Moulding Chronicles - Online

Moulding Chronicles January 2012

2012-01-30T11:04:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends,

Before returning to the UK on our Furlough in February we wanted to take this opportunity to write a longer newsletter in order to explain in a bit more depth about the work of FH here in Bolivia and the small part that we play in it.

FH has now been working in Bolivia for over 30 years. Today it is working in 236 communities in 4 of the 9 departments (similar to states within the US). The focus of FH is upon the most vulnerable people within the most vulnerable communities which ultimately relates to mothers and children. This focus has lead to the creation of a single program that forms the basis of all the work that FH does; Child Focused Community Transformation (CFCT). In a nutshell is it about seeking transformation through changing the way people think and perceive the world around them i.e. their worldview.

By changing a persons worldview FH is enabling poverty stricken people from a fatalistic society to seek their own solutions to problems and to break themselves and their own communities out of the poverty cycle. This is done through working with three key groups in any community; the Churches, Leaders and Families.

In every country where FH is present its outworking of the CFCT looks a little different according to the specific needs of the country. Within Bolivia the major need is food security. A lack of food security creates a vast range of problems and so specific projects themselves are varied ranging from direct agricultural interventions such as in the creation of vegetable gardens (see our Blog for examples of such projects with Jose and Don Nacho) to projects involving health, water and sanitation and education.

Chronic malnutrition is one such problem (Approx. 20.8% nationwide) compounded by basic health issues such as Diarrhea which in itself causes a very large number of infant deaths, a problem that in the majority of cases could be avoided by such simple acts such as hand washing.

Projects incorporating education function on a number of different levels from direct input within schools, after school clubs, youth groups and family groups teaching biblical principles and values which specifically target some of the more visible problems. As a result of such teaching there has been a significant increase in the number of children (particularly the girls, who within the culture have less value than boys) involved within the projects of FH who have completed their formal education and who have gone onto university and started their own businesses and who have learnt not only to dream dreams but also how to achieve them.

Specific teaching to family groups has resulted in families spending time together as well as a renewed respect between family members, adult to child, husband to wife and vice versa, a rare sight in a strong machismo society.

The other two groups with whom FH works are community leaders and churches. This again is done through the teaching of biblical principles and values and effective leadership and role within a given community. For community leaders this has resulted in them taking an active role in leading, planning for the future and guiding their own community, identifying problems as well as the solutions to those problems from internal resources.

In recent years work with the churches has been limited to one region (El Alto) however after seeing the positive results and changes of the churches becoming actively involved within their communities FH Bolivia is now going to be making its church strengthening project a priority.

Transformation of the mind brought about through the presence of the Holy Spirit (Rom 12:2) is key because we believe that if we can teach people and help them adapt a biblical worldview then they will be able to find freedom and new life. This is because we believe that being free from poverty is not just about physical issues such as in food and money but also spiritual, emotional and social issues. Ultimately being free from poverty is about living in healthy relationship with God and his creation (which includes other people).

This process of transformation needs to be effective not only for those we serve in the communities, but also for our staff and donors, a process we refer to as Mutual Transformation, where all parties involved are transformed in some way or other through the process of both giving and receiving.

So where and how do we fit into this big picture of transformation?

On a personal level there is our own process of transformation as we learn new things, review our own British culture and measure that against a Biblical/God honoring culture. In the last four years we have had much cause to think about what values and principles we want to live out and promote firstly in our own lives, the lives of our children and then in others.

On the work level much of what we do is in the background; forming relationships, encouraging others, supporting the Country Director and other staff with translations, organizing, planning, taking on aspects of some of their jobs to enable them to concentrate on more important tasks. We are also here to support and encourage other international staff with FH helping them to serve and reach the potential that God has put in them.

So to conclude, we are here working in a supportive capacity in the background to be transformed to be able to complete the plan and purpose God has for us, which involves walking with and serving both national and international staff so that they can walk with and serve the most vulnerable people in Bolivia so that their lives can be transformed and God glorified.

Thank you for being a part of our own personal transformation, we look forward to talking with many of you in person over the course of our 6 months in the UK.

Thank God for:

A good relaxing Christmas holiday with family and friends
Continuing safe development of baby No. 3

Ask God for:

Stress free preparations for furlough and safe travels with no delays and easy transfers
Favor within the NHS system upon our return to the UK
Protection over our home here in Bolivia whilst we are away

Much Love

Ed, Sarah, Alana, Isaiah & Bump

Unique sounds of a new year in Bolivia

2012-01-02T11:59:00.001-04:00

I’ve never really considered before how different a New Year can sound depending on where you are when you celebrate it yet last night as I lay awake listening to the fireworks I realized how different the sounds were compared with New Year celebrations I remember in the UK.

From 11:30 begin a trickle of soft bangs as fireworks begin to be set off across the city, building up to a crescendo like the sound of a constant hailstorm, which isn’t so much caused by the intermittent big booms that cause the whole apartment to shudder, but rather more the sheer quantity of fireworks and fire crackers being set off from what appears to be every other home across the city, including being fired out from apartment windows! Intermittent with these sounds are the dogs barking and the car alarms set off by some of the bigger bangs.

By 12:15 the fireworks fizzle back down to the steady trickle of noise only then to be replaced by music blaring from loud speakers from a house party across from our apartment which continues unceasing until 9am the following morning. On occasions such as this I glad for New Year only being just once a year!

A Christmas of many firsts

2012-01-02T11:56:00.000-04:00

This christmas time we were able to add to the positive lessons learnt from last year and enjoy the celebrations of the birth of Christ, with the added bonus of a number of firsts. The most exciting of which was being able to celebrate Isaiah’s first christmas. Being 10 months old he was very alert to all that was going on around him and enjoyed ripping off shiny wrapping paper, investigating it from all angles and then typically enjoyed the boxes that gifts came in more than the actual presents themselves! This form of present opening was painfully slow for Alana who desperately wanted to help him rip it all off quickly, but she did good at being patient and then eventually enjoyed his presents with him.

One of the things we felt lacked in our celebrations last year was how to bring Jesus back into the centre of all of our celebrations. Through a random search on the internet we stumbled across the Jesse Tree, which fitted exactly with what we were looking for and so became the first of a new tradition we hope to carry out each year. In a nut shell the Jesse tree takes an overview of the bible and connects it all with the arrival of Jesus and his birth, a different key bible story is read for each day of advent with a special ornament/picture added to the tree each day that represents the story of the day.

Another first was to have family here celebrating Christmas with us. Over the three weeks of their visit we enjoyed a good time with Ed’s parents, showing them around a few more new places and taking them along to see Alana in her end of year kinder performance.

With having visitors we indulged in another first and took a weeks holiday right before Christmas down in the wine producing region of Tarija in the south of the country on the Argentinian border. Despite arriving in a torrential rain storm, circumnavigating a strike and having a puncture on the back road in the middle of nowhere in the heat of the day with no shade, we had a pleasant restful time enjoying the warmer, cleaner air with more O2 available to breath, and the pleasant green surroundings and wildlife. We even took a morning doing one of the famous wine tours visiting three very distinct wine producers which of course meant sampling the products too :o)

Christmas day provided another first by going to church and actually hearing about Christmas. The focus of the message was upon 4 key people within the christmas story, Mary, Elizabeth (Luke 1:44), Simeon (Luke 2:28) and Anna (Luke 2:38) whose response to Christ was that of pure adoration, a response that we too should have putting Jesus at the centre and the focus of our celebrations, praising him for coming in order to restore our relationship with God.

Now this may sound a little odd to most of you who are accustomed to a big christmas build up, however here in Bolivia the Evangelical Church has gone to the extreme of trying to distance themselves from the Catholic Church and rarely mention let alone celebrate the key events of the Christian faith such as Easter and Christmas.

As this christmas now passes we look forward to what 2012 holds for us as a family in the challenges, the blessings and the times of growing and learning together.

Moulding Chronicles November 2011

2011-11-16T09:47:00.001-04:00

Dear Friends,

What is your life purpose? What are your passions, dreams, goals in life? How has God uniquely designed you? These are some of the big questions we have been thinking about and mulling over in these last few months as we have been working through a book called ‘A leaders life purpose’.

In working through this book with Heather our Global Staff Care Manager, we are being given a gentle introduction to life coaching.

For us both it has been an enlightening and encouraging experience as we begin to look at how God has uniquely designed us, through the passions and gifts he has given us as well as the life experiences that have shaped us up to this point.

The main purpose of doing these exercises has been to clarify for ourselves what our God given dreams and passions are with a view of then using what we learn to see where God might be drawing us to in the future.

A secondary purpose has been for us to personally go through the process of life coaching to grasp a better understanding of how it works and the benefits of such a different approach to that of counseling, mentoring or discipleship.

The concept behind coaching is to ‘help leaders take responsibility for their lives and act to maximize their own potential,’* the theory behind it is ‘helping people learn instead of teaching them’* believing that people are able to solve their own problems*. It is based around asking questions as to how the person could solve their own problem, rather than telling them how to solve it, by doing so it makes it far more likely that changes are made and problems solved.

In the kind of work that FH does as an organization we can already see the potential benefits on all levels where such an approach would be of a great advantage to both individuals and entire communities, from the level of Country Director right down to the very people living and working in the communities where FH is present.

We have a lot to learn, but it will be well worth the learning process and time and effort involved.

In the meantime we are busy making plans for furlough next year from the end of February until the end of August, along with the necessary preparations for another new arrival within our family due in April.

God is and continues to be so good, we are so blessed. Each of you are a part of God’s blessing to us, Thank you.

Thank God for:

Provision of a home during furlough
Gods perfect timing
Opportunities to grow and develop ourselves

Ask God for:

A car to use during furlough
Safe growth and development of our new baby
A good time with Ed's parents over the christmas period, safe travels and good health for them and us during their visit

Ed, Sarah, Alana, Isaiah & Bump :o)

A visit to Oruro

2011-10-06T15:02:00.002-04:00

We are gradually building up Isaiah’s experiences in travel. We began with a 30 minute flight to Cochabamba, followed a few weeks later by a 45 minute flight to Sucre, this last month we thought that we would stretch it further with a 4 hour bus ride to the city of Oruro to visit some Bolivian friends of ours who moved there 2 months ago in order to pastor a new church plant.

We arrived early teatime with just enough time for a toilet break and dumping our bags before being whisked off to a spring celebration in which their daughter was participating, an event which our friends regretted partaking in as it was very long winded, very loud and very repetitive. By the end we were glad to finally make our escape with 3 over tired and hungry children, only then to head across to the church to catch the final part of the first discipleship evening. That night we were all quite glad to get back home and find a bed to sleep in.

The next day began with a children’s club and an exploration of the regular weekly market which takes over a number of the streets of the city. Amazingly people travel from as far as Santa Cruz (About 18 hours on a bus) to come and shop at this market because prices are so much lower than those found in other places such as La Paz as the products arrive direct from Chile.

Oruro is an interesting city though not one where we would like to live. It is situated at a higher altitude than La Paz at approximately 3710m and exposed to the open planes thus making it extremely cold throughout the year, particularly in the winter months, to the point that a jug of water left standing in the kitchen would freeze over.

Unlike many other places here in Bolivia, Oruro appears to be more of a matriarchal system where the mother wields the greatest power and control. Unmarried children, and sometimes even when married children will remain living with their parents well into their 40s. On the surface people are very friendly and affectionate greeting with two kisses and big hugs as opposed to just one as is common in other parts of the country, yet underneath lie so many complications to life, as our friends are quickly discovering, that all stem from the deep corrupted beliefs of the people.

