential in caring for these things thus far and we are confident that he will continue! Also with these groups come Kim and Guido Orellana. We are happier then words can express that they are returning to the OMS Ecuador field. They are going to be running the camp now and we are welcoming the break!!

Andrea is doing well with her pregnancy and we hope to be finding out the sex of the baby at this months ultrasound…be praying!!! Thank you for your prayers.

God bless,

BJ, Andrea, and Elijah Williamson

Timmermans Journal: January-February 2008

Published on February 28, 2008 in Joe and Alicia Timmermans. Closed

Click here to see our January-February newsletter:

newsletter-jan-feb.pdf

Pictures!

Published on February 26, 2008 in Joe and Alicia Timmermans. Closed

The people, places and things of Medellin

Published on February 20, 2008 in Joe and Alicia Timmermans. Closed

Time: 6:10am
Place: the casa de Botero (our host family)
Problem: the “monster”…

…10 feet from our uncloseable bedroom window he lurkes…waiting…waiting for his opportunity. He checks his watch. 5 minutes til go-time! His eyes narrow as he chuckles to himself, watching the bedroom door, knowing they have no idea what awaits them. Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Joe & Alicia are sound asleep, that is, until the clock strikes 6:15am. A horrible shrieking pierces the peaceful morning air and Joe & Alicia’s eyes snap open. “Arrgh! That bird!”, Joe groans. (AKA Gustavo’s (host dad) baby AKA the maker of beautiful music AKA the thing that hates Joe and bit him twice and Joe’s pretty sure it wants to fight him). And that’s the start of another day here in Medellin, Colombia.

Despite Joe’s tumultuous relationship with the bird, we really enjoy living with our host family. Their grace and hospitality these past two weeks has been an incredible blessing as we struggle to settle into a new culture and routine. Many an evening we have found ourselves laughing around the table with them at the peculiar differences in our languages and cultures. Speaking of the table, Marta (our host mom) takes taking care of us in the food department very seriously. If it wasn’t for all the walking we do, we’d be in trouble.

Our language classes are going pretty well and we find ourselves picking up new words everyday. As part of our training we were also encouraged to form a language route in our neighborhood not only to practice our Spanish, but to also build relationships within the community. So far we have Heiro who owns a bakery/cafe around the corner, Fidel who sells fruit from a wooden cart on our street, Sigi who owns a upholstery/canvas shop across the street, five guys down at the barbershop who do more newspaper reading than hair cutting, an electronics repair guy named Juan, and a couple that run a small flower shop. Now we are sure many of you would find it pretty difficult to find time in your day to stop and chat with some guy or girl that speaks such terrible English that it takes 15 minutes to say three minutes worth of words, but those are the kind of people here in Medellin.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

1. Our host family – that we would be as much a blessing to them as they are to us
2. The people on our language route – that as our Spanish improves the Lord would give us opportunities to share our faith
3. For the local church we are currently attending and it’s many church plants in small villages outside of the city
4. That God would help us retain what we learn in language class, at home and in the community.

Hi there everyone!

Published on February 11, 2008 in Kayleene Thorburn. Closed

At the time of writing this I’ve only been Colombia a week. Adventures is all I can say about get here. Going to Indianapolis was fun, I spent most of the day in airports because of plane malfunctions. I got to L.A all right but the plane I was meant to go to Denver on has a water leak under to noise so we changed planes which meant I missed my connecting flight to Indianapolis. The airline put everyone up at a hotel that missed their flight. The next day I had a smaller delay which the ground crew decided to change the tyres while we were on the plane. I did get to Indianapolis in the end. What is life without an adventure or two.

I met my team leaders for the first time and a couple of days later the whole team came together. We’ve got Patrick and Rachel Whipple our team leaders, Joe & Alicia Timmermans from Canada, Gretchen Stephens from the U.S and myself. At training New Zealanders were only out numbered by Canadians. Training was training. Our flight down to Colombia went much smoother.

We are all now in our host family homes. I’m with a young lady called Maria and she speaks as much English as I do Spanish. Yesterday I met a couple of Australians (can’t seem to get away from them). Well actually it was nice to hear an Australian accent.

Praise:

For the team leaders that the LORD has give me.

For the pre-training in America.

For life itself.

Prayer:

That I learn Spanish quickly.

Everyone’s visa’s to come though with no hiccups.

For me to be open for what the LORD is trying to teach me.

¡Hola Amigos!

Published on February 6, 2008 in Joe and Alicia Timmermans. Closed

¿Hey every body, how are you doing?

Were doing pretty good here in Medellin. Our host family is pretty nice and the local church we’ll be attending is full of awesome people. Last weekend they took us along on a retreat with the elders and deacons to a place called El Penol, its this giant rock apparantly the biggest rock in the world and nearby theres a resevour that’s basically a bunch of flooded valleys, it was really beautiful. As you can see from these pictures there was also some ruins, of one of Pablo Escobar’s estates (he was a big druglord in Colombia until he was shot in 1992).

Theres also some pictures of the Christian soccer club stadium, and yes that’s me playing soccer (futbol) with local guys from the club. As you can see Colombia has a lot of geographical beauty. Despite the death culture that exists, there is a light in the darkness, God is working in Colombia through many men and women sharing the gospel to a people in need and we have been blessed to have God use us here.

