by Emily Garrett

But with God, all things are possible!

Project BigFoot is paid!

Dear friends, we’re writing you with WONDERFUL NEWS!  Last time we sent a letter to you, we explained that we had a great opportunity to raise $36,000 US dollars, which would be doubled by an American company, to total $72,000 dollars — the amount needed to finish paying off the Jungle Club buildings and complete the initial rennovation.

As of last month, we had raised just over one-third of the needed amount ($13,000).  We continued to pray for God’s provision and share with our faithful prayer-warriors, friends, and financial supporters, but we were getting behind on rent due and wondered, “Where will the money come from?!?!”

As always, God had a plan — immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine! (Ephesians 3:20)  A donor offered to lend us the money, interest-free.  We asked the match-grant company if a loan like that would be valid for us to receive their funding: they said NO.

Again, it was out of our hands!  … but, praise the Lord, God LOVES to work when the situation is beyond our control!
The donor-lender was informed of the company’s response, and prayed about what to do.  God’s answer was clear:  GIVE the money to Project BigFoot!

So now, brothers and sisters in Christ, let’s all give thanks for his extravagant love and provision!  He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and $36,000 dollars is a drop in the bucket for our Heavenly Father!  Praise him for his faithfulness — he gave the vision to work with Bogotá’s marginalized children, and he continues to make the way to reach this generation right where they are!

Why do you like the Jungle?

Because it’s really niiiice and I like to learn about God!

-Nestor, 11

Por qué te gusta la Jungla?

Because I play.  Because we sing.  And because they give us snacks!

-Jeferson, 8

By Annie Blakeslee

For the month of March, our devotional focus here at Light and Life School has been on our identity in Christ. I asked several children, “what does God think of you?”. Here are their responses:

“I am a work of art!” D, age 7
“I am his son.” B, age 9
“He is proud of me and he thinks that I am very pretty.” J age 12
“He loves me.” C. age 7
“I am marvellous!” S. age 9
“I am a beautiful creation!” J. age 10
“God thinks I’m an intelligent and friendly girl.” C age 13

Pray with me that the hearts of our children truly believe these truths.
May you know that you are the beloved child of the father, a work of art, a beautiful, marvellous creation!

By Emily Garrett

“Some of the kids came into the Jungle and immediately started playing and enjoying their time there, there were some whose game was escaping from the devotional time, and then there were a few kids from the coast who just wanted to keep me from winning the board game we were playing!”
-Bibiana Peña

The last Saturday in January, the Jungle team got together and opened up the Bible club for the first time in 2012. During this year, the kids will be learning the great Bible stories, like Daniel and the Lion’s Den, Jonah, the Fiery Furnace, stories from Jesus’ life and ministry. They started with the Creation during the first Jungle day, praying that the kids can learn and believe that God created them, loves them, and has good plans for them. Their lives have meaning and purpose, because they are individual creations of a personal God.

During the puppet show and craft time, it was evident that God heard those prayers: the children really wanted to participate, affirming that “God made the sun and moon… and he created me, too!” It even became obvious that those kids who spent the devotional time breaking through the “human wall” of teachers had been listening, as they answered questions and participated right along with the others! Let the prayers continue that the spiritual seeds planted this year will grow and give fruit in their time.

Over the past thirty years of ministry with Formando Vidas, we’ve seen how God brings his word to fruition in due time. Nowadays we are blessed to see how He uses the children whose lives he has transformed to sow in the lives of others. One such young man is Juan, staff at the Jungle Club. He came to live in the ministry as a child and proved to be fertile soil for the seeds of God’s truth planted in his life.

On Saturday, two little boys took a toy car from the second floor down to the first floor, which is against the rules. Bibiana, who is a full-time staff member in residential care but who doesn’t usually go to the Jungle, tried to convince them to return the car upstairs, to no avail. Then Juan stepped in, and calmly said, “You need to take the toy upstairs. Come on, let’s go.” And off they went, with no complaints! THAT is natural authority with the children based on Juan’s own life as an at-risk kid, and hard-earned authority because of his consistency with these children at the Jungle!

