Category Colombia

Well, it is a little hard to write this because we are at the airport waiting for our midnight flight and the girls are back at the orphanage but truly we are not sad and the girls were not sad when we left them. We had such a marvelous time that all of our love cups were filled and running over and we know that it is just a matter of time before we are together again. Today we had a lazy breakfast and just enjoyed being together. At 11:00am we went to Madrid to the boys orphanage, Amparo De Ninos. David and Allen had brought several soccer and footballs and we wanted to deliver them to the boys and say hi. It was exciting to see some of our friends from June. Two of Beverly’s favorites, Juan David and Anderes Phillipe were really glad to see us. Everyone asked us to send their love to our team from June. We spent a couple hours there playing frisbee and soccer and visiting. We gave out some Bibles to the new boys who didn’t get one when we were here in June and I was able to read to them out of the spanish Bible and give a short devotion and then it was time to go. We went to a hamburger place and had a late lunch and just talked and laughed and cut up something awful. It was toooo much fun. It was a big family full of love and joy and hope for good things to come. We left there and headed back to Amparo De Ninas to take the girls back to the orphanage. We had many, many laughs on the way. We got to hang out at the orphanage for an hour or so and visit with all of our little friends there. I had worried that the other girls would be jealous or sad that these four had been singled out but it was the reverse. The other girls wanted to know every detail and it was obvious that they were enjoying vicariously what their “sisters” had lived all week. I could see and feel there hope. I had about 25 girls around me for at least an hour talking and joking and telling me stories and asking a million questions. It was wonderful. When it was time to go we gave our Goddaughters our last 20 or so hugs and kisses 🙂 said our last 20 or so “I Love You’s” and “Hasta Luego” (see you later). Rebekah broke down pretty bad as we drove away. She, of course, wanted to bring the whole orphanage home with us. Well if I don’t get on the plane right now I will have to stay in Colombia… Wait, why would that be a bad thing??? 🙂 Oh yeah, they probably wouldn’t let me live at the girls orphanage anyway so I better go!

Love and Prayers,

This morning after breakfast, we gave each of the girls their spanish Bibles that each of us had bought for them with their names embossed on the front. They were very touched. We had our morning devotion and I read aloud to them Ephesians 2 in spanish, with a little help from the girls on the hard words 🙂 and they read along in their new Bibles. I also told them how the love of God in Jesus had come into our hearts because of what God did in Ephesians 2 and that love has overflowed out of our hearts onto them and that God loves them more than we possibly could. At the end Lida offered to lead us in prayer and she prayed a very sweet prayer thanking God for us and for the blessing that we are to their soul and how we have made God’s love more real to them. Today was a much more relaxed and slow paced day and we really enjoyed it. This morning we took the girls to Exito, which is the Colombian version of Walmart. Each girl was able to pick out a pair of shoes, pants, a shirt, and a jacket. Rebekah, Sandra, Antonio, Adela (our driver), Allen, David, and I helped them pick out and try on several things until each girl was outfitted just right. It was so fun to watch their excitement. We left there and went to a mall with a huge bowling alley and enjoyed bowling with the girls. There were more laughs and cheers and shouts of joy than can be put into words. It was a wonderful thing. We left there and went up the mountain for dinner at a very nice restaurant that overlooks Bogota. The girls really revived after a good meal and the ride home was filled with singing and lots of teasing and joking. We sat around the hotel tonight and downloaded and looked at pictures and relived the day and laughed some more. The girls have thanked us so many times and told us so many times how much they love us that they have learned it in English and now tell us in English every time. We can’t give them everything we want to give them right now (a home and a family) but they know for sure that we love them and I believe that we have given them hope that there is more to the world and to life than what they have known thus far and hope is a powerful thing. We will continue to work on the home and family 🙂