On Monday, people rallied downtown to march in opposition to different groups that still have a presence in Colombia. Much has changed in Colombia over the years, but these groups (a minority) still control much of the rural areas. People here have had enough violence and want to move ahead towards peace.

We started language school this week, so far it´s going well. People are so gracious here and so eager to help us learn everywhere we go! Living with a family that knows next to no English really helps speed up the process of learning a language. We are also taking a Colombian culture/history class and a Missions class at the Seminary.

A few days ago we had the opportunity to meet with the church planter/pastor of the area we will be living in after language school. He took us around the neighbourhood - a once dangerous neighbourhood, and still quite poor. When asked where we will be living, his response was, “When the time comes for you to move here, God will provide”.

Thank you all for your prayers and emails! Please continue to pray for us:

1. That we would retain and use what we learn in language school and not get easily discouraged
2. For patience and understanding with our host family b/c of language barriers and cultural differences, etc.
3. That we would be a blessing to the church and community we currently live in

¡Dios les Bendiga!

Joe and Alicia.

Diving in

Published on February 6, 2008 in Gretchen Stephens. Closed

Hello Family and Friends~

I have now been in Colombia since Wednesday, January 30^th. I am currently staying at the home of the missionary’s that are home on furlough. As of yesterday, my three other team members have been moved into the homes of the families they will be staying with during language school. However, I am still awaiting the move in with my family, which may be tonight or tomorrow. In one respect I’m ok with it because I totally love my team leaders and don’t mind at all staying with them. But on the other hand, I do desire to communicate with the people and it’s hard to constantly focus on Spanish when English speakers are right next to you. Though I also know that they would be willing to begin to speak only Spanish to help me out.

The people here are so amazing. That is why I have gotten totally frustrated with my inability to communicate. I want so badly to be able to hold a conversation with them and be able to understand them and have them understand me. However, I know that it will take some time and practice. We start our language study on Tuesday, but we also start class at the seminary next week. Yes, you read that right. In order to get our student visas we have to take a couple of classes at the seminary as well as our language study. I’m excited and looking forward to jumping into everything. I know that I will have my ups and downs, but I am so thankful for God’s faithfulness to me at all times.

Yesterday, we took a ride on the metro to try and get acquainted with our surroundings and how to get around to the different areas that we will need to go to. I know that it will take a while but I’ll get used to it in time. I’m definitely not used to big city life, but God has definitely given me a peace that passes all understanding and I know that even in the difficult times I’m in the center of His perfect will for my life. So, now we have rode on the metro, visited downtown (though everything still looks the same to me and my normal ability to figure things out by land marks doesn’t seem to be working yet , and took a prayer walk around the seminary. Things are just incredible.

Our group had dinner with a couple that does a lot of work with the soccer ministry, so in talking with them, they seem to have a place they want me to help out in. I’m so excited.

Today we went to La Floresta church and I was so excited because I understood the some of the main points of his message even though it was all in Spanish

Prayer requests: Please pray that I would learn the language quickly and be able to adapt to the culture here. Please pray for the family that will be hosting me during language school, as well as the families hosting the others. Also, your prayers for our whole team would be much appreciated that we would seek God in all that we do and let the Holy Spirit guide in our actions.

I appreciate each and every one of you!!!

In Christ,

Gretchen (Ana—is my Spanish name)

Thanks for your prayers!

Published on February 6, 2008 in BJ and Andi Williamson. Closed

For those of you who felt compelled to pray for us this week we appriciated it greatly. If God tugged at your hearts to pray last sunday, monday, last friday, or at all this entire past weekend please allow us to fill you in on why!!
Last friday the trooper was accidentally backed into a tree at a pretty impressive rate. Even though Elijah was not yet strapped into his seat as we were preparing to leave our property in Pallatanga, fortunately nobody was hurt. We spent the week in cuenca visiting eXtreme walker Blake Hart and getting the back door fixed and the window replaced. Last friday we were stuck having to return to the camp in some pretty bad driving conditions. THe two main routes out of cuenca were closed due to mud slides from heavy rains. We took a route home that was about 7 hours instead of 3 1/2 hours and on our route saw around 100 mudslides that had touched the roads sometimes covering almost the entire way. God protected us yet again and got us back to the camp safely. All weekend we were at the camp without electricity as the heavy rains caused a large tree to fall on the electrical lines and meter to the entire camp. This is why we were so determined to get back to the camp. We spent the weekend without electricity or water (the water is electrically pumped) but the Lord sustained us and we were able to get things running by lunchtime monday.
Sometimes we take for granted the prayers that we say to the Lord but we want you each to know that we say the hand of God guiding and protecting us through this entire crazy week! Know that God hears your prayers and that we are blessed to be included in them.
Please pray for us as we will be spending the week with Guido Orellana, Jim Atkinson, and Keith Hooley at the camp. They are coming to evaluate the plans for a new septic system at the camp. Pray that the rain would subside enough for them to complete what they have come to do. We appriciate you each!
God bless,BJ, Andrea, and Elijah Williamson

La Llegada

Published on February 1, 2008 in Patrick and Rachel Whipple. Closed

Here we are - we made it, praise the Lord! After the smoothest trip I’ve been on, we arrived safely in Medellín with all our bags. We were received with hugs and smiles…pray for us during these next few days of getting settled.