Problems of adultery, abuse and rape are common place, amongst the church as much as within general society. The animistic spiritual beliefs run deep with many of those turning to Christianity finding it very hard to let go of the old practices, traditions and beliefs. One of the big things that reinforces this each year are the celebrations of carnival, a celebration to the devil, where people come from all over Bolivia as well as from other countries to participate and watch. One of the beliefs in this celebration is the need to get as drunk as possible so that all the evil spirits and bad things are able to leave one’s body. If a person remains sober, then they are not able to relax enough to be able to release the bad spirits. Obviously a city full of drunk people does not result in many good things happening at that time of year.

Despite all of the rubbish and evil going on, there are small beacons of light pushing through. The church our friends are pastoring is a plant of the one we are a part of here in La Paz. It started with just a small handful of people but is steadily growing in number of new Christians. Their premises is very small with just a single room so the children's meeting is held on a Saturday morning to which there are now about a dozen children regularly attending.

The weekend we visited they had just begun a discipleship group with the hope of going back to basics and laying some of the key important foundations of a Christian life. A number of people were interested in this to know more, so it will be interesting to see how that progresses in the future.

Our friends by no means have an easy task ahead of them, but our God is a great God and able to do immeasurably more than we can ever think or imagine. We hope that over the course of the coming months and years that we will be able to visit regularly in order to be a support and encouragement to them.

Note that the photo above was taken at the beginning of the Sunday service. Bolivian people are not generally known for their punctuality, arriving anything from half an hour to an hour or more late to church services, by the time the preach started all these seats were full!

Moulding Chronicles September 2011

2011-09-29T11:32:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends,

What holds people in poverty? – At the beginning of August Ed took part in the annual evaluation of the work zones in Cochabamba. During this time he discovered two factors that hold people in poverty. The first of these was geographical. A large number of the communities that FH works with exist between an altitude of 2,500m – 4,000m+ above sea level (Ben Nevis the highest mountain in the UK is 1,344m). Families in these regions generally live off of the land of which they may have 1.5 - 2 ha. Living at this altitude is harsh with limits on what can be grown because the geographical conditions are tough. Just by dropping down a few hundred metres the conditions become more favourable for growing a greater variety of crops. However, in these lower regions, people are still living in poverty, therefore it is due to more than just simple location.

The second and greatest factor that holds people in poverty is their Worldview (the way a person or culture interprets the world around them and how they react and interact within it). There are 3 main world views (animism, secularism and biblical theism) as well as a variable mix of all 3. In Bolivia the animistic worldview is the greatest where by the spirits control the physical world. A person can do nothing to change their situation therefore the result is a fatalistic people. So whether a person lives at 4000m above sea level or 100m it makes no difference if a person was born poor they will always be poor and so will their children. This belief system is particularly strong in the rural areas (including the Churches) and further compounded by being told by outsiders that they cannot do anything by themselves without outside help.

FH has worked hard in these areas for the last 10 years seeking to chang peoples worldview little by little. After all this time some have still not grasped the idea and continually look for handouts. However, with others there is encouragement seeing where slowly people are beginning to change the way they think and do things realising that they are able to change their current situation, that creation is not something to be worshiped but something they can have dominion over.

Don Nacho was one such person who back in 2003 had nothing. With the help of FH and other organisations he has experimented with new ideas and farming methods such as a trout farm.

With such a radical mind shift and way of life required, FH has identified the need to work with and strengthen the local churches. Many people here are first generation Christians and so their faith is often mixed with animistic beliefs and Catholic traditions from their colonial past. Therefore the churches need to be equipped to teach the truth of the bible so that this generation and the ones to come can learn the truth about the creator of the world and what that means to their outlook and way of life.

Thank God for:

A healthy family

Being a part of Gods work changing lives here in Bolivia

Godly leaders from whom we are learning so much

Ask God for:

Wisdom and patience in raising our children
Greater cultural understanding for walking with our work colleagues
Greater centralization and strengthening of the work FH is doing with local churches

Happy Birthday our little princess

2011-09-12T11:34:00.001-04:00

Birthdays seem to come around very quickly each year so I am very grateful that I began the planning process for this one some time ago having finally gotten an answer from Alana as to what theme she wanted this year. Princesses seem to be a very popular theme for this age so I was able to gather plenty of ideas.

Bolivian birthday parties don't always constitute to much fun with both child and parents sitting around not sure quite what to do with themselves (or at least that has been our experience of some) so I like to plan things that will be fun (hopefully) for both the parents and children. This of course has to be tempered with the fact that people never arrive to birthday parties for the time that you state on the invitation so activities need to be flexible.

We were not expecting anybody to arrive for the 3pm start time on the invitation however by 4:15 when still nobody had arrived we were beginning to get a little concerned that in fact nobody was going to come. But thankfully by 4:30 the princesses did began to arrive in a steady flow until the last one arrived at about 6pm!

The festivities began with a painting of the nails and putting on eye shadow and lipstick, which the girls loved, then we moved onto making crowns. During the corse of this time more had arrived so once everyone had finished their crowns we could play some games beginning with parcel parcel and the usual few reluctant to pass the parcel on in the home it may stop on them. Then we played 'kiss the frog' where by each in turn were blind folded, put on lipstick and had to kiss a picture of a frog. We then finished of the games with 'musical thrones' (Basically just musical chairs).

It was then time to eat and for Alana to blow the candles out on the cake and then to take a bite of it (A bolivian tradition here). Once everybody was satisfied with full tummies (Apart from Alana who was still sat eating way after everybody else was done) the princesses then got to decorate their own party bags ready to take home with them some party goodies.

Whilst all this was going on the parents were happy sat playing games together such as Uno and Jenga.

Alana had a great time and I like to think that the other children and their parents did too.

Day of the pedestrian

2011-09-04T16:54:00.001-04:00

This year La Paz decided to institute a new national day, that of the pedestrian. This means that for one day a year no vehicles are permitted to drive about the streets, as a way to try and combat the pollution and congestion that normally clogs up the city. So from 8am in the morning until 4pm in the afternoon the streets are completely clear of any traffic. This makes for a really nice tranquil sunday with lots of people milling about along the streets, on skateboards and bicycles.

New and old friends

2011-08-31T14:47:00.006-04:00

One of the advantages of our job is that we are able to travel as a family in order to visit our expat staff living in different parts of the country. This gives a great opportunity for our children to form and grow relationships with other children of similar ages who experience many of the same struggles and joys of living within a different culture.

Isaiah was very happy to share his hat with his new friend Virginia in Cochabamba.

Isaiah enjoyed his crash course in lessons of how to roll around the floor from his new friend lydia, who believe it or not is a month and a half older than Isaiah!

Alana enjoyed getting to play again with her friend Ella as well as her old friend the lion in the main plaza of Sucre.

6 months old already

2011-08-31T12:22:00.005-04:00

Time is flying by and it doesn’t seem possible that our little baby is already 6 months old. We praise God for a very healthy and happy baby who is developing in all the right ways. He now weighs a good 7kg and is just about at the point of being able to sit up on his own.

Being a true moulding he has a very healthy appetite and is tucking into 3 solid meals a day as well as his regular milk feeds. So far he has been enjoying most of what he has been offered though has made some amusing faces along the way.

He is often fascinated by his own hands and its fun to watch as he suddenly notices one, studies it closely before then putting it into his mouth. He also loves to watch his big sister and smile and giggle at some of her antics. He has also taught himself how to keep entertained when nobody else is about to do so, by rocking himself in his chair, a skill he mastered quite early on. As he gets more excited his arm moves faster and the harder he rocks himself.

At the age of just 6 months he is already becoming well travelled with having just completed a trip to Cochabamba and this last weekend to Sucre. He got a little hungry whilst our first trip was delayed, thankfully we had a banana to hand he could tuck into. The remainder of the journeying he pretty much spent sleeping. All good practice for the long haul visit to the UK next year!

Getting all the relevant paperwork completed for a child born outside of the UK can be a little arduous at times, but we are thankful now to be almost at the end of it all as we just wait to receive his British passport. Having heard some of the nightmare tales from other expats having children here we realize how blessed we have been with the relative ease in actually being able to get all the appropriate documents completed and in order.

We now look forward to see what the next 6 months bring!

Traffic Congestion!

2011-07-26T10:07:00.002-04:00

Being stuck in traffic jams here in La Paz is a common occurrence, mostly due to the sheer volume of traffic so we were a little surprised to discover the real cause of the problems on one particular taxi ride. Upon seeing a bus blocking the road up ahead our first thoughts were that it had broken down or had a puncture. As we inched our way closer we were quite shocked to discover that it had in fact lost its entire wheel!

Moulding Chronicles July 2011

2011-07-26T09:33:00.007-04:00

Dear Friends,

Attitude is everything! After all of the busyness of LARC I (Ed) have been trying to find my place and purpose again in FH. Once LARC was over I found myself asking what was next, what are we doing here and why? It has taken some time for me to find my feet again and I have had to go back to God once again asking him what is his plan for us.

After some time of rest, reflection and a good family holiday on Lake Titicaca God showed me 3 important points that I am re-learning and trusting God to shape into our hearts. The first was ‘contentment’ I read in a daily devotional that if you are not content with what you are doing now then you will never be content when you have your wants. Lately I have found my thoughts occupied wondering about what the next thing is, and not focussing on the here and now and being content with what I have been given to do at present. This led me onto the Gods second point where I was challenged ‘to have the right attitude of heart.’

At some point after LARC I lost this attitude and had forgotten that we are here in Bolivia to serve others. At times our work can seem frustratingly bitty and behind the scenes with no direct contact or interaction with people in the communities where FH is working. However, God has reaffirmed that our role as a family is to come alongside others both national and international staff within and others outside of FH to be a support and encouragement. Looking back we can see how God has used us in a variety of different ways, be that through listening and encouraging, practical administrative tasks or just taking a job off of someone to free them up for other things. In doing these things we have been enabling FH to achieve its vision and mission of walking with Churches, Leaders and Families.

The last point God showed me was that ‘all should be for the Glory of God’. When we were last in the UK we heard a sermon on the shorter catechism and have since read about it in a parenting book we are studying with some friends. It asks the question ‘what is the chief end of Man?’ And answers ‘the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever’. God challenged me in this. Is what I am doing glorifying Him?

From these 3 points God has been helping me to redirect my focus back onto him to start out each day seeking to glorify him, being contented in what I am doing and with the right attitude of heart to serve him.

Having been challenged personally on these things, can I ask you too, does your life and what you do glorify Him?

Thank God for:

A good relaxing family holiday
The opportunity for Sarah’s parents to visit and meet Isaiah
Grace and mercy as he patiently seeks to mould, shape and grow us into the people he wants us to be

Ask God for:

Contentment and right attitudes in our work, family and friendships
Renewed wisdom and passion for how to encourage and walk with our colleagues and friends so that God will be glorified

Blessings

Ed, Sarah, Alana & Isaiah

Moving home

2011-06-06T18:35:00.000-04:00

Moving house is never an easy simple process, particularly when children are involved, however, amazingly it seems one of the very few processes here in Bolivia that can happen extremely quickly, our latest move being a case in point. Due to ever increasing rent we were no longer able to keep renting our current apartment so it was time to start looking again. Originally we were going to have to move right at the time when Isaiah was due to be born, however our landlady graciously allowed us to extend our current contract at the same price for just 3 months more to enable us to have Isaiah and get over the birth etc. The extension also served to enable us to host friends during a recent workshop.

With all such things in the past we knew it was time to start looking through the papers again and start asking around if anybody knew of any decent places up for rent. The down side to delaying was going to put us on a house hunt at a time of year when there was little movement due to it being the middle of school terms etc. However, in one weekend we had a number of places lined up to go and see.

Our first viewing was a definite possibility and we accepted the place in part because we were not sure what else was going to be available. The lady showing us the place was very non-committal saying that she had also had other acceptances and so would discuss it with her mother (the co-owner) and then get back to us the following day. Being unsure as to wether we would get it or not we decided to continue looking at other places, of which we were very glad that we did. We saw two other places that were pretty awful but the next we saw on the Monday morning we both really liked and so accepted that one too. The agent took our offer straight away and closed the door to any other viewers.

