Tarija, Family, and Bless

On our way to Tarija

Sunday we are taking our WorldVenture team to Tarija, down in the south of Bolivia for a week-long evangelism campaign with college students from all over Bolivia. We are expecting over 150 students to arrive and help us go from home to home as we share our stories about Jesus living in our lives. I hope to work with Marcelo and Eli Rios, Argentine missionaries who work in Bermejo, Tarija and friends of ours. This will be the 3rd time I’ve been able to visit and work with this couple (read herea about my first visit two years ago). Tarija is a 20 hour bus ride if all goes as planned, and right now there are blockades on the road. Please pray for boldness as we share our faith and that the blockades might be lifted before Sunday.

Family Update

In the last month we’ve had a lot going on. I had a lot of end-of the-year reports to finish (my privilege as field leader in Bolivia). Then we had a “stay”cation at home, friends who visited for a week, went up to La Paz for a week, celebrated Rachel’s birthday, Ben’s birthday, Christmas, New Year’s, and in it all a number of family nerf gun wars (family Christmas presents to ourselves). The kids go back to school in a couple weeks, Daryl is back at school doing fashion design (she finishes the first year in April), and oh yes Daryl’s hair is now bright red!

BLESS for 2012

God supplied above and beyond our hopes for Bless in 2012, both for Project Bless and for Bless Kids (the business proposal). In this year we hope to focus on training our three main coaches to get them nationally certified, connect each Bless team with local church sponsorship, and start Bless Kids. But right now I have to go pack for Tarija, so I’ll write more about Bless when I get back. Thanks for your prayers and for making it to the end of this update.

Love from Bolivia, Dan & Daryl Collins

Update: Urgent Need in Bolivia

Two weeks ago we posted about our urgent need in Bolivia. We had run out of resources and were having to start the process of closing down Bless. But God said, “not yet!”

Since that time, we’ve received more than $click to see our current BLESS total to keep the non-profit side of Bless alive. I don’t have much else to say other than God is definitely not done with Project Bless. We’ve almost met our $12,00o yearly goal! If you can help us get there, click to donate to BLESS online.

Tomorrow night Ariel Soliz and I meet with a church that might hire him full time and still let him keep discipling college students in Bless. This might be a very strategic next step for Bless in linking us to local churches and allowing more of our donations to go toward materials for teams instead of salaries. Please pray for wisdom.

We also received another surprise $5,000 donation for our for-profit Bless Kids’ business plan. A group of people read our business proposal and decided to send us a huge gift to get Bless Kids’ started. Maybe you’re interested in reading our BLESS Business Plan and BLESS Financials? We also have a short video by a member of the business team. We will still need another $1,500 by February to make our minimum start-up need. Can you help? Click here to donate to BLESS on-line.

But we’re now moving ahead and trusting in God’s provision as we request applications for our first 2 hires and will be doing our interviews in January, and also launching two volleyball clinics for publicity and recruiting.

We still urgently need your prayers with us. Pray for more funding for both the non-profit Bless and for Bless Kids.

Pray for wisdom for Ariel as he looks to move into a pastoral position.

Pray that we make wise decisions about our first 2 hires.

Home for Christmas

After so much travel this year, we are very thankful to just be in our own home this year and enjoy the holidays with friends and adopted family. God is faithful and good. He is the reason for the season. Here are some updates from our family to yours.

Darli Moda has had a great year, covered costs, and sold over 100+ purses and scarves. In October Daryl began a fashion and design course in Cochabamba with an Argentine school. She’s been having a lot of fun, her brand and product line continues to improve is gaining a good reputation.

Daniel came back to a lot of work, but don’t be fooled he’s been able to work in mentoring, golf, running and lots of new reading material, all things that keep him happy. His favorite topic right now is Business for the Glory of God and he’s been talking and talking and talking about all the things he’s learning. It’s fun to see him taking on something new.

Rachel graduated from kindergarten in November and is now a proud first grader. She is our family comedian and keeps us in stitches with her daily and hourly commentaries about life.

Ben has been playing soccer, doubled his lego collection, and loves a new game called Go-Go’s. It’s kind of like marbles but with little alien figures. And Naomi is our cat lover, artist, piano player, and student though she’s still glad school is done for the summer break of December & January.

