It was a wonderful time of worship, and we are grateful to Blue Ball Church of the Brethren for inviting us and to God for giving us the opportunity to bless them.

On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, Team Alpha had their first outreach of the spring session. The outreach took place at Gehman Mennonite Church. Team Alpha presented six mimes for children participating in Release Time at Adamstown Elementary School.

During the presentation Alpha’s Director, Joseph Queen, spoke and explained how Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for sin and how Christ can change lives.

Overall, the first outreach went well, even though the mime paint didn’t cooperate!

On Monday, April 3rd, team Delta had the opportunity to present for CHEX homeschool co-op for the last day of their co-op’s semester! The team arrived a little bit before lunch to practice our mimes. Then we got to eat lunch with the kids and talk with them until we had to put on our mime face.

After putting on our paint we presented several mimes for them, explaining each song. All the kids watched intently and afterward asked a lot of questions, from why we wear mime paint and what it feels like to have it on our faces, to what our favorite animals are and what we like to do. 🙂 We had fun trying to answer them without talking, since we still had paint on.

Overall, it was a great outreach and a lot of fun interacting with the kids.

Team Beta returned to Conestoga View Retirement Home in Lancaster this past Sunday, April 9th.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, and each resident received a palm leaf for Palm Sunday and a songbook as they came into the auditorium.  They enjoyed chatting with our team before we presented.  One woman was impressed with our matching t-shirts, and asked if we sell them.  When told that, no, we don’t just sell shirts, she remarked, “Well, you should! You would make a lot of money!” 🙂

Jewel Sensenig, one of the DRAMA parents, began the presentation by leading several hymns, which the residents knew better than we did!  Afterwards, the team presented five songs, receiving an applause after each one.  Olivia and Isaiah Stoner and Emily Weaver took turns speaking, explaining the songs and encouraging the audience to remember that Jesus is always with us, and to walk in His light.

After wrapping up, we had the opportunity to hang out at the Sensenig’s home, talking about how the outreach went and praying to thank God for another opportunity to share the gospel!

Hello Friends,
Our Colombian team hit some technical difficulties, so the pots below were intended for Friday. Read them from that angle. 🙂
-tim

From Phil:
Hello from Colombia. Thanks to Karen Weaver’s generous offer of sending out our updates, Michael and myself have been blessed with one less thing to do this trip. Since a director’s list of responsibilities can get quite long, we are grateful for this. Since we are now about halfway through the trip I thought it would be good to have a director update. I know you know most of the details from Karen’s updates so I will just give a couple of my thoughts.
The team has been doing really well. They have had great attitudes in dealing with what has been a fairly tiring schedule and with dealing with many head colds and some reactions to either water or food. They have also done a great job of persevering through the work projects and mime teaching times with the local team. They have also been eager to jump into things. From my point of view the team seems to be bonding well and the discussion from each Bible study has had depth. This team is solid. I have been so blessed by the maturity and responsibility of the group. Those of you who are parents have a lot of which to be proud. For Hannah and I with two young boys and with Michael and Alisha learning to lead an international trip, this team has been a blessing. This is a great team to take on a trip with these factors.
Michael and Alisha are also doing really well. While Hannah and I are seeking to pass on whatever we can, it is clear that Michael and Alisha are ready for this. They have done a great job of taking leadership and running large parts of this trip. They are learning to work together in leadership and have facilitated opportunities for others to learn and grow.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. Tomorrow and Sunday will be somewhat out of the ordinary compared to the rest of our trip. Tomorrow we will be doing a “mountain mission” which includes gospel outreach and handing out care packets to some very poor Colombians on the other side of Bogota. Sunday we will be presenting at a local church here in Bogota. Please pray for us with these opportunities. Specifically pray for Michael and Alex as they will both be speaking by way of interpreter to the folks at the “mountain mission.” This is a new opportunity for them and also a great chance to learn. Thanks again for your prayers.

Phil

From Karen (written Sunday):
Hello! An apology to all the mothers – the internet was down yesterday, so we were unable to post an update.
Yesterday was an interesting day! We piled into the bus along with the Children’s Vision drama team and headed across the city to do an evangelistic outreach in a very poor part of the city. We set up in an outdoor plaza. Our team performed four mimes, and the CV team also presented four mimes. The event drew a large crowd of onlookers. Richard, the director of CV, shared the gospel and gave an invitation. A number of people responded and prayed to receive the gift of salvation!
After the drama presentation, we handed out 150 care packets to the needy. Some of the girls had packed these bundles the day before. They included warm clothing, hygiene products, and toys. The people were very grateful for the gifts.
We spent the afternoon “playing tourist”. We visited an Indian market where we were able to purchase souvenirs. After an hour of shopping, we piled back onto the bus and drove a series of twisting switchbacks up a steep mountainside. At 11,000 feet, we were rewarded with an incredible view of the city. Yet despite the expansive view, we were told it was only an eighth of the city.
Our bus driver dropped us off at the mall, and we ate supper at the food court. Yum! Burgers and Papa John’s pizza were a delicious treat after a week of chicken and rice! We walked several blocks back to our guest house, finally arriving home at 9:30 after a tiring but fun day.
-Karen

Yesterday was another warm, sunny day.  We have had amazing weather!  It is very hot in the sun, but as there is no humidity, it is quite pleasant in the shade.