Love and Prayers,

I am very sick this morning. My old friend Lupus is waging war on me but God is sustaining me. I can rest next week but right now I am with my little girl and that is the whole world. This morning we had a wonderful time of relaxation and conversation at breakfast. It is amazing how good our communication is in spite of the language barrier. The old adage “Love is a universal language” has sure been proven this week. Every day our group gets more comfortable and as Allen said tonight, “more like a family.” We sat around and enjoyed visiting until about 11:00am and then we took an hour ride out to an animal park. We saw trick riding, a pig race, and a wonderful dog show. We also got to pet several different kinds of animals. We laughed and joked and wore out several sets of batteries shooting hundreds of pictures. Some of the girls had never been up close to animals before. It was very cute to see them pet them. David is so funny. He had Rebekah laughing all day. His Goddaughter, Lida, who is the oldest of the Goddaughters at 18, has been such an example to the rest of the girls this week. It is beautiful to see the way she adores David and looks after his and the girls every need. Genari, Allen’s Goddaughter has been a dynamo of joy and laughter the whole time. It has been enthralling to watch her thoroughly enjoy everything with a infectious smile, ready laugh, and servants heart. After the animal park, we went to the mall and had dinner. Some very sweet things happened there. First, while everyone was ordering their food Heidy asked me to do her a favor. I said “sure.” She asked me to buy her a small loaf of hot bread at a little bakery next to where we were ordering our food. I thought, “this is great, she is comfortable asking her Godfather for things she likes and wants.” I bought the bread and she promptly took it and handed it to a little old man in a tattered hat and tattered coat who was shuffling near us. Then she walked back to me with a huge smile and said, “Gracias”. She had seen him coming and her heart went out to him. It was pretty special to say the least. The second thing was when Marley, Allen’s other Goddaughter, who didn’t get to be with us yesterday because of some paperwork complications (so today was her first full day with us) was trying to say something to Allen and he asked me to translate. I said, “she is saying that you have her heart in your hand.” Allen began to tear up and Marley asked me with a concerned look on her face, “why is Allen crying?” I said, “because his heart is so full of love for you.” Then Marley started crying. So Allen and Marley were crying and laughing at each other for crying :-). It was awesome. Because Marley wasn’t with us yesterday when we bought the girls toiletries, we went to the store and bought all the things that Marley needed. We had fun shopping too (I guess that is another universal language 🙂 ) All the girls have been as good as gold and it has been an absolute joy to be with them. They keep saying that they are afraid that it is a dream and they are going to wake up and find that it never really happened. Another sweet thing was when we pulled up to the hotel the girls all clapped and told us thank you for a wonderful day. We told them, “just wait ’till tomorrow, it only gets better!” 🙂

Love and prayers,

This morning we had a fun breakfast with the girls and then we had an 8:30am appointment with the regional director for ICBF to talk about doing a summer camp where 20 or so adoptable orphans from Colombia could come to Houston area for a week and stay in the homes of host families who are interested in adoption or just ministering to the children for that week. We had a very wonderful meeting and they also told us how excited they were about our passion for the orphans and wanted to help. The regional director told us that his boss the national director was the one we needed to talk to but she was in Peru. However, he got on the phone and set up a meeting right away for us with the national directors assistant. We went over to that meeting and it was very positive as well. We now know what it would take to make this happen and have a list of action items to work on. The girls were so patient and well behaved as they waited for us at each of these meetings. We went to lunch and it was really fun to just eat and talk and take pictures and have fun. After we went to the public library and Heidy read Rebekah a book about a prince and a princess. There were beautiful flowers and fountains at the library and we took some really nice pictures there. We then went to a different mall and just walked and spent time together. Then we went and bought the girls some goodies to eat at the hotel and bought each of them the toiletries that they needed. You can’t imagine how grateful they were to get some everyday haircare, lotion, chapstick, Q-tips, etc. They each hugged and kissed us and thanked us many times and said that now they are rich. We are now at the hotel, just hanging out, eating our goodies, and watching spanish TV :-). What a day! I got Heidy to loosen up and allow some more pictures today!

