November

News from Bolivia:

November 20, 2008

I am sitting by the heater at camp.  We use our heater year round here.  The altitude makes it chilly enough at night that you need just a little something to knock the chill out of the air.  But, it is summer time and the rainy season makes summer colder than winter?  It is one of those things you just have to live through to understand.  When we leave camp for the city, we have to dress in layers because we drop of the mountain and into the valley where the climate is more dry and hot.

Happy Thanks Giving and Merry Merry Christmas.  The kids get out of school for their summer break this Friday and I probably wont get out to the city very much the next month to wish you a Merry Christmas.  So, with a smile we wish you all a Happy New Year too. 

How are we doing?  Better, I think.  It has been a tough 6 months since the car was stolen but we haven’t had to sit still too much.  Our beater has gotten us around, most of the time, but Eric has had to spend quite a bit more time under the car than behind the wheel.  The new car we were able to purchase is still only half painted.  We go and check on it each week and hear another excuse.  I am glad I have been in Bolivia for some time and I expected this or else I would have blown my cool some time ago.  But, patience has “grown” on me and I can shrug off the wait a little better.  At least I know we have a new car and the hope of the day of getting it keeps us going. 

Keeping busy has also helped!  Where do I start?  Things we do seem normal to us and I have to remember that our life is nowhere near “normal” when we compare our lives to your lives.  Bolivia is not “normal” in any sense of the word but especially when you compare it to most of the world.  So, with a smile, I will hit some highlights of this past year. 

One of my favorite activities this year was definitely the Samaritan’s Shoe Box give away this past June.  We gave away almost 1,000 boxes to the kids around Candelaria (by camp) and in two other pueblos near camp.  It came with its sad side though.  Not every child received a gift due to the fact that they came late or they lived “between” villages or their mother came for them but the child had to be present to hear the gospel message therefore we couldn’t give out extras.  But, it was such fun.  We had prayed for Samaritan’s Boxes to come out our way the year before, we had even written them but heard nothing.  Then a fellow Camp team member heard about another church that had 7,000 boxes to give away.  God does work in mysterious ways!

This year we also had some extra duties as Jose Luis the camp director went to the states for 3 months.  Eric found himself as director and administrator.  We found that construction slowed down during this “season” because we just couldn’t keep up with both duties.  Now that Jose Luis is back we are back into full swing finishing up our two- year project of building a new mess hall, kitchen, apartment, and staff dorm.  We can see the end to this project but remember things move slow here.  Workers show up when they feel like it.  Weeding, planting and harvesting has some to do with it but we find we just- hang out- at a stand still until they show up again.  So goes life here. 

We worked with two neat interns from Montreat College.  They stayed with us for 3 months as they learned a bit about themselves and a lot about living in a 3rd world country.  They both left feeling like they still wanted to be missionaries some day so maybe we didn’t work them too hard after all.

We have been working with two churches, one near our house and one near camp.  Benji, 7 at the time, was a Sunday school teacher in the village.  He taught a few Bible stories and I made play dough.  This was such a neat experience for him.  He now believes in his heart that he can do it.  He can teach others about God.  Lydia won’t let him win for anything and talks constantly of growing up to become a Sunday School Teacher.  

If you are a Christian and the village churches find out, watch out!  You are now the preacher, Sunday School Teacher, offering collector and usher, you name it. They are so excited to have any new member.  They are excited to hear what God has given you to offer them, new news or special words from God.  Explaining this, you will understand that Eric is now a stand-in/stand by preacher with the title of “Pastor”.  He’s not too comfortable with his new title and laughs at it, but every Sunday that we are not at camp we attend church behind our house.  The walk is nice, chickens, dogs, goats, sheep, onion and corn fields line the path and road on our 15-minute walk to church.  We arrive to a normal worship service of singing and scripture reading.  When it is time for Sunday school they select a member to teach the children. After the children are dismissed, the member in charge then asks Eric to step forward to preach.  Guess we are called to be ready at all times. 

There has been a women’s group out at camp the past few years.  The village ladies used to meet at camp, but now they meet at the Baptist church in the village.  Once a large group, they have narrowed down to around 11 or 12 women, all weavers.  A lady from North Carolina has become involved with the group with the intentions of having the ladies use their weaving for more income- a micro enterprise of such.  I have become the translator and go between for the group.  The women speak mostly Quechua, so I work with another lady who helps me.  We go from Southern English, to my bad Spanish, to Quechua. 

