The Constant Provider

Once upon a time God put a lovely lady on this planet (specifically in the USA), gave her a brilliant husband and them both a burning passion for bringing His Kingdom to earth. Her name was Charlotte. Charlotte and her husband were called to Central and South America as missionaries travelling in any transport available and sleeping mainly in tents to ensure they reached the people in the most rural areas with the Gospel. When Charlotte was blessed with two boys and a girl the couple managed to raise their children on the mission field, understanding the importance of completing their purpose and mission. However, sadly Charlotte’s husband was taken from her at a young age to return home to his Father in Heaven. Charlotte was left alone with her children, but never had she heard the voice of God more clearly. And the country he was calling her was back to beautiful Guatemala, where she and her husband had already set up a successful feeding programme for poor kids.

Charlotte returned to the country she had once travelled with her husband, her heart full of passion for the many children who were lacking in material things, love or care due to poverty or the devastation of the continuous guerrilla war in the country. Eventually God showed Charlotte an area of isolated land in the countryside outside Guatemala that He wanted her to buy and use to help some of the thousands of children that were war orphans. So, she did what she was told. She bought the lifeless, waterless piece of empty land and began to do what she did best; pray. To the disbelief and shock of the builders Charlotte employed God provided her with fresh running water, a church building, land for the children to play in, several gorgeous buildings fit to home orphan boys, girls, widows and volunteers. Over the years Charlotte officially adopted 78 children in total. They were raised as a family rather than an institution, with help from her own biological children and volunteers, local and international.

During their time there they witnessed countless miracles and lived day to day relying on God’s provision. But as the Bible tells us, provide He did. Every one of the 78 children wanted for nothing materially, emotionally or spiritually. They attended the best school in the area, had nice clothes and things and were always well fed, guided and most importantly loved.

Sadly, as with the rest of the world, there is much greed and violence in Guatemala. One terrifying night the boy’s house was surrounded by a gang of armed men wanting to rob the place, regardless of who they might have to hurt or kill in order to do this. As they began to run at the weak wooden doors to the building with a large tree trunk the petrified carers and children in the building did what they did for everything they needed, and got down on there knees and began to pray. But not just weak words, these were people that relied in faith and they prayed with complete belief in the power of their God. Despite the lack of strength in the doors, the men were unable to break through them. Seeing one of the children looking out of one of the windows on the top floor, one of the gang members shot at the young boy. The bullet of course flew easily through the wooden walls of the house, but as it shot towards the boy’s knee it suddenly stopped in it’s tracks, and without leaving a mark on the child, the bullet fell to the ground! Excited, the little boy picked up the bullet to tell his friends and family that hadn’t already seen what had happened, about how his God had saved him.

Meanwhile, downstairs one of the other gang members had managed to break through one of the windows and was currently crawling into the empty downstairs room. However, as he entered the (what was thought by all at the home to be an) empty room, he suddenly saw before him something that God only knows about. Whatever it was, it terrified him to his core and sent him and the rest of his gang screaming in fear, guns in hand, away from the building.

A few years later there was another hold up in the home as a local gang managed to break into the building were Pastor Debbie (Charlotte’s daughter), Pastor Alvaro (Debbie’s husband) and their children lived. When the gang approached the door Pastor Alvaro steeped out of his house to meet them in an attempt to keep them from his family inside. However this angered the trigger-happy gang leader and without much thought he held the gun inches from the Pastor’s head and shot him. Alvaro fell to the floor, his face covered in blood, leaving Debbie shocked, terrified and more than anything, angry. However, she was more shocked when a few minutes later he stood up again completely unharmed! The shooter literally turned round to him and said “I just killed you”, totally confused in the presence of God. The gang made it away with lots of the valuables, but the van they stole was returned a few days later and the gang were caught and sent to jail (just as Charlotte prophesised at the time of the robbery). After the gang had left, Debbie and Alvaro studied the wall behind where he had been when he was shot. Not only had the bullet clearly hit the wall, despite apparently missing his head, the route it had taken from the gun went directly through the exact space he had been kneeling. The only scar Alvaro was left with from the attack was the marks of pieces shrapnel that made the shape of a cross around his eye, leaving his eye completely unharmed.

There are many more stories of miracles and provision that Charlotte and her friends and family could tell you, but I can’t possibly write down even the few that we have been told so far. Thankfully, she is being encouraged to write a book to share her amazing life with everyone. So we will let you know when we hear more news about this.

When the 78 children Charlotte adopted grew up, she knew it was time to shut the home, as she was never called to run an orphanage, but just to raise the children she was given. The land is now used as another church and also for a children’s church on a Saturday for the many local children that needed a place to learn about God. It is also used for retreats for different missions teams as the area in which it is situated is very beautiful and relaxing.