After writing the former, we decided to have dinner. The girls had asked us to buy hot dogs and all the fixin’s to have at the hotel. So we asked the nice lady at the hotel if she could heat them up for us. She got us plates and cups and napkins and heated our hot dogs for us and we had chips and soda and lots of other bad stuff 🙂 Genari and Lida served us all like we were at a restaurant. After dinner we were looking at pictures on the computer and Heidy and I were writing each other love notes via my translator on my computer when suddenly Lisa, Beverly, Brooke, and Mercy signaled that they were on video chat and wanted to talk to us. We answered and to the utter amazement and joy of the girls we were suddenly talking to and looking at the family on the computer screen. Absolute chaos ensued as everyone tried to talk at once in spanish and english. Rebekah and I had our hands full trying to rapid translate both ways at once. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. Heidy got to meet her Godmother and tell her that she loved her and when Lisa answered back in spanish to tell Heidy that she loved her, Heidy screamed and jumped up and down. Lida told Beverly in clear english that she remembered her, that she was her friend, that Beverly was beautiful, and that she loved her very much. Rebekah had been teaching her english all day while we were in the meetings with ICBF and it paid off! They all told Mercy how beautiful she was and that they wanted to talk to her more. They love Brooke because she has dark hair, eyes, and skin like them! They showed off all of their gifts and Genari did a puppet show with Lida’s pink duck trying to eat my nose and ears. Mercy responded with her pink duck and they kissed and danced with each other through the computer screen 🙂 Finally, it was time to call it a night but suddenly Lisa said, “no goodnight until Heidy sings to me.” So Heidy starts singing some beautiful Latin love song while Lida and Genari wave their arms behind her like palms for effect. Then suddenly all the girls were singing song after song and then not to be outdone the Bullen family was singing worship songs with Beka and I helping out on harmony from our side. Needless to say my face hurts from smiling and my stomach hurts from laughing and with Heidy crying tears of joy on my collar a couple of times today, I would say that we have experienced nearly the full gamut of human emotions 🙂 Marley, the other Goddaughter who wasn’t able to stay with us at the hotel last night showed up shortly after and we had a great reunion with her. She is now here for the rest of the time. It would take many more words to go into detail of how God has protected, guided, ordered, and favored us on this trip so far. Only eternity will tell and I believe there is much more to come of our connection with Colombia.

Love and Prayers,

The Lord opened a door for us to go to Colombia this week to spend some time with our Goddaughter and work on some ministry issues with the Colombian government. My 20 year old daughter Rebekah, our compadres in the orpahn ministry, Allen Pate and David Richardson, and I arrived safely last night. This morning the wonderful couple, Sandra & Antonio, the dentist and Engineer who have become our liaisons here in Bogota had set up a meeting for us with the defender of the girls at ICBF, which is the equal to our CPS. We also picked up two workers from the orphanage that know all parties and wanted to be part of the meeting. We were praying very hard for this meeting as we had no idea what to expect. The defender started out by asking some tough questions about our intentions for the girls and as we and our Colombian friends began to explain who we were and what we do in ministry and about our families and our children, the defender began to get very excited and said that she was very happy to meet us and very touched by what we were trying to do. God’s presence in the room was unmistakable. We were The defender asked when she was going to be invited to Texas to come and see what we are doing in ministry. I told her NEXT WEEK 🙂 if she wanted. We all hugged. When we left the meeting the words “miracle” were on several lips including those of our friends Sandra and Antonio. And this was all before lunch! Next we went to a new, tiny, orphanage with 51 boys. They all live in a single house with 6 bedrooms and lots of bunk beds. The dining room was smaller than the breakfast nook in my house. The place was immaculately clean and very organized. The boys do all of the work. They pay $900.00 US a month for rent. The government only pays for food. This is one of the places that we will try to help on future trips. At last we finally made it to Amparo De Ninas, the orphanage, where our Goddaughters live. We pulled into the gate and were hardly out of the van when I heard an ear piercing scream and little Heidy leaped over a hedge and jumped into my arms. It was a moment I will remember to the day I die. The response from the other Goddaughters, Lida, Genari, and Marley were the same. We spent about an hour standing next to the van just hugging all of the orphan girls that we know there and taking pictures with them. When it was finally explained to Heidy and the other Goddaughters that they needed to go pack because they were going to get to stay with us for the rest of the week, they could not believe it. We left and went straight to the mall. Our first stop was a large video arcade and we played air hockey, race cars, motorcycles, etc. etc. It was so fun. I don’t know who were the bigger kids, David, Allen, and Myself or the girls! We left there and went ice skating. Actually all the girls skated while the old guys sat and took pictures and video. It was amazing. Heidy and Rebekah tried to learn and teach each other how to ice skate and it turned into some spectacular crashes. Only bruises, thank goodness :-). Then we had pizza and soda and headed for the hotel. There were many hugs and thank you’s and many smiles from our girls. David, Allen, and I agreed that the hand of God had dramatically guided our day and we couldn’t think of anything better in the world we would rather be doing than this.

