There's a boys' home about an hour out of the city, for guys coming off of the streets. It's run by YWAM and is one of the better facilities we know of. Generally there are about 15 guys there, ranging in ages from 11 or 12 up to 18 or 19. We like to occasionally go out and play soccer with the guys and eat churipan (sausage in a bun), with the goal of building friendships and encouraging them. Last Saturday we spent a few hours playing and eating and having a good time.

As we’ve graduated the last of our older crew (we have only Jose and Mario to go), we’ve been slowly bringing in new guys. The first to arrive was David. He came to us from a tiny village up in the mountains a few hours from Santa Cruz. He was on his own, as his mom and stepdad and little brother moved to Chile and left him in Bolivia when he was 16. We could see that he hadn’t eaten very well in a long time. It took a couple of tries, but he passed his entrance exam f

A while back, I posted a picture of the Paul and Sandro in the back of my truck, the day we picked up Sandro from the children's home where the two of them grew up. Paul had already been with us for a few months and figured he knew how everything ran. Sandro looked about as nervous as was possible, leaving the only home he'd ever known. There might have been a few moments in the past five years when we weren't entirely sure how it was all going to play out. But God knew,

Andres and I went to see our wayward son in prison last week. It's a terrible place. I've been to the prison a few times over the years, so that feeling of being overwhelmed as you walk through the huge gate isn't as strong, but the sadness of the place still hits you. After standing in various lines to pay, get searched, get our arm stamped...and then pay some more we went into the main area. There are no prisoners in this part, just offices and parking and all that. You

I remember very clearly when the picture below was taken. It was my first visit to Bolivia and I was asked to help out at a boys' home...

The Toborochi tree is one of the symbols of Santa Cruz. They're all over the city. They're one of a number of flowering trees we have. ...

A few months ago, Isabel and I visited one of Isabel’s favourite areas of Bolivia, a town called Santiago de Chiquitos in eastern Bolivia....

I had a funny moment on the way back from our road trip with the guys. We were travelling in two vehicles and we stopped for lunch in a...

The first Christmas we were in the house, my parents came to visit the end of November. They didn't stay for Christmas, but they were...

We used to paint inside the house every couple of years. Then we started doing it in conjunction with the Christian school. All those...

Well, maybe he wasn't preaching exactly, but Sandro is getting really good at public speaking. He hates it mind you, because he gets so...

I learned a long time ago (and my wife has reinforced this often), if you want to be a good camba (someone from Santa Cruz), you need to...

Well, you know it’s serious when they cancel Carnival… I’m not sure this has ever happened before in the history of Bolivia, but Carnival...

With ten guys in the house, plus Isabel, Andres, Daniel and I...we celebrate a lot of birthdays! One week in July we had a birthday on...

This week we celebrated the "Night of Saint John".....by roasting hotdogs over a bonfire... Some days you just have to go with the flow...

Much has been written about the missionary life. Often in more eloquently ways than I would likely be able to express. Those amazing...

Let me start by saying that, in my defense, I did realize that it was raining last night. The thunder woke me up and I heard the rain. ...

In our ongoing quest to keep everyone occupied, last week at our Saturday lunch with the guys, my wife came up with the idea of making...

We were warned over the weekend that Santa Cruz would be militarized on Tuesday. A lot of people and businesses weren't obeying the...

As it has with the rest of the world, the past few weeks have brought some dramatic changes to our lives. When it became clear what...