For a short while Charlotte was sent to the Ukraine and Russia church planting, but it wasn’t long before God put Guatemala back on her kind heart. However, this time the need she was called to was the many thousands of people that live on the streets in Guatemala. So, faithful as ever, Charlotte returned to Guatemala and with the help of her daughter and husband (Pastor Alvaro and Debbie, that we are living with) and others within the ministry (including Jan that we spend most of our time with), she began to visit these people where they lived on the streets. They arrived in cars full of hot soup, coffee, sandwiches and the love of the Gospel. Over time they befriended many, provided for more and brought so many to know the loving life that was meant for them.

After some time Charlotte realised that they could reach more people if they had a place they could gather. God provided a huge building with a large courtyard, rent free in the perfect area for the homeless people to reach, volunteers, food and a brilliant leader (Jan). And in 2001 the Lord’s Kitchen was born; the first “soup kitchen” in Guatemala. However, Gyseppi, a man trained in homeless ministry by Charlotte, still continues to go out on the streets 3 nights a week the same way they did all those years before, bringing warm food, and an even warmer heart.

Working here with these people is a real reminder that God doesn’t just exist; He doesn’t just love you; He is powerful and waiting to look after you. You just need to be willing to let Him.

Jenn xx
(sorry about the lack of photos again, the connction really isn't great for uploading, will try get some up soon!)

A story of hope: Nabakooza Shivan

Soul Touch continue to thank God for the privilege it is to have so many friends and family in Dwelling Places, Uganda. We are continually blessed and encouraged by the way that they show love, love, love to children! Dwelling Places, we love you and feel so inspired by you as you witness the love of Christ to people all over the world! Praise God for what he has done and is still to do! x

Nabakooza Shivan is a six-year-old girl who was diagnosed several years ago with a congenital heart defect called Patent Ductus Arteriosus. This means she had a hole in her heart that should have closed at birth. If left untreated, this condition could cause fluid to build up in the lungs, leading to heart failure and eventually death. Shivan is small for her age, appearing to be about three years old. In addition, Shivan is deaf and mute. It is still unknown whether this is related to her heart condition or not. She was receiving treatment from Mulago Hospital, and they had advised surgery some years back but Shivan’s parents were unable to raise the money—totalling 900,000 Ugandan Shillings (£250 or $400) at that time. Shivan’s condition continued to deteriorate and therefore started medication to dispose of excess fluid in her body. Although Shivan was not recruited onto the Dwelling Places program, we rejoice that through our extended services to the community she has a bright future. We greatly appreciate Dr. Allan and the Kilkeel team for their selfless giving.

In June this year, the Health Department at Dwelling Places held an outreach clinic in the Katwe slums which Shivan attended. She was in the care of her aunt who has been supported by Dwelling Places on the Family Empowerment Program. Dr. Allan Poots from Northern Ireland was there at the time to examine Shivan. He referred the young girl for further tests at Mulago Hospital.By this time, the operation’s cost totalled 2,405,000 Ugandan Shillings (£670 or $1070). The funds were donated by Dr. Allan and the team who came from Kilkeel Church in Northern Ireland. Shivan finally went for surgery on the 13

th of September, and the operation was successful. She spent two days in the Intensive Care Unit after surgery, three days in the main ward, and then she was discharged on the 18th of September. On the 21st she went back for the stitches to be removed. She has completely recovered from the operation and is a joyful and active child.

Dwelling Places

‘Until every child has a chest to rest his head on and a place to call home’

Amy Schmidt Concert

Upcoming star Amy Schmidt from Nebraska in America, came to Wallace High School and did a mini concert for the students. It was a great success despite short notice. Her easy listening style got everybody listening and tapping their feet to the rhythm. Many of the young students asked for her autograph, and got their pictures taken with her. It wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for the well organised and quick thinking members of Soultouch, thank you Amy and good luck for the future!

The Lords Kitchen(sorry can't upload pics from here :( )