From there it was all a whirl wind. The Tuesday we signed a contract, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were spent busy packing, Saturday we were moved by a removal company and saw all our worldly belongings piled on the back of an open truck, then Saturday afternoon and Sunday were spent unpacking it all again. Thanks to some good friends Alana was able to go and play with her good friend over the weekend which left us free to get on with the job. By the end of Monday it already felt that we had been living there for weeks.

In many ways it has been a good move, the apartment is still spacious like the previous one and receives lots of sun through out the day which is essential for keeping warm, its located in a relatively safe community and requires us all to do more exercise which is no bad thing as its located at the top of a hill on the third floor with no lift!

It has meant a change of kinder for Alana to one which is a little closer, but she seems to be very happy with the change and has been able to be reunited with some old friends who changed earlier on in the year.

Feliz dia del Madre

2011-06-04T16:13:00.000-04:00

Mothers day was made very special this year by the presence of Isaiah within our family. This time last year I remember quite clearly being so sad at the fact that Alana didn’t have a sibling, whilst it was a joy to celebrate being a mother to such a precious daughter it was also a sad reminder of our three children never born. Little did we know at the time that within just one month Isaiah would begin his journey with us.

Friday was officially mothers day, when everybody seemed to be walking around with some kind of flower arrangement ranging from a single red rose to more elaborate floral displays. On every street corner it seemed that vendors had appeared in order to sell flowers and balloons and other knick knacks.

In recognition of the day the FH office here in La Paz set aside a special time to celebrate together the mothers who work within FH of which their were five of us this year. We each received a beautiful rose bouquet and then shared together a very scrummy white chocolate cake.

The celebrations continued on Saturday with Alana taking part in a special mothers day performance at her kinder. For the last few weeks all the children have been busy making special pieces of art work which were put on display as well as practicing a number of different songs which they performed for all of the parents. It was a delight to see Alana able to fully join in and sing all of the songs.

Sunday was our final celebration as all the Mothers at church were prayed for and presented with a little gift. On occasions like this I am reminded of how blessed I am to be a mother to two beautiful children. A blessing which I don’t take for granted.

Moulding Chronicles May 2011

2011-05-31T20:25:00.005-04:00

Dear Friends,

It has certainly been a busy few months and its still not over yet. It began back at the beginning of April when Ed took a last minute trip to Sucre to help one of our families close down their life in Bolivia as they had to make a quick exit in order to get urgent medical care for their 18 month old son. The last we heard was that surgery went well and that he is now doing good.

Following that Ed then spent many long days making the final plans and preparations for the Latin America Regional Conference, before heading off to Cochabamba for the week to see it all through. It was an exhausting time keeping everything running smoothly and all 38 delegates happy, including last minute shopping for one guy from Kenya whose luggage apparently never left the continent of Africa! Those that attended the conference benefitted in many different ways from what was shared and gave much positive feedback.

Directly after the conference back in La Paz we were both involved in a 3 day workshop focused around our role as International Staff Coordinators. During which time we shared our home with another family of 4 who were also involved in the workshop. It was a pretty intense three days, working around the needs of 4 little people, but I think we all came away feeling that we had made some significant progress on how our role is to be worked out in the future of the organization.

Alana had a great time during that week having a little friend around the house to play with. Isaiah too I think enjoyed all of the extra attention from 3 inquisitive little people and 4 extra adults wanting cuddles.

Once our friends left we then began our search for a new home knowing that the end of our current contract was looming. In just two days we were able to find what we were looking for. If all goes to plan we should be moved and re-settled by the end of the month.

We have decided that when it comes to moving home here in Bolivia it is one of the few things that can happen within a week from seeing a place, writing and signing a contract and actually moving.

We are hoping that once we are moved life will begin to slow down a little again so that we can all catch up on ourselves a bit and get some well needed rest.

Thank God for:

Provision of a new home
A conference that ran smoothly
A good workshop
Micah’s successful operation

Ask God for:

Safe travels, good health and a fun visit for Sarah’s parents the beginning of July
For Alana to cope well with all the new changes
Rest and relaxation

Much Love

Ed, Sarah, Alana & Isaiah

Wedding breakfast

2011-05-01T14:20:00.004-04:00

Despite being thousands of miles away from the actual event and the street parties in celebration of the great occasion we were still able to feel apart of the goings on as we were invited to the house of the British ambassador (along with every other Brit in La Paz of which there were surprisingly quite a number), to watch it all take place as it was happening on the BBC. The only snag with this was the need for an early start leaving home at 5:30am, however it was worth it and made for a very memorable occasion as well as a very nice breakfast of sausage, bacon and eggs. Thank you Mr Ambassador :o)

Creativity

2011-04-29T11:12:00.000-04:00

Some people are born with the need to hoard things just in case it may be useful at some point in the future. This can become a bit of a problem when storage space is limited or you need to move house frequently. From the beginning of our married life we have had to learn the art of being more ruthless for both of the reasons mentioned above. However since living in Bolivia where it is less of a ‘throw away society’ and most things can be fixed it has paid off to hoard random bits and pieces.

There have been many occasions when we have been told or reminded, (because we didn't quite understand the message the first time) that Alana is in need of such and such a costume or thing for the next day. This has often required much imagination and a flurry of activity hunting through cupboards and drawers to see what scraps of material we have to put together to make something, usually in the space of one afternoon in preparation for the following day.

The first of such challenges was soon after we arrived in La Paz when Alana was needing a dwarf costume, the next was something on the theme of the sea. This year has proved to be more challenging with the need of a brown dress together with ears and a tail as Alana was playing the part of ‘mamma monkey’ in a little performance put together for fathers day.

The latest project was earlier this month when we were informed of her need of a dinosaur costume for the next day as part of the celebrations of the day of the child. How on earth does one make a dinosaur costume at such short notice! It turned out to be a rushed afternoon and a little stressful but in the end we were quite chuffed with the final result, and Alana was quite proud walking to kinder with her tail swinging behind her.

Its not only dressing up costumes that have been made but also occasionally other items that are either unavailable here or very expensive to buy. One such item was a changing mat for Isaiah, which we put together from cardboard, foam left over from reupholstering our dining chairs, old curtains from Alana’s bedroom in Sucre and an old shower curtain.

Traditions

2011-04-25T10:26:00.004-04:00

As our family grows we have spent many an occasion thinking about and discussing what we would like our family traditions to look like. Because of living in a different country and not knowing where we might be living next we have felt the need to create some kind of traditions that take place throughout the year in order to create some points if reference for our children that will be able to remain constant no matter where in the world we may live.

Easter time has become one of those reference points in the year for such traditions to form. It has just so happened that for the 3 previous Easter celebrations that we have been here in Bolivia we have taken a trip to the zoo and so this year we decided to make that one such tradition, to take a picnic and enjoy a day outside marvelling at the beautiful and diverse creatures that God has created.

The other family tradition that has formed appears to revolve around baking and food. Living in a country where convenince foods are unavailable we have really enjoyed the challenge of learning to make the foods that we really like. For this easter time we learnt how to make our own hot cross buns, which turned out far yummier than any just bought in a supermarket.

We also made our own chocolate eggs and all had fun decorating them with icing and sprinkles.

Protests

2011-04-18T12:26:00.004-04:00

Living in such a politically unstable country we have grown accustomed to the regular blockades and protests that take place around the coutry that cause interruptions to normal life. Whilst living in Sucre we were often aware of such events as the city was brought to a standstill for some reason or other. Living where we do now in La Paz we are not always aware of such happening other than the bangs from the large fire crackers that always accompany such events. However, last week we awoke to the sounds of the usual bangs only this time they were much closer, upon looking out of our lounge window we saw people gathering and blockading the main road that goes past our apatment block, as we looked further afield we saw all the other main routes down to the south zone also being blocked off by gatherings of people.

Alana was very upset with all the goings on as it meant the cancellation of a field trip with her kinder, she was however at least still able to attend kinder for the morning which is just a block up from where we live. Ed meanwhile worked from home. It was quite strane being home and listening to a different kind of sound other than the busy traffic that normally whizzes past. The protesters had also decided to use something that created a bang far lounder than the normal fire crackers which more than once made us jump as the windows rattled in response and all the car alarms went off.

Listening to the radio we discovered that the protests on this occasion were nationwide and were caused by teachers and health workers who were demanding a 15% pay increase as opposed to the proposed 10%. (For more info see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13099827).

When such events happen we never can be quite sure for how long they will go on for, anything from hours to weeks or if they will turn violent or not. Fortunately for us the protests remained peaceful and only lasted for the morning. At midday the protesters formed themselves into tidy lines and marched off up the road chanting along the way. In other parts of the country the story was quite different where clashes between protesters and police resulted in casualties.

Strange skies

2011-04-18T12:16:00.003-04:00

Living in our current apartment we get to enjoy some wonderful views of the mountains and in particular Ilimani which at present is covered in snow. It is a delight to look at each day at the ever changing faces of the mountains and to marvel at Gods wonderful creation. Some days we get a special view of something quite different. Last night was one of those occasions as I was drawing the curtains I noticed distinct lines streaking across the clear blue sky. As the moon rose, at a rapid pace, as it seems to do here, they steadily faded until they disappeared. Not quite sure what had caused them, but quite a sight all the same.

Isaiah's Dedication

2011-04-10T12:19:00.001-04:00

The arrival of Isaiah John has been much awaited for and prayed for by a great many people over these last 3 years. We do not take his addition to our family as granted but acknowledge the miraculous work of God in the creation and formation of this tiny, perfectly formed person. We all feel extremely blessed to now have him as a part of our lives. As a result of this we set aside time a couple of sundays ago at the church of which we are a part of in order to have him dedicated. To publicly acknowledge Gods work, to thank God for his life that has been entrusted to us and to give him back over into Gods care.

Our friend, colleague and pastor, Bruce, offered up prayers of thanksgiving and wisdom for us as new parents and for Alana too as she now takes on the role of big sister. Being an all Bolivian church (apart from ourselves and Bruce) many people thought Isaiah was just a doll (being white skinned with fare hair) that was until he started to squirm and wriggle about. Meanwhile Alana was more interested in a sweet she had been given just moments before we went to the front of church.

It was a simple affair but important for us to acknowledge Gods goodness and provision.

Bath time!

2011-04-06T12:12:00.004-04:00

At the age of just 4 weeks Isaiah already has his own ministry of service, in being the model baby for our friends to practice 'baby bathing' in preparation for their own arrival later in the year. Despite being handled by strangers he remained very serene and calm throughout the whole experience. Well done Isaiah :o)

Church Picnic

2011-03-25T12:41:00.001-04:00

One of the things we have discovered during our time here in Bolivia is the difficulty in getting to know people in church. This is due to the current church culture which means that people arrive to the service anything up to an hour and a half after it has started (or later) and leave as soon as its finished, providing very little opportunity to even get to know a persons name.

One of the things we appreciated when we first arrived at the church was the beginning of a parenting group which meant we were able to begin to put some names to faces. From this group we enjoyed a couple of saturday socail events at a local park.

Since then the parenting group has finished, however, last month it was decided to reinstate the picnic at the park, only this time it was opened up to the wider congregtion. After a number of weeks of non-stop rain I think everyone was a little apprehansive as to how it would all pass off, however, God was very good and graced us with the one and only warm sunny day in weeks.

The sunshine encouraged a number of the congregation to venture out and join us. It was a great day that provided many opportunities for getting to know a cross section of people who we always see but never have opportunity to talk to. Everybody even joined in the games that had been organised and it wasn't long before everybody was laughing and having fun.

We now look forward to the next one, to build upon those relationships already begun. Some faces whom finally after two years we can now put a name and happy memories of a shared experience.

