Warning: This is a letter that has taken me 6 months to write… it´s long, detailed but it explains some changes we are going through... Kudos to anyone who actually wades through it all...

Time has flown since that day in 1995 when God first “branded” the street kids on my heart… and as day turns to night and back to day again, years and seasons go by; and life now seems barely recognizable in comparison to those "early days"...

Babies, who I had the privilege of naming, now have their own babies… Little kids who I held tight in the midst of their chaos, are now mothers of as many as 5 kids… Skinny little 11 year old “Mono” who I met in the “shoe shiner park” is now an almost thirty year old who works at our boys´ shops… I have lost count of how many kids (of all ages) whose grave I´ve stood beside, where I´ve been asked to say a prayer or read a verse…

Sometimes I think I should still be in my twenties… or thirties… Then I look in the mirror… and remember that I´m racing through my forties!!!

Life twenty years ago was much simpler… I had one key… my bed and everything else was borrowed… my possessions were a two burner stove, a pot and a frying pan… no vehicle… I had a budget of about $35 a month where I didn´t eat much… I could take one “micro” (little bus) a day (and walked the rest)… I didn't have to worry about utility bills or mechanics… accidents or meetings… My life basically boiled down to walking and talking and being with street kids… Sleeping, waking up and doing the same thing all over again…

As in anyone´s life… in any part of the world, 20 years have brought major changes in life, ministry and our country...

CHANGES IN MY LIFE: in a nut shell, meetings have become a regular part of my week… now I have a bunch of keys, 7 a.m. is no longer “early”, I know my mechanics on a first name basis, I have to think about 3 meals a day, I´m a wife… and I´m a mom…  I no longer wander alone… locally, I´m a part of a team of 60 (plus) workers and volunteers… and I can´t even guess how many are in the worldwide team I´m a part of...

(a few of the ...) CHANGES IN BOLIVIA: when I was growing up, it was "proper" for us girls to put on dresses before going out in public... there was a "small town feel" even to the cities... generally speaking, relationships easily topped any desire for obtaining material possessions... A huge chasm divided the widespread "poor" class from the very small "high" class... Earrings were only for girls and tattoos were for those who had done military service...

Now “properness” has nothing to do with guiding dress code… Earrings for guys and tattoos have become “fashion” statements… The rhythm of life is ever getting faster - cars and trucks jamming the streets… (there are now street lights and road rage!) People race everywhere, with less and less time for sitting and chatting… Sipping specialty coffees downtown with friends is more popular than sitting on the front porch sipping mate or drinking “tea” with family or neighbors… Many children and youth have been abandoned for the sake of earning money in faraway countries… Families have floundered while debts have flourished… A middle class has emerged to fill in the gap between the rich and poor… Supermarkets have popped up all over the city… The availability of technology has made leaps and bounds… and you can buy just about anything you want, for a price… (except chocolate chips!)… There are more gangs, addictions and sexual variances visible… along with “Internet cafés”, places that give “credit” and lawyers’ offices…

Our “street people” have a subculture of their own… Here are some changes I have seen in the last decades…

• Now, “Social Services” will more frequently take away children they find on the streets with their addict moms, reducing to a minimum the babies and small kids and even moms that LIVE on the streets… What the moms often do now is rent a room in a neighborhood in the outskirts. They have a semblance of normalcy in their lives, but they make their living selling things on the street OR “escaping” once or twice a week to the “streets” to make money illicitly… Left alone, the children learn to fend for themselves… The negative side of this: the moms can mistakenly believe they have “changed” or are “better” because they no longer live on the streets…
• Years ago, I used to recognize the kids from far away by their clothes… I can still close my eyes and “see” Mono in his oversized red t-shirt, Fabiola with a blue T-shirt with white letters, shorts and flip flops, José with his burgundy polo shirt… Chila Quin Quin with his “white” long sleeved collared shirt… They would burn or throw away their clothes when they got really awful and find a replacement. Now, “used American clothes” have bombarded our markets allowing people the freedom to pick and choose… and change… on the outside… Again, the problem is, outwardly clean can give a false impression of everything being “okay”…
• Stop lights in our city have attracted hippies who juggle, ride a unicycle or put on a show…then ask for money. Lots of street kids make their living washing windshields, selling gum or chocolate. Smaller kids copy the hippies, do some crooked cartwheels or juggle two oranges – and then put out their hands, asking for money. People can make more money at a stoplight than a regular wage… it is hard for them to understand how a regular job could be better.
• More and more street people make a “living” by selling on the streets… pajamas, socks, kitchen towels, locks, knives etc… or by “watching cars” (making sure nothing goes missing, helping people back out of their parking space etc)… or by picking up bottles, paper, aluminum cans to recycle. Again, the fact that they aren´t stealing or doing anything dishonest can fool them into thinking their life is “good” with no need to change… they don´t see that it is unhealthy for their kids to be left in a room alone or to wander the streets with the mom, or that it allows a lack of discipline (they don´t HAVE to go to work every day if they don´t want), they don´t have to learn to respect or live under authority, and it also allows them the dangerous freedom of hanging out with their friends and continuing addictions…
• Human rights and other entities have curbed abuses against street kids. With laws being upheld more, it also means there are more “street kids” sentenced to jail terms…
• Years ago, NO one would lend money to anyone who didn´t have a regular paycheck, collateral or a good guarantor. However, now, that has changed with more financial institutions, women´s cooperatives, Colombian money lenders, and regular money lenders in the market… The problem is, street kids (or ex street kids) come out of a lifestyle that spends all their money today because tomorrow they can get more… Many of our girls have been sucked into the lure of “money” being handed over to them… without any idea of how to administer it well…

