Bolivian Street Children

skipbachman — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:19:11 +0000

The world wide craving for things is just one evidence that people’s hearts have turned away from God.

skipbachman — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:34:27 +0000

“While many worry about filling their gas tanks, many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs.”

new post

skipbachman — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:45:53 +0000

The boy who was stabbed spent ten days in the hospital. Getting him out was a challenge, because he had gringos visiting daily they seemed to think that we would be covering the costs and decided on their own to give him “better treatment” and raised the price. After talking to the hospital social workers they dropped the price considerably but still way more than we had. They were holding him until his debt was cancelled, so I went looking for money, thank you for those who helped with the bill, Red Viva, and Cristo Nacion.

skipbachman — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:13:15 +0000

Sunday night two boys I know well got in a fight and one stabbed the other in the chest with a knife, puncturing his lung. He is recovering in the hospital. The one who did the stabbing went to church with me on Sunday, after church I took the kids to lunch and the boys were bragging how many times they had been to church this month and how they didn’t fall asleep like last week. The one boy even gave me a review of the sermon and how we will face challenges in life and how we must persevere and face the challenges and not give up. The next day I spoke to him and he said he wanted to run and get away but he decided to stay and face his problem. He wanted to go and visit the boy in the hospital to ask forgiveness, but the boy is still angry and doesn’t want to see him. So he asked if I would bring him a note, Im proud that he is taking these steps towards reconciliation, my prayer is that the wounded boy can forgive and there will be no more violence.

skipbachman — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:30:44 +0000

One of my concerns working with street kids is becoming desensitized to the seriousness of their situations, because im so closely involved on a daily basis. I never want the things i see and deal with to become “normal” therefore passing it off as not being serious. I have to admit that everyday I encounter a situation with a street kid that would normally disturb or freak me out a bit, but because it has become so frequent I think I have let some things slide or been to slack. One thing is kids cutting themselves, all these kids have scars, multiple scars, proof of the inner pain and sickness. This is a subject that is beyond me and call me foolish for believing that prayer should be our first response. I believe that Jesus can heal the deep wounds. Join me in prayer if you want.

80 sum stitches

warfare

skipbachman — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:14:44 +0000

Friday night I was in the tunnel hangin out with the kids, after a while I noticed Vladimere was off on his own so I went and sat beside him. He was sniffing glue (which is normal, all the kids sniff glue), but I noticed something was different, he was looking at me but it was a blank stare. I tried talking to him, he replied in a deep grumbly voice, “you shouldn´t be here”. So I kept talking to him and he said, in his normal voice, that something was tormenting him all day and that he knew something was going to happen. I picked up on what was going on and told him we had to go and pray. We walked further away from the rest of the kids and started to pray. As soon as I prayed he began grumbling and snorting and staring in my eyes then the demon started speaking in another language. We spent the next half hour praying, I prayed in spanish, english and in the Spirit, until Vladimere was in his right mind and could declare that he belonged to God and he was his child. A peace came over him and he chucked his glue bottle and we went for a long walk proclaiming victory over the enemy. He went to church with me on Sunday and really enjoyed it and asked if he could come back next Sunday. I don´t think the work is done but he has made a stand against the enemy and has the desire to stop sniffing glue. I´m working him into the carpentry shop schedule this week, and some prayers from you folks out there would be great.

skills to pay the bills

skipbachman — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:51:03 +0000

the cuts on this kids chest is a way he deals with his anger and pain

For the past three weeks I have been taking street kids to work in a carpentry shop a friend of mine has. We are making bunk beds for an orphanage. Out of six kids there are three kids that show a lot of potential. Im really excited about the possibilities this could create for the kids. We started them out sanding and painting, than a couple days ago we put two kids on some machinery, you could see the pride those boys took in learning something other than begging and washing windows. I got a little emotional watching them get excited and taking pride in their work.

Im stoked because it gives me the opportunity to spend about 5 hours a day with two kids at a time. Its an hour bus ride one way, so thats one hour for them to come down off the glue, then three hours of doing something productive off the street in a positive environment, then another hour bus ride back. There are still some wrinkles to iron out but we will get there. A huge thanks to Nate for giving my kids this opportunity and being patient, and also paying them out of his own pocket. The only incident so far is one of the kids drank paint thinner, (it was an accident, and he’s okay)

morning thought

skipbachman — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:12:09 +0000

I love it when the opportunity to show the love of Jesus just lands in my lap.(one of the reasons I love being in a third world country) A few weeks ago i visited an aids hospital, well its really not a hospital but just a place where people go to wait out the rest of their days. I was visiting with a guy about my age with aids. I felt a little useless, I mean what can I do for this guy, so I asked him, he said his feet were cold and asked if I could cover his feet with the sheet on his bed. I asked if he had any socks, he didn’t. I asked him if he wanted mine. I was humbled as I took off my socks and put them on his feet, it was one of those moments when I regretted the millions of times I was ungrateful and complained about useless stuff. We prayed together then he asked if I could come back. I will go back, I think we underestimate how a little time and a pair of socks can minister to the broken.

no name for a post

skipbachman — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:56:39 +0000

A few weeks ago we washed the kids feet and put clean socks on them, the kids loved it and we loved doing it. Got to share how Jesus washed his disciples feet and told us to do the same, and we prayed for them while doing it.

Some great things have been happening here with the street kids. I don’t want to give away too much all in one post,( translation, I don’t have the attention span to write it all out right now). God is gracious and he is so good,, thats it.

midweek

skipbachman — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:49:51 +0000

I found out last week that Ramiros mother passed away. She was and alcoholic so we assume it was alcohol related. He has spent the last week at the home for street boys in Santa Cruz, so i struggled a bit with if I should tell him that she died and risk interrupting his progress at the home. I decided he should know and told him as soon as i got to santa cruz, (I have taken another boy from cochabamba to put him in the program, thats another story also) So i took Ramiro on a long walk to tell him his mother was dead, he didnt take it very well and just wanted to give up on everything. After about 24 hours of crying, counseling and praying he is in better spirits and is still here with us. I feel like i´ve taken a crash course in spititual warfare. Thanks for your prayers. Please pray for Ramiro, he is still in a fragile state.