God is using the Jungle Club to continue touching kids’ lives in Bogotá. Remember that right now we are in a fund-raising push to finish paying off these buildings! A company in the USA has offered us a matching-grant of 36,000 US dollars. If we raise $36,000… they will double it… to $72,000. This is enough to pay what we owe on the buildings and FINISH the planned renovation of The Jungle!!! That means we will be better able to reach the kids in the area, and up to four times as many of them!

If we can get 1,000 people to each donate $36, we can meet this goal! Please help us by praying, and by sharing this information with your friends, family, or church! Check out the website for giving information! Thank you so much for your support of Formando Vidas! We couldn’t do what we do without people like you!

By Annie Blakeslee

We’ve started a new school year here at Light and Life school! Teachers spent hours cleaning and decorating classrooms and preparing lessons before our students walked through the doors on February 1. We have 4 new students and 11 returning students, plus 16 continuing education students.

We’re also starting something completely new this year- cyber school! Some of our continuing education students (students who have “graduated” from Light and Life and continue to study at private schools through sponsorships through Formando Vidas) will be doing cyber school at Life and Light. We’re excited about the opportunity this will give some of our students who are older for their grade to advance more quickly and graduate closer in age to their peers. We’re also excited about the greater ability to continue to disciple our students and encourage them in their academic growth. Since it is new for us, we need lots of prayer for wisdom as we work out the details. Our biggest need right now is for a full time supervisor for the students who will oversee their work and be available when they have questions.

Please pray for our students and for their teachers- that this would be a year full of growth spiritually, academically, and emotionally.

By Emily Garrett

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
(Matthew 6:9-13)

Happy New Year, from the Formando Vidas staff!
We all had a good time of rest and vacation after the hustle and bustle leading up to Christmas. Several staff members were able to travel to visit family, while others stayed in Bogotá. The weather cleared up, as it always does near the end of December, and we enjoyed a warm, sunny Christmas and New Years’!

The whole Formando Vidas team spent a week together to kick off 2012 and to refocus our hearts, minds, and energies for the work to be done this year. The leadership feels that God is leading us to study the Lord’s Prayer during 2012, so each day during the induction week we studied a section of the prayer, as we also shared info and plans from each of the ministry’s areas, and spent time fellowshipping together.

One afternoon Claudia, a teacher at Light and Life school, gave each team member an egg and told us to take it home with us, take care of it, and bring it back for the next day’s intercession time. Some carefully transported their eggs in the crowded public buses, creating systems of protection so that the fragile shells wouldn’t be broken. Others safeguarded their eggs in the office, where they waited, untouched, until the next day. A few eggs didn’t make it through the night, and their caretakers arrived to the meeting the next day empty-handed.

When the time came, Claudia told us that the eggs were an illustration for prayer and intercession. She had heard some say, “I don’t know how to take care of this egg!” Or, “I live with and take care of children; you can’t expect me to take care of an egg, too!” Oftentimes, this is our stance about intercession as well. We feel too busy to make prayer a priority, or we feel unsure about how to intercede. But, said Claudia, just like some protected their eggs by constructing barriers around them, the Holy Spirit covers us and prays for us when we don’t know how or what to say. Thanks to Claudia and everyone on the team for leading us in great times of prayer, intercession, and Bible study, seeking the Lord together and as individuals, and allowing the Holy Spirit to align our hearts to God’s.

Along with the Lord’s Prayer, we as a team will be focusing on living with fear of the Lord, and improving our relationships with each other this year. Please join us in prayer for these focus areas!

By Steve Bartel

Finishing high school and stepping out into the adult world can be daunting, especially if your first steps in life hadn’t started well. That’s why our hearts are always glad when a young person raised by us in Formando Vidas tells us they’ve decided to begin adulthood with a firm foundation in God. They long to continue being discipled, but more deeply than before, even hearing God’s voice for their future.

They can do this at a Discipleship Training School (DTS), investing six months of their lives in learning to “know God and make Him known.” This helps them tremendously as they leave their childhoods behind.

