Fun Night of Fellowship

Contrary to belief, missionaries can have fun too! On the far right is Emily Mercado in the white and Jessica Smith next to her in the blue. The other two people are members of the Arrowhead Ranch team, (Wisconsin). At this table is Laura Boyce with the green vest, Dan Strebig on the left with his kids, Elizabeth, Raquel and Kathern. And on the far right in the blue is Bev Smith.
On the left is Tom, Peter and Janine Throssel. In the pink with the long hair is Dana Wilson, on the right is Toni Mercado, and on the left is Beth HAuse.
This picture is of one of the members of the Arrowhead Ranch team and the bus driver.
This was a kids table. On the left is Steven HAuse, then Philip Throssel, Pablito HAuse, a member from the Arrowhead Ranch team, Benji Smith, and then two more girls from the team.

On the left is Elliott Tait, in the back are members of the Arrowhead Ranch team, and on the right in the stripped shirt is Paul Kienzle.
Whoops! This is a duplicate photo and I don't know how to delete.
At this table was Pastor Cody on the left in the rear, Nate on the left, Erica Kienzle in the front and Rachel Kienzle back next to Cody, Nick Smith on the right of her, Becka Kienzle to his right and Jose Mercado on the far right.
This is the meal we ate. It was called, "the head of John the Baptist." It was suppose to be round, but as you can see it is flat. It was a piece of chicken with rice, a boiled egg and a ripe olive all rolled up in a ball and wrapped in banana leaves. Then it is boiled. To be honest...... I'll pass next time......

This not a very good picture, but this is what it looked like after you take the banana leaves off. No....... you don't eat the banana leaves.

As is the custom, every Wednesday afternoon about 4:00 pm all the South America Mission missionaries, and also "Friends of SAM," (a few missionaries that don't have mission boards here), get together for prayer and fellowship followed by a communal meal. A couple of weeks ago someone, said that we never do anything fun together. Right away a discussion started as to what could we do that was fun. A plan was put into action and it was decided that the following week we would be having our prayer and fellowship at the SAM hanger, (that is our little airport), and it would be a game night with wiffle ball, game boards, a time of fellowship would be led by a visiting team from Arrowhead Ranch in Wisconsin, and for our meal we would hire a caterer to make a special dish, "John the Baptist Heads," for everyone to eat. Everyone was suppose to bring something to share. The plan was in motion and everyone was excited about doing something different for a change. Unfortunately...... the weather did not cooperate and it rained all day. Since the grounds around the hanger were so wet it was decided to move our meeting once again to the SAM base but to continue with our "fun" theme. Board games were played for about an hour, we sang songs, and our time of fellowship and prayer was led by Pastor Cody from Arrowhead Ranch. The "heads of John the Baptist were ........ well lets just say they were interesting. It is a Peruvian dish made up of a piece of chicken with rice, a boiled egg and an olive, made into a ball and then wrapped in banana leaves and boiled until done. I will be including pictures of the meal....... although the round head ended up being more flat. Personally, I am glad I tried it, but I don't care whether I ever have it again. Everyone had a good time, so that was what was important. We hope to have more fun nights in the future.

Teams 2008

Orange Hill Team/from near Marrietta, Georgia

East Cobb Presbyterian from a suberb of Atlanta, Georgia

Killian Hills Baptist, also from a suberb of Atlanta, Georgia
Lauren and Joe Boulinger/Killian Hills Team

One of the main functions of the South America Mission Guesthouse is to host work teams that come down to Bolivia, promoting the gospel and trying to improve the life of the Bolivians they work with. During Spring Break this past year, late February and early March a team from Palm Beach Atlantic University came and worked with several local churches. In April we hosted a team from Indiana which was associated with the Evangelical Church of America. Right after this team left we fed a medical team from Oklahoma for a week, which came down with an organization known as "Mission of Hope." We generally feed teams from Mission of Hope about three times a year. In late April we hosted a small team of educational staff associated with the International Christian Schools accrediting board. They came down to evaluate our Christian school, the "Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center," and to give suggestions as to how they could improve their curriculum and better use their facilities and staff. In late May Jeff Orcutt, part of the office personnel from the mission's home office came down with a small team which stayed at the guesthouse for a few days, but whose primary focus for their visit was to help with a construction project in a small town known as Robere, and to be an encouragement to the people there. In June we hosted another team associated with the Evangelical Church of America, but this time these individuals came from Montana. They worked locally, putting on VBS's in a local church. In late June the Orange Hill team, a SAM team from Georgia came. Their primary focus was to work with the Ayore Indians and to encourage the SAM missionaries here in Santa Cruz. Just a few days after the Orange Hill team left another SAM team from Georgia arrived, this one was from East Cobb Presbyterian. This was a really large team of 29 people, 16 of which stayed at the guesthouse. Their primary focus was to do construction and painting at the Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center, but they also went out to Poze Verde and worked with the Ayore Indians for a couple of days. Two days after the East Cobb team left the Killian Hills Baptist team, also from Georgia arrived. This was a team of 18 teens and 4 sponsors. They put on a VBS's at a local church and visited local boys and girls homes, encouraging them as they established relationships. Now that our busy season is over we can set back and evaluate the past few months and praise God for all that has been accomplished. Although we have been very busy, we have been truly blessed by the teams, and encouraged by their desire to reach the people of Bolivia with the gospel of Christ. As you can see, I have a few pictures taken of some of the teams that stayed at the SAM guesthouse in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

4th of July, 2008, Bolivia

Well, as is usual, the pictures came up before the text. At this table is left to right, Dan Abbott, Jimmy Davison, Greg Dahl, and Tom Throssel. Below is Marci McCarver, part of the Orange Hill team, a Bolivian girl, and Toni Mercado.
Here the kids are playing a game in the yard. (Greg is a big kid.... but a kid at heart)
Left to right, Heather Michelson, Adrena Sprouse, Raquel Strebig, and a couple girls on a work team at the Christo Viene girls home.

Beth HAuse and Larua Boyce
Janine Throssel and a couple girls on the team.
Bill Smith cooking beef and chorizo and Dan Strebig sampling.

Some of you may be wondering if we celebrate the 4th of July in Bolivia. The answer is "YES!" We as U.S. citizens, (I have to be careful when I say "Americans" because people in South America are "Americans" as well), are proud of our country, and as traditions go, feel the need to gather to celebrate the Independence of our country. (Oh, Canadian missionaries celebrate with us..... after all, the more the merrier!)

Each years celebration is different. This year we all gathered at Bill and Bev Smith's house. At the time we had people from Orange Hill Baptist Church from near Marrietta, Georgia, and they brought down brautwarst, hot dogs and sauerkraut to make it a very special day. The team also brought down special treats for the kids. A wonderful time was had by all. Here are a few pictures from our 4th of July celebration.

Well, as you can see the pictures downloaded first and the text last. You still can get the idea that we had a good time of fellowship here on the 4th. Incidently, Bolivia celebrates Independence day on August 6th so there will be plenty of fireworks on that day. You can pray that we get some sleep that night, since there will be a lot of partying going on as well as the fireworks.