Some things change, others stay the same… hand in hand with addictions there will be petty crimes and larger crimes… strained relationships, broken families and future generations that suffer the consequences of their parents´ decisions… Illnesses like tuberculosis, cirrhosis and AIDS (and others) still take their toll… There are still many unwanted pregnancies… terminated pregnancies… abuses… cutting… tattoos (rather than for fashion, to camouflage old scars or reminders of having “belonged” to a certain person or gang)… Ups and downs… the vicious cycle of falling and trying to stand again…

These are the people who we work with… the people we want to walk alongside of, encouraging, pointing to WHO can make a real change in their heart, offering them life skills and hope…

There are certain changes in our country that have held major repercussions for El Jordán.

One of them is the national minimum wage. We have always tried to be fair in paying our wages and benefits… When El Jordán began, Bolivia´s national minimum wage was 400 Bolivianos a month (2001 Exchange rate: 6.61 Bs. to $1 US). We were able to offer wages much higher than that… The monthly minimum wage crept up to 578 Bs. in 2008, 680 Bs. in 2010, 815 Bs. in 2011 and 1000 Bs. in 2012. We were still relatively okay.

In 2013 the minimum wage increased to 1200 Bs. and in 2014 to 1440 Bs. With every wage increase decreed by the government, there was a hope and expectation in our workers that we would be raising their wage as well. In 2015, minimum wage climbed to 1656 Bs. and just about a month ago it scaled to 1805 Bs. (Current Exchange Rate: 6.96 Bs. to $1 US) The vice president made a statement a while back that their goal is to raise the monthly minimum wage to over 2,255 Bs. Wages skyrocketing (along with the cost of living) combined with the government´s requirements of triple wages in December and the changes in the Canadian dollar have challenged us financially like never before… Our wages spiraled from fair-good to low. We began feeling discontentment in our workers that we never had before. Our maintenance man of 15 years quit in February… needing to earn more for the needs of his family. Two of our other workers moved to half time this year in order to be able to help us at El Jordan but also find a better paying half time job to cover their needs. (One of those recently had to quit completely because his other half time job didn´t allow him the time to fulfill his responsibilities at our place.) Fewer paid workers increases the workload and stress level of the remaining staff.

As we look for a full time administrator, what we have allotted to pay for that position only attracts young “kids” still in school… or single guys without the responsibility of a family. Ideally, who we need in our office is a family man (or someone with life experience and spiritual maturity) who can be an example and guide to our volunteers, students and their families.

Even when we think of helping someone practically, there has been changes in the value of money… 10 years ago, if we helped someone with 100 Bs. it went a long ways… but now, it would comparable to helping someone with maybe 500 Bs. or more… However to our pockets, to help back then would be $15 US… but now it would be over $70 US.

We need your prayers as we face these challenges.

Another major change is with “Christmas on the Streets”. Counting 1995, this will be our 20th year, sharing Christ´s love at Christmas... It is one of the highlights of my year… seeing so many churches, volunteers and donations come together… all of the work and coordination… it is an incredible experience. I love it. Every year we have stories of God´s faithfulness and provision.

However, just because we love an activity or because God has always provided, does it mean that we should keep doing it? We have no doubt that it is a great activity but there have been lots of changes in our city, making us doublethink whether or not “Christmas on the Streets” is the BEST choice. Here are some facts that have influenced our decision:

• when we started “Christmas on the Streets” we didn´t know anyone else doing the same thing. Now, it has become a popular “thing to do” among Christians and non-Christians alike… SUVs, cars, TV stations can all be seen pulling up to an intersection, liberally handing out gifts, food and/or toys. …which result in: more and more people start hanging out at those intersections all the month of December, waiting for people to hand out something and, recipients start getting more greedy and grabby. They don´t want to listen or sit and visit… they want to make sure they GET something.
• It is almost impossible to separate the street kids from the others who only come out for “Christmas”. In July, the same street corners where we might meet up with 10 or 15 street kids, in December might be teeming with 60 people or more…
• Some rehabilitation centers or churches have started reaching out as well… even under some of the bridges or wooden areas of the city were the cocaine paste addicts hide away.
• For some of our students, our “Christmas” is no longer the only celebration they will have. Some, are either busy taking advantage of a good selling day OR they have extra money (maybe borrowed) to prepare something special for themselves…
• Also, more of our students are finding joy in getting involved in the service side of “Christmas on the Streets”…

How are we processing all of this?