Last year Julian (age 19) finished high school as valedictorian of his class. What an accomplishment for a young man who lived his earliest years surviving day to day in the worst ghetto of Bogota! Now Julian dreams of becoming a Christian Psychologist. By volunteering full time as the teacher for a Formando Vidas’ ministry boy who needs individual attention, Julian received valuable experience. He did wonders with the child! But before he starts his university studies, Julian wants to have his foundation firm in God. A couple of weeks ago he left for Argentina to attend a DTS, stepping out in faith and putting God first in his life. He had saved some personal earnings, a donor helped, and the DTS leadership is willing to trust God with him for the rest.

Jenny is also a recent high school graduate. She lived in a Formando Vidas’ ministry home full time with her three siblings for ten years while her mother got her life in order. Then, for four years, Jenny lived with mom during school days and stayed in her ministry home during weekends and vacations. Her mother and recent stepfather became Christians and now earn an honest living selling snacks on the streets. When Jenny also expressed her desire to have a firm foundation for her future, knowing her heavenly Father in a way she could never trust in her biological father, everyone pitched in. Jenny and her family saved enough money to pay half of her airfare to Chile! (This is an incredible feat for people who live day to day)! Formando Vidas’ staff raised the other half. So with nothing in her pockets or bank she stepped out in faith and started the school in Chile. It has not been easy as the actual school fees are US $1500.00, but Jenny is learning that God is her Provider.

This coming January, three more of our young adults will be leaving our Formando Vidas’ nest to do either a DTS, further Youth With A Mission training, or university. They join almost half a dozen other young people who grew up with us and are already studying and preparing for their future.

It is because of youth like these that we’ve started a scholarship fund. We need your help! Please pray about becoming a regular “gifter” to the scholarship fund. Be a part of transforming lives and help these youth have a firm foundation. You can give through pay pal or send a check; just put “scholarship fund” on the payment.

One more true story: Doris.

Twenty years ago, Doris was one of the first pre-schoolers at Light and Life, our ministry school. Her background was horrible; her future bleak. She lived occasionally with her mother or a sister until, by God’s grace, she finished high school. She then came to live with some Formando Vidas volunteers as God worked deeper in her life. Today Doris has finished her DTS in Chile and is now a student at a Youth With A Mission counseling school there. She is receiving Father’s healing, and, long term, she wants to help kids who come from dysfunctional families like hers. Because of her triumph over her past, Doris has the moral authority to do so. Yet governments require university degrees. Doris’ training will take years of her life, and cost much.

These young people, and others we haven’t even mentioned, are willing to make the effort. They’ve already broken the cycles of generations past of the curses and destruction their parents and ancestors lived. They have been transformed. But they can go even much further! Not only will their lives be changed… they will change others.

Thank you for considering our scholarship fund!

Olga, a strong supporter of Formando Vidas and a parent of an adopted Colombian, is trying to make the Christmas of 69 children in the ministry better than ever. She is collecting financial donations but also specific gifts for children. If you happen to get the name of an older child, feel free to enclose a note, picture of you/your family and or a Christmas card. That would add a personal touch. If you are interested in giving, fill out the form below and Olga will contact you with more details about the child you will be buying a gift for and how to get the gift to them.

The deadline is November 18th!

Thank you so much for your support. We reached our goal and no longer need any volunteers!

By Annie Blakeslee

September has been a busy month here at Luz y Vida. In Colombia, September is the month of “amor y amistad”- love and friendship, a less romantic, couples’ oriented holiday than the closest American equivalent of Valentine’s day. In the weeks leading up to love and friendship day, we played secret pals and on Friday the 16th, we had a celebration, complete with chocolate cupcakes and a final gift to our secret pal. To help the kids actually live out what it means to be a good friend, and not just give their secret pal a piece of candy every day, in our devotion each morning the theme was how to be a true friend. All of the teachers took turns sharing with the students what the Bible says about friendship and love.