From our family to yours, we hope you have a great Christmas celebrating the gift of Jesus Christ. Love from Bolivia,

Daniel, Daryl, Naomi, Ben, and Rachel Collins

Urgent Need in Bolivia

In the last three years we have seen BLESS grow from an idea to a respected sports ministry in two different cities through the leadership of Ariel Soliz, BLESS Director. The impact has been broad, reaching over 85 college athletes, 110 kids, and 4 professional athletes, connecting 7 churches and sharing the gospel with over 150 athletes. These numbers are people with names who are hearing about Jesus and growing in Jesus and sharing Jesus.

The impact has been deep. There are 10 young adults who are leading their teams spiritually and reading their Bibles with a new passion and praying every day as a part of the BLESS Impact Team. Ariel Soliz has multiplied his discipleship method at least 10 times.

Yesterday, I informed Ariel that without further donations his job as BLESS Director will disappear in 3 months. It can continue as a volunteers only ministry, but not on the same level. We’ve done the best we can with what we have operating on a 75% budget for this year. But as a mission and non-profit we are dependent on donations. So where do we go from here?

We are communicating the need. We urgently need more funding. Can you help? Click here to donate to BLESS on-line

And we urgently need people praying with us. This is a hard way to end the year and we need God’s wisdom and a team of people praying.

What if we didn’t have to fundraise for BLESS anymore?

Thanks to the recent business team who visited us in Bolivia, we now have a solid business plan for BLESS Kids’ Sports which could possibly fund BLESS a year from now with profits sufficient for BLESS salaries and operating expenses. If you are a business junkie, here is our BLESS Business Plan and BLESS Financials. We also have a short video by a member of the business team.

We are looking for Kingdom Investors, churches and families that could give one-time gifts for a Business as Mission project. You would receive a quarterly financial report as the BLESS business moves forward along with a Kingdom Impact report.

To move forward with this plan, we need to keep Ariel on staff, we need $2,500 of startup funds, and we need a committed $4,000 to come after the first 3 months of opening the business. These can be either gifts or long-term delayed interest loans. Could you be a Kingdom Investor?

Click here to donate to BLESS on-line

or

Send me a quick email for more information about Business as Mission Donations

Mission as Business or Business as Mission

We’ve been busy. I think that is an understatement, but it’s the truth. We had 3 short term teams all together along with the visit of my oldest brother Mike.

I’ll start with the Business as Mission (BAM) team. It was very different than any other team we’ve had in Bolivia, a lot of work, and a lot of fun.

(Don, Quinn, Dana, Jay, Mike, Peggy, Justin, Bill, Michelle, Rob, Doug)

Here’s our team with 2 fiscal analysts, 2 entrepreneurs, an insurance expert, a Senior pastor, a kids-at-risk chaplain, 3 WorldVenture staff, and a carpenter with 40 years experience. And working with our team here in Bolivia they visited our small business projects, asked a lot of questions, studied bolivian tax laws, brainstormed, built financial models, did market analyses, rebuilt their models, asked more questions, rebuilt their models, and left us with detailed business plans for a BLESS Kids’ sports league and a for-profit Carpentry model to go alongside the non-profit Master Carpentry shop.

And here’s the best part, our mission to Be, Make, Mobilize Disciples for Jesus was built right into the DNA of each plan. We now have solid business plans with kingdom impact and a positive bottom lines!

I like the way my brother (tall handsome guy in blue) described the whole process. He said, “Dan, all my life I’ve been told that my role as a businessman in missions is to pray and pay, so I’ve prayed my heart out and given all I can. But this is the first time I’ve been able to use what I do Monday through Friday (financial planner and entrepreneur) in a mission kingdom impact project. I’ve got 12 business friends back home that can’t believe what I’m doing and they’re already interested in the next trip!”

Only about a third of what we do in Bolivia is a business as mission (BAM) model. The other parts are community development and local church missions work. But for our BAM projects we just received 400 hours of free professional business consulting. What an incredible gift. And since it’s been much harder the last 2 years to fundraise for community development and local church missions, we’re having to get creative for the funding streams for Project BLESS and the Master Carpenter Shop.

(Rob the carpenter with Alex our carpenter, all smiles with some new tools!)

Along with all the planning, we also got our hands dirty, explored a bit of Bolivia and had some fun.