Moulding Chronicles March 2011

2011-03-22T12:00:00.005-04:00

Dear Friends,

We praise God for the safe arrival of Isaiah John on Sunday 27th February at 21:25, weighing 7lb 5oz. All went smoothly and rather quickly with a swift labour of just 1hr and 25 mins. In less than 24 hours from when contractions began he had arrived and we were all settled back at home. Since then we have been adjusting to life as a family of 4 and the obvious demands of a little one. We now have the fun part of getting all of the appropriate paper work sorted.

Other good news is that our landlady finally signed our contract extension so we now have until June in order to find somewhere else to live and move.

Our financial situation has also improved since the last time of writing with an increase in support and a decrease in our expenditure, however we still have a small shortfall so if you feel God guiding you to be a part of our financial team then do let us know

Having taken time off over the birth of our son, Ed has since launched back into the swing of things with renewed vigor and enthusiasm for organizing the Latin American regional conference to be held in May in Cochabamba, as well as with Sarah becoming more involved with the development of member care at a global level.

For Sarah, roles have changed once again as she takes the time enjoying caring for another baby. With all the changes her desire is to seek God as to how and in what way she becomes involved with FH in the future, as well as outside of FH.

Whilst we have been celebrating our new arrival we have been mindful of thousands of La Paz residents who are currently homeless due to major landslides that occurred last month destroying a number of whole communities. FH is currently meeting with the local government and other organizations to see how best to help in the long term needs. Please pray for wisdom in the decisions that need to be made.

Thank God for:

A fast and safe arrival of Isaiah John
An extension on our house contract
The help we have received in starting to get the appropriate paper work sorted out

Ask God for:

A good adjustment to being a family of 4
Provision of somewhere else to live come June
Clear direction of roles in this new season of life

Much Love

Ed, Sarah, Alana & Isaiah

Sleeping babes

2011-03-06T16:05:00.004-04:00

Just too much excitement this week...

Isaiah John Moulding

2011-03-06T15:55:00.004-04:00

Just a week ago today we became a family of 4 as Isaiah John Moulding entered our world and was born. It has been a long wait and a journey that has tested our faith and trust at many stages along the way. Today we can stand in testimony of Gods goodness and faithfulness to us as we hold in our arms our little miracle Isaiah.

In the end I think he was as eager to enter our world as we were to finally see him and hold him in our arms. Mild contractions began last Sunday morning and steadily continued throughout the afternoon occurring every 10 minutes. We decided to send Alana off to a friends house for the night just in case things should progress further and were very glad that we did so, as at 8pm Sarah's waters decided to explode which were then followed by contractions that were really strong. At this point we called family back home, then our Dr who arranged to meet us at the clinic, which thankfully was literally just around the corner from where we live.

Upon arrival we had just a short wait whilst they took our details and got a room sorted, by the time we were installed our Dr arrived and was very suprised to discover Sarah was already well on the way (which by now was about 8.45pm) it seemed like just minutes after that that she was already feeling the need to push (about 9pm). Upon further examination everything went crazy as they realized that Isaiah was indeed on the way and crowning, so then between contractions Sarah was rushed into the delivery room as orders were shouted out left right and centre to get the right people and things in place. With just 4 pushes and a flurry of activity he was there with us born at 9.25pm.

After that then things moved at a somewhat calmer pace as Sarah was taken back to her room and as we awaited the arrival of our son, who was later brought in by a nurse so bundled up you could only just see his face. After a brief visit from our Dr and the pediatrician checking that all was well, we were left in peace for the night, most of which was spent just gazing at the amazing little miracle in the cot beside us.

By 10.15am the following morning we were back home and began settling into our new life as a family of 4.

Baby Shower

2011-02-06T09:58:00.000-04:00

Having heard much about baby showers, it was great to have friends organise one especially for us. Ed collaborated in some of the organising, but it it was arranged as a total surprise for Sarah which was lovely. We arrived at our friends house to be greeted by balloons and an array of tiny blue packages and bundles. Being in Bolivia we were of course the first to arrive as opposed to the last, but it was nice to be able to greet everybody as they arrived and provided Sarah with her exercise for the evening of needing to get up and greet every new person that arrived.

As each person arrived they were each given a balloon, which contained a tiny figure of a baby which they then had to tie about their waist for the evening. We then played a number of different games which were good fun and a good laugh. The prizes were even little chocolate babies, which somehow seemed very wrong to eat, but the chocolate was particularly nice!

It was such a blessing to us to receive such love and care from our Bolivian friends, who see and accept us as very much a part of their own lives. Thank you one and all.

Alasitas - The festival of abundance

2011-02-01T09:53:00.002-04:00

One day towards the end of January lots of new stalls suddenly appeared throughout the city each selling an array of goods, from houses to cars, to passports, money and food, all in miniature sizes. The idea being that people by the miniature versions of what they hope to be blessed with through out the up and coming year.

The origin of these celebrations dates back to the time of the Incas and was originally celebrated in September, just prior to harvest time and was a celebration of the abundance of the fields. Following their conquest of the nation the Spanish for some reason decided to change the date to January. As a response to this the indigenous people then decided to turn the celebration into a mockery of its former significance, and introduced the tradition as it is recognized today with Ekeko - the little God of abundance who is covered with all the miniature versions of all the things desired by the person who owns the statue.

On this day, Alana’s kinder made the most of the availability of the miniature goods and the children spent the morning practicing their skills in buying and selling with the miniature money and each was sent home with a selection of goodies. Alana was very excited with her ‘purchases’.

Moulding Chronicles January 2011

2011-01-18T11:09:00.006-04:00

Dear Friends,

A very happy new year one and all. We hope that you were all able to enjoy the festive season and celebrate Gods gift to us in himself.

We have had a very enjoyable break from the normal routine with many moments of laughter with friends. It has been a good opportunity to look back over the year and see the lessons learnt and challenges overcome and to plan and look forward at the new year to come.

At the onset of this new year we face our first challenge in securing housing as our housing contract comes up for renewal, just about the time when our baby is due. We have a colleague who will be negotiating for us as we cannot afford an increase in rent this year. We are at peace about moving if we need too, but would very much appreciate your prayers that we would find suitable cheaper accommodation very quickly if that needs to be the case.

Our second challenge of the year is to increase our level of financial support. During our first 3 years of service we have been very blessed to have had sufficient, which is not something we take for granted. and are very grateful to each of you who have contributed to make that so. However, for this coming 3 year term we find ourselves with a considerable regular monthly shortfall of about 25%.

With this change of circumstances in mind we have been reviewing our calling here in Bolivia and feel that for now at least it is right for us to continue, a decision that has been confirmed to us from many different avenues. Therefore we are trusting God to continue to meet our needs as well as doing our part in reducing expenditure where possible.

If you feel that God is asking you to join us in this journey then please do either get in touch with us or direct with FHUK, for more information as to how you can do that.

Along with the challenges we also have many things to be looking forward to and excited about in this new year. The biggest excitement of course being the arrival of our new family member, which could happen any time onwards from the end of February.

Some of the other things we are looking forward to this year include a Latin America regional conference in April, family visits in July, and a further developing of our role as International staff coordinators as well as the things that God is going to show and teach us through this year. It is exciting times and we thank you for walking this journey together with us.

Thank God For:

A good relaxing Christmas
Good friends
A positive outlook for this year and excitement as we look forward to what God wants to teach us

Ask God for:

A stress free resolution to our housing situation
Clear direction for our work within FH this year
A healthy end of pregnancy and birth of our new family member

Much love

Ed, Sarah & Alana

Christmas celebrations

2011-01-10T12:04:00.003-04:00

In the 8 Christmases we have celebrated together since being married no two have been quite the same, with great variations in both location and the people with whom we have celebrated. In the early years growing up I remember Christmas being a really magical time with the mountain of gifts that would mysteriously appear under the tree on Christmas morning and the letters I would receive from father Christmas in response to letters I would have written and sent to him. After these magical moments disappeared once I discovered the truth, Christmases became somewhat empty and even at times a great disappointment.

Once we got married we were both quite excited about forming our own Christmas traditions so that it would become a special celebration once again with the right focus and Christ at the centre. However, it didn't all happen and fall into place as quickly as I had imagined it would. Every year since our marriage we have been battling over the same questions, so what is Christmas really all about? What makes Christmas, Christmas? How can we escape the entrapment of commercialism? How can we make it be a special time of celebration for our own family? How can we bring Christ back at the centre of it all?

There are many aspects about Christmas time that we really love, the carols, the candle lit carol services, time seeing friends and family, sharing of gifts and good food. Being here in Bolivia has caused us to evaluate many of these things as many of the evangelical churches and Christians here have rather extreme views as to Christmas celebrations and all the trimmings to the extent that it is not celebrated at all, with not even a mention made as to the birth of our saviour.

It has been good for us to have been able to take a step back from all the usual buzz, to be challenged about what aspects are important to us and why. This year I found that I wasn’t full of all the questions, and yet it was the best Christmas we have celebrated in a long time, being stress free and full of good gifts that God has given to us.

We took great pleasure in the months leading up to Christmas baking and cooking particular Christmas delights, and putting together gifts for friends. As a family we had fun collecting together small pine cones which we then painted and covered with glitter to decorate a tree. We made each other Christmas gifts and shared great delight in opening each others creations on Christmas day. As we put together our little nativity scene we read through the story of Christ's coming to earth as a baby.

Christmas eve we celebrated Bolivian style with a meal of Picana (spicy stew) together with good friends and enjoyed much fun and laughter. At the end of the meal we also each got to share about the things we had been thankful to God for during this last year, of which there was indeed much to give thanks about.

Christmas morning we took our time enjoying watching each other open presents, talking with family, then enjoyed lunch with other friends and a time of relaxing. It was nice to reach the end of the day feeling relaxed and happy and without an overfull bloated tummy from having eaten too much.

There are still a few things we would like to do a little different next Christmas, however, it was good day of celebration which we both felt drew us closer to some of the true sentiments of what Christmas is really all about.

End of School year

2010-12-30T14:24:00.002-04:00

Here in Bolivia the academic year follows that of the calendar year, so mid december saw the close of Alana’s second year of studying at Acuarela. In order to celebrate the close of the year and the festive season the children had all been busy creating lots of christmassy things and practicing hard for the end of year performance.

In the last week of term we were invited to go and see all of the children's work before coming home with arms loaded full of creations and all of the work completed through the year.

Along with all of the creativity, the children had been learning new songs and a traditional Bolivian dance. On the sunday after the close of term, we made our way to one of the local theatres to watch Alana perform along with her classmates. We were very proud of all that she had achieved and accomplished during the course of the year.

OMO

2010-12-03T10:25:00.005-04:00

Having now lived in Bolivia for over 3 years we have come to expect the happenings of random events, some which turn out to be very positive and others not so. Last Sunday turned out to be one of the more positive random happenings.

The other week Alana can home from kinder very excited with an invitation to ‘Al Reino de OMO’ (The kingdom of OMO), OMO being none other than a brand of washing powder! As what we can only assume to be a promotional exercise, this company had put together a medieval castle in one of the parks and were inviting children to come along with their parents to take part in a variety of different activities.

Somewhat sceptically we thought we would take a picnic and go and see what was going on. We were pleasantly surprised to see what appeared to be more of a play-scheme holiday club session than a promotional exercise.

Upon entering the castle we were ushered to the first tent where the children were able to paint and stick glitter onto crowns.

From there they moved across to the second tent where the boys could paint swords and the girls make necklaces. Alana wasn’t all that enamored with her necklace and would much rather have had a sword I think.

From there, they undertook the battle to save the princess from the dragon and had to clamber over and under different obstacles and throw balls to try and hit the dragon. There was even some degree of health and safety involved which surprised us as each child taking part had to put on a cycle helmet and elbow pads.

After they had completed that exercise they took their place on the throne of OMO and became either king or queen of the kingdom with a photo taken to prove it.