Another favorite activity is still in its planning stages.  A missionary from International Teams has a goal – to build lots of orphanages.  We have worked since June to find land around camp to build 2 homes on.  After all options were looked over, we settled on a far corner of camp. The volunteers and workers will stay in the main house at camp during the months that the orphanages are under construction.  We are excited about this and hope to send pictures of the homes going up when we can.  We are waiting on the last OK from the SIM and we don’t expect that to take too much longer.  (Camp is owned by SIM)

Chores at camp are never ending. The weeds are growing, flowers blooming and we are gearing up for Christmas break.  Fresh fruits such as cherries, peaches, pineapples, and watermelon are flooding the market.  School is out and we are preparing for children’s camp, family camp, teen camp and of course the village Christmas party.  It will be 2009 before we know it.  Another year has gone by and we have missed you all.  We have purchased tickets to take a small break in April.  We plan to stay in the US until the end of June.  Our plans to visit Alaska are still up in the air but we sure would like to make it up that way.  We are watching Travel Velocity and Cheap Tickets.com with hopes of finding the best deal ever!

Pray with us for Marlene, the young girl who lives with us.  She has shown some interest in the Bible. We continue to sew seeds and teach God’s word directly.  We are praying now for someone who can spend some quality time with her when we come for a visit in our fall, your spring.  She will be in classes until July and then she will graduate. 

I am sure there has been more, of course there has, but  I have probably taken up your time with this long email and you are sure to have lots more things to do.  Blessing to you all.  Thanks for Blessing us too and reminding us that you support us and think of us and that you pray for us. 

A few blessings and other prayer requests:

·       We have had amoebas only once this year and that is not too serious.  I see it as a blessing from God because dengue fever, malaria, typhoid, and other parasites are still a real threat.  Thank God for giving us good health as I relax a bit and take less care than I did the first years.

·       There has been more peace these past few weeks but we do need a new president.  Keep praying for Bolivia and its future.

·       We are so excited about our new car.  Thank you. It seats more people than our old blue car and Eric has so many plans to go from village to village and start up a teen mission group again.  Thanks God!

Eric and Family

Thank you!!! also a rumor -U.S. Citizens must leave…

Wow! Me of little faith.  I expected a much, much smaller number.  I see myself as one of the small missionaries. One of little account, but today I hang my head down in humility.   You  as a church have shown us love, and support.  God has shown me his  provision.  We are grateful, thankful, encouraged and humbled.  Thank you for all you have done for us!  Thanks to God as well.  Funds have been raised for us to purchase another car.

On another note.  We have heard nothing official yet, but it appears that US citizens have been asked to leave Bolivia.  We, as a family, are also Bolivian citizens due to the fact that Eric is Bolivian.  It does not help me much to be red headed and blue eyed though.  We will let you know how things unfold in the next few weeks.

Butterflies

Thank you all for praying for us and helping in our work. Thank you for being our partners. Truth is, in Bolivia, life is hard.  It seems to be getting harder every day.  When I reflect on life in other places such as India, or in radical Muslium areas, I realize that life here ísn´t so hard.  However, today we will go shopping to stock up on everything we can.  With our president and his radical ideas, one half of the country is standing up for their rights.  It has gotten bloody and Bolivian troops have moved in. There is no gas to buy for cooking or for cars.  (I have an electric crock pot and a solar pot if it comes to that.)  So far things are pretty normal in our area but with half of the country shut down we expect lots of shortages.  My family loves butterflies.  Who doesn´t?  They are so beautiful. My children know the verses that state that Christians will rise to meet Jesus in the air someday.  In trying to explain all the problems in Bolivia and around the world, I tell my kids that.  Everything is OK.  Jesus said these things would happen just before he turned us all into butterflies and we would flutter up to meet Him in the air.  They all cheer.  I used to be afraid to say, ¨Come Lord, Jesus, Come.¨  but now I can easily say it.  Pray for us.  Pray for God to take note of the evil that Evo, the Bolivian President, is doing and put a stop to it.  Pray for Justice. Thank you. 
 