…eating Tucumanis at Jhonny’s house. You gotta visit to try them!

…visiting Compassion International, one of my favorite Christian non-profits tackling poverty issues in Bolivia. What they do in the name of Jesus with limited resources has my attention.

…watched some BLESS volleyball

…ate more food

…visited the Cristo statue

..took pictures of Dan in his office, don’t know why, maybe they just wanted to show the golf clubs in the corner or the candy dish on the corner?

…and even finished the week with a round of golf

Thanks to all who came on this team, supported and prayed for them while here. Now comes the hard part, implementing the business plans and dealing with each challenge as it arises.

U of O on our hearts

It’s true, I have this same UofO logo on the back of my phone. We hang a UofO blanket on our wall at home. Our kids all own UofO football jerseys which they love to wear as PJs. And my favorite saturday clothes are my UofO sweats and a T-shirt.

We are at home in Bolivia and love knowing that we are right where God wants us to be. But something that only a few people know, until now of course when we’re broadcasting it to the world, is a part of our hearts have always and probably will always live in Eugene, OR. It’s not just that we are UofO alumni or that the Ducks have become nationally acclaimed in football for both good and bad reasons. It has more to do with our passion for college ministry and the incredible spiritual need and yet also openness on the Oregon campus.

Eugene was and still is one of the least churched counties in the entire US, and we loved that about the city. We used to say, “the light shines brightest where it’s darkest.” God used our years at Oregon to form our hearts and our skills and our passions for missions. We both lived in the dorms, learned to share our faith, and learned to understand the faiths of others. I (Dan) was on staff with Collegiate Christian Fellowship (CCF) for 3 years. Daryl did 4 years of crazy skit ministry. So it was bittersweet when God led us away from Eugene and to Bolivia. Part of our heart is still in Eugene wanting to reach college students and train them to live like Jesus.

There, it’s off my chest. Now you all know.

During our last 4 month furlough, we lived in Eugene for a couple months and God surprised us.

This is Joe Tepe wearing the checkered pillow case. He was our first visitor in Eugene stopping by while we were still unpacking. Joe was part of a short term team to Bolivia 3 years ago. Now he’s married, going to Western Seminary, and leading yes Collegiate Christian Fellowship at FBC Eugene under the same and infamous Corey Rose. Joe loves our kids if you can’t tell and has a passion for college ministry at the UofO.

This is Emily McMahon in Bolivia (middle thumb up blue pants green shirt). She’s also a Bolivia alumni from 2 teams, also in Eugene, and also visited numerous times. She’s the co-leader with Joe Tepe for Collegiate Christian Fellowship reaching students at the UofO. Oh, and she and Daryl both love to have dance parties.

And this is Stowe and Sarah Campbell. We met them in August at a campout in Elkton of all places, yes Elkton. Guess what they do? They are ministering full time with Navigators to college students at the UofO too. We thought we were going camping with some friends and donors, but were also encouraged to meet and hear the Campbell’s hearts for the Eugene college population.

And this is Kit Tischler. Literally our last Sunday in Oregon Kit Tischler came and introduced himself to us after the service at Grace in Gresham. Guess what Kit does? You guessed it, he’s on staff with Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship at the UofO! I was able to spend some time getting to know and then praying for Kit and for the UofO just a week before he headed out for the new school year and a week before we headed back to Bolivia.

So what did I take out of all this? When we leave one place to go serve in another, we don’t stop missing the people or places we leave behind. And we keep praying for the needs of those who still need Jesus in those places because they are important to us. But God is in charge, and He’s a big God, and He’s a good God. And this summer He reminded me that there are others who have taken up the challenge to share Jesus with one of the least reached campuses in the United States. So with that in mind we press on with the task at hand here in Bolivia. And go Ducks! And go Joe, Emily, Stowe & Sarah, and Kit!

Visitors from Littleton

We just finished having some visitors from Littleton, CO, the home office of WorldVenture. Hans Finzel (President), Jim Thorp (Americas Director), Jeff Denlinger (VP Int. Ministries), and Chris Wynn (Director Communications).

So what did we do? What we always do, we went to work! Literally they helped us cut up meat for sausage, went to Following the Master Carpenter, did strategic planning in our office with myself and Jhonny, and visited the volleyball complex where Ariel and Project BLESS have games and practices.

