NBCM/DEAF Report March 2014

I know that you have not heard much from us for a while, The reason is on February 8, I left for Colombia and then Jackie came on February 19. We were there until March 3. I flew down early with Bob, Mark, and Jeff who made up a Work Crew from Ohio to work at the Church Camp in Villavicencio. We arrived on Saturday night and a drove straight to Villivicencio arriving on Sunday morning about 2:00 AM, Dale took us to the Porta Lopez Church which was held Sunday afternoon. It is a smaller country church made up of older folks , but also had about 18 kids show up too. Each of us were able to give our testimonies and share with this Body of Christ. Then it was back to the Camp and plan for the next days work. Dailon, also from Ohio, had already been in Villavicencio for a week before the rest of us arrived. He already had some work done before we got there. He is younger than the rest of us, so he did a lot of the grunt work ahead of time. Thanks Dailon, you saved our backs! He was the main man for helping with the scaffolding, laying of block, mixing cement, etc for Jose and Jason the Colombian workers which are hired by Dale to help us. 

The second cabin was almost finished when we  arrived. They were finishing up with the tile in the kitchen, bathroom and then finally the exterior porches. Bob is the electrician of the group. This was his third time down, so he jumped right in and began doing the necessary electrical stuff. Jeff is a long time friend of Bob’s and he is great in getting the detail things accomplished. He worked arranging the tools, cleaning up the work sites, cutting the hedge, digging holes, spreading gravel for the roadbed, and pulling wire with Bob for electrical. Mark is also from the same church near Cincinnati and is on the Missions Team. He had been a missionary in Uganda Africa someyearsago. Believe it or not, we had been to some of the same places in Uganda, just at different times. So we had a bit of fun reminiscing about Uganda. Mark did a lot of work on the roof for the Well House, and also helped Bob with the electrical wiring. There was a lot of electrical work to do, and Bob was glad for the help. 

My main jobs were to paint, and take care of the work site when Dale was gone, which seemed to be a lot as he had to go buy things all the time. One of the more interesting things that happen on February 13 was a baptism. Why is that interesting, because it was Dailon! This was Dailon’s second trip down to help. Dale and the rest of us had talked to him about baptism the previous year, and then this trip down he discussed with Dale more about it, and then he decided he wanted to do it. His only requirement was that he wanted to do it in a natural body of water, not a pool like at the camp. Now it has been one of the driest and hottest summers in Colombia for a long time and all the rivers were pretty well dried up. Dale had to make some calls and he was able to find a place down the road from the Church Camp. So that morning we all headed to town to baptize Dailon. It was a blessed time for all of us. This Work Crew accomplished more than we had planned. A great feat! Sunday morning we went to the Peniel Church and then headed up to Bogotá. On Monday we went up to Monserrate and then to a market in town for some shopping. 

Tuesday morning the Work Crew flew back to the US while Dailon flew to Medillion where he would spend a few weeks with some other friends, Dale and I did some other business on Wednesday in preparation for the arrival of Dewey & Laurie Hensley, and Jackie. Jackie had trouble getting out of Indy that day and just barely made her flight connections in Atlanta for Bogotá. Dale and I were following all this through messages from Dewey. When we got the confirmation she was on the plane, I sure felt better. They arrived late that evening so we stayed in Botogá. 

Febuary 20, we headed back down the Andes mountains for Villavicencio. This would now be Dewey & Laurie’s new home for the next 10 weeks. The second cabin at the Church Camp was all done when they arrived. The tiles were completed, I had finished the painting, fridge was in, and everything was set up except the stove. Dale has been working on getting natural gas installed, but due to governmental paperwork and excessive fees, that has not happened yet. So Jackie and I bought them a toaster and microwave to help them do some of their own cooking. Being a missionary wife, Jackie helped Laurie set up house and get settled in. We all went to town and helped get a closet and everything to set up their kitchen, Then it was on to the market for groceries. 

Laurie will be teaching English three days a week at Colegio Peniel, which is the school that the church runs. To help in her getting back and forth and also just general getting around. Dale and I went into town with Dewey to purchase a motorcycle. Since I was the motorcycle expert on hand, I helped them find the perfect bike for their needs. It is a Honda 150. Dewey had his first ride a couple days later when he was able to pick up his purchase after all the governmental stuff was accomplished. He is a new rider and is practicing in preparation for when he will be Lauries personal taxi driver three days per week. He did quite well considering he had never seen traffic like this before. Dewey, Jackie, and I also continued to help with painting and cleaning up around the camp while Laurie went to the school to teach English. 

On February 22, Dale, Laurie, Vivian (Who is Colombian and hard of hearing.), John (Who is Colombia and deaf.), and myself did our first deaf visitations to help begin the new Deaf Church in Villavicencio. We visited several deaf people in various places around town. Then on February 23, we began our first Deaf Church services in conjunction with the Peniel Church. It was a humble beginning, but one we had been looking forward to. Laurie and Vivian repeated this practice on  March 1 by visiting other deaf around town and inviting them to church and Deaf Camp in April. Again on Sunday morning they held Deaf Church at the Peniel Church. They will be continuing this plan every Saturday until they leave the end of April after Deaf Camp. Vivian is also teaching Laurie Colombian Sign Language (CSL). Our ministry funds are paying for the visitation costs and also for Vivian to teach Laurie her CSL. 

Another small highlight of this trip was the morning we were able to see squirrel and howler monkeys in a coconut tree in the neighboring field as it rained. Yes, it was hot while we were there. Kind of reminded us of this time of year in Thailand, in the mid to upper 90’s every day. It had not rained in months, and it was terribly hot and dry at times. But this one day it started to rain and did so the last three days we were in Villavicencio. We watched the monkeys for a bit and then I got the camera and took some pictures and video. I plan to post pictures and maybe the video on our NBCM/DEAF Facebook page when I can. 

By the time Jackie and left on March 2, we had finished the second cabin and almost all the painting on the Well House and Work Shed inside and out. Dale, Jackie, and I said our Goodbyes to Dewey & Laurie early on Sunday morning March 2 and drove up to Bogotá. We left early so we could attend Deaf Church in Bogotá with William. We arrived in time and had a good visit with our Christian Brothers and Sisters there. We invited them all to our Church Camp which will be in Villavicencio from April 17-20. Many took our brochures and are hoping to come. Then it was back to Dale’s place to finalize our packing to fly out on Monday morning. This was my longest continuous time in Colombia. A few days short of a month. It was a good trip, but long. Don’t think I would have made it that long if Jackie had not come down! Please be in prayer for the news church plant in Villavicencio and the Deaf Camp scheduled in April! The link to our Facebook page for the ministry is at the bottom of this email. Please friend and then you will get updates that way,including pictures. Take care and God bless!

 

One in Christ,

Dewayne & Jackie Liebrandt