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Happenings around campus this week

7/28/2020

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Starting again...another 10,000 pounds of rice and beans to distribute.  We have had to winnow a bit of the other great things we were adding in the past, not enough funds, and also distribute less every week.  A kind of restructuring after about four months of doing this.  

We are still receiving enough via the Milk Project to make sure those families get a bag per week, plus a few other goodies we bought for them in August (milk and granola bars), but otherwise it is going to have to drop as we try to make this last into early September, and by then hopefully as well have the corn here and able to distribute.  Prices on staples that which had been up almost 100% since March have dropped just a bit, we are hoping that will continue.  

We are still taking donations since our economic restrictions are likely to continue through that time period in some form, any "phases" we get to after getting out of the 0 we are currently in, will certainly be in place now in September. 

I'll include that link here for making donations to do more food distributions in case anyone is interested, we will be hoping to raise another $5,000 for September/October, to distribute another 500 bags.
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The road work in our neighborhood has begun again.  Although most people can't work...at least they have started this again, putting some construction guys to work again.  They are digging trenches right now for sewer lines (right about where one of them are standing will be where we connect the property at some point.)  Once all that is done, eventually then they will pour concrete roads here as well.  Community transformation indeed.  When we can connect to sewers, that will be a big change for us as well...and involve some expense to reroute all our waste from where it currently goes (about three different locations right now)
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We have had several reasons to tackle a few small construction projects of late, including needing some extra hands available to do some other things.  And actually as of last week, hardware stores can actually be open as well, so not only was Santos able to do the concrete work for the new garden areas around the mission house, but Soren was able to weld up some fence to protect the future flowers/berries/whatever we can get to grow there, and finish up railings on other parts of the property.  So we are trying to find any other welding projects we need him to do before he goes back to school (albeit online) in a few weeks. 

The clinic continues to fill the parking lot to overflowing almost every morning, and leaving late every afternoon (although that has improved a bit, no more leaving almost two hours late) and Oscar has been out and about some getting food to the pastors, checking with them...he spent last night in Las Botijas as well.  

So although we are still restricted...and our case count for COVID and deaths is steady, we are slowly finding some more ways we can work safely and do what we can to help in different areas.  
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Sun up time

7/24/2020

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I have been getting up early for many months to get my exercise on the campus.  Getting up early enough to beat dawn here means you have to be up by 4:30 in the summer time.  A lazy 5:15 I think in December.  Not being able to go anywhere else means I have got to see quite a few different views in the last...oh who is counting now anyway, four plus months.  

With challenges come opportunities.  With COVID comes lots of both in how we respond, as a mission and personally. 

Taking steps of faith and God providing has been awesome to continue to see.  Working on paperwork now for the coming containers is challenging...but worth my angst at not knowing how almost any of this shipping stuff works.  That and it really being mostly out of my control when any of that happens.  

Spending money where you think it is needed, looking to see what should be done, how, and how to try to be an encouragement is a very interesting challenge.  

I'll admit though...those sunrises are one of many kinds of God calls, gut checks, faith walks.  Not just the beauty and awe of what God does...but how He does it.  

One of the things of my youth, and now, is that erroneous way of being that thinks we can understand God, that things will eventually all make sense, that we will have a handle on things.    

I don't understand quite a bit lately.  People, their opinions, viruses, death, hunger...it's a pretty long list actually.  

That doesn't really bother me though.  God gave us several reminders that He is in control, only He gets the full picture, and instead of trying to plug the gaps and/or invent what we don't understand, we just need to trust in Him.  

Job 42, Isaiah 40 (Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counselor?) and more...all pointing to the fact God is God, and we are not.  

We call it sunrise.  Another language says "sun up time" and then sun down time.  It makes sense. Of course, it is not accurate.  We revolve around the sun, not the other way around.  

Things not making so much sense is a lot easier to process when you have the right perspective.  

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Disney princess theology

7/17/2020

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I listen to several podcasts.  Several of those podcasts would look at similar world events and have different ways to interpret those through different lenses.  Sometimes then, I disagree with them.  That seems like a good thing.  It certainly means I get challenged, and that is definitely a good thing.

This week, during one of those podcasts, the title to this post was mentioned, that when we read the Bible, we tend to identify with the hero in the story, the downtrodden, the righteous person.  Just like when we watch Disney movies, or dress up to be like them when we are kids, nobody dresses up like the villains or says they identify with them.  

But...real life, our societies can be Egypt, Babylon, or Rome, not Israel.  On the flip side, maybe we are Israel...when they were screwing things up for hundreds of years.  Am I acting like the apostles in the boat?  Am I a pharisee? Haman?  Jezebel?  

So the challenge was to read the Bible, and put ourselves in those people's places.  What would we have done?  What do we do?

Cool, interesting, thought provoking.  Then I got to live it.

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New outdoor staging area to keep distancing is working well so far. Each area has its own row of chairs to wait before there is enough space inside.
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Food distributions continue...sometimes we can't fill the bags as full as we would like, but we have been able to send food out to every community in the mission since March.
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Loader and backhoe? That is a lot of work that can be done. Maybe we can get the roads to being passable year round soon! Certainly sooner than we could otherwise!
God has been showing up in huge ways of late.  The corn container shipped and should be here mid August.  Not that long ago, I wouldn't have dreamed we would be getting another container of corn.