Love and Prayers,

Our final day here in Bogota was very sweet and very sad as was expected. We went back to “Amparo De Ninas” today. The girls were all gathered and Beverly, David, Sarah, and I sang “Here I Am To Worship” for them and then I gave our last devotional from Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I shared with them how the God of hope loves them and has a plan for them. And when they believe the Holy Spirit comes and fills them with hope, joy, and peace. They can search for those things in the world, in things, in human relationships, but they are only to be found in God through His Son Jesus Christ. Several girls prayed with me after acknowledging their need for and total dependance on Jesus Christ for their eternal salvation. After the devotion, the team gave each girl and New Testament in Spanish and an brand new pair of shoes and a stuffed bunny. I should mention here that our team, Here I Am Orphan Ministry, (www.orphanministries.com) bought 361 pairs of shoes this week for girls and boys in every orphanage we visited plus 4 other orphanages that we were not able to visit this time. Then it was lunch time and we enjoyed eating and visiting together. Two girls wrote me sweet notes thanking me for opening my heart to them and for the love that they felt. I have so many little sisters now. Instead of trying to celebrate each girls birthday when it comes around they have two big parties a year, one in June for the January through June birthdays and one at the end of the year for the rest. Today was the big birthday party for the first 1/2 of the year so after lunch our buddies from “Amparo De Ninos” that we visited earlier in the week showed up and the party began. There were cakes and we brought ice cream and toppings and there was a DJ and lots of dancing :-). The kids look forward to this for 6 months and they were extra delighted that we were going to be there to share it with them. It was a happy time. As the day began to come to a close the girls started bringing me their email addresses on scraps of paper and eliciting promises of staying in touch and promises to return and see them when we can. When it actually came time to leave, we gathered in a big circle and held hands and I prayed. I asked God to watch over our friends, to draw them close to Himself, to let them know that we love them and it is because He first loved us, and to hold our hearts in His hand until we see each other again. After the prayer, some of the girls got up and thanked us. Heidy, the little girl that captured Beverly and my heart and with whom we had much fun today, got up and said, “Thank you for coming to show us love. Believe me, your riches in heaven will be great. You have given 365 days worth of love in 3 days. God bless you.” Then it was time to go and girls rushed to kiss us on the cheek and give us hugs. Many were crying as were we. They thanked us over and over again. Finally, before some of the team dragged me into the van and closed the door, I gave Heidy the last of many tearful hugs and we said our sweet goodbyes. I don’t have the words to say what we all felt as we drove away but there was much sobbing and many determined oaths to redouble our efforts to “Vindicate the weak and fatherless and do justice to the afflicted and destitute.” Psalm 82:3

Love and Prayers,

Pastor Matt

Today was a happy day! We rested some and saw some sites this morning and then went back to “Amparo De Ninas” this afternoon. It was such a happy day because we had made friends with these girls yesterday and they know that we aren’t leaving until Saturday so they don’t have to be sad yet and so we were able to just be comfortable with each other and really loosen up and have some fun. When I walked into the courtyard I saw that the girls had taken colored chalk and in huge fancy letters written on the asphalt “Mateo, Te Queremos Mucho” (Matthew, We Love You Very Much). The little girl (Heidy) that I told about who was such a singer and musician had drawn a large picture of a girl with a smaller girl with her head on her shoulder and under the larger girl was the name Beverly and under the smaller girl was her name with hearts all around the picture. It was beautiful. We played basketball, volleyball, and sat around and talked a lot. For dinner we had our big hot dog cook out and then made popcorn and roasted marshmallows over the charcoal. Someone brought out a stereo and then it got crazy. In case you ever wondered if Latin girls can dance, I am here to tell you positively that they can and that they are determined when trying to teach us “Americanos” how to as well. I’ve never had more fun in my life. We laughed and we made them laugh. We danced and took crazy pictures of each other until our camera batteries were gone. We talked and played until the sun was way down and it was time to go. Some of the girls made woven bracelets and Beverly knew how to start them so there was literally a line of girls waiting for Beverly to help them get theirs started. Heidy brought her bracelet when completed and put it on my arm. I tried to give it back and tell her it was for her but she would have none of it. All day yesterday and today I kept trying to get her picture but she wouldn’t let me or anyone else. Apparently she is infamous for hating to have her picture taken. Once when I surprised her with a shot she begged me to delete it and so I did. She did allow a picture of her and Beverly with her drawing though and right before we left she came up and said “Uno photo de tu y yo” (One photo of you and me) so I was able to get her picture after all. My friend Allen took the shot and I can’t wait to get it from him. I knew that it was a huge gesture of friendship for her to permit it and I will cherish that picture. It reminded me of summer camp when I was a boy and making new friends and having fun and giving yourself to the moment knowing that the week will end but for the moment this is all there is in the universe. I know God put Beverly and I on this wonderful team of people and appointed us for this trip and I can gratefully say that I have soaked up every minute. I came here to show the love of Jesus to these children but what I didn’t expect was to see His love for me through them.

