So this is happening....

We'd love to have you come!  Just let me know....  =)

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Good News/Bad News...

Did you ever play the Good News/Bad News game when you were a kid?  Your friend tells you something good and you say, “Well, that’s good news!”  Then they say, “No, that’s bad news!” and they proceed to tell you why it’s bad news.  Then you say, “Well, that’s bad news…” (in a sad voice) and they say, “No, it’s good news!” and then go on to tell you why it’s good news.  It goes back and forth as long as they can keep the story going.

Yea…that’s pretty much sums up my life for the past eight months. 

Good news…bad news…then invariably good news again.  Well…and then bad news…and so on…

But let’s start with the good news! 

As most of you know, we were finally told by the owners of our house that they wanted to sell it, and that we would have to leave (originally the bad news).  Thankfully they gave us until February of this year (yay…good news!).  They also gave us the option of purchasing the house if we wanted…but they wanted too much for it so we declined and said that we would just leave (oh...bad news).

Since then every single conversation over the past year that we’ve had with the owner (who is in Spain) or her parents (who are in Bolivia) has been, “So…has Mr. Ken (what they call me) decided if he wants to buy the house yet?” 

Every single conversation.  It became a joke between Andres and I.

“So…” says Andres (laughing because it’s the fifteenth time he’s asked me), “The owner wants to know if you’ve decided to buy the house.”  

“Nope, nope….tell them we’re going to leave…”

A month later, Andres (still laughing) “So…I just talked to the owner’s family and they would like to know if Mr. Ken has decided if he’s buying the house?”

“Nope, nope….tell them we’re going to leave…”

Finally February 2014 approached and we began making plans to leave.  Andres and Maribel hired someone to do repairs on the house.  Our contract says the house needs to be in the same state as when we moved in…we didn’t do major damage or anything, but there was general wear and tear and well as water damage from the heavy rains we get in Bolivia (it happens to all houses down there).  The guys painted the interior and worked on getting the yard and garden fixed up (which is where we did most of our damage…stupid soccer cleats…).

Andres and Maribel started looking for a new place for us to live in and after a few complications and false starts, figured they found the place.  Maribel especially, was excited about it.  It was, by all reports, a nice place.  A bit farther out, meaning longer bus rides for the guys (which not everyone was happy with), but overall, a good option for us (Oh good…good news…).

We hadn’t talked to the owner’s family since December, so Andres was working hard at getting ahold of them because we needed our money back from the current house so we could pay for the new house (if you don’t know what I’m talking about….message me and I’ll explain the wonderful Bolivian thing called an “anticrético”). 

I had a funny feeling about this actually.  I’d been saying to Andres and Maribel for a little while that I wanted confirmation from the owner or her family that everything was good to go.  Maribel had suggested paying the family with the new house a down payment until we could pay them the rest of the money from our current house/anticrético.  I said I would rather wait until we heard something from the owner.

Finally Andres got a hold of the owner and low and behold…they don’t have our money so they would be happy for us to stay another year.  That’s kind of a mixed bag of good and bad news.  Now it becomes clear why they were pushing so hard for Mr. Ken (ie. the “rich” Canadian) to buy the house. 

In the end, as I said, it’s a bit of a mixed bag but personally, I’m pleased we get to stay.  So was Andres I think. The thought of packing up and moving the house was a bit daunting in his mind.  David is happy too…out of all of the boys, his already long bus commute would have become significantly longer.  I think Maribel was a little disappointed because she did really like the new house. 

Mixed in with the good news of being able to stay in the house the bad news of the nearly $3000 US we paid to fix it back up to its original state.   That’s almost as much as our normal monthly budget.  It’s a significant expense for us.

THE CHALLENGE:

So we find ourselves with a significant challenge right now.  Financially we’ve always finished each year in the green ($79.00 last year!) and have been able to celebrate that.  However, when all the paperwork was done and the dust had settled, we finished this year with a deficit of nearly $7000 US.  Part of that is the cost of fixing up the house….and then a part of it is also the two fold problem of losing some supporters this year and adding expenses (the most significant being Andres and Yimy’s wages when we hired them to work at the house).  For the past few months we’ve been running a deficit in our monthly support income which is what pushed up the overall deficit.

I don’t want to call this bad news exactly because I believe that God will provide and this will be another opportunity to see His provision and grace.  But as I said, it certainly is a challenge.  It’s caused a few late nights for me already.

If you feel God speaking to you, and you would like to help us out financially at this time, we would greatly appreciate it.  We are very thankful for all of you who give and pray for us on a regular basis, and to be honest, asking for more is a bit difficult for me.  But I believe in this ministry and I believe in these guys and the opportunities this money gives them to change their lives, both through education and the spiritual and emotional support they receive at the house.  I believe that God is transforming lives through your financial and prayer support.