Eric and Emily Lizarazu
Benji ,Lydia, Ellie, and Julia

Passport!

I got my passport after being held up in immigrations for 2 years!  I got my citizenship stamp finally!    We are all cheering!  My heart is lighter today than the other day when I wrote.  Thanks for all the prayers!

Strikes…the government…

Strikes, Strikes and more strikes.
Stolen cars,
Fixed Votes,
A President noted on TV saying, the law means nothing, I am the President.  If I break a law, that is why I have my lawyers.
Unjustness.
No dignity….
Fights.
Fear at home.
More thieves?
Ughhh.  I am tired.

We my have a chance to visit you all in April or May of 2009.  Maybe we can do a fund raiser of some sort to purchase a new car.  Here is a litte note I wrote to anther friend when she asked about the car.  We have heard nothing.
HI,
Well, plans for a car?  HMMM.  We are pretty poor.  My heart and head are all mixed up right now.  Anger, Fear, Hate.  I try not to let those feelings fill my days.  I block them with verses and songs.  Then I do pretty good.  I have always been really bad at asking for funds for things.  But, I think we will have to.  I was thinking about doing fund raisers with the churches when we go to Alaska in  April or  May.  If I had my way though, the  money would just appear in our account and the “right” car would be available (WITH PAPERS) at the right time. 

We just had a vote for pulling the president out or letting him stay in.  He is such a bad man.  He implemented a new system to give free id’s to people, their new carnets.  Then he stole the id;s of bunches of people.  This vote was so fixed.  There have been so many strikes lately there is no way he got 60 percent voted in.  20% more popular than during his first election.  Word has it that truck loads of campo people were taken from poll to poll to vote.  He booted out Manfred the good guy in Coch because he was always against EVO.  There will be more hate movements because so many folks are now divided  FOR and AGAINST.  Five department (states) want nothing to do with him.  He gained all his votes in 3 departments….

Future? More unjustness.
Pray for me, the country.  It has been a hard few months.

…a popped balloon

Bolivia, South America
Thursday was a day filled with blessings and testings.  Eric was spending the night at camp and I was alone at home with the kids.  It was a tough night with the kids waking up all night and Mom loosing her patience around 4 AM.  As I was walking the baby to get her back to sleep I opened the door to distract her with the dogs.  They came in for a few minutes then I put them out.  I was able to go back to bed shortly after that.  A few minutes later around 5 I looked out the window to see the morning starting but shut my eyes with a moan ..morning already…Then I heard the dogs bark for a second but they quit.  At 6 when Marlene the teen who lives with us was leaving for her bus, she came in to tell me that lock on the gate was cut and the blue car was stolen. … Our livelyhood….  It was a sturdy, work horse, and we were often asked if we wanted to sell it.  We used it every day for camp and groups. 

I feel like a popped balloon.  No air left in me.  Everyone who passes the gate is a suspect.  They killed my dog with poisen.  They could have killed me and the kids.  Our home is a scarry place now.  The police often work with the theives for a share in the loot.  I had left my keys in the glove compartment.  They had a wallet attached.  My ID, the keys to the house and well the list goes on.  We are thankful, So what are the blessings in all this?

We have, in Alaskan terms, a beater to get us around.
We have our car seats.  We had taken a group around and there were too many to fit in the car and we had to take the car seats out.  ¨They were in the house.
We have our lives.  They only wanted the car.  At least this time.
We have hope, God promises hope.
The car was used in His work, every day and it is difficult to accept discipline or correction.  He permited this to happen and we are working to accept it. I am glad I have His promises in my heart so I can think on them.  If only justice was the same here as in the states…
I wish I knew how to ask you all to pray.  But, do give thanks with us that no one was hurt. Do ask that the house is a safe place for us and the kids to be. 
Thank you.
Emily for us all.

Come and Help!

This is an invitation to come down.  It seems Samaritan’s purse has 7,000 Christmas boxes yet to deliver. (They just arrived). They are at one church who does not have the man power or funds to deliver the boxes.  We are getting lists together for the communities around camp so the camp staff can deliver them.  Don’t know when all this will actually happen but hopefully in the next few months.