We spent our last Saturday in Oruro teaching the teenagers ceilidh dancing, once we had successfully trained them in the Canadian Barn Dance and the Dashing White Sergeant we demonstrated for the church dance teacher. After our performance she asked us if we would be willing to dance during the Sunday morning service! I was slightly nervous as ceilidh dancing is quite tiring at the best of times, but thousands of feet above sea level it’s somewhat harder!!!! But of course Jenn and I agreed to take part... fun was had by all and we were surprised when the congregation to begin to clap along!
Later in the week we spent some time painting a mural with the children on the wall at the Arbol del Angel centre... was a great day, we were given free reign so we painted a scottish girl with a bolivian girl and further along we painted the whole world in God's hands.
The day before we were due to leave Oruro we had an opportunity to visit the prison in Cochabamba, a four hour bus journey from Oruro. We left at 4am for the bus terminal, well wrapped up as Oruro is rather chilly at night. We arrived in Cochabamba around 9am and headed for the prison offices to meet with some of the staff. I’m afraid our Spanish is fairly limited so we’re not sure exactly what was discussed at this meeting but everyone was very friendly and we got a coke! After that 6 of us jumped in a four seater taxi for a half hour drive to the prison, it was an experience... we arrived at the prison entrance, our passports and bags were checked, now all that was left was a body check followed by a smiley face stamp (seriously!) before we were allowed to enter.
The prison was much more open and nicer than the one in Oruro. We were there to visit a man with children living Oruro who attend the Arbol del Angel (Angel Tree) project. The staff told him stories and delivered some letters from his children, his eyes filled up as he explained he’s been there for 2 years and had 3 to go, it’s such a long time when his 3 children are so young, all of them are still of primary school age. He took some paper to write replies to his daughter and sons. While he was writing I had an opportunity to do a spot of people watching. There were so many young families. Dad’s in prison and mum’s bringing children in to visit them. One woman had a new born baby with her and when she handed him to his father his face lit up, I can’t imagine what that must feel like for either of them. I spotted a few more families and couples spending the only quality time they would get in full view of everyone before I noticed a young family, husband wife and son playing and talking. A few moments later the woman turned around to reveal a heavily pregnant tummy! It’s such a sad place to be! This was a ‘nice’ prison, but nothing can ever replace these moments that families are missing out on, fathers missing the birth of their children or being around to help with the other kids while mum’s are carrying. It was a sad day, but beautiful to be part of that small piece of communication provided by Arbol del Angel.
Next day we left for La Paz where we planned to visit Hossana and Nelson after his operation. Unfortunately his operation had been cancelled as he has bronchitis and they need to wait until he has fully recovered from that before he goes through surgery. Please pray that the operation is a success. We were sad to have missed them in La Paz but took advantage of the time and had an early night so we were fresh for our three plane rides the following morning.
Our first flight was from La Paz, Bolivia to Lima, Peru. We had a short wait there which was spent in the transfers line to have our bags scanned, what we were supposed to have done to our bags during a flight I don’t know. Our next stop was in San Jose, Costa Rica. It didn’t take long before Jenn sniffed out a Cinnabon where we spent the next 5 hours.... not eating the whole time!
We arrived in Guatemala around 8pm, we were collected at the airport by Pastor Alvaro and Debbie, his wife. They brought us to their beautiful home, which is provided by a member of their congregation, where Debbie had organised space for Jenn and I to unpack, having done a fair bit of travelling herself she had thought of everything. She put the hot water on and left us to get washed and ready for bed. Before we went to sleep she spent a little bit of time chatting with us, but we were ready for an early night after a long day.
The next morning we were up and ready for church, we were introduced to Janet who was going to translate for us during the service. We were excited as this was going to be the first sermon we would have understood since Argentina! We weren’t disappointed!!! After the service we went for a famous Guatemalan Pollo Campero (Country Chicken), which lived up to it’s excellent reputation!!!! This was followed by a dulce de leche (caramel) ice cream and a relaxing Sunday afternoon lounging in the house.
The last few mornings we’ve spent in the church painting walls which are damaged with dampness after the worst floods Guatemala has ever seen. Jenn and I are fairly practical so it’s nice to see the instant result of our labour ;)
We’re also both very much people’s persons so the highlight of our day is spent in the afternoon at the Lords Kitchen, a homeless mission in Guatemala City, feeding between 450 and 750 people daily. It’s an amazing experience, there’s such a variation of people. Some individuals have just always lived on the streets, some have become homeless through circumstances and some have ended up there through drug or alcohol problems. I was very impressed with how everyone was treated as individuals and how everyone is so well respected. There was even staff members there to help people who couldn’t manage (due to too many kids, disabilities or even one too many) to their tables. The relationships between the staff and community are quite inspiring, they all seem to know one another and the staff clearly have a huge passion for what they are doing there. We’re both feeling energized and are very much looking forward to spending the next couple of weeks volunteering here!
Oh another bit of good news is that a fundraiser was held by my amazing family last Friday evening. The night raised £900, much more than we were expecting or even hoping for! It means we are almost there with the money needed to complete the trip so thanks so much to everyone who was involved in the evening, whether you donated prizes, helped with the organising or showed up. We really do thank God for his provision this year and for the encouraging, caring and generous family and friends Jenn and I have been blessed with! God only knows we could never have done it without you!
Laura xXx