Plus, preparations are proceeding apace to fill the FAME container.  I can't recall a container filled with more direly needed items, specialized equipment, and more supplies than this one.  It may not be crammed full...but already what I know will be coming is huge.  Plus, donations have been strong...which is why we have been able to do all this.  We have received over $12,000 to buy things specifically for the container.  I have spent well over that...but have faith the remaining funds will come.  Who knows when we will get an opportunity to do this again?  Spending more now to ensure we can keep the clinic, and other areas, going long term...is almost priceless, except I know how much it costs.  

One thing we have not been able to do yet is secure oxygen supplies to open the COVID ward Darwin was thinking of doing for people being turned away from the hospitals.  We would have to charge for that, a lot, but right now...there are no good options outside the public system that start under $15,000.  But, we shall see.  If that happens, we would use the Milk Project building to house patients.  But without oxygen, we can't get started.  

Food distributions continue.  Just when it looks like we are going to run out of funds...more comes.  So far we haven't had to skip a week since March.  Not all the bags have been as full lately, but at least ten pounds per family of staples continues to go out, to about 230 families a week.  We are hoping the corn when it arrives will help supplement that as we see how we can continue to do this until people can get back working.

And then there is the tractor.  I have a few thousand dollars left to raise, but the response to this has been huge. This beautiful piece of gently used equipment is ours and will be on the FAME container as well.  

When I put that down on our original list of things we were seeking...it was a dream item, a God sized thing. 

​Now it is reality. The amount of road work and farm work we will be able to do with this in the coffee farms I am sure we don't full appreciate yet.  ​
All of that, and more...fingerprints of God's handiwork...going off like bombs around us.  Buoying us in many ways.  

But...when the bumps come, and they have been coming as well of late, how do I react?  How well am I remembering how much God is in control, and showing that right now, when those bumps are thumping me in the soul? 

Trying to go to sleep last night, I was reminded of looking at the Bible through a different lens.  Jesus walking on water.  Peter walking out to him...and 11 other guys scared out of their wits not even willing to get out of the boat. 

Today, I can identify a little more with the guys in the boat.  That's not really comfortable, but it is challenging, and that is a good thing.  
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July 06th, 2020

7/6/2020

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Roller coaster is what I feel I have been riding for a while.  Not for almost four months as we have been locked down.  No, for the first month or two, I was busy, catching up, playing the waiting game, helping with the food purchases, etc.  It was not fun, but manageable.  

But as this continues, it hits harder, more happens, things start to add up. 

We had some theft hit us personally, we had some crisis of faith for someone close to the ministry, some got scared and chose to walk away for fear of what could happen, we had some staff diagnosed with COVID...I think you get the idea.

Roller coasters don't crash into the ground though, and neither have we.  God has sent us unexpected, unusual, and lots, of encouragement and ways to keep us going back up when circumstances trying to bring us down low.  Holy Spirit action is powerful stuff.  Encouraging texts, kind words, some tips for sale items, donations from people we don't even know, the upcoming FAME and corn containers...sometimes the worst part of being on an emotional roller coaster is feeling like you are alone.  You aren't alone.  I'm not alone.  (Say that outloud...it helps.)  

We keep rolling with the punches, and as a mission are trying to give some punches back.  Against hunger, against despair, against sickness.  Times of trial and test show what we are made of I suppose.

What will come next?  I know we had a long meeting today talking about some emergency options of expanding the clinic work...into different areas and also different buildings.  Crazy talk just a few months ago.  Now...when someone, including myself, has a crazy idea, I try to stop, breathe, and then make sure I leave the door open for how God wants to move.  I won't share more here yet, just not to get hopes up or raise expectations on what I don't know will happen yet.  But definitely time for lots of prayer. Been doing more of that of late.  

​I could really start a ramble here, but let's stay on focus on our roller coaster.  I guess, it is called life, right?
peaking of life...

The work on the farms continues.  The guys are all hard at work, and prepping more plants to go in the ground.  

In the midst of a pandemic...how much do we scramble, and how much do we continue to plan and work for the future?  Stay the course?

People are still being employed, the Gospel shared, the work continuing. I am also still looking for a John Deere tractor to put on the FAME container.  Found the perfect size, and implements...but cash?  hmmm.   

​Where will it go?  How will we sell coffee going forward?  Time will tell...we are working on that as well.  

Also in Las Botijas...with the food load not as heavy per bag (unfortunate but necessary for the time being, the funds are running low) Oscar was able to get out some of the old mission house cabinets to the farms for use there.  Nothing goes to waste for sure.  



Masks in Sampedrana...the FAME donation paying off at Church.  Social distancing and masks in rural areas, where there is fear but not always a lot of options, has been interesting to see from afar.  The antibacterial gel sent should help for a while as they try to see when they can meet again, and form a plan for the long term as well. 

One thing is sure though, they are meeting, and seeing more seeds planted and sprouting in this difficult time.


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​And, life continues, with a baby dedication in Sampedrana.      

We have to keep fighting, keep searching and looking forward.  Meeting the needs of today, but also fighting for the future.  

I don't know how to do that...but I know Who does.  That gives me a sigh of relief, and the ability to breathe, and keep moving.  




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    Blog writer:
    Felipe Colby

    Executive Director 

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