A praise and BIG need

Almost 18 months ago Daryl and I began praying for mission office space. And so we prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and two weeks ago God provided. We didn’t think God would have us wait so long, but God gave us even more space than we prayed for with LOTS of potential for our WorldVenture ministries. Yeah and praise God for His answer to prayer!

Click here to see proposed floor plan and more pictures!

Now this might sound funny, but you could bless a lot of people if you could sponsor a bathroom. Look at the pictures below and then imagine that we have only enough money to put in new linoleum, and you’ll understand our need.

We’re looking for a few small groups or Sunday school classes or families who would sponsor part of all of the remodel for one of our bathrooms.

Option #1 – The 60′s Checker Bathroom    …future WorldVenture Gentleman’s Room

(These are the rough estimates from our contractor, he will give us exact quotes next week)

• $300 for a new floor and shower stall, plumbing & paint
• $150 to buy new toilet and fixtures
• $90 to make it look even nicer with towels, a mirror, and curtains

Option #2 – The Pink Floyd Bathroom with Potential …future WorldVenture Women’s Powder Room

(These are the rough estimates from our contractor, he will give us exact quotes next week)

• $350 for a new floor and replace tub with shower stall, plumbing and paint
• $200 to buy new toilet, sink and fixtures
• $200 to install sink counter and ventilation fan
• $90 to make it look even nicer with towels, a mirror, and curtains

We have the next four weeks with these estimates as our general contractor works on other parts of our new office. Can you help us by sponsoring either of these bathroom remodels or even a part?

Please let us know right away and we’ll send you the account numbers for sending money directly to this project.

Blessings from Bolivia,  Daniel & Daryl Collins

Juan Nunez and Viva Bolivia

I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to write an e-mail about being a field leader. “Just this morning I was sitting at my desk after the 12th revision for legal mission paperwork and you wouldn’t believe it! Since it got rejected we’re now have the amazing opportunity for revision #13…” (wooshing sound of e-mail draft being moved into the trash bin) “I love my job so much, especially on weeks like these where I sit through 7 quarterly evaluations for our field staff and drink 32 cups of coffee…” (no, no, probably will get comments about wasting mission money on coffee). “Being a field leader is one amazing story after another…” at which point the Holy Spirit reminds me that exaggeration and lying is not His plan for my e-mail updates.

And so I write a nice motivating story about one of our front line ministries or volunteers. But the true reality is a good part of running an effective mission program is a solid administrative team, which is where Juan Nunez and Viva Bolivia comes into my life and job. Juan loves Jesus with all his heart uses his degrees in accounting, auditing, and legal consulting to help non-profits and churches in Bolivia through Viva Bolivia (a missional business and foundation started by Jon and Karen Scheonhals). We contracted Juan to be our Coordinator of Administration and he is invaluable to our success as a mission in Bolivia. It also helps that he is also General Manager of the coffee roasting business where we buy our monthly supply of caffeine.

Though accounting and legal proceedings can be tedious, they are a serious deal in Bolivia. I know of four non-profits and churches in just this last year who lost visa status and material assets to the government for not completing the right tax and legal paperwork.

Juan and I meet twice a week (always over a good cup of coffee) and go over our the paperwork process to be a non-profit foundation in Bolivia, the beginning steps to set up our business license for Following the Master Carpenter, all the weekly receipts for our projects and volunteers, drink more coffee, the monthly reports for having paid staff, and all the other documents needed to maintain an open and transparent accounting system, and more coffee.

But God has more than just papers in mind for us. Over our cups of coffee together we’re growing in friendship and godliness as we talk about how God influences our work and business and family lives. I can honestly say that Juan isn’t just my Coordinator of Admin but a close brothers in Christ who encourages me to strive for excellence in all aspects of our mission in Bolivia.

I’m very thankful for the staff God has given me to work with in Bolivia. And thanks to all of you who keep supporting our family and ministry in Bolivia!

A work in progress, or at least a lot of work :-0

We got keys to our new office yesterday.

So what does it look like you ask?

Why that’s a great question I reply.

Let’s start with the parts with potential. With some plant trimming and grass and maybe a picnic table or two, we’ll have a great front yard for students and team members.

We have a huge central room for breakout nooks with couches and tables, internet cafe, central meeting area, maybe even ping pong or foosball. And check out the cool tile.

