Ehlers Family Letter June 2011 .pdf

Mariela’s Story
We are meeting many new people and have had the
opportunity to go visiting a couple times. We attended a
birthday party for a six year old girl a few weeks ago.
While there, her mother, Mariela, told us a bit of her own
story. Now in her early thirties, Mariela was abandoned at
six months old and lived in an abusive home until age five,
when she ran away to the streets. At six she started
using drugs and she lived on the streets until about three
years ago. She has been going to El Jordán for seven
years, and now lives in a small house with her boyfriend
and children. Without the chance to go to school as a
child, she learned to read and write at El Jordán.
While at her house, she told us that people think that
street people can never change, but God has changed her
life. Mariela is trying to raise her children in a Godly
atmosphere, but having lived on the streets most of her
life, the temptation to go back is strong. Please pray for
her and her children – that Mariela will continue to pursue
the Lord in raising her children, and that her children will
see the value in school and continue to attend. It’s been
great to have opportunities to see first hand what
El Jordán is all about – it’s not only a building that people
come to for classes, but it’s relationships and getting
involved in their lives.

Please pray…
That our Spanish will continue to improve and we will
be able to communicate effectively.
That the last part of our visa application would come
in soon, so that we can extend our visa to one year.

Women in El Jordán’s cooking class.

Lunch with Ken’s Guys
On Wednesday afternoons we’ve been
going to the house that Ken Switzer
runs for young men. We’ve been going
for lunch and to their church a couple
times. Last week, there was a holiday
here, and we were invited to spend it
with them (we left there at 1am,
before the main part of the meal was
ready…we’re going to have to work on
our ability to stay up late). Over the
past several weeks, we’ve had some
good talks with a few of the guys, and
they’ve become a lot less shy (and so
have we). Having Miles has been a
great icebreaker – the guys play soccer
with him, show him magic tricks and
rub his head.
We’re excited to
continue building relationships at the
house.

Life in Bolivia
Things are going well for us. We’re still waiting for paperwork to apply for our one-year visa, and we
hope that we’ll be able to apply within a few weeks. We’re paying a small fine each day, so the
sooner our application can be submitted, the better.
It is winter here, and quite cold. I know, I know…Canada gets much colder than Santa Cruz ever
does, but when it drops below 10°C here, there is no indoor heating or any insulation to keep the cold
out. Whatever temperature it is outside, it’s pretty well the same inside, with little hope of being able
to escape the cold all day.
Miles enjoys playing with the other kids here, and practices forming Spanish sentences on his own
initiative. As I write this, Sam is helping him ride his bike without training wheels in our apartment.
Miles is very excited and every ten seconds I hear a “YES!” and clapping from Miles as he goes from
one side of the room to the other (with help).
We got a kitten about a month ago, and now we’ve inherited a cat and dog from a volunteer that
went back to Canada.
Jess started Spanish tutoring at the
beginning of the month, and it’s going
really well. She’s starting to be able to
communicate in Spanish.
Today we cooked lunch for the
volunteers (about 25 people). We
served a Canadian style meal of pasta
and veggies (and no rice – there is rice
in almost every meal that is served
here) to Bolivians. There were two
volunteers licking the sauce spoons in
the kitchen afterwards, so I think it
went over alright.
We enjoyed
cooking the meal.
Wilma and Eulogio, two of El Jordán’s staff, sorting donated clothing.

How to Support our Ministry
Not a day goes by that we fail to remember how
blessed we are to have received the prayer and
financial support of so many friends and family
members. We thank God so much for each one of
you.
With the visa extension process turning out to be
more complicated and longer than we anticipated,
the associated costs have also risen. If you would
be willing to help cover those costs, please contact
us or send donations to:
www.avantministries.org/give

Or mail payment to:
Avant Ministries
2121 Henderson Hwy
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R2G 1P8
Our project number is 11846.
Sam & Jess Ehlers
sjehlers@avmi.org
samandjessehlers.blogspot.com