At various points throughout the day they also provided other entertainment, during the time we were there it was a magician who was making live doves and rabbits appear and disappear. It was quite amusing to see that many of the children were more excited about seeing a live animal than they were about the trick that had made it appear.

All in all it was a very enjoyable morning, despite being cut a little short by a heavy hail and rain storm, Being the british people we are we still enjoyed our picnic in the rain, huddled together under a brolly.

Moulding Chronicles November 2010

2010-11-25T11:46:00.001-04:00

Dear Friends,

Praise God with us for a positive continuation of Sarah’s pregnancy and the continuing healthy development of our baby. Praise God too for his protection over Ed and Max his work colleague who were involved in a car accident last month.

With all that has gone on over these last two months, some days it has been hard to get through from one to the next, however, we praise God for his sustaining Grace and the opportunities to sit back and reflect on what was going on and how things could be improved in the future.

This last month Ed was able to travel to a new area in Bolivia to see current FH projects and look for opportunities for new ones. He was encouraged by what he saw, seeing how FH is changing lives in a positive way.

Over the last 2 years Jose has been involved in a project to improve the production and storage of maize. One aspect has been in the selection of grains suitable for seeds. This involves marking the plants with 2 or more cobs so that the best cobs can be set apart at harvest time and maintained for seed for the next year. Traditionally it was stored in the loft of the family home, where rats and insects would eat and destroy it, reducing both the quality and quantity.

As part of the project Jose was encouraged to make his own sacrificial contribution towards the creation of better storage facilities, through providing some finances and by collecting locally available resources. By being actively involved in the whole process he was able to better understand the value of what he had created and thus take care of it.

The result of this work with Jose has meant a 200% increase in income for the maize he produces, but the changes go beyond that, he is proud of what he has done and his mind has been opened up to other possibilities. This story is a testimony to the FH technicians who have worked with Jose and 15 other families in Torotoro and the grace of God within their lives.

We feel very privilege to be in some way a part of this process of change in peoples lives, and we thank you too for also being a part of making it happen through supporting us.

Thank God for:

Our growing baby
Continued health and safety
A good kinder for Alana to attend
Oscars improving health

Ask God for:

Good times of rest and relaxation over Christmas
Accommodation to be finalized for next year
Maintaining a healthy work/life balance

Much Love

Ed, Sarah & Alana

Visit to Torotoro

2010-11-24T11:17:00.006-04:00

This month Ed had the opportunity to go and visit Torotoro in the northern most province of the department of Potosí, an area that he had not been to before. He went there with 3 other colleagues from the La Paz office for two reasons, firstly to do a supervision of an Economic Development project that FH is doing there with funding from USDA and also to talk with the team working there and the local government authorities to gather ideas for a proposal for further work in this area.

Wednesday night Ed took the overnight bus with Mauricio from La Paz to Cochabamba (7 hours). They arrived in Cochabamba at 05:30 on Thursday and then were collected by an FH vehicle for a further 3 hour drive to their first site visit. At this first site, Sucusuma, they looked at an irrigation canal that FH had been repairing for the community as well as some of the large water storage tanks (50,000 litre) that FH had helped to build, filled with water diverted from the river. From there they went to visit a couple of families who were using the irrigation system for their Maize crops.

The families demonstrated their sprinkler systems whilst the team enjoyed a cooling off in the water and tried out some of the locally produced lemons straight off the tree from the families orchard (I never knew that lemons trees had spines on them!).

Another of the families the team visited had successfully established their own vegetable garden which they had done off of their own backs. This was a very positive sign of progress as it is normally very unusual for Bolivians to grow vegetables, particularly when the focus is for personal family consumption.

From there the team visited another storage tank. Tradition has it that when you first visit Torotoro you have jump into one of these storage tanks. Ed and Mauricio (also on his first trip to Torotoro) were not too convinced by the idea, so their “loving” colleagues took hold of them and drenched them with water instead, which was actually quite nice as it was a very hot day.

After lunch the team went to see some of the silos (storage houses) this project has also helped to create. Ed was really struck by the changes seen in Jose one of the participants of the project. Jose has been in the project for 2 years, over which time the technicians have taught him how to improve his farming methods and how to select the best plants to choose for seeds for the following year. Part of this includes his mother walking among the maize tying ribbon around the plants that have 2 or 3 cobs on them so that at harvest time these cobs can be separated for the use of seeds in the following year. Another part of this project has been to help Jose to improve the storage of his maize before he sells it. He used to just store it in the loft of his house were rats and insects would eat and defecate on it, as well as other maize being degraded through disease. This meant that when the time came to sell it, both the quantity and quality of the maize was severely reduced.

As a way in which to encourage Jose to take pride in his work and to take care of his new facilities, FH did not just give Jose a new storage house and metal silos for his maize, he had to make personal sacrifices to help him understand the value of these things and to ensure that he was willing to look after them in the future. It has been seen in so many occasions where things have just been given to a person at no personal cost to themselves, that there is no value in the object and as a result the things are not looked after or maintained. It also does not help people to understand that they themselves can bring about a positive change in their own lives (this is a concept that is particularly counter-cultural to people here in Bolivia who strongly believe in fate and that they are not able to change anything).

Therefore, Jose had to complete 4 pre-requisites before FH began to work with him on his storage house; 1. He had to put in 1,200 Bolivianos (£106.90) as his match funding to pay for the storage house, which in total costs 28,000 Bolivianos (£2494.47); 2. He had to be willing to collect local materials of sand, rock, straw and wood for the construction; 3. He had to be growing maize and 4; He had to be part of the association that buys maize from farmers to transform it into other products.

When he has agreed to these things and had given FH his match funding the FH technicians worked alongside Jose to help him build his storage house. It took them a month to do and was a lot of hard work as he lives in an isolated area and had to carry all the sand and rocks up from the river below his house. As a result of working with Jose in this way he has been able to increase the value of his maize from 20 – 60 Bolivianos (£1.78 - £5.34) per aroba (11.5Kg) so about a 200% increase. He is proud of what he has done and his mind has been opened up to other possibilities, that he can continue to increase his maize production and that he can also improve his home as well.

This story is a testimony to the FH technicians that have been with working with Jose and 15 other families in Torotoro. The Technicians work away from their families for about 10 days at a time to help these families in these difficult rural areas of Bolivia to begin to break out of poverty.

In the evening the team met with the entire FH Torotoro team to begin to gather ideas from them about what themes could be put into the proposal we had come to work on. They proposed some good ideas. The next day the team met with the local mayor and his officials to find out what they saw as the needs within the municipality of Tortoro.

After lunch they began the journey homeward, with a 4 hour drive back to Cochabamba and then the 7 hour bus ride back to La Paz, finally arriving home at 05:00am to sleep a little before celebrating Sarah’s birthday with friends the next day.

Castillo del loro

2010-11-22T12:00:00.002-04:00

Bolivia is certainly a country of much diversity, both in terms of its cultures and people groups but also in its wide variety of flora and fauna. In just a short journey of 2 hours heading up out of La Paz and down into Las Yungas all of your senses can become engaged as you see, hear and feel the changes as you gradually descend in altitude.

From Villa Fatima, you can either opt for a bus or more comfortable transport in a private or shared taxi. Once loaded, you first begin to wind your way up and out of La Paz, through a more peri urban area of the city. As you leave the city behind you begin the steady crawl upwards into the mountains in order to reach the pass so that you can begin your descent. As you climb further up you can feel the air getting chillier and thinner, leaving you hoping that it wont take long to reach the pass. It is a relief to reach the top marked by a small deserted lake, save for a small number gulls (who seem to be able to get everywhere!).

From the lake you can then begin your steady descent down into Las Yungas. At the top the landscape is very bare and barren, with rock faces exposed to the elements with some covered in snow and ice. As you begin to descend, you can begin to see small amounts of grass appearing and moss begins to cover some of the jagged rock faces, as you descend further the grasses begin to get longer, and the occasional flower can be seen along with a small shrubby bush or two. Further still, the shrubby bushes become larger and trees begin to appear along with more colourful flowers. Finally you descend to the lower regions where banana trees can be seen along with fox gloves and multicoloured hygrengias.

During the descent the temperature gets considerably warmer, and the air richer with oxygen. The noises also increase as you begin to hear the birds chattering, and the insects buzzing.

On one such trip down to Las Yungas, we spent some days staying at the Castillo del Loro (Castle of the Parrot). Sadly the hotel was a bit of a disappointment, whilst it looked beautiful, it had fallen into somewhat disrepair. The castle had been built back in the 1930's by paraguian prisoners for one of Bolivias many presidents. In an attempt to try and make a visitors stay more authentic the owners had decided to try and keep the place looking pretty much as it did when it was built, by keeping in use much of the old furniture. However, in doing so they seem to have neglected the need for renovations and upkeep. The majority of the relics to be seen lying about the place are quite literally falling apart, from the bedroom furniture to other random pieces of furnture lying about the place. The bulding itself could also have done with some serious repairs as much of the woodwork was rotten.

We discovered a more serious need of repair in our bedroom on our last morning. All that night it had been raining quite hard, by the morning we were surround by a number of puddles dotted about our room (which was on the 3rd floor), which would explain the seriously damp smell about the place.

Despite the arquitecteral issues, we were kept well fed with two full 3 course meals a day, though by the end of 5 days with soup twice a day, the novelty had somewhat worn off. The location was also quite beautiful and we all very much enjoyed our time being out of doors in a semi tropical environment, surrounded by beautiful butterflies displaying a whole range of colours, and of course the rivers. The hotel was situated at the convergence of two rivers, one cascading down alongside the hotel and the other running below it. Each day we enjoyed exploring different parts of the rivers and had fun just watching the wildlife and throwing stones into the river.

An environment such a world a part from where we live just 2 hours away in La Paz.

The zebras of La paz

2010-11-02T10:23:00.003-04:00

High up in the andes in the city of La Paz, is probably the one place you would least expect to see Zebras walking about, and yet here we have quite a large population, gathering in the plazas, and on the street corners, either in herds of about 20, or just in ones or twos

Of course I am not talking about the live 4 legged creatures from Africa, but rather people dressed up as Zebras and even the occasional donkey. They are all a part of a campaign that has now been running for a number of years, that involves educating people as to how to safely cross a busy road, as well as educating and encouraging drivers to actually stop at red lights. In England we have the green cross code man, and the lollipop men and ladies, here in La Paz we have Zebras.

They normally position themselves at busy junction and animatedly wave the traffic on through until the lights turn to red. They then halt the traffic and wave the pedestrians across the road until the lights change again.

The role of the donkey is a little different as they seek to highlight to stupidity of some peoples efforts to cross the road when traffic is moving, they do so by running after them and grabbing hold of them and explaining how the person is acting just like themselves, a donkey!

It is a surprisingly effective campaign, with the number of accidents being significantly reduced since their introduction. They have also become local celebrities, and a tourist attraction as both locals and visitors like to have their photos taken with them. However, I don't think its an idea that would catch on very quickly in the streets of London!

Toca Todo - A museum for children

2010-10-22T16:13:00.005-04:00

La Paz appears to have many hidden secrets, every so often we get the delight of discovering one of them. A few weeks back we went with some friends to a little children's museum called Toca Todo. A place where the children are allowed and encouraged to touch and play with and explore whatever they could see.

The museum was divided up into different sections. These included science, with lots of little experiments do do with sand and magnets; Dinosaurs, where they could dig out bones, build their own dinosaur and make their own things with play dough; Space, where they could fly a space ship with lots of lights and buttons and build a space station; a construction site with foam bricks, a crane, hardhats as well as many other things.

One of its other endearing attributes was a mock up bank, the children get to create something in a craft activity, after which they are given a cheque for their 'work' which they could then take to the bank to 'cash in'. At the bank, their 'work' is recorded in a little record book which they get to keep and add to at each visit to build up enough credit for a free visit, they also receive a little chocolate coin, which of course Alana loved.