Note to architects,”What kind of lighting fixtures would make coffee shop or cafe setting for the central area?” Currently there are 3 different light fixtures in our central room, fan light, flourescent bulbs, & globes, along with front windows and a skylight. It’s like 10 different fonts on one page, chaotic eye stress.

The back hall has a retro checker tile floor and opens up to five more rooms and a kitchen at the end. Check out the old window frames, lots of character, natural light in all but two rooms. Our team administration will finally be moved out of our upstairs attic. And one room is going to be just for kids since we have 4 small one on our team alone and a bunch of parents-with-preschoolers in our different team projects.

The kitchen is, well, functional. Nate and his crew from Following the Master Carpenter can put in better cabinets and have this space looking professional in a month or so. And we’re hoping to put a couple small tables or booths in the hall area to chat and enjoy whatever is cooked here. With a couple of chefs on our team, it’s going to be a hot spot I tell you.

And now on to the not so glorious parts. The bathrooms are, well, um… in need of some attention. Good news is they work. Bad news, well just look at the pictures. Yeah, they could use some work, or an entire overhaul, we’ll see how far our budget goes.

The walls need some work and the one room with wood floor is being ripped out and fixed by the owner. Can’t wait to post pictures of the progress. Thanks to the N. Brazil team for the loan and for all of our churches and families who support our family and ministry monthly. We couldn’t do what we do without all of you.

coffee and cats

Yep, we bought 5 kilos of coffee from our friend the coffee roaster. Only thing is we thought it would fit into the plastic container on the left, but we weren’t even close. Our kitchen smells like a coffee shop.

And our cats Bandit and Lupita, don’t ask me the kids chose their names, decided to cuddle. Who knew cats cuddled with each other?

Want to be a part of this picture?

Did you know that we have eleven unfilled job postings for WorldVenture Bolivia?

Missions Mobilization, Compassion, Professionals, University & Students, Media & Publicity, Short term Coordinator, Theological Training, Sports, Community Development, Business Consulting, Coordinator for Business as Mission

Some are 6 month commitments, some are minimum two years, interested?

Following the Master Carpenter

WorldVenture Bolivia has four main projects each with a Project Coordinator, BLESS Sports & Arts, Following the Master Carpenter, Short and Mid term Volunteers, and then our Admin Team holding everything together.

Nate & Cindy Hitson along with little Abigail came to WorldVenture after three years of experience with Food for the Hungry in Bolivia and 10 years running their own business in the USA. Three years ago God put it on their hearts to invest over $30K in a carpentry shop called Following the Master Carpenter (FMC). Through their shop they have built over 200 beds, cribs, desks and tables as donations to ministries throughout Bolivia. And in the process Nate and his staff have evangelized and trained a number of young men who were formerly living on the street with a professional skill.

This year Nate & Cindy are opening up our first Business as Mission (BAM) project by branching out into kitchen cabinetry and furniture design. Their hope is to offset the high costs of running the cabinet shop through a combined business / foundation model. As field leader and fellow carpenter on our team, every week I get together with Nate in his shop to work on projects or go over the next step of paperwork as we launch this business and integrate it with the mission foundation. Their project will be a model for other BAM projects we open up in Bolivia.

Nate is one of the most hard working and encouraging missionaries I know with a lot of patience and a great laugh, and Cindy and Daryl share an affinity for being young moms who also love playing Wii! Nate and Cindy are also an amazing example of God’s generosity through their lives, work, and ministry.

Notes for prayer:

- The Hitsons raise an additional $800/month above a normal budget to run their shop. Pray for God’s financial blessings to rain down on this family in the midst of tight economic times in the US.   click here to support the Hitsons and FMC

- Nate has a lot on his plate and had to let his entire staff go last year when they ran out of funding. Pray for him as he looks to re-hire staff, develop a cabinet product line, re-tool his shop, set up business contacts, and all the things that go along with starting a new business.

- Pray for the evangelistic witness of FMC to their staff and to the businesses and organizations where they donate furniture and now sell cabinetry as well.

- Pray for Cindy as she manages the books for FMC, and for Dan and Juan (our Admin Coordinator) as they manage the tedious process of paperwork to set up and maintain FMC’s business license.

- Nate and Cindy are praying for 4-5 short term teams a year who would help with improvements to the shop (pneumatic piping and a dust collection system, electrical for machines that run on 110v, 220v, and even 240v, and other projects), to help with constructing beds for orphanages, to train employees in the skills for high end cabinetry, and to build into the lives of these young men who will work and learn about Christ in the FMC shop.