• Maybe there is another date when we can concentrate on reaching out to our city´s addicts and street people where we can better fulfill our purpose of telling and showing them about Christ. It also is an opportunity to plant a seed of trust – so that when they are “ready” to change, they can know where to go…
• By setting a new date, we can better pinpoint who we are reaching out to and more wisely spend our money.
• We can spread out our new “date” over a week… dividing up the city over several breakfasts, lunches or dinners – finding the best time to meet with each group.
• This way we can avoid borrowing ovens, stoves, pots and pans and freezers… making good use of what we have…
• At Christmas we spend almost $800 just on candies (and that gives only a handful of sweets per person…)… that doesn´t include the price of the Bible booklet, the gift and the rest of our gift bag. By changing the date, we can use that same amount of money to buy bales of sweaters or long sleeve shirts that will be more useful for the street people in the cold… …or hygiene products… or socks… etc… etc… while continuing to give out Bible tracts etc.
• Our students can be heavily involved in the cooking, cleaning, serving and sharing on the streets.
• We contemplated starting “Christmas in July (Winter)”… but in a planning meeting with the churches, we came to the conclusion that taking sweaters etc out in the cold is becoming “popular” and soon we will run into the same problem as at Christmas…
• An alternative idea was to focus on “Friendship Day” (July 23rd)… show ourselves as “friends” to tell them about the Best Friend there ever could be… This is the direction we are heading: “Friendship on the Streets” – “Amistad en las Calles” - the week we´ve set aside is from July 11 to 15th… This will be our “trial” year where we figure out how it could work…

 WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO "CHRISTMAS ON THE STREETS"?

This year will be similar to previous years but we´ll be communicating to all the helpers and recipients of the changes we are making… however, Lord willing, by 2017 we plan to reduce our outreach to focus only on groups of street kids who are overlooked by others… What will that “number” will be? 100? 200? We don´t know…

As for our students for Christmas, one idea is to give one or more (uncooked) chickens to each student (depending on the size of family) for them to prepare at home. For the families we know struggle to put food on the table we can add a grocery basket of potatoes, rice etc. Most of them will be thrilled with this… The students who don´t have a stove or gas tank could still pick up their cooked Christmas meal from El Jordán.

Another change in El Jordán is the way we are doing our practical classes. (Our Bible classes are going strong…) A bit of background: In the past, taking out a loan wasn´t even dreamt about by our girls. Every cent they could earn was a help to meet their family´s needs… bus fares, medical emergencies, or for when the father drank his money away and didn´t leave any for the kids´ school, food or rent… etc, etc, etc… The craft skills they learned at El Jordán could be put into practice after their kids had gone to bed… When they earned 5 Bs., 10 or 20… or even 80 Bs. it was a huge blessing…

However, if you compare 5 Bs. earned from a small change purse that you took 3 hours to crochet, and going out and borrowing 500 Bs. and “only” having to pay back 100 Bs. a week for 6 weeks, the 500 Bs. sounds more attractive… And that is how the girls have been lured into the trap of DEBT… and time and time again, something will happen and they have to take out another loan from somewhere else (or leave their gas tank at the pawn shop) in order to cover their payment… and they sink a bit deeper… When you owe 500 Bs or 5000 Bs., 5 Bs that used to be able to buy bread for breakfast, now is NOTHING.

Then coming to class at El Jordan becomes a luxury, because you really need to be out there selling socks, pajamas or whatever you have to pay back your loan.

We´ve decided that it would be better for our ladies to concentrate on learning ONE skill well rather than learn many skills on a basic level. So… instead of “Bread Class” we have the “Brown Bread Workshop”. Instead of “Baking Class” we now have the “Cupcake Workshop”. They then have the opportunity to practice, practice, and practice some more until they have gained expertise and confidence. As they gain proficiency, they start selling their goods and filling outside orders. Under the guidance of their teacher and with the safety net of El Jordán, the women can acquire the basic knowledge of running a small business, setting them up with the proficiency, confidence and funds necessarily to start a small business out of their home. Their earnings accumulate in their “savings account” in our office until they have enough to buy their own oven or other supplies needed for their business. The workshops started out at the beginning of the year with 12 or 15 students… and have dwindled down to 4 or 5… That´s okay. They are the ones who WILL have the perseverance to set up a little business in their home, make it work and change the future of their family.

Before, after a “baking class” maybe a girl would decide she wanted to make cakes for a living… and we might have even lent her money to buy an oven… 9 times out of 10, the little business would fail because they would meet up with difficulties, lose their capital, get discouraged and leave it… feeling like a failure.

It has been exciting to see our girls becoming confident in their “area”… Without any help, at least once a week, the bread workshop girls make brown bread to fill orders. Another afternoon a week they work with their teacher becoming “pros” in their second kind of bread…

The workshops are helping them conquer their fears and inadequacies. The workshops help them develop good work habits. Giving them the opportunity to gain expertise is giving them the tools to be different.

God is good.

Anyhow… for all of you who have made it this far in the letter, THANK YOU! Now you can understand a bit better where we are at… what our challenges are and how you can pray for us…

I´ll be writing soon with more details about “Friendship on the Streets” and other stories…

THANKS AGAIN!!! Thank you for faithfully being a part of this ministry… We appreciate you and thank God for you…

love, Corina for Marco, Keiden and Marlee