We look forward to our next visit to see what else we can discover, when hopefully the water play area will be open. Alana and her little friend Natalia had a blast exploring all the different things and were very reluctant to leave at the end of the afternoon. The dads also had a great time playing, at times I think they were having more fun than the girls!

Mini me

2010-10-19T20:08:00.000-04:00

The other day Alana took a fancy to seeing what she looked like in Sarah's clothes, including undies!!!

Role as IS coordinators

2010-10-18T12:55:00.000-04:00

Part of our work here in Bolivia is being responsible for all the seconded international staff (SIS) working with FH. This includes a range of different tasks from identifying possible future positions for SIS, selection, preparation, receiving, orientation of new staff, member care, and debriefing as well as a number of other things.

To ensure that are staff are settling well into the culture and are not having any major issues or problems with work or life in general our aim of this was year was to visit them all every other month, which normally resulted in us alternating our destination every month, so one month we would go to Sucre and the next to Cochabamba. In between visits we meet and chat with those who live and work with us here in La Paz.

When we carry out our visits we travel as a family so that Alana can be a part of this ministry and get to know the other SIS and play with their children. It also means we can get a balance of the ladies having time with Sarah and the guys with Ed, so there is freedom to talk on gender specific topics.

During our visits we normally spend time chatting with each family, taking the time to listen as to how things are going, what’s been good and what has been not so good. We then try and schedule a time where Ed can meet with the guys, and Sarah with the gals, with the aim of creating a space of mutual support and encouragement. We also provide the opportunity for the couples to enjoy a date night away from the kids and enjoy some uninterrupted quality time together. What is nice about Sucre is that we are all in a similar stage of life in terms of ages and family situation and so we have many things in common.

Our trips to Cochabamba are a little different as peoples individual life situations are different however the general idea is the same, for us to be a support and encouragement to the international staff who work for FH.

Another part of our job is to organize an annual retreat for all the international staff as a time to get away from the regular routine of life and to spend time together having fun and learning more about God. This year, having learnt from our mistakes of last year we invited a guest speaker to come and share with us all. We had some very fruitful and challenging morning sessions as we listened and shared together about Intimacy with God, our spouses, our children, our work and our calling.

Sadly only ourselves and our two families from Sucre were able to attend however it did mean that the talks were able to be tailored more towards our stage of life, as we all have small children, which we all greatly appreciated. Whilst our girls were entertained doing their own thing the 6 of us were able to concentrate and be fed ourselves.

The food was wonderful and the setting stunning, as we were housed in a large country home nestled in a tiny remote village tucked between the mountains in a green valley with a river flowing through it. During the saturday afternoon, some of us took off to the river and very much enjoyed splashing about in the cool water and playing in the soft sand, we almost could have been at the seaside.

We all returned to Sucre feeling somewhat refreshed, with full satisfied tummies, and thoughtful about some of the challenges that had be laid before us.

Moulding Chronicles September 2010

2010-09-17T11:23:00.008-04:00

Dear Friends,

As with previous months these last two have been a continuation of our roller coaster ride with a mixture of highs and lows. At the beginning of August Ed moved into a new role as the Country Directors (CD) assistant, giving him more freedom to do a job he was in part already doing. A position about which he feels both privileged and excited about the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. The first of which came within a week of starting his new role with the CD taking sick leave for a number of weeks at a crucial time within the org for many decisions to be made.

Although hard at the time we are now beginning to see the way in which God turned a bad situation around to good, through the lessons he has been teaching the CD. Through his experience he is now resolved to bring about a positive change within the office. Due to the culture and work structure within Bolivian society, a change will only come about by example.

Despite some difficult moments it hasn’t deterred us from signing contracts committing ourselves to the next 3 years working with FHB. In fact these recent circumstances have just highlighted again to us the importance of walking with people at their own pace and encouraging them along the way.

Once again though we rejoice in Gods unfailing goodness to us, as we celebrated Alana’s 4th birthday we were able to look back and see where God has led, protected and provided for us at each and every turn. We were also able to celebrate a very specific answer to prayer with the news that Sarah was pregnant, and that mother and baby are doing well.

Thank you for your continued prayers, support and encouragement. Through what you do for us God is slowly bringing about a positive change here in Bolivia.

Thank God for:

Turning a bad situation into a positive learning situation
A new baby
Ed’s new role

Ask God for:

Continued health and development for Sarah & Baby
Guidance and clear direction for FHB

Much Love

Ed, Sarah & Alana

Birthday girl

2010-09-13T19:34:00.006-04:00

Last Sunday our little girl turned the grand old age of 4 and we celebrated in style with her little friends playing pass the parcel, musical bumps and pin the tail on Boots (as the theme was Dora the explorer, we felt her monkey friend Boots would make a suitable substitute for a donkey!). Even the grown ups enjoyed taking part in that one. Everybody enjoyed themselves and Alana is already asking when her next birthday is.

A Bolivian Wedding

2010-09-13T12:29:00.006-04:00

Just over a week ago we got to experience a truly cultural experience as we were invited to celebrate in the festivities of the wedding of one of our work colleagues.

The service was due to start at 12.30, and we were ensured by the bride to be that it would certainly be no later than 10 minutes late in starting, so we arrived promptly at 12:30 and waited, and waited and waited. It was good to have Alana with us who kept both ourselves and our friends entertained with balls of plasticine.

About 3 quarters of an hour later something began to happen, those leading the service took up their positions at the front and began announcing the arrival of various members of the wedding party, from the minister, God parents, parents, ring bearer, flower girls and finally the groom followed by the arrival of the bride. To our westernised mindsets, it all seemed a little disorganized with members of the announced party not having arrived on time or the reluctance of some of the little ones to come forward, with bits of music fading in and out between entrances.

The service itself once it got underway was not quite as we are used to with no singing but lots of talking and many prayers and words of encouragement from various different people. At the end of the service the wedding party formed a line and all the guests were invited to pass along the line to greet people and offer words of encouragement and congratulations.

From the church we moved onto the reception venue, and were very surprised to see not just one wedding cake or even 2 or 3 but in fact a total of 15 wedding cakes, all delicately layered with cream, with an intricate pattern painted around the edges. Before the bridal party arrived Alana decided to take a closer inspection of the cakes and to our utmost embarrassment decided to try them out!

Once settled at the reception our waiting continued as more guests begin to slowly trickle in. Time was ticking by and getting onto 4 o’clock before there were any signs of the bridal party arriving, by which time we were all beginning to feel a little hungry. Once again Alana did very well with keeping our table entertained by giving out crayons and getting everybody to draw pictures in her book. Eventually the wedding party did arrive and we were launched into another mini service as the legal part of the wedding was carried out with the registrar, and more photos.

Then it arrived... the food or at least a large platter filled with crisps, we all hurriedly made space on the table for it only to quickly discover that we were actually only to take a few for ourselves before it was taken to the next table, but at least the hunger pangs were stayed for a little while longer until the real food arrived. It wasn't quite what we were expecting but was greatly received all the same - a pork sandwich for everyone!

After the food was finished we waited expectantly for the next installment of what was going to happen next, which was a parade of all the gifts where everybody lined up in order to present their gifts to the married couple, which included a dresser, dining room table and chairs, and pining money to their clothing! Once free of their gift each person was then presented with a fizzy orange drink and a small plate of pastries.

At this point in the celebrations, 5pm, most the folks we knew were saying their goodbyes so we took the opportunity to also make our exit, particularly as Alana was beginning to get a bit boisterous with some of the furniture. We had been told that the whole thing was due to finish around 10 in the evening, so the events of the next 5 hours remain a mystery to us along with who got to eat all of those 15 cakes!

Our local Multicine

2010-08-16T11:25:00.003-04:00

On returning back to Bolivia in March, we were very happy to discover that a new multiscreen cinema complex had recently opened its doors, just a little way up the road from where we live. On weekends it has become a very popular place to visit by many people from all across La Paz, as they try out a wide selection of different foods available within the newly created food court, before or after watching any number of films displayed on the 10 screens.

What makes this place so unique however, is the fact that it is still a hustling, bustling building site! Busy construction workers, seem to toil endlessly building onwards and upwards and to the side as well. Very often when we walk past there is a long line of 10 or more cement lorries all waiting to empty their load and have their goods pumped up to the top of what must be now at least about 16 floors if not more.

Serving the local community

2010-07-12T11:48:00.007-04:00

One of the important principles taught to local churches is the need to be out serving their local communities. As a way of demonstrating this principle in practice it was decided that all the staff within the La Paz FH office should be involved in a small seed project. As in so many cases it is very easy to talk the talk but yet not as easy to walk the walk, so we were all encouraged to actually do something in relation to what we talk about others doing.

As a result of this idea, 3 small seed projects were put together in such a way as to support and encourage a church or individual. The office staff were divided into 3 teams and assigned to one of the projects. We were assigned to the team that were to help paint the inside of a small church in El Alto, called ‘Centro ministerio Agape’ and Ed was designated co leader to co ordinate the project. The church had been in existence for 9 years and was in its 3rd year of receiving training from FH about its place within the community.The small congregation had already done much to build the church and prepare it for painting, our job was to give a helping hand to paint it.

Finally after a couple of date changes a team of 8 people (Plus Alana) set off for El Alto at 8am armed with paint brushes and rollers to the small church. When we arrived our first job was to sand and wipe down all the walls to prepare them for the paint. Ed and I then enjoyed a cultural lesson on how to mix paint. Rather than just purchasing a big tin of paint to the colour requirements, they buy big tubs of white paint and then small bottles of the required colour to mix in then mix together with water. This is all very well and good if you can do all you need to with the first mix, as it appeared to be quite difficult to create exactly the same colour second time around.

Still we managed to do a good job and worked well together as a team and had a good laugh. For Ed and I it was a nice change to have been doing something practical again, having spent so much time sitting at computers in recent months. Even Alana had a go at it all, sanding the walls, mixing the paint and then turning her hand to painting. It was nice that she had little company to enjoy it with too. It didn’t take too long before the girls were best buddies and sharing their lolly pops with each other.

By midday we had finished the job and enjoyed sharing a lunch together which some of the women from the church had prepared. It was an array of different food, which when served together was known as ‘Ajtapi’ . All in all a very satisfactory experience.

Moulding Chronicles July 2010

2010-07-05T20:29:00.005-04:00

Dear Friends,

One of the big lessons we have been learning lately is the need to walk, not so much in the practical sense (though that is good to do) but more in the sense of walking alongside people as they find their way in life.

The mission statement of FH talks about walking with churches, lead- ers and families in overcoming all forms of human poverty by living in healthy relationship with God and his creation. However, up until recently we have never really grasped what this means.

We are gradually becoming aware of how key this principle is in all aspects of life, family, church and work. If we think of the example of Jesus, He impacted and touched the lives of thousands during his time on earth, yet he selected just a few to walk with closely. They walked together though good and bad times, with opportunities to try and space to fail. Yet Jesus was always there to help pick them up again and teach them new things as well as re-teaching some of the old things. He kept walking with them and by doing so had a far reaching impact on the whole world.

By walking with Jesus, the disciples got to see both his godly and human side such as times when he was hungry, tired, happy and sad. When we walk closely with people they get to see a lot of our human side, but also hopefully some of our more godly side too which challenges us to be consistently living up to Gods standards. Walking with somebody is not an easy quick fix solution, it takes time and a lot of energy. Yet it is also very effective.

Just as we have been seeking to walk with individuals and families here in Bolivia both through the local church and in the FH office, so you too have been important in walking with us on this journey. We could not have gotten this far without your prayers, support and encouragement, and so we are very thankful to you for that.

October sees the end of our first 3 year contract with FH. Through much prayer we have decided that it is right for us to extend that contract for a further 3 years or until God says otherwise.

