Pictures from FUA

Here is an Ayore women sewing a traditional bag inside her house.



This is Toni in the middle aroudn the Ayore community during the medical clinic. I actually got to give a man a shot (in his bottom!). This was the first time in oh 5 years I have given a shot but it was awesome!



There is a specific type of beetle that eats the community's peppers plants before they can bloom and become peppers. This is a great source of food as well as money because they can take these pepppers to the market to sell but the beetles are eating them. Jason, on of the guys on our team, is a nature expert and knows EVERYTHING about plants, bugs, etc. He tried to research a pesticide for this problem but it would just destroy the whole plant so he came up with cutting a 1 liter coke bottle in half at the top and catching the beetle. We were trying to get the kids involoved in this activity (usually the kids and parents just sit and watch when we are doing work in their villages). It took some time but the kiddos where actually really excited about this and wanted to do it after lunch even. Hopefully they will continue to catch the beetles so the plant come produce the peppers.



Here we are after the long journey to San Jose-pretty orange with dirt caked in our hair! A shower felt of so nice!

FUA

Hey everyone

This weekend we had the awesome oppurtunity to go to FUA (Familia Unidad Ayoreo) as well as Santiago. We traveled with a group of 13 people total through some of the worst roads I have ever riden down. On the way there, the couple we were riding with did not have A/C so we had to roll our windows down to stay half way cool. The road is all red clay and dirt and we had 2 cars in front of us so the dust was flying everywhere. By the time we made it to San Jose, where FUA is located, Joe and I were both orange. It was caked on our faces, in our hair, on our clothes-it was pretty funny. I will put a picture up later.

While there, the guys worked so hard and almost finished a church in the FUA community. It was super hot and many electric tools broke so they had to work with hand saws to cut wood and pray over generators. This specific Ayoreo group seperated themselves from another village because they are Christians and wanted to have more support and freedom to worship. It still is made of mud houses, jungle surroundings, and a ridiculous amount of bugs but it does have a little different feel to it than other Ayoreo villages.

We also conducted a medical clinic for this village as well as another one closer into town during the weekend. Toni, one the of missionaries who is a MD, is absolutley incredible. She has such an amazing story and she truly is one of my heros, especially after this weekend seeing her interact with these people. She is American but grew up in Brazil with her family who were and are still missionaries. She went to the States for college and really wanted to train to be a doctor but wanted to serve Latin America after. She decided to study medicine in Boliva where she met her husband, who is Bolivian, and got married soon after. She knows the language, culture, and just has a heart for indigenious people.

We also traveled to Santiago to try and establish relationships with people there and see what the community needs as far as buliding projects and simply getting to know the Ayoreo villages there. There is a lot of history in this little bity town. About 50ish years ago, 5 missionaries were killed when they hiked into the jungle to first make contact with the Ayoreo Indians. These men really set the groundwork for many people after by making the first contact with these people. There is a memorial for these men on top on a cliff in Santiago with so much meaning. The book, "God planted 5 seeds," is about this situtaion if anyone is interested.

It was a great weekend overall besides the horrible road out and back. On the way home, the road was blocked because of protesters wanting more recogintion for their little town. Someone from about 10 hours away had to come and remove the blockade (which was a ton of sticks, logs, dirt mounds,etc)...Latin America! We had great fellowship with all the team members and great weather. We also got to hang out with a couple named Cesar and Mirta who are Bolivian and live in one of the Ayoreo villages closer to Santa Cruz. They are AMAZING!!! They are native, grew up in indegious culture, and again have a heart for Ayoreo people. Their support is about $10 US right now and they really don't know what they are going to do. I ask that you pray for them financially. They are such a HUGE part of this ministry and everywhre they go, they are showing God's love.

I will attach a few pictures of the weekend later.
Take care!
Julie and Joe

Santa Cruz! Volume 1

Howdy Everybody! Sorry it’s been a while. We’ve been here in Santa Cruz for a few weeks now and our time here is really beginning to take shape, in fact it seems like it will fly by.

Here's a few things will be getting involved in.

Much of what we'll be doing will be with the Ayore community. The Ayore are an indigenous group from various parts of lowland Bolvia and Paraguay. Many Ayore have moved into the city in recent years and formed urban squatters camps. Sadly, these camps have turned into more permanent residences made of mud, sticks, and tin. The SAM (south america missions) team's goal is to encourage and minister to the Ayore living to the city, but also to help them maintain their indigenous culture so they can have pride in themsleves, pick their heads up, and hopefully move out of their situation in the city. Julie and I will be working on a community garden in one of these neighborhoods as well as working with a children's ministry on Mondays. I'll also be taking a seminary class, along with Bubba Massey, with 4 Ayore men. This is a huge step for the Ayore and Bubba and I will be meeting with these men weekly to discuss class material and work on study skills.

We'll also be working various weekends with the SAM Ayore team out in villages as far as four hours from the city. There we'll be working on construction of houses and a church, travelling medical teams where Julie is the expert pharmacist, and also working with a farm that SAM has cultivated near a village where Ayore are learning agricultural and business skills.

Every Thursday Julie and I will be working at a clinic called Mision de Esperanza (Mission of Hope). The clinic was actually started years ago by a fellow Charlottesvillian. They serve the poor in the city with primary health care and aid for major surgeries. Twice a year a large team of doctors comes down and perfroms as many surgeries as possible inside of a week. A team will actually be coming in a few weeks, so we are looking forward to serving alongside them. The clinical services are completely free of charge and the place is hopping with patients throughout the week.

Thursday nights we have an English class located at the Massey's house and led by a SAM missionary. The class is open to anyone and the lessons are based on passages in a simple english Bible (the new life translation i believe?) We think the class format is aweosme and we look forward to doing something similar when we get home.

We are living with a family in a very nice neighborhood inside the city. It's a nice house and we have a small comfortable room. The family attends a professional class small group led by some SAM friends of ours. Its actually been a little weird for us interacting with the family as this is pretty much our first time engaging with the Latin American upper class. Please pray for this time with the family and for the relationships that will develop.

Well, I suppose thats a decent intro to some things we'll be jumping into. We'll try to shed some more light and fun details onto the subjects as they progress. Take care!

Joe and Julie