Passing out secret pal gifts/La repartición de los regalos del amigo secreto

Also on love and friendship day, we had a wonderful visit from a string ensemble. They played Spring and Summer from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons for us while the children listened, entranced. I’d had my doubts about the children’s reception of classical music; it’s a pretty strong contrast to what they are used to listening to. But their rapt attention showed me the power music has to speak to us, and the joy of experiencing a live concert.

Children listening to the concert/Los niños escuchando el concierto

This week was culture week at Luz y Vida. Throughout the week the students studied the geography, culture, and natural resources of Colombia’s six regions and worked on projects to share at today’s Culture Fair. I was so proud of the work they accomplished this week. Watching their excitement to share what they had learned and their interest in filling in their question sheets as they “traveled” to each region of Colombia was a great way to end a busy week.

The kids looking at a display and answering questions/Los niños mirando la exposición y respondiendo las preguntas

As we move into October, please keep the children and volunteers in your prayers. Last year, in my first October here, I could feel the spiritual heaviness. I was surprised to learn that certain satanist groups fast in the months leading up to Halloween and practice human sacrifice and witchcraft. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Keep that verse in mind, and join with us in prayer against the spiritual forces of evil, and for God’s protection over each one of the children we work with, their families, and our staff and their families.

Thank you for your prayers as we work in repairing the house and replacing all the stolen things. The house was made secure again by installing security bars on the inside. The windows now don’t open but it is secure. The locks were changed in both the house and the auditorium. Today the Other way team is praying through the house and started cleaning it. The most urgent things to replace is the gas pipes, the stove and kitchen utensils, microwave, the craft materials and storage boxes. The books on how to teach different crafts and Bible themes are the saddest loss for the team.

Please pray that through this the team can be a witness in the neighbourhood. It is suspected that the main thieves were from the drug house next door.

By Johana Parker and Emily Garrett

My name is Angie Johana Mantilla Parker. I come from a very humble and dysfunctional family. My parents are not from Bogotá; they arrived here in search of a new destiny, but the truth is that, due to drugs and “the easy life,” we ended up living in the run-down city center by the time I was three. My dad spent several years in jail for robbery, but when he was released he returned to the streets, to my mom, and to a chaotic lifestyle.

Johana with her husband and biological family/Johana con su esposo y familia biológica

After some time, one of the volunteers at The Other Way invited me to spend a weekend at her house. I was really excited to sleep in a clean house on a nice mattress, not to mention getting to ride in her car! Over time, I moved in with her, and then I started studying at Light and Life.

That’s when my little sister was born. My brother was living in another ministry, and my mom and sister spent a lot of time begging for coins in the street. This was the most difficult experience I had to live through, because I hated the idea that my little sister was not enjoying her childhood in the way that I was, and that she had no choice but to live that way. I wanted my sister to know about God and have a chance for a different way of life, so I begged my mom to let her live in the ministry. Seven years later, she did.

Many years passed and I graduated from high school, thanks to the people who helped me along the way, letting me live with them and also those who donated the money that paid for my education and other needs, through Formando Vidas. This was an achievement that my mom and dad would not have been able to help me reach.

After completing a Discipleship Training School in Argentina in 2008, I returned to Colombia and worked for a year until I was able to start studying. This was another big step toward my dream of a different way of life. God lined everything up for me, from school to an internship, which turned into a full-time job. Through that process, and when I moved out of the ministry to life on my own, I saw how God began honoring my name, which means “full of grace.” The experience of being independent for the first time in my life taught me to manage money and my schedule, and to become more organized in all aspects of my life. Since then I have gotten married, which has been yet another blessing. My husband, Shaun, from England, and I are certain that we will continue to radically change my family’s history. If you look at how my story started, it all points toward a life of drugs and poverty. I would not have studied, would not have regular employment or housing, and would probably have several children, yet without a stable marriage. But this was not God’s plan for me; He chose me to change the future generations. I know, without a doubt, that my life’s trajectory has taken a U-turn, and I am so grateful to God and to Formando Vidas. This ministry has helped all this be possible by giving me and my siblings a different opportunity, and they have blessed even my parents.