Our youth spent the morning training the Children’s Vision drama team.  The children are so excited and eager to learn!  They completed the song begun the previous evening and finished learning a second one.

Bev, Hannah, and I spent the morning helping the boys from Leviticus House select new clothing. The children receive new clothing once a year, before the start of their school year.  Each boy was allowed to choose four pair of pants and four shirts.  They were very excited!

The youth spent the afternoon in several different buildings.  A group of girls packed away and organized the left-over clothing. The guys and several of the girls continued with the painting project at Numbers House.  Charlie and Alex began building a closet in the school.

We had a special supper.  Our group helped make and serve 500 pancakes for the entire orphanage, approximately 100 children. The pancakes were delicious, especially with raspberry, strawberry, and chocolate sauces and a side of ice cream!  It was a special treat for the kids, and they loved it!

After we ate, our youth spent the evening training the CVII drama team. Due to a misplaced key, they weren’t able to get into the practice room, so they spent 45 minutes playing games and hanging out. Even with the delay, they were still able to get a lot done, and enjoyed getting to know the Colombian team better. Before miming, one of the younger girls said, “I have lots of energy because I had so many pancakes!” Afterwards, she said, “Now I’m tired.”

Thanks for your prayers.  The youth that were not feeling well yesterday are doing great today.

Karen – for Colombia team

Yesterday was a very productive day.  Linford and his crew of painters made great progress on the exterior of the older girls’ home.  Charlie and some of the guys did some concrete work and also repaired bunk beds. Bev and I spent most of the day hemming school uniforms.  Jeanene, the director of Children’s Vision, was very pleased with how much our girls accomplished.  They helped organized donations and fitted the children with new clothing and shoes.

We ate supper at the Leviticus house, the little girl’s house.  The children were so excited to host our group.  An adorable little dark-haired girl prayed for our meal and said, “God bless the missionaries who came to share our food”.  Some of them were so excited they forgot to eat.  It is amazing to see how much communication takes place without a common language.

Our youth spent the evening getting to know the Bogota drama team, teaching them mime techniques and beginning to teach them a song.

Please keep praying.  So far our week has gone well, but several of our team are struggling with stomach issues.

Karen – for the Colombian team

We are enjoying another beautiful, sunny day in Bogota. The weather is perfect, a cloudless blue sky and a calm breeze.

Last evening we ate supper with the boys at the Exodus House.  Our team had fun attempting to communicate with the boys.  It was a noisy mixture of Spanish and English!

The plan had been for our youth to do mime training after the meal, but the schedule changed and instead we went back to Bethel, our guest house.  The team had Bible study, while the parents went grocery shopping.

Thankfully, we were able to get to bed early….as everyone was very tired!

This morning our team split up and went several different directions.  One group of guys worked on concreting a bedroom floor that they had ripped out yesterday.  They worked on bunk beds while waiting for their concrete to dry. The rest of the guys climbed scaffolding and began painting the exterior of one of the houses.  The girls helped fit all of the children with clothing and shoes.

We are all healthy and well. Thank you for your prayers!

We are enjoying a beautiful, sunny day in Bogota!  We arrived late last night after a long day of travel.  Our flight went well, and thankfully, all of our luggage arrived with us.  After landing at the airport and collecting our luggage, we traveled 45 minutes through the city to Bethel House, the guest home where we are staying.  We had a brief wait in a dark courtyard attempting to unlock the door with a broken key.  After being brought a new set of keys, we hauled our suitcases through a narrow hallway and up steep flights of stairs, finally tumbling into bed around 1:00 am.

This morning we ate a breakfast of cold cereal and fruit and walked two blocks to the Genesis House, the home for the babies and toddlers.  We enjoyed a tour of Children’s Vision’s four homes and school before eating our lunch in the sunny courtyard.

This afternoon the group will begin their work projects, which will include fitting children for school uniforms, painting, and tearing out a wooden floor.

We are all well. The youth are understandably tired, but have great attitudes. I haven’t heard a single complaint.

Karen and Alisha, for the Colombia Team

Hello Friends and Family,

We just finished up an awesome weekend of training in preparation for Colombia!  The team put together and practiced seven songs, four of which we are hoping to teach to the mime teams at Children’s Vision.  It was a blessing to have lots of DRAMA faces at the commissioning service at Blue Ball COB this morning- thank you all for your support!  And an extra thank you to the wonderful parents who provided meals for us during the weekend. 🙂  We wrapped up our training with a Bible study in Colossians, which we will continue during our trip.

An update on fundraising: We have received all of the funds we needed, with a little bit extra!  We are praising God for His provision through each of you.  Thank you so much!

Your prayers are appreciated as we travel tomorrow.  We have a two hour drive to Newark, NJ, and a six hour flight to Bogota.  Please pray for safety, and that things will go smoothly as we navigate the airport with our large group. Thank you!

For the Colombia Team,

Alisha