- Our dream prayer: The FMC shop needs a vehicle and it is outside of our limited team budget. Pray for a miracle donation of $10K so we can deliver these cabinets and beds without having to rent a truck each week. We’re asking for God’s financial blessing on the FMC shop and ministry.

Click here to support Following the Master Carpenter

Couldn’t do my job without…

Jhonny Orozco

The secret to our growth as a team in Bolivia has been a great team of four project coordinators, Ariel, Jhonny, Nate, and Juan. So I thought I’d take the next few e-mail updates to introduce them to you.

Johnny Orozco has an incredible testimony coming to Christ while working in the mines of Oruro. His wife Theresa came from a church background but left her faith and purposely married a non believer. When he told Theresa he not only had put his faith in Jesus but also wanted to study the Bible for future ministry, she told him he’d have to go to seminary alone. She didn’t want to be married to a Christian much less a pastor. And it’s a riot to hear them tell their story together of God’s miracle in their lives and how together they have now been in pastoral ministry for over 20 years. Theresa especially laughs at God’s sense of humor in bringing her back to church through her non Christian then pastor husband and how she finally finished her own pastoral degree two years ago.

Twice Johnny and Theresa moved their family across bolivia for different missionary assignments. In December ’09 he completed five years overseeing the missions program for the Bolivian Baptist Union. And at my invitation in January of this year (on my knees begging) he joined our team as Coordinator of Volunteers.

What does he do? Well, pretty much everything dealing with the preparation, budgets, orientation, evaluation, and pastoral care for volunteers who come for less than 3 years is under Jhonny’s supervision. That’s a big job and he does it very well, just ask any of our missionary volunteers.

Today Jhonny took a couple missionaries to get blood work and more paperwork for their visas (an endless process), did a 4 month evaluation on another, met with me, and the list could keep going. Jhonny coordinates language school, churches, and ministry assignments for our 8 missionaries. He always seems to have two or three of our missionaries in his home at meal times, travels next week to southern bolivian to prepare for a short term team arriving in August, and is an overall great asset to our team and full of humor as well.

I recently asked Jhonny what he thought of his job and he said, “Daniel, I so enjoy this job and it’s been like a rest for me after five very stressful years of ministry. I love working with volunteers and helping them with their lives and ministries. I just wish I understood more about this American culture of yours. Sometimes Theresa and I just have to laugh about the differences!

We can invite more volunteers and missionaries to our team and even plan for a growing short term program because of the work Jhonny does.

Prayer Requests for Jhonny:

1. His family –  Theresa (wife) and their kids Joshua, Eunice, and April

2. Daily insight into the lives of our missionaries.

3. Preparations for the short term team in August and another coming in the fall.

4. A good memory as he studies english, his third language.

5. Rest and health in a full schedule.

blessings from Bolivia,

join us in prayer for…

It’s been 3 weeks now since I arrived back in Bolivia, and things are in full swing again.

Will you join us in prayer for the following requests?

1. This morning we go for a second look at possible office location. We’ve looked at 3 so far, this one is a definite “fixer-upper” but it’s in a good location, has a good amount of space, and most important we can afford the rent. We’ll be making a decision today, please pray for wisdom.

2. BLESS has expanded to included another volleyball team, guys and girls soccer, and improv theatre. We have another missionary family looking to help in soccer and maybe BLESS golf. We feel stretched as far as we can right now. Pray that our times together in practice, Bible study, leadership meetings, and matches are times of community and spiritual growth. Pray for more resources for the BLESS program. Pray for our evangelistic outreach to the other teams in the city leagues.

3. I continue to spend many hours each week in government offices to file all the papers needed to establish ourselves as a legal foundation in Bolivia. This is patience-stretching and at times exasperating work. Please pray for my attitude! And please pray for our decisions and contacts as we present our values and objectives as a Christian foundation to the Bolivian government.

ok, gotta go, thanks for all who uphold us in prayer!

Venture capital what?

Do the words venture capital, startup financing, or risk management ring a bell? If so, you might be interested in what WorldVenture is doing in Bolivia. We are working to use our passions for church and business in community development and business projects that communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ in tangible and economically stable ways.

Click on these two videos to see a summary of Dan’s open house presentation while in the US.

BLESS Birthday Party

While I was in the States, Project BLESS celebrated their one year birthday party.

Click here to read more by our teammates Hans & Lindsay Nyberg