Heroes behind bars

“Mammy!” is not the word you would expect to echo around the cold tall walls of a prison. However, sadly that is the case here in Oruro in Bolivia. With the lack of the same social care we benefit from in the UK, children who have criminal parents here often have nowhere else to go and so if they cannot live with a relative and both parents are in jail (which seems to be the case all too often), or if they depend on only one parent, then when that parent gets sent to jail so does the child. The result is a “mother’s courtyard”, a small courtyard in the prison where children live in small rooms with their siblings and mother for the duration of her sentence. The children still attend school and are able to leave the prison when collected by someone, but of course this is far from the life they should be leading. Never can they be walked to school by their parents, or have them smiling in the audience at a school play, their surroundings are cold and grey, without grass or a park to play on in sight, and the idea of inviting friends home for dinner is as crazy as the idea of children in prison.
Laura and I have been working with a project here in Oruro called Angel Tree (or Arbol del Angel in Espanol). This project was set up in Oruro by a woman called Gabriela, a lawyer who saw the need of the children in the prisons all too often during her visits with clients. Arbol del Angel have a centre on the back of their church that children with parents in prison or children who live in the prisons can come to every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for help with their homework, some Bible teaching, lunch, games, snacks, emotional support and social time with children in similar situations to their own. The centre is absolutely brilliant, with great resources, good moral and health values and run by a brilliant, caring team. They provide the children with much needed structure, confidence building and understanding relationships. This is essential for these children as I’m sure we all know that it can be all too easy for children in such situations to follow in their parent’s footsteps. And even forgetting all these benefits, the centre is a safe building full of colour and laughter, a million miles from their prison homes.
During our stay here Laura and I have been able to visit the prison a couple of times. The first time was just to speak with the prisoners and meet some of the parents of the children. It was interesting for us as we were surprised by several things. For example the prisoners seem to be able to fill their rooms with hundreds of belongs, cover the walls in photos of naked women, but strangest of all for us was when Laura came across one prisoner’s collection of empty whisky bottles!
We had been told by the women from Arbol del Angel that we would be meeting lots of male prisoners and so we had to dress “sensibly”. So, taking this advice to heart maybe a bit too much, Laura and I didn’t wash our hair, wore fully covering clothes, no make up and barely washed our faces! But thankfully, all of the prisoners were not just friendly and nice to us they were all respectful and never made us feel uncomfortable. I think a lot of that respect came from the fact that we were with Arbol del Angel, which is a great testimony for the work they do.
The following day we returned to the prison (yes we were allowed out!) with the children for a performance. The prison were having some kind of entertainment day with art work and musicians visiting and our children had prepared a dance for the event. I was really excited about this as I’m sure it means a lot to both them and their parents that they can share something like this that with any other organisation they would miss. The kids all did a great job and seemed to enjoy the day and it was lovely for us to see which kids matched with which parents. Leaving however was a bit more difficult. Our hearts broke in two. One half wept for the many children we were leaving behind in their concrete home, and the other for the children and parents that struggled to once again say goodbye to each other. At that point I have to say I started to almost understand having the kids living in the jail. It was just so sad watching them leave their parents behind.
It’s really nice for us to be working with such a well-run and well-equipped project as we get to just enjoy the brilliant work they are doing and not worry too much about what they are lacking as we have done with some less developed projects. But one thing I do find difficult here is to remember it is never my place to judge others. I have always had the privilege of having loving parents that have more than provided for me both emotionally and materially, and so I know I can never properly empathise with or understand desperate poverty (which I’m sure is the reason at least some of these parents have ended up in prison) and I know for a fact that I would do my all to provide for my family, which isn’t always easy for everyone; but I also can’t understand how all of these parents have been forced to end up taking a route that leads to their child living in a prison or growing up with a parent in jail. However, as I keep reminding myself never to judge, especially what I don’t know, I am full of sorrow and compassion for these parents. I don’t have any children yet, but if I even think about how much I love other people’s children I can’t imagine how it must feel to feel like you are letting them down in such a huge way.
During our first visit I noticed the “comforts” in the material things allowed to the prisoners. But on our second visit I had a much deeper understanding of the situation and what they had been forced to give up as I watched a father of three dish out small pocket money to his kids and hug them goodbye as they clung to him at the gate. The scene looked normal for a prison gate, but when you looked closer and into their eyes, it was clear that these small children were hugging their Daddy who, like all other children, was their hero, and he was desperately clinging to his children’s innocent minds, knowing fully that one day that view may change and all he could do is wait in his concrete box hoping to be their hero once again. I am just so sorry things ever got so desperate for these families that it could end up like this, but I am fully confident the children will be stronger than they ever could be without Arbol del Angel, and for that I am thankful.
Jenn xx