Love and Prayers,

Pastor Matt

Little did I know that this day, June 23, 2009 would change my life forever. This is the day that I met my Colombian Goddaughters, Heidy and Ginary, and fell head over heels in love.

Today was another example of God’s hand mightily at work among us. We arrived at “Amparo De Ninas” at about 10:00am. There are 76 girls in this orphanage. They were all ready to go to the big city park “just down the road” so we set out walking to the park. An hour and 5 or 6 miles later we arrived at the park. It was a lovely walk in the 70 degree weather with each of us surrounded by girls holding our hands or walking arm in arm and asking question after question. It was wonderful. The park is a gigantic, beautiful, lush, park with two lakes. If walking “to” the park wasn’t enough we also had to walk all around the park and see all of the sites 🙂 which gave us lots of opportunity to talk about the Lord, America, food, music, and so on. The nuns cooked up in huge kettles over an open fire right in the park a wonderful “soup” full of beef ribs, chicken leg quarters, bananas, plantain, potatoes, rice and so on. It was delicious and hearty. We played volleyball, soccer, earth ball, ladder ball and shot marshmallow guns at each other. At about 3:00pm the rain came and we had to head back to the orphanage. By the time we got back the rain had stopped so we dragged chairs out into the courtyard and sat around and visited until time to go. My heart was pierced again and again as were the rest of the team as we got to know these beautiful girls and see their personalities and know that if they don’t get adopted the statistics tell us that most of them will be dead within two years of leaving the orphanage. One little girl in particular, named Heidy, followed Beverly around all day and tried really hard to communicate with her. At one point she began to play piano scales with her fingers on Beverly’s arm and suddenly they realized that they knew a universal language, music. This little girl plays the piano, flute, and drums. I had seen her with Beverly all day but I was monopolized by several other sweet girls and didn’t get to meet her until we were almost ready to leave. Someone said that she could sing and so we coerced her into singing for us. When she started to sing I thought that heaven had opened up and an angel was singing to us. We were stunned. As I write this there are chills going down my spine and tears filling my eyes. I know that God has a plan for this girl and I am so grateful that on this day I was able to love on her and make her laugh several times and let her know that she has friends from Texas. Tomorrow we go back to have a big hot dog cookout with these girls and then Friday we will be with them all day as well. I can’t wait to get back there and see all of my little friends. I don’t know what the future holds but I know, God willing, that we are going to have a wonderful time in the Lord while we can.

Love and Prayers,

Pastor Matt

Today was another amazing day. We went back to “Ciudad De La Nina” (City of the Girl) to spend the whole day. This is the orphanage with 160 of the cutest girls ever seen that we visited briefly yesterday. We spent the morning talking with the girls (by now our spanish is getting pretty good) and laughing and teasing while they asked us zillions of questions which we later realized were all directed at whether we would make good adoptive parents or not. They asked us important questions like how many shoes we owned and how much land and how many animals we owned and stuff like that :-). We then had a grand cook out and fed them hot dogs and chips and ice cream with all of the toppings which took hours, literally. They thanked us dozens of times. It was a very happy, happy time. We then moved into the cafeteria and a group of the girls dressed in traditional Colombian dress did several dances for us. It was really beautiful. Next, it was time for the devotion. I shared with them about my family and how that all of my adult life my passion has been to be a good father. I told them how I love my children and how I desire to give good things to them and how I would even die for them. But then I shared with them that the Bible says that if earthly fathers who are sinners give good gifts to their children how much more does the Heavenly Father. I then proceeded to share with them the wonderful news of a Heavenly Father who loves them and who sent His son to die for them and how that by faith they can have this Father for their own and He will never leave them, He will never let them down. We then gave out a pair of brand new tennis shoes to each girl and a New Testament in Spanish. Then it was time for us to go. However, some of the girls got the idea of having each of us sign their Bible for them. So we spent the next 30 minutes with crowds of girls around each of us signing Bibles as fast as we could write our names. It was unspeakably precious. We had to tell them goodbye for now (this trip) and words cannot express the feeling in our hearts as we left those girls, many with tears, promising to do what we can to help them in the days ahead and asking God to watch over them. It was especially hard for me to leave 3 little girls named Jaime, Brenda, and Wendy who had held my hands all day and called me Papa. Tomorrow we go to “Ampara De Ninas” (Protection of the Girls) here in the city which is one of the main reasons for the trip and we will spend the rest of our week there. I can only imagine how hard it will be to leave our new little friends there after we spend the next three days with them but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. I have a new appreciation for my Savior who once said, “suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Love and Prayers,