We need to raise $7000 outright to cover our deficit as well as raise our monthly giving by $1000 per month.  If you’d like to give a special gift towards the deficit or come on board as a monthly donor, the easiest thing to do is either go online at http://www.iteams.ca/give-now/ and type my name into the search field (giving to either Ken Switzer or the Bolivia Transition Home is fine) or you can call International Teams at 1-800-465-7601 and they would be happy to help you.  Just explain that you would like to give towards the support of Ken Switzer.

Thank you so much!  Your prayers and support me a lot to me and also (I know) to the guys!  When Andres, Roberto and Yimy came to Canada last spring they couldn’t get over how many people knew them and how many people were praying for them and had given towards their education.  It was a powerful moment for them.

Thanks everyone!  I’m home in Canada right now, so if you’d like to grab a coffee and catch up on what’s happening, I’d love to do that!

Blessings!

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The Next Step....

Rudy at work!

As many of you know, we have to be out of our house in Bolivia by February 1st.  This house has been an amazing place for us and I definitely have mixed feelings about leaving.  It's where we all came together and became a family.  I remember very clearly our first night in the house and then trip after trip after trip to the market (constantly making lists) to get everything we needed to make it ours.  I'm saddened that I won't be in Bolivia when we give it up and move out. 

But along with that sadness is an excitement about what's next.  It was exciting when God provided this house for us and I'm excited to see what the next step is going to look like.

BUT...there's a lot that needs to happen before we move out.  We have to restore the house to it's pre-us state.  =) 

Fixing...painting...replacing...it's been a lot of work already.  We've hired a young guy we know well to do some the work (fixing walls..varnishing doors...replacing broken tiles) and then the guys will do what they can do (painting and gardening).  We took good care of the place (well....except for the grass in the yard...stupid soccer cleats...) but there's still quite a bit of work to be done. 

And of course, this all costs money.  More than I had expected actually.  There have already been a few Skype conversations about how we can cut back and save a little.  On top of that, January is when we have to pay for the new university semester for most of the guys. 

As you can imagine, it all adds up.  In fact, it's over doubling our January budget.  Which is keeping me up at night a little.  Well, okay...let's be honest, I was already up.  But it is cause for concern.

I'm throwing all this out there in case you've been thinking about making a donation.  =)  Now would be a great time!  If you're interested in helping us out, you can call International Teams at 1-800-465-7601 and they'll be happy to help you.  Or, if you'd like to donate online, you can just click on the link above "To Donate" and type my name into the search field. 

As always, we are so appreciative for your gifts and support.  There are so many of you who give to us sacrificially and we are very thankful!  Thanks for considering this need! 

As well, please pray for Maribel, Andres and the guys (and myself)...pray for motivation (mostly the guys) to do what needs to happen before the move...pray for the transition from what we know and love to something new...pray that God will lead Maribel and Andres to the right next house...and finally just pray for wisdom and a sense of peace for all of us through this process.

Thanks everyone!

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It's a new semester!

Hi Everyone!

Even though it's summer (sort of) in Canada, in Bolivia it's the start of a new semester!  Which means in August we have to pay for tuition for nine of the guys.  As you can imagine, it's always a bit of a challenge to come up with the money all at one time. 

If you'd like to help out, you can click on the link to the right of this post called "To Donate".  Or you can contact International Teams directly at 1-800-465-7601 and they'd be happy to help you.

Thanks everyone!  I promise to get some pictures up here soon of our trip to Canada!  =)

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My Little Shoeshiner Family...

Last year I wrote a little about this family and how I know them.  I haven't seen them in awhile, but last week as I drove past the Cristo statue and stopped at the traffic light, Christian came running out from the sidewalk waving his list of school supplies.  I have no idea how many days he'd been there watching for me, but I guess he knew I'd drive past eventually.

You should read the above link, but just in case you don't, Christian and his brothers are shoeshiner kids I got to know a number of years ago.  I help them out whenever I can and I took Christian and his brother to buy their school supplies last year.

So we made plans to get together this morning to buy the supplies they need for this school year (school starts in February here). 

Larry and I arrived at the house only to be handed the school lists of all the kids (six) who are currently in classes (there are ten kids all together).  But it's tough to say no when you see how this family lives and how hard they're trying to stay together and maintain a "normal" life.

We picked up Maribel...after being lost for half an hour on a "shortcut".  The funny part was the family was so excited about everything we saw...so I don't think it mattered much.  I imagine it was the first time for the two youngest girls to ride in a car or truck or vehicle in general (other than a city bus).

