Happy new year! We wish you all God's richest blessings this coming year. We give thanks for all of you and for God's presence with us in 2005. While we were here for only ten months the year was full of changes and projects that lead us to anticipate good plans for 2006.

First, on the home front, Jack is on summer vacation and loving swimming lessons and learning to ride his new bike. He passed kindergarten with all A's but one B… in Chilean history. Hmm, go figure.He is looking forward to some camping and fishing with Dad this summer and may let Mom and Will come sometime.

Will is up and running, literally. His one goal in life is to keep up with Jack. And that keeps us all busy. He already has words in both of his languages and has started distinguishing the appropriate language for the person he is speaking too.That's better than Mommy and Daddy do sometimes. After spending a long winter inside he loves to go outside and play everyday. It makes Barb happy to send two clean boys out to play in the morning and get two dirty ones back.

2005 The Year in Review

Last year was full of unexpected blessings. Barb was asked to teach a five-week seminar on self-esteem and conflict transformation to our women's group and Dwight preached several times each month in our local church and in the Mapuche area. We feel that God is calling us both into a more pastoral role than we have had before and than we have ever felt capable of performing. Even so, God has been faithful and given us all we need to do the work He has for us.

Of course, our main focus has been continuing the work we began last term with our Mapuche friends. Dwight meets with the men bi-monthly as a group and more often individually as he continues to work on his main goal, developing leaders within the community.

God always sends the right people to help us when we need them.We met Johannes, an Austrian missionary who happens to be a professional beekeeper.He helps out now on the technical aspects of beekeeping, and is putting an apiary of his own on a nearby site as a demonstration.

During the winter Barb stayed close to home with the boys, but continued to coordinate weaving orders for our women and made contact with two more groups who want to enter our weaving group.She has scheduled training sessions for these women during the upcoming winter.

Great Expectations

Part of our New Year celebration is marking a