Thank God for:

Being able to renew our contract
Good friendships
Safe travelling

Ask God for:

Rest, we are both feeling really exhausted, made worse by the fact that neither of us are sleeping well at night

We are very much excited and looking forward to what new things God has to teach us next.

With much love

Ed, Sarah & Alana

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mmm Digestive biscuits

2010-06-26T19:43:00.002-04:00

There have been many occasions during our time here in Bolivia when something happens that is just very surreal. Today was one of those moments. We walked into a supermarket to collect a few supplies for an afternoon at the park and walked down one of the isles only to find ourselves looking at things which were familiar and normal and yet were so out of place. Brand names such as Cadburys, Colmans, John West Tuna fish, Rose's marmalade, Jacobs crackers, Fruit pastels, Robinsons and Schweps. It tooks us some time to register that the special offer labels were actually talking english money - Special offer, 2 for 1.50. Of course all of these items were at highly inflated prices however we just could't resist a little treat of digestive biscuits. Its the small things in life that make all the difference!

San Juan

2010-06-26T19:06:00.002-04:00

Wednesday 23rd of June was the day to celebrate San Juan here in Bolivia. It is supposedly the shortest and coldest night of the year in recognition of the birth of John the Baptist. A tradition that was introduced by the spanish colonialists. Traditionally people would build and burn bonfires with wood from old pieces of furniture in the streets in both the towns and the cities and eat hotdogs. In previous years we have experienced some these antics as the streets fill with smoke and fireworks are set off all over the place (No health and safety here!).

In anticipation of much smoke and noise, and Alana's fear of fireworks, I spent the entire afternoon preparing her for what was to come later on in the evening, ensuring her that it was nothing to be afraid of, and to focus on the pretty lights in the sky as opposed to the loud noises. She was beginning to get the idea, and was talking about it all afternoon, a conversation filled with many Whys. At 7pm in the evening we set off to our pastors house to celebrate with others. It was unusually quiet in the streets, however we just assumed it was all to start later on.

The hours slowly ticked by and still nothing. It turned out that the government had actually banned the lighting of bonfires and the use of fireworks this year, due to the amount of smoke that was normally produced, which has been so bad in the past in places such as La Paz so as to constitute the need of a bank holiday the following day simply because it hasn't been safe for people to drive due to low visibility because of the smoke.

So we were spared much of the trauma of Alana wailing and griping hold of us, or at least we were until very late in the evening when a few explosions started up around near our home which meant somewhat of a sleepless night for us all.

On a high point

2010-06-16T20:41:00.003-04:00

Saturday 5th June I stood at the highest point I have ever stood in the world. Together with the 3 students I was looking after from Messiah College, USA and some other friends I climbed up Mount Tunari, which is something like the 5th highest mountain in Bolivia. Having left Cochabamba at 6:30am at an altitude of 2,500 metres above sea level we travelled by car up to 4,600 metres and then walked up to 5,040 metres. It was only a 440-metre climb but at that altitude it was enough and we all had many rests for air! 3 of the group continued to get to the second peak on Tunari at 5,100 metres, but I had had enough by then.

On the way up we saw an Andean Fox and some Condors, which was great. Adrian, the 8 year old son of Pepe (the Filter project monitoring and evaluation guy) accompanied us on our hike, he did amazingly well. It was fantastic to see what a great encouragement his dad was in order to keep him going. They didn’t quite make it to the top but to walk up to 5,000 metres is some achievement for an 8 year old boy.

What is the water filter project?

2010-06-16T20:31:00.002-04:00

The project is a one year scientific experiment to see how well this particular water filter works. It is a simple filter made in the US that strain out bacteria and microorganisms that cause sickness and diarrhoea in children and adults. The project started last November, and is targeting mothers with children less than 3 years of age.

Information was initially collected from hundreds of mothers within the communities in and around Uspa Uspa in Cochabamba. The mothers were then divided up into 4 different groups. One group was a control group who receive nothing during the experiment period, a second group receive training sessions on behaviour change, with regards to how they can improve their health and drinking water (i.e. by boiling water and washing hands before eating), a third group received just the filters and instructions as to how to use them and the last group received both the water filters and the training sessions on behaviour change.

Throughout the year 3 water samples of drinking water are taken from the homes, as well as follow up questions regarding the health of the children and families. These results are then analysed to assess what changes if any are taking place. The initial results after just the second round of water testing, which we did with the students, are already showing positive results from the use of the water filters. At the end of the study, all those who have taken part in the experiment will be given a water filter.

With the students we were taking the second round of water samples and recording the changes found in the samples after 24 or 48 hours. The chemical that we added to the samples was used to detect the presence of microorganisms that fed on faecal material. The presence of these particular microorganisms (there are many different types in the water) would change the colour sample from clear amber to black (this could range from just a few black specs appearing in the sample or the entire sample going black). Some of the samples we collected demonstrated a high level of contamination as they very quickly turned black, however, we saw some more encouraging results as the samples from the filters had significantly lower levels of contamination. There was not much time for chatting with the mothers when taking the water samples, as there were so many to do. However, Emily and Roanna had the opportunity to do this in the focus groups that they took part in during the second week.

The biggest problem that is faced with a project such as this in the area in which it is being done is that it is a community that is very transient. A family who could be easily found one week could be gone by the next having either moved to the city or just another area of the community. The Mothers involved in the project have often moved house within the community every couple of months or have left the community and returned either to the countryside or moved to another country for work. This has added quite a high level of frustration to those doing the experiment, however, at present the numbers involved still enable to experiment to be viable.

An unexpected visit to Cochabamba

2010-06-16T20:15:00.002-04:00

For one reason or another I don’t think that I have been to Church once in the last month. 3 weeks ago we were just about ready to all walk out the door to go to church when I received a text message from one of our international staff members in Cochabamba saying ‘Please call me’. I duly called Erik to find out what the problem was then kick off my shoes and spent the rest of the day on the computer and making phone calls, because his eldest son was seriously ill in hospital. Below is the link to their blog and an amazing story of God’s provision and healing of Josiah their son. http://lindquistfamily.spaces.live.com/default.aspx

The following week became very busy, checking daily with the family and reporting to others about what was going on, as well as trying to work out what we should do with the team of 3 students who where supposed to be spending the next 2 weeks with the Lindquist family working on a water filter project. We decided that instead of just sending them home that I would go to Cochabamba and take care of the team for their first week as there was a large quantity of water sample testing that needed doing, and a lack of personal to do it.

My week in Cochabamba was a busy one with many early mornings and late nights with John, Emily and Roanna from Messiah College, USA. John had just graduated as a Chemistry teacher and Emily in nutrition, community health and Spanish. Roanna had one more year to complete in the same studies as Emily. For the two weeks previous they had all been in another part of Bolivia living in a rural community with a larger team from the college.

It was a real privilege for me to work with and to get to know these 3 young committed Christians who were seeking to serve God and working out His calling on their lives. It was also a privilege to get to share our faith and encourage each other. We had some good days together visiting peoples homes to collect water samples (the second in a series of 3 tests) to analyse the condition of their drinking water.

As well as working hard we also got to do some sight seeing and visited Lake Waru Waru just under 4,000 metres above sea level and climb up Mount Tunari. Another important part of our time in Cochabamba was to be an encouragement and support for the Lindquist family as they watched and waited to see how Josiah was doing.

Last Sunday Sarah and Alana flew down to Cochabamba to join us and we had a good couple of days with the Students and the Lindquist’s, helped no end by the fact that Josiah came out of hospital after being in for just 2 weeks.

Sucre Evaluation Trip

2010-06-16T19:39:00.007-04:00

This was 4 long, but very good days, and a great opportunity to get to see what FH is doing and to learn a lot from it. These are just some of the highlights from my time travelling around the countryside.

Horno C'kasa
On the first day we got to see one of the success stories of Child sponsorship in one of the poor suburbs of Sucre. We met 3 young women (all Christians) who were part of a group of 7 young women who had set up a small business providing cakes and other sweets for events and meetings. The business has been going for about a year and I think all 7 of them are studying at University as well as running this business. Of the 3 that were in the meeting one was studying business, another medicine and the other nursing. The latter had been in the Child sponsorship program for 6 years.

We also saw a Doctor who works for FH teaching some of the reception age children about the importance of washing their hands. It was also the first day of a de-worming campaign that they were starting at the school.

Llave
On the second day we travelled 3 hours Northwest of Sucre to an area in North Potosi, to visit some communities where FH has been for a number of years. These communities are at around 3,500 -4,000 metres above sea level and life is hard, made more so by the way their fatalistic beliefs keep them trapped in poverty.

We visited a new community where FH has been working for a couple of years called Llave (Key). In that community FH has helped to build a ‘centro de acopio’ (processing centre) for preparing and sorting potatoes and other crops for sending to the market. FH has also built a road to give them better access to the principal town and an irrigation canal to help improve their crop yields and diversity.

Though the community is very grateful for all that FH has done they have not yet learnt or accepted all that FH has been teaching them. So while we were there two of my colleagues were giving the community members of the association a hard time (in a friendly way) about them needing to get their backsides into gear. They were saying this because although the community knew they were now responsible to look after these 3 infrastructure projects, they were not taking the initiative to do the repair work. This was an interesting example of the process of change that is needed within the communities we work in. Communities are always willing to have organisations do things for them but when you turn around to them and say now you get on with it they often don’t. My colleague commented to me that this process of handing over the responsibilities normally takes a couple of years for the community to accept and start to change its thinking.

Dependency is another big issue faced by many people in communities such as these. They either believe themselves that they cannot do anything on their own, or over the years they have been told they can’t do anything because organisations come in and say the community needs this or that then they do it. By doing this many organisations cause more harm than good as they are reinforcing the message that the community is not able to do anything by itself.

Chuquisaca Central
On days 3 and 4 I had a surprise. It was the first time I had been into this area which was southeast of Sucre and dropped down to about 2,000 metres above sea level. I had expected the housing to look similar to those in North Potosi. But I was surprised to find them in a Spanish Colonial style. White washed walls and curved clay tiles on the roofs, and a generally much greener place with taller trees. What a difference altitude makes to how a place looks and what can grow there.

We travelled around the 4 municipalities (areas equivalent to our counties) visiting various FH projects. It was such a stark contrast to the communities in North Potosi. There was still a lot of poverty but at the same time things were different. The Plazas (the central feature of every town in Bolivia) were in pristine condition and full of green and they had hotels and a tourist trade. Where as in North Potosi the plazas were rarely finished or in a poor state of disrepair and the people often look downtrodden.

FH began working in this area at about the same time we moved to Bolivia, to work with small and medium sized businesses. The aim being to work with those that were already established but who needed some more help to become independent. FH currently has funding from two different sources both with the same aim, but with one focusing more on exchanging technical knowledge to help these businesses take off and the other helping with some infrastructure projects as well.

The highlight from this part of the trip was in seeing what FH was doing with two different Associations. These were made up from a number of people from the community (in this case around 50-70 people) who after harvesting their crops brought them to the ‘centros de acopios’ (processing centres), so that they could then be sold together and the profits returned to them. Thus getting a better price for their crop and not all going individually to try and sell their crops.

Other organisations have been working in these communities in the past and FH is now helping them in the final stages of becoming independent and able to meet their own needs and looking for new markets for their produces.

Both associations where growing chillies, maize (these are big seeded white, yellow and red), and amaranth (a very small high protein grain, about 1mm diameter). All of these were dried and then turned into different things. The chillies were dried and then either sold whole or ground into chill powder; the maize was ground and with other things made into a very nice hot drink called api; the amaranth was either popped (like you do with pop corn) and sold like that or turned into biscuits or cereal bars (mixed with honey and sometimes coated with chocolate). They also mixed the maize and amaranth together to make cheesy puffed crisps like watsits.

FH is helping them to improve their methods of production, how to manage their finances and find markets for their products.

