Subject: Greetings from Cochabamba!

Greetings from Cochabamba!  We arrived Saturday morning after a long but smooth and safe journey to be greeted at the airport with warm abrazos from our Bolivian brothers and sisters in Christ.  We brought 34 large suitcases, more than half of which were packed with school supplies, building tools, and eyeglasses.  In addition, thanks to an anonymous contribution we also brought 15 cartons of medicines.  Because of the efforts of a member of Pauling,  American Airlines and Lloyd Aereo Boliviano transported these for us at no additional cost.

Sunday we worshipped at El Salvador, the oldest Methodist Church in Cochabamba and the sponsoring church of Piedra Viva where we will be working for the next 2 weeks.

We know we are here because of the hundreds of you who have supported our mission and for this we are deeply grateful. 

Encounter with Christ team in Bolivia,
Jane

Subject: Bolivia VIM 2004 Update

Dear Friends and Family,

We greet you from rainy, cool Cochabamba, knowing that you are struggling with below zero temperatures.  You are truly in our prayers!

We are awed by the evidence of God's presence in so many powerful ways.  At the last minute we brought reading glasses with us.  At a district meeting being held in the building next to our living space, and presided by Bishop Carlos Intipampa, a pastor mentioned to Wilson Boots that he was having trouble seeing.  Wilson brought him to us and within minutes he had reading glasses and could see.

We've been richly blessed by our relationships with the pastor and the people of Piedra Viva, and their parent church El Salvador.  At dinner in the home of a church member Pastor Gustavo led us in a wonderful time of sharing, heart to heart.  We sang in Spanish and English.

After the first day of Vacation Bible School one of the mother's reported with tears of gratitude that her very shy son who is facing foot surgery and did not want to come to VBS was ecstatic after his first day.

On Friday the children are planning a parade complete with recorder accompaniment
to "We are marching in the light of God."  The team working with Nora Boots training day care workers has seen the confidence of the women grow day by day.

Progress is visible at Piedra Viva as column after column are being built for the second floor. 

God willing we will travel to Chimboata and Sajpaja on Saturday to see the remarkable progress made in building houses safe from Chaga's disease.

Paz y Gracia,

Your Encounter with Christ VIM team in Bolivia

 Dear Friends and Family,
Our days and evenings continue to be packed full of one amazing experience after another.

We wound up work at Piedra Viva a little early Friday to get back in time for the "parade" of 50 + VBS children.  They marched from Emmanuel Church to the American Institute (second oldest Methodist school in Bolivia) where their mothers are attending an 8-day workshop (led in the mornings by members of our team and in the afternoon by Nora Boots and Lucia Legia from Brazil) .  Marching with the cross before them, accompanied by a goat skin covered drum beaten by two young boys and about two dozen children playing recorder players to "We are Marching to the Light of God" they made a powerful witness. They sang several songs to their mothers and to us -- many tears of joy were shed by all.

Friday evening we met with the Emmanuel Church women's organization for savings and credit (credit union).  This group of women provides training in business practices and budgeting and has a very strict and careful strategy for full collection of loans -- each member is part of a group and should she default the rest of the group must repay the loan! Loans are made for business, for education and, recently, for the purchase of property -- their goal is to eventually provide ownership of housing for all of their members. They were able to loan the "down payment" for the first five women to begin the purchase of land.  This is a goal not possible through any other means of credit in this society for women in their circumstances.  Some of you are aware that last year we brought $600 for an emerging mission which was used to establish the bakery at Emmanuel Church which now employs 6 people.  So many of you contributed to such an emerging mission fund this year that we were able to bring $3000 this year.  We decided to give this to the Credit Union so that they would have the capital of the next 5 women to move forward toward the dream of home ownership. Thanks be to all of you who have made this dream possible -- there were many tears of joy when we made this presentation.

Saturday was a significant day for the entire team. We had not expected to be able to travel to the Capinota district where the work on houses safe from Chagas' disease is being done in Qechua villages high in the Andes.  But thanks be to God the rains held off for 24 hours and the rivers which we had to  forde receded so were able to go by four jeeps.  One group returned to Chimboata (chim BWOT ah) and saw the continued development of this village.  62 houses have been completed, agriculture has been improved enormously through terracing and careful planting of crops which can grow in these difficult conditions, and health has improved through training in hygiene, nutrition, inoculation and other health measures.  A second group in two jeeps made the very difficult but breath-takingly beautiful trip over torturous one lane "roads" and at the end a steep foot path to Sajpaya (sock PIE ya).  Last year there were no houses.  This year there are 24 completed houses and the same group who built these houses also built a new section of the road which has made the trip safer. Many of you have contributed generously to the cost of these houses and we who have seen the fruits of your generosity thank you for that! A third group traveled to Huaychoma (y CHO ma), a community of some 90 families, where work has just begun.. They are interested in support by bringing safe water to all of the homes and improving their agricultural efforts through terracing and development of crops.

