2,700 Christmas goody bags... done
70 round roasts... ready and carved in the freezer
500 pounds of rice...  promised
20 stalks of frying bananas... we pick them up tomorrow
300 chickens... half of them being “sacrificed” as I write – the rest - tomorrow night
Borrowed ovens... we’ll pick up the last two tomorrow<br/ >Donations: God is providing day by day what we need...
Locations of “Christmas on the Streets”: most of them confirmed...
People on the Streets: waiting

Well... everything is coming along well...  I’m sure we’ll be busy on Friday night (cooking all night)... and Saturday (serving/delivering by noon... and then clean up)... but really, so far, after a couple years of preparing 5000 + gifts and plates of food, this feels like a breeze...  We feel like we should be doing more – but everything is on schedule...

Tonight and tomorrow night, Marco, Santiago and Ana, 2 volunteers from El Jordán and Katty (one of our students – an amazing chicken plucker) are killing (is there a more “politically correct” term?) our chickens...  I don’t think it is actually hotter than other years – but there hasn’t been wind so it is really stuffy and sticky...  Our poor chickens have been dying – several a day – and I’m sure it is the heat/lack of air... so we’re hoping there are enough chickens for what we need...

This year, because of our tight budget with the construction, we have been going ahead by faith... and every single day – God is providing what we need...  An offering from a church in the States was enough to cover the expenses of the gifts and candies for the “Christmas” bags...  More donations have come in to cover the disposable plates, spoons, cups etc...  Extra came in and we were able to make up special bags of hygiene products and treats like canned peaches and caramel spread for our students that they will receive when they pick up their meals on Saturday...  A local company has promised the 500 pounds of rice we need...

Our volunteer, Laura, who is fighting cancer hasn’t been able to get into radiation treatment in any of the major cities of Bolivia.  She is now on a waiting for here in Santa Cruz...  She ordered some auto-immune (?) booster capsules from Canada that have helped her body keep fighting in the past...  I know that she has no money to pay for them... yet, God put it on someone’s heart to pay for them...  When I phoned to give her the good news, she was out – at her church... praying...  When I talked to her the next morning, she broke into tears and the only thing she could say was, Thank you Father... thank you... thank you...  She plans to be at El Jordan on Saturday to help serve our students their food...   “Even if I have to sit down while I do it, I want to be there to serve our students...”

We’re required to give our paid workers an extra months’ wage in December... (plus another months’ wage for severance pay).  Some of our construction workers have worked the whole year on our workshops... and they fall between the cracks for this bonus because they are paid by the week – not actually “our” workers... Although we can’t pay them a bonus, we wanted to do something...  On Sunday night I found out there was some extra money going to be put into our account... so we went ahead on Monday morning and bought a bunch of non-perishable items and treats to make them up some nice “Christmas baskets”... It was all fine until the shop didn’t want to take one of my 100 dollar bills...  I went to different banks, street money changers, other money changers and no one would accept it (it’s older, a bit frayed around the edges, a TINY little rip... sigh.)  It was even worse for the wear after being handled by so many people – one lady even spit on it and rubbed her finger back and forth on it before she told me she couldn’t take it... Marco later took it in somewhere else where they’ve said it was false...  I was sick about it - $100 is a lot at the best of times... let alone right now...

Today when Wilma and I were on our way to the market to buy some more ingredients she pulled out a $100 bill out of her pocket... Someone had just come by El Jordan to give it towards “Christmas on the Streets”... we don’t even know the lady’s name – only that she is a sister to someone we helped about 8 or 10 years ago (that we never heard from again)...  This money goes into a different account than the other $100... but it is still a gentle reminder that I don’t need to worry...  God knows our every need... and has countless ways of providing and taking care of us...

We also have been blessed by extra donations given to Avant for the ministry in general – which have allowed us to continue finishing up construction... Ron – the man who donated our synthetic soccer field – no longer lives in Bolivia – but is coming back for a few days in early January... God has used him to bless us so incredibly and we’d really like to have him here for our workshop’s dedication...  SO... the BIG DAY is set for JANUARY 7th!!!!!!!!!!  It is going to be a scramble but things are coming together... (we won’t have much of a break after Christmas... another reason it is nice we aren’t quite so busy this year...)  THANK YOU to everyone who has prayed and given towards this project... There will still be a lot of set up/equipping to do... but Marco would like to start off with his leather classes and hopefully have at least one “shop” functioning in February or March...

Marco has talked to someone about working with him – overseeing the soccer field and being our “promoter” for the things that our shops produce...  Both of these will be used not only in benefit for our students, but as a way to move towards becoming self sustaining... so please be praying that God will confirm in his heart whether this is where he should be... as well as praying for other strong Christian men (with good testimonies!) to want to get involved as well...  After Christmas I’ll write more about the shops... but I wanted to take advantage of this letter to thank all of you who given to make this possible...

We are blessed... and thankful...

With each “Christmas on the Streets” meal and gift that goes out, an invitation to our classes for the women and to the workshops is included...  when I went to the streets yesterday to confirm how many people there were in a couple areas (and what time we’d be coming by) my heart was so saddened once again by what I saw... some I’ve known for 15 years... all are being SO destroyed by drugs, life on the streets, self mutilation and fights... scar on top of scar – inside and out... eyes dull and glazed... Some were only 5, 8, 11 years old when I first met them, now adults, producing yet another generation of babies, toddlers, little kids who are growing up on the streets...  Little Jose David is only 4 years old (with two younger siblings)... his mom said that when they go to the streets to stay (even thought they rent a room), he cries and pleads,  Not the streets... not the streets...  I was sick (and scared for his future) as I watched him being so violent, disrespectful and uncontrollable with adults and children alike...

These are the people that we want to reach... moms... dads... kids... babies... all being destroyed on the streets... These are the ones, under bridges, in drainage canals, markets and parks, on the city sidewalks and abandoned lots... where our Christmas on the Streets will be going...  PLEASE PRAY very specifically that hearts will be open... that there will be those who, getting their invitation to El Jordan, will want to come...  Pray that where there is only despair, misery and darkness -- a little glimmer of hope will flicker to life...  We know who can give them that hope... and we’d love the chance to show them...

Thank YOU for walking along side of US in all of this...  (so that we can walk alongside of them...)

We love and appreciate you so much...

Corina... for Marco, Keiden and our little lemon...