The first association still had much work to do. They were in the middle of having a new processing centre built with the help of FH that will house all of their work in the same place, but they still have a way to go with finding their markets and hygiene standards. When we visited the area where they were processing amaranth into biscuits and cereal bars, there where lots of flies and bees around the open honey pots! Also their wiring system worried me a bit! Never touch wires in Bolivia you never know where they go!

The second association was a much more clean and slick operation with us needing to wear protective clothing. They already had their markets worked out which included local schools to provide breakfast for the children.

Both of these associations that we visited were part of an association of associations which is further strengthening their place in the market. Some of their products are sold here in La Paz.

The Joker
Throughout the trip I was with a guy called Juan Carlos who was a bit of a joker. He was a laugh to be with but throughout the trip he would not let me sleep as we travelled from place to place, he kept jabbing me in the ribs saying ‘Ed please don’t sleep!’ This got a bit wearing after a while. Here is a picture of him on the right and Jamie (who works on Child sponsorship) I’ll let you think of a caption for his expression!

Mothers Day

2010-05-31T14:53:00.003-04:00

May 27th was mothers day which was celebrated in every arena possible over the course of a number of days. It began in the office on Wednesday with yummy cakes and a gift to each mother. On the Thursday Alana came home from kinder with a card and a pretty yellow rose. Saturday Alana was part of a short performance put on especially for all the mummys. They sang a number of songs then we were able to have a look at all the artwork that the children had been busy preparing for their mothers. Then on Sunday just when we thought it was all over all the mums were called out to the front of church and were prayed for and presented with a gift.

Moulding Chronicle May 2010

2010-05-11T10:30:00.011-04:00

Dear Friends,

We have been learning many new things over the last few months both about the work that FH is involved with and a part of Gods plan for the future direction of the organisation. This month we would like to share with you one important aspect of the work that FH does, that is also a part of God’s plan for the future.

There are many Evangelical Churches in El Alto (the migrant city above La Paz ), however, unlike most evangelical Churches in the UK, they are very closed to the community around them. Over the last 5 years, FH has worked with about 250 Churches in El Alto. Churches that have wanted to learn and been willing to change their worldview. Worldview, being the way a person perceives the world around them.

Through a series of training workshops with Pastors and congregations our staff have been teaching; a biblical worldview, the place of the Church within a community, integral ministry and how to think and plan for the future (not common here, the Aymara language only has a past and present tense). They have also been teaching the churches about seed projects. Projects that are planned to help the church recognise and respond to needs within their community.

Such projects are short term, i.e. a few hours and are resourced entirely from within the church in finance and personnel (this helps to break the begging bowl mentality of dependence). The projects are a service to the community and in such demonstrate God's love. Examples of such projects are cleaning the streets, and erecting street signs. The churches are encouraged to complete 2 such projects a year that are well planned and well organised.

During a recent visit, Ed visited 5 Churches that were responding to the need to change. This is the fruit of just 2 of those he visited. The first had started a Christian School, teaching Biblical Principles at its core. Changes have been so evident in the pupils that children are now attending from all across El Alto. This year sees the first graduates. Professionals, wanting to take the Biblical Principles they have learned into the work place. The second church, positioned next to a University was running a restaurant to provide a cheap but balanced diet for Students which was also providing opportunities for evangelism.

Many of these things may seem common sense to us from a western back ground but for a people who have never been taught to think for themselves it is all new. If you wish to read more about the visit and how the programme runs and what some of the other churches are doing then please look at the more detailed report found on our blog (http://mouldings-online.blogspot.com/) Over the following months we hope to share with you some more of what FH is doing and what we are learning through it.

Thank God for:
• A companion family
• The boldness and courage to speak God’s truth
• The different things we are learning
• Peace about just living the here and now

Ask God for:
• Wisdom as to whether we should extend our contract which finishes in October 2010.
• Insight and discernment of the culture

With much love
Ed, Sarah & Alana

Anyone for a hotdog?

2010-05-09T20:38:00.002-04:00

On saturday we had the opportunity to meet the families of those we work with at the office as we all got together for a barbeque at one of the parks in La Paz. The sun was shining (as it does regularly now at this time of year) and both the food and the company was good. In true Bolivian fashion, the strict 10 am start drifted into 12.30/1 oclock. The strict program that had all been planned out so carefully, just fizzled. However, on this occasion, it didn't really matter as it just created the time and space to get to know each other a bit better, and have some fun.

It was really nice to see eveybody interacting and the children all playing together, and to feel a part of it all. The only thing thing that seemed rather strange to us was that they served up hotdogs to everybody, then about an hour later, the rest of the food (Potatoes, rice and salad) why they couldn't have done it all together we were not quite sure, but thats cultural differences for you.

A visit to El Alto

2010-05-06T11:02:00.004-04:00

Last month I (Ed) spent a day up in El Alto (the migrant city above La Paz at an altitude of over 4000m above sea level), visiting the work that FH has been doing with the Churches there.

There are many Evangelical Churches in El Alto. In just one section of the city you can easily find over 30 Assemblies of God Churches, let alone the other denominations present in the same area. Sadly however, the quantity of churches is no indicator of the quality of the churches or their outreach to the communities around them. Unlike most evangelical Churches in the UK many are closed to the community around them, and are only interested in those within its walls.

Over the last 5 years a two-man team has worked with around 250 Churches all over the city, in a program called Church Strengthening. The idea of the project has been to work with Churches that were interested in learning about; a biblical worldview, integral ministry and the place of the Church within the community.

Worldview or paradigm is the way in which every person views the world around him or her, which effects how he or she responds to it. No one culture or worldview is better than another; each has good and bad points, thus the idea of this part of the training was to look at what was good within their culture. From there they were to look at what God says is a good and healthy worldview based on what the bible says. Through this training they seek to help the Church understand its role as a church. Over time they have seen that whilst teaching the churches has had a positive effect, they have seen far greater results when they have walked with people on their journey of discovery and built up personal relationships opening up their eyes to God’s plans.

Through a series of training workshops with the Pastors and their congregations over the period of 3 years, our staff are teaching the churches: their place within their community so they can minister to the community, meeting its needs whether that is in health, education or developing the local economy, what is integral ministry, how to think and plan for the future (not common here, especially where the Aymara language only has a past and present tense) and to get the Church to carry out seed projects within their community. These are simple projects like cleaning the streets of rubbish (of which there is always a lot), or putting up street signs. These are to be short projects, just a morning or afternoon, that are resourced completely from the church in terms of finances and people (breaking the begging bowl mentality of dependence). They are created with the aim to serve the community and through which demonstrate God’s love. In doing these projects twice a year the churches learn how to plan and organise.

Such work is not always as easy as it sounds as many of the pastors have full time jobs, and so need to work around these jobs to be able to come to the training sessions. The other issue is that many of the pastors lack a basic education, with most having ever only received between 2 ½ to 5 years of basic education. This means that many are not even able to read and write.

If pastors lack a basic education and in many cases the ability to read it makes you wonder how they are leading and teaching their congregations (in case you are wondering pod casts and recordings of sermons are not a resource available to these people), what is their theological training? The answer to these questions is poorly. Therefore this is part of the challenge when working with the Churches helping them to understand the different themes at a suitable level to their understanding.

Another part of the program that the FH team runs is TOT, (Training Of Trainers). Over the past 5 years they have learned that although they have a very good reputation in El Alto among the Churches, they are still strangers. Because of this they have begun to train people within the Churches in these same themes, so that they are then equipped to share within their Church in a way that is more effective. The idea being that the work then multiplies with the trainers training new trainers.

This is long and hard work that often goes unseen for some time, but they are seeing results now in a few of the Churches, which has been very encouraging. During the day I visited 5 Churches all of which were very different. One Church had started a Christian School and was teaching its pupils Biblical Principles. Positive changes have already been seen in the children and now parents want their children to go there because of this. This year they are seeing their first students graduate as professionals, people who will take the Biblical Principles they have learned into the work place, generating change. Another church was next to a University and had started a longer-term project using its own resources to run a restaurant to provide a cheap but balanced diet for the Students as this is a need the Church has seen and acted on. It is also providing opportunities for evangelism.

We then went to a completely different Church where the pastor had died and his teenaged son had taken over responsibility. With an elderly and sick congregation (of about 20 people) they had built a small Church for about 50 people from their own resources. The pastor of the next church was a rarity. He was older and normally the older pastors do not like any suggestions of change (sound familiar!), as it may threaten their job and their security so they do not want to listen. However, this pastor has changed his way of thinking and taken it to another level. For 5 years they have been running with a child sponsorship program with another organisation called Compassion for around 300 children, which runs classes for the children in the mornings and afternoons. The pastor has realised that one day the funding from Compassion will stop and so instead of residing to fate, he has told his church that they need to start thinking about how they can fund this project in the future to keep it going. Finally I went to a Church that was just beginning the process of changing its thinking. There were about 50 people of all ages learning about God’s intention for the Church.

To see some more of the results of this program and what can happen when the Church has its eyes open to the needs around it. Check out the project FH is involved with (and looking for funding from the UK) in a community called Puerto Camacho on the edge of El Alto. FH started there with Church Strengthening work and now FH is helping the Church to reach out into the community and help change the lives of some of the children living in that area.
http://www.uk.fhi.net/bolivia/

Alana meets the stars

2010-05-06T10:23:00.002-04:00

On our recent trip to Cochabamba we had the opportunity to see a live performance of Alice in Wonderland, in which two of our friends were taking part. Alana knew who her friends were but wasn't so sure about them being in costume, they did look a little strange, but then what else do you expect of a Mad Hatter and a March Hare!

Amazing creation

2010-04-19T10:16:00.003-04:00

On the day we arrived in Coroico Alana discovered this rather bright looking caterpillar attatched to a wall. We guessed by its lack of movement that it was in the process of undergoing a change however we were very suprised to discover how quickly that change came about. The first picture was taken on the evening of our first day, the second on the early morning of the next. Sadly we weren't about long enough to see how quickly the next transformation was going to take or which form it was going to take. But Gods creation really is quite amazing.

Coroico

2010-04-14T10:46:00.006-04:00

Last weekend we decided that we were all in need of a little R & R so we packed our bags and headed off to a very small town called Coroico down in the slightly more tropical regions of las yungas. A place which surprisingly is only 2 hours away from La Paz and yet so vastly different in fauna and flora. Including some pesky biting bugs!

It was indeed a very small town, our taxi driver made comment to us that if you were to trip over whilst in Coroico, you would fall over the edge. When you see how the town is perched onto the edge of a mountainside you can understand the reason for the comment.

We all enjoyed the short break and being somewhere different. There wasn’t really much to do so we just enjoyed hanging about and seeing how many different creatures we could find, by the end of the weekend Alana was very proficient at spotting insects and bugs of all shapes and sizes, including a stick insect climbing up the steps.

In the grounds of where we were staying there was a small play area, that was somewhat over grown, but a haven for so many creatures, some nicer than others. I don’t think I have ever seen, or heard so many different types of grasshopper in one place before, all colours shapes and sizes.

On the Saturday we headed off for a walk in an attempt to find some waterfalls. A taxi driver had told us that they were only about half an hours walk away, a time scale reference to which we were a bit dubious, knowing how time is not a strong point within the culture. However, we still set out full of hope and were accompanied by one of the dogs from the hotel who took a liking to us and obviously fancied a walk too. Once we saw she was insistent on coming with us we decided to call her Poppy. Alana was very happy for the extra companion and we for the extra distraction to keep somebody walking. After an hour and a half walking around the mountainside and no sign whatsoever of any waterfalls we gave up and turned back, a decision that was helped by the fact that the path had now become almost impassable. We also figured that with the return journey it was enough for one day for a short pair of legs.

We were a little disappointed at not reaching our destination however the views were quite spectacular and we did see lots of other pretty butterflies along the way. Poppy seemed to have enjoyed the exercise too and accompanied us right back to our room, though we drew the line at letting her in.