We also went by the children's home where Andres and Sandro have their soccer ministry.  I wanted to show the boys and invite them to be a part of it.  I think they were excited about it because I got asked about every five minutes for the rest of the morning when I was going to take them back.   =)  So they'll be going next week for sure!

Maribel went with the kids' mom and Christian to buy everything while Larry and I entertained the two girls and little Brian.  Turns out it's tough to entertain little kids in a vehicle for an hour and a half. 

So I taught them rock, paper, scissors.  It was lots of fun.

The three youngest. 

 

I wish I'd gotten a picture of the disgust on Brian's face

right after this from having his sister's arm around him...

 

 

...without his sister's arm around him...

 

 

Rock, paper, scissors...

 

 

Funny enough...Larry lost a lot...he's a bit predictable.

 

 

If you look closely his arm is actually red....

 

It's mostly from me...I don't claim to be the best parent.

 

 

Seriously...this went on for like an hour.  Kid are weird. 

 

 

Back at the house with all the bags of school supplies.

 

There were lots of smiles and happy faces!

 

 

Mom and the kids looking through their bags of goodies!

 

I still really love their purple house with green chairs....

 

It helps to have these moments when life get's grumpy.  It's good to remember that God has good plans for us.  I also need to say a big thank you to the Christian School kids...they're coming in a month and some of the extra ministry money they raised went towards buying these school supplies.  It was over $300 US for everything, so it was a huge blessing to have those funds!  I don't know you all yet, but THANKS GUYS!

And that was my morning...
 

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Christmas is coming!

Filming a big tarantula in the road.

This has been a fun week.  If you're a friend on Facebook you've seen a few of the pictures.  For the rest of you, I've been helping a friend from Canada while she films a documentary for a TV channel in Calgary.  I'm what's called a chauffeur/creative consultant.  For the past week or so I've been driving her and her cameraman around and helping translate and set things up with people/sights here she wants to film.  It's been a lot of fun and I've actually seen and done a few things I've never had the chance to do before.  I was joking with my mom that like a lot of dads I took on a second job to help buy the kids Christmas presents.  =)

So while there have been lots of upsides to this job, the downside has been that I haven't really gotten started on preparing for Christmas yet.  Well...that and the fact that it's 33 C out and it feels like Christmas is six months away still instead of Tuesday.  But tomorrow Andres and Yimy and I will start our Christmas shopping for the house and then Saturday I'll grocery shop for everything we need for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  I only have to buy for 15 guys and cook for 35 so it shouldn't take that long.   

The other thing I didn't quite have time to do was write this post.  =)  I wanted to let you know about a special project we're doing.  If you've been following the blog for very long, you'll remember we did this last year.

For those of you who are new or don't remember (it's okay...it happens to the best of us) last year we helped a children's home we work with celebrate Christmas.  First we found out they didn't have any Christmas decorations and that they had nothing special planned for Christmas Eve (when Bolivians celebrate Christmas).  So we went out and bought some decorations.  Then we put on Christmas supper for them.  It was a ton of fun and made for some pretty happy faces.  Of course we'd like to make this all happen again this year.

As well, like I said, I'm starting my Christmas shopping tomorrow.  Once again we have a new face in the house and this will be his first opportunity to celebrate Christmas with us.  For a lot of the guys, Christmas with us was the first time in their lives that they'd received a personal gift or shared in all the joy that go along with Christmas.  Since those early days, we've established some great family traditions.  We invite any of the guys we know who maybe don't have anyone to celebrate with to come join us.  So there's always a full house.

Of course all of these things take time (which I mostly have) and money (well....).  So if you're interested in helping us financially to see these things happen, it would be a huge blessing to us.  As many of you know, some of our guys are approaching the end of their schooling or have graduated.  Here in Bolivia, those final classes are very expensive and as a result our coffers are pretty low.  We would hugely appreciate any help you might be able to give.

One of my favourite traditions my family has in Canada is reading the Christmas story together before we open gifts.  It helps us remember and focus on what it is we're celebrating.  It's a tradition we've carried on down here.  Christmas morning we read God's Word together, take time to pray and then open gifts.  We all know there's a lot of joy in that moment.

Thank you all for considering this request.  If you'd like, you can e-mail me at ken.switzer@iteams.org for any additional information you need or you can click on the link on the right hand side of this page "To Donate".  As well, you can call my mission at 1-800-465-7601 and they'd be happy to help you.

I'll post some pictures of our Christmas decorations soon.  Just as soon as we finish them.  =)  Tonight in about an hour I'm off to help my friend film the all-night butchering of 250 chickens for El Jordan's "Christmas on the Streets".

My life is never boring.

Feliz Navidad! 

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