the core group.

A few years back, when I first started ministry out on the streets, these kids were all on drugs and living in a canal under a bridge...  

These first few photos are of a little family that I've been working with since 2009.  There have been a lot of ups and downs, and it's a still a daily struggle, but they're fighting for a different life.  We're working on teaching them how to be a family... learning to communicate and trust, as well as discover the life God has for them off the streets...  I got them set up in a room way out in the campo, and we (my supporters and I) are helping support them until they get on their feet.  

Please keep them in your prayers.  Zulma has a hungry heart for the Lord and a sincere disdain for the life she used to live.  Gary's not quite there yet, but he's really trying...

Zulma and their 3 year old son, Miguelito, coloring at my kitchen table

Gary and their 1 year old son, Juan Marcelito

Me, Zulma, and little Juan at Cafe Xelda

Zulma, Gary, Juan Marcelo, and Miguel (sleeping on Zulma's back) at Gary's work

I've also been spending a lot of time with Zulma's older sister Patty.  She was the first street-dwelling kid that I got know back in 2008, and I love her like crazy.  

Patty was living in Argentina with her long-term boyfriend, Efrain, all of last year but came back to Bolivia to give birth to their first baby boy (born in January) and has been living with the girls' family out in the campo since December.  Efrain arrived in Cochabamba this past Friday, and I'm currently helping him find a job and a room for them to live in.  

Please be praying for them.  They want a normal life.  Efrain has a violent history (he attacked me more than once), but I know in my heart that there is a strong calling from the Lord on on his life.  BIG things will happen when God gets a hold of his heart.  I love these guys, and although they are doing really well right now, they need a lot or prayer support.

Patty and her baby with her mom (in the hat) and some of her siblings

Patty and baby at my house

Out for ice cream with Patty and Efrain last year

quick update.

I'm loving how God is creating this community!  Nothing has been predictable...  It's exhilarating to rely on Him to pull this thing together.  More than ever before in my life, I'm learning that relying on God wholeheartedly is something that takes some serious discipline and constant prayer.  It'd be easy to just do things my way and make decisions that make the most sense, but I'm not the boss.  I've had several opportunities to move some folks in who would have helped with the rent and other expenses, but God made it really clear that that wasn't part of His plan for this place.  Instead, I'm moving in people who I will have to help support with money that I don't really have.  It doesn't make sense, but God said to do it... so here we go!

Tomorrow, my cleaning lady and her two teenage daughters are moving into our community (which currently consists of me and the two dogs).  They need to escape a really bad situation with the husband/father, and I have the space to offer them right now.  They have nothing and no money, so we're praying that God multiply the fish and the loaves.  The girls are sweet but troubled because of the situation they've been living in.  They need a lot of help, guidance, and support...  They've been dealing with some depression and are starting to get mixed up in some pretty dangerous stuff.  They're not street girls, but people are people.  And right now these are the people God is bringing to Casa Koinonia.

I'm still working with Zulma and her two babies, but she has chosen to rent a room with her boyfriend for the time being.  They're off the streets, but it's not the best situation.  I'm still spending much time with her and the kiddos, and I'm really just waiting for the next big crisis so I can scoop them up and bring them here.  Be praying about this.

Also, I'm probably going to have to start doing some fundraising.  Honestly, even though I drag my feet when it comes to communication and fundraising, God has been providing for this community house is some pretty insane ways...  And we have money to finish up Carolina's house out in the campo thanks to a wonderful church in Kentucky!  I could not be more excited!  More about all of that soon...

My friend Ken and one of the guys from his house in Santa Cruz came up for a visit and brought us some living room furniture!  We also picked up some ceiling lamps, which the guys installed, and a washing machine for the community house (check out the photo albums!)  I'm kind of going with the "if you build it, they will come" mentality, and I'm praying like crazy for some more volunteers.

There's a lot happening, and honestly, I'm having to make some difficult and somewhat unpopular decisions that affect people's lives...  But I'm holding tightly to the Bible as my guide and moral absolute and praying that God's voice be loud and clear.  I'm trying to take a backseat here and let Him be in control of all that happens...  Please keep Casa Koinonia and all the people who's lives are connected to this community in your prayers.

koinonia, pt. 1

We need each other.  I could probably write pages in support of that statement, but I think it's something that most people agree on.  We are just simply not made to do life alone.  From the time that we're teeny-tiny babies, we long for love, relationship, and security.

Those tiny little baby minds and baby hearts learn early on whether or not they are safe and loved.  But what happens when that baby isn't safe and isn't loved?  What happens when that baby turns into a neglected little toddler who has already learned that crying doesn't do any good and nobody cares that he's hungry?  Within the first few years of his life, he's already learned to shut down his emotions and never sheds a tear.  He becomes withdrawn.  He grows up not trusting anyone or depending on anyone.  He lives day to day, not sure who would really care if he were to disappear tomorrow.  He doesn't know how to love or be loved. When his emotions break through to the surface, he can't control them, and he doesn't understand them.  He surrounds himself with people like himself until his group self-destructs.  And the worst thing is that he is doomed to repeat the cycle when he inevitably has a child of his own.

At the very core level, I want to teach the kids on the streets love.  And it can't be a love that comes from humans because we screw up.  We screw up big time.  This country is full of the evidence of how humanity has screwed up.  Just look around.  Crippled old grannies begging for coins on the streets...  Three year olds trained to sing and dance for handouts from the tourists...  Toxic rivers and garbage covered streets...  Starving dogs on every block...  Six year old girls selling candy and cigarettes to drunk men in the bars all night long...

Everything about this is wrong.  But don't think that Bolivia is some exception.  Things are different but equally bad everywhere else.

I think that we as humans have been robbed of love.  We're lost and hurting, and deep down inside we are looking for what we're missing: love... relationship and safety.  It's the first thing we long for when we're born...  We scream and cry for Mom's love and comfort.  It's ingrained in us, I think, because we're made in God's image.

And God is love.  

And God is community.  

And that's what we're created for: love and community with God and with one another.  It's simple.

So I have this wild idea to take those babies who have never known love and who've grown up into lost and hurting adults, and bring them into community... into love.  And Casa Koinonia will be just that: community and love.

Yeah, we're human, and we'll mess up for sure.  But we'll try really hard to stop trying... to stop doing it all ourselves and relying on our own understanding.  Instead, we'll try really hard to lean on the Holy Spirit and trust him to guide us and make us more loving everyday...

The more we know God and spend time with him, the more his love will wear off on us, and the more those babies (now adults) will understand love and understand God.  And their lives will change forever.

isaiah 58

Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the Lord?

“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.

photo links.

Here are a few photo albums of what we've been doing recently.  Click on each title to go to the album on Facebook.

A sidewalk Sunday School in Takaloma that I help with every other Sunday

Trip to a park with Sulma and her boys

Health Fair at Takaloma on 10/24

Sulma and boys visit my house on Sunday

ch-ch-ch-changes.

I think part of the reason I keep a blog is for the purpose of having a quick artistic outlet.  I change the colors and theme about as often as I post an update....

cute babies.

Here are few photos of mommas and babies at the home for couples from the streets...