South America

Hi, we are the Lizarazus.  We live in Bolivia, South America.  Emily first came to Bolivia in 1996.  Since ‘96 we’ve been in Bolivia, minus some time we had to stay in the states for paper work and medical treatments.  We work at a Christian Camp about 40 miles from the city of Cochabamba.  It takes us about 2 ½ hours to drive the 40 miles due to the mountain roads.   Enjoy the pictures!

First is our family – Our pride and joy!

Benjamin is 7, Lydia is 5, Ellie is 3 and Julia was 1 year old Feb 27th.

Our family took a few days off and we visited a place up in the mountains called Toro Toro.  There they have caves and dinosaur footprints.  Julia could sit just perfectly in the “Stegosaurus prints” on the mountain.  Eric was invited back by the national park service leaders to teach some out door skills (and creationism) to the teen guides.  He will consider taking some youth counselors with him when the University is on break this “summer.” (December-February)   The road is a bit exciting so he may double the trip as an adventure trip as well. 

 In conclusion:  2007 was a good year ministry-wise.  A scary year politically and  a great year with the family.  Thanks for praying for us.  Please keep us in your prayers.  We do miss hearing from you all.

The LORD is good, all the time!

Eric, Emily and the kids.

 

January Newsletter

January 2008
Bolivia, South America
Camp Kewina
 
EL Senor fortalece a su puebl0:  El Senor bendice a su pueble con la paz.  Salmo 29:11
The Lord gives strength to his people:  The Lord blesses His people with peace.  Psalms  29:11
 
We are in the midst of our busiest season of the year.  Camp is full all year around but the “summer break” has been especially busy, booked back to back to back.  There will have been 22 camps from November to February. 

There has been continued construction work and family things to be taken care of.  We are tired.  It is easy for bad feelings, discontentment, anger and the like to fill our hearts.  I have been trying to fill my heart with the words in 2nd Peter chapter 1:3…He has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him WHO CALLED US.  
 
The needs of this world are great.  Many people come to us who are in need.  We feel the weight of their burdens.   We are glad we can help (when we can help) but we get tired. 
 
Political problems are increasing.  More and more strikes are happening.  Road blocks, lies and threats. The news is full of angry people. 
 
We ask for your prayers.  Prayers for perseverance.  Prayers for wisdom.  Prayers for safety.  
 
There is great rejoicing though.  We are not walking depressed people.  Just tired soldiers.  The roof is up on the new mess hall and it can now hold 250 campers at one time. God held the rains back for us just as he did for Elijah.  It seems the day they finished the roofing, the rains came pouring down.  A bit later in the season than normal. 
 
I can’t hardly count the number of campers that have grown this year in their knowledge of the gospel.  Our team is holding together pretty well.  Our volunteer counselors are a more mature group this year and that makes things easier.  We are continuing to work with World Vision kids and are in the process of making a new contract with Compassion International.  There was the need to hold two children’s camps this year because the numbers were so large.  Adventure camp went well in spite of a broken down car.  All in all there was only two small mishaps at camp, one broken arm and one broken nose.  Not bad considering how many kids are running wild in the great outdoors.
 
Our work with World Vision touches 61 communities.  We work with 30 percent of the children in these communities.  That is around 2,000 or so children a year.  World Vision’s main focus is “justice’.  They receive the gospel only during their camps.  This is our fourth year working with these youngsters.
  
Family News:
Benji, 7, was a camper this year.  He only came to our room once for a change of clothes.  He spent all 4 nights away from Mom, and he loved it!

Lydia 5, is tall, for a Lizarazu, and pretty.  Her goal is to have her hair reach the floor when she sits down.  She learned to read small Spanish words and can’t wait to start Kindergarten in February.

Ellie, 3, our little Lizarazu, loves being little. She is 3 ½ and many 2 T clothes still fit her well.  She has the love of a Lab.  You can’t do anything without her climbing in your lap.

Julia, 11 mo., is a mess.  She watches her brother and sisters and tries to copy them.  Her favorite game is chase. We chase her while she screeches like a girl and tries to crawl away.  Her favorite toy is the garbage can. You can always find her looking for a nice sloppy treat.  When we try to pry the “treat” out of her hand she can really put up a fight.
 
Thanks for your prayers! 
I will be sending pictures out sometime or another.
Eric, Emily
Ben, Lydia, Ellie, and Julia Lizarazu
Serving in Cochabamba Bolivia