Pastor Matt

Day 3 was a marvelous day of blessings and much emotion. Today was Beverly’s 18th birthday and I’m sure one that she will remember forever. At breakfast the whole team stood around her table and sang happy birthday and then presented her with a pretty tote bag with her name embroidered on the side. After breakfast we went back to “Amparo De Ninos” for the last time (this trip). When we arrived there were no boys to be seen. As we walked into the orphanage they were lined up in the hall and as Beverly entered they sang happy birthday in broken english and clapped and wished her “Feliz Cupleano” (happy birthday). It was beautiful. We took a tour of the grounds this time and were able to see their farming and dairy operation which helps with their needs and they also sell the milk to help with their costs. After some more soccer, we met in the chapel for a final devotion and to say our goodbyes. The young people on our team (Beverly (18), Sarah (18), brothers Matthew (20) and John (17), and Eric (24)) got up and gave testimony to what Christ is doing in their lives and why they came and what a blessing it has been and how they love and will miss the boys. Then I was able to share from John 14 about eternity and how short this troubled life is in comparison. I shared with them that though we may be separated in this life, if we believe in Jesus and turn from our sin, our own way, and cry out to Him, resting solely on His mercy and grace for our salvation, then we will be together in eternity with our Lord. I told them about repentance and faith. After the devotion, 25 boys acknowledged their need for Christ and I was able to pray with them. Then 3 of the older boys got up and thanked us in the most precious manner you can imagine. They thanked us for the love of Jesus that they had seen in our faces and in our actions. They said that though the time we were able to spend with them probably seemed short to us it was like a lifetime to them because it is so rare that they get to experience anything like that. They said that few people in the world would come so far to spend their time with a bunch of orphans and they loved us for it and would remember it the rest of their life. Our sweet interpreter broke down several times and had a hard time translating all that they had to say to us. There was no shortage of tears among us all. We left at lunch with many tears and hugs and sweet goodbyes and promises to come back next year. One little boy who had stayed right with Beverly and I all weekend asked if I could be his “Padrino” (Godfather) and if Beverly could be his “Madrina” (Godmother). That was hard. We are bringing back information on each boy and have promised them that we will work to help connect them with families who wish to adopt. In the afternoon we went to a new orphanage called “Ciudad De La Nina” (City of the Girl) where their are 160 girls between the ages of 7 and 18. This is one of the orphanages of the man that we met with yesterday morning from “Alma De Ninos” (Soul of the Child). They had an assembly and the girls all sang to us and chanted out a welcome. We introduced ourselves and I just happened to mention to them that it was Beverly’s “Cupleano Hoy” (Birthday today) :-). So 160 girls sang happy birthday in spanish, and beat on the tables, and clapped and Beverly blushed intensely and then proceeded to walk over and give me a well deserved punch in the kidney :-). We handed out a stuffed toy to each girl and told them that we would be back tomorrow to have an American cook out and spend the whole day with them. More chanting, clapping, and beating on the tables ensued. Many of the girls came up to thank us and give us each a big “abrazo” (hug). Five beautiful little girls surrounded me and asked if I had any daughters. I told them that I had 5 daughters including Beverly and then they asked me if I would like some more daughters because each of them are waiting for a family to adopt them. That was hard. We left there and went to dinner at the home of the lady who works from this end to help the “Here I Am Orphan Ministry” (our team) to work in these orphanages and acts as the guide on the trips. We had a wonderful Colombian dinner and rich Colombian coffee and then she pulled out a beautifully decorated chocolate cake and we all sang happy birthday to Beverly one more time. As she blew out the candle, Beverly wished out loud that we will be able to help some of these children, perhaps through adoption ourselves, in the future. We sang some worship songs and went back to our hotel asking God for strength and courage to once again be the hands and feet and arms of Jesus to the 160 girls at “Ciudad De La Nina” tomorrow.