They also spent time encouraging our team, praying for Alex and his work at the carpentry shop, praying for Ariel and Vannia and their work with athletes, praying for Daryl and Darli Moda and the contacts she’s making through her purse business, praying for Hans and Lindsay in the sausage shop, and praying for Jhonny and his work with volunteer teams and missionaries.

And of course, we also enjoyed some American and Bolivian cuisine with home-made pizza at our house, tucumanas and mocochinchi juice at Jhonny’s house, spaghetti at Hans & Lindsay’s, espresso mochas in the city, and an incredible bolivian steak dinner to finish it all off.

Golfing in Bolivia

Since we have a business as mission team coming this a week, we’ve been doing all the usual things, budgeting, reserving rooms, arranging transportation, wiring money and converting it to Bolivianos, buying supplies, lots of meetings to coordinate the schedule, basically running around like chickens with our heads cut off, and the one extra thing, playing golf. Yes, I said it, I’m a missionary and I love to play golf.

Now who would have thought that I’d become a missionary and learn to golf at the same time? But when we arrived to Bolivia 6 years ago, I had 3 missionary mentors and they met each Wednesday morning to play golf. I have great memories from Ron Wiebe, 49 years of missionary service, Gram Porter with 30 years in Africa and South America, and Dave Miller a missionary and journalist over 25 years. Ron drove the shortest but had the most consistent lay-up shots and putting, so he normally won. Gram was the most competitiveand could drive the ball a mile, but we never knew which fairway he would land on. And Dave Miller always seemed to sink the long puts.

So back to our short term preparations. The team arriving this week is a group of business men and women from the northwest and a good number love golf, so we’ve worked in a best ball tournament. But since our staff here didn’t know how to play, we went out and taught them to hit a driver, an iron, and a wedge. And then last Wednesday we went and played 9 holes. Jhonny Orozco (below) almost got a par, and he’s never played before!

So why this talk about golf. One of the things I’ve been learning is God created us for work, for rest, and for people. I’m good at the work part, learning about people, not good at the resting. But  I simply can’t spend all my time “missionary-ing”. And those 4 hours we spent on Wednesday with Alex (carpentry supervisor), Hans (mid term missionary) and Jhonny (volunteers coordinator) were some of the most memorable, and restful hours I’ve had with our staff in a long time.

So now bring on the business team! We’re going to work some long hours developing plans for two business projects and finish our week with a restful, (and maybe competitive) morning out on the course and see if just maybe our Bolivian colleagues can put up a better score than those Americans

A Kids’ View of Bolivia, …or at least their view of us

Many of you saw this already in one of our presentations in the US. But for the rest of you, if you’ve ever wondered just what we actually DO in Bolivia, well listen to the experts. Enjoy!

Voting day in Bolivia

This last Sunday was voting day in Bolivia. It’s kind of the same as the US. People go to voting booths set up at local government buildings, like schools here. And you check a box in a ballot. But that’s where the similarity stops.

In Bolivia, voting is an obligation, not a right. You get your finger marked with ink when you pick up your ballot, and you receive a voter’s ticket when your done that is sometimes used at banks or other places of business for the next month to show you did your civic duty.

In Bolivia, everyone except the elderly with special passes walks to the voting stations. No cars are allowed to drive except the few with special permission. And cars aren’t allowed to carry people across to other voting sites.

In Bolivia, all consumption of alcohol is prohibited for 12 hours before and the 12 hours during voting day. Alcohol can’t be sold. And you can’t even drink a glass of wine in your home. It’s posted in the newspaper.

In Bolivia, the afternoon of voting day is like a giant picnic. People are strolling down the car-less streets as families. Ice cream and cotton candy vendors are in every intersection. Teenagers are cruising around on their bikes. And the local parks are filled with families laying out an afternoon picnic and watching their kids.

So we did our civic duty just like we did 8 months ago. We took the whole family down to the local school, searched for our name in the list to find our voting booth table, couldn’t find it so we went to the information booth, only to find out that residents with permanent visas couldn’t vote in this election. They were electing supreme court judges this time. We didn’t get even get a card that said we at least tried to vote, so now we’ll see if we have any trouble at the bank this next month.