Sunday morning we worshipped at Piedra Viva and at Emmanuel (this service lasted 2 and a half hours!).  We gathered with community people, people from El Salvadore (the mother church) and many children in the half-constructed church.  What joy it was to sing, pray and hear the word of God together. The children sang (joined by a dog who wandered in and squeezed his way into the singing children's choir and sat down at attention at his owner's feet). At Emmanuel we presented the latest collection of money for the sale from the Bolivia Boutique to the Women's Sewing Cooperative.  We joined together in celebrating communion using the bread from the bakery.  We rejoiced in listening to the children's choir who again marched in singing and then sang other songs.  We watched the youth perform a powerful mime of transformation possible through Jesus Christ (the youth have become very important to us -- traveling with us to the work site singing all the way and joining us at the Institute housing to continue singing and sharing faith stories).  We made a web of yarn back and forth across the entire church demonstrating what Wilson Boots has often described as our Connecionidad por la Viva (Jane's attempt at the Spanish for "Connectionality on behalf of life") -- we are indeed ALL connected. It was pure joy!

Sunday evening we had a remarkable conversation with Casimira Rodriquez who in November receieved the World Methodist Council Peace Award.  She described her journey at age 13 from a rural Quechua village to Cochabamba where she worked for a family of 15, 18 hour days doing menial work and suffering physical and sexual abuse for almost no pay, to the beginnings of the organization of household workers to her current position as General Secretary of the Latin American Workers Association. Just this past March a national law was passed in Bolivia that for the first time provides some protections and rights to household workers. She said she found in the Methodist Church the union of faith and justice and through all of this with support of her pastor and faith community she has been sustained. Soft spoken, gentle, humble and very strong, she has had a profound impact on the lives of hundreds of women.  "God has prepared and guided me step by step," she told us.  "I thank God for every household worker, for the pastors who have been with me, for the Methodist church.  The prize I received brings dignity to all of the workers."

We continue to pray for you and are encouraged by your support.

Gracia y paz,

Your Encounter with Christ VIM team in Bolivia

Subject: Bolivia VIM 2004 Update III!!!

Dear Friends and Family,

We spent Monday, Martin Luther King Day, hopefully upholding the values for which he lived.

Bolivia still suffers from the effects of colonialism as nations exerted unbelievable exploitation and tyrannical power over the indigenous peoples of this country.  Oppression is  still a reality in subtle and blatant forms.  And even now power from other countries and multinationals impacts Bolivian profoundly.

Our amazing journey continues as we enter into the last few days.  At Piedra Viva, all 19 columns were poured and are now ready for the next step in completing the second floor.  In addition, the foundation has been laid for the bathrooms and a needed retaining wall is complete.  What a joy it is to experience the church forming and growing as a living organism.

One part of our team continues to give skills and love to a group of men and women who are gaining skills and confidence in themselves and in their profession as day care workers.

Monday evening we were greeted with the outpouring of love and joy from the members of Bethel Methodist Church, where the last two VIM teams have worked.  It was wonderful to reconnect with friends, to sing, pray, and dance together, and to exchange gifts that represented our love and friendship.

Tuesday was a day with a different rhythm.  We had the opportunity to go to several stores and La Cancha(downtown open air market).  This was another way of experiencing the multifaced, vibrant life of Cochabamba.  We continue to be deeply affected by so much love coming from members of our greater human family who have so little in material prosperity.

What a celebration we had Tuesday night.  Fifty two of us dined at El Bufalo--ate too much food, laughed and shared our adventures of the past 10 days.  It was a time for the VIM teamto say "thank you" to the many people we have worked with, sung, prayed, laughed, danced and even cried with.

As each of you may realize, this experience changes us.  Our hearts become bigger; our awareness of the needs of others in our world grows; and we touch God and our touched by God in each Encounter.

Gracia y Paz,

Your Encounter with Christ team in Bolivia
 

Dear Friends and Family,

This will be our last email before we arrive home last Saturday night.  Thursday evening we will travel to La Paz where we will meet with Ambassador David Greenlee on Friday.  We leave early Saturday morning for the long journey back with a three hours lay over in Miami.

Wednesday night we bid a sad farewell to our friends from Piedra Viva at a special celebration at the founding church El Salvador  The children presented a wonderful program of folk dances from every department (or state) of Bolivia.  Each dance seemed more colorful than the last.  We were so impressed with the expertise of the children and the outstanding program.  The youth of the various Methodist churches of Cochabamba presented a deeply moving  drama portraying the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  We are so blessed to have formed deep friendships with the peoples of these churches. 

A profound connection has been made with youth and young adults who are still on summer break.  They have worked with us many days at Piedra Viva and have made a real connections with the talented musicians among us. 

Wednesday afternoon we had a powerful service of ending our time at Piedra Viva..  The stones which the team members and children had chosen on the first day were placed in a circle with two heart-shaped rocks in the center on a cement "plaque" inscribed VIM 2004 CT-NY.  We all stood in a circle--the children, the workers who were hired through our funding, the architects who have also worked along side of us, church members, and team members.  We offered a prayer of thanksgiving for all we had done together, for our hearts united in Christ and for the future of the church.

Also on Wednesday 42 women received certificates for the completion of the 8 day training program of day care workers.  These women have achieved and learned so much.

Each of the five day care centers will received a large portion of the school supplies as well as materials for the curriculum suggestions brought by the team and a CD player.

Much thanks goes to Nora and Wilson Boots for the their coordination of our team.  And many, many words of gratitude to Bob and Ginny Stevenson whose careful planning and good humor sustained us throughout the experience.

We are ready to share the experience with you and to let you know how you can become more involved..  Contact the Stevensons at manofnotes@snet.net or the district office at cnynyac@aol.com to arrange for a speaker or a consignment of hand made good from our Bolivian Boutique.  Thank you for your support in so many, many ways.

Gracia y Paz,

Your Encounter with Christ VIM team in Bolivia