Once again, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for supporting us in this work and for the many prayers.

Many Blessings,

Pastor Matt

First thing this morning the team had a 2 hour conference with a man who with his wife founded a ministry to orphans here in Bogota call “Alma De Ninos” (Soul of the Children). They founded this ministry right after college and now have 263 orphans ages 10-18 (all eligible for adoption) in 5 different homes that they house and educate. We were very impressed with their work. Tomorrow we will go back to “Amparo De Ninos” (Protection of the Boys) for 1/2 day and then go to one of these “Alma De Ninos” homes that has 160 girls for the remainder of the day. After our meeting this morning we went back to “Amparo De Ninos” again and spent the whole day with the 80 boys there. The first thing we saw when we pulled through the gates this morning was all of the boys in their shirts we gave them playing soccer with the new equipment. It was wonderful to see their smiling faces again. We had a big hot dog cook out with chips and sodas and cookies. The boys never get “seconds” at meals so when we call out that there was seconds for everyone they stampeded. After lunch we played frisbee, dodgeball, and football. Later in the day we went into the old Catholic chapel and had a devotional from one of our team who is in seminary and works for a ministry in Waco. He told the boys that we love them and want to help them but there is only so much that we can do but that Jesus has already borne all of their pain, suffering, and sin on the cross and through faith in His sacrifice they can be healed. We then gave each boy a New Testament in Spanish. I was able to have some deep spiritual conversations with a couple of the boys and pray with them about their fears and struggles. We had many fun conversations as well and Beverly and I both learned a ton of spanish. Beverly is making a list of all the little boys she wants to bring home, boys with names like Anderes Philip, Juan David, Alexander, Diego, and Ramido. I keep reminding her that we still have two girls orphanages to visit yet this week :-).

Once again, thank you for making this possible and for all of the prayers.

Pastor Matt

June 20, 2009

We had a wonderful day today! We went out in the country to the boys orphanage “Amparo De Ninos” (Protection of the Boys). We spent the day loving on 80 orphan boys between the ages of 10 & 18. Everyone of these boys is eligible for adoption and is just waiting for a family to come and take them home. First, we were given the grand tour of “their house” a beautiful and very old Catholic monastery now an orphanage. They showed us their bakery and insisted that we try some of their pastries which were delicious. They showed us their laundry room and nurses station and kitchen and their rooms. It was so precious to be surrounded by 10 or 15 boys at once trying to hug you, hold your hand, and talk to you in rapid fire spanish. I was glad I knew how to say “hable mas despacio por favor” which means “please speak more slowly” :-). After the tour we sat around in a huge circle and introduced ourselves. Then I gave a message from Eph. 2:1-10 through a translator and told them how all of us are boys who have ran away from God and been lost “But God” rich in mercy and full of great love provided a way back to Him through the death of Christ on the cross and now He calls us to faith in His son so that we may have a Father (God), a Brother (Jesus), and a family (Christians), and never be alone again. Some boys cried and others smiled and nodded and some fell asleep :-). Then we had lunch and then we split the boys up into 4 teams and gave all the boys on each team a T-shirt. One team was red, one was blue, one was white, and one was gray. Two teams played soccer while two teams played kick ball (which was new to them) all with sports equipment that we had brought to give to the orphanage. They had a marvelous time. When it came time for us to go, they begged us to stay and held onto the van until we drove out of the gates, all the while telling them “Hasta Manana!” (See you tomorrow). One little boy clung to Beverly all day and was really sweet. It was hard for her to leave him. My little friend that held my hand all day was so cute. Tomorrow we will go back there with 200 hot dogs, buns, catsup, mustard, mayonnaise, cokes, and candy and have a feast with them and another man from our group will give a devotion and then we will teach them some new games.

Posting pictures of orphans on the internet is illegal but suffice it to say that we have some amazing shots that we will be showing around when we get home.

Thanks for helping us to get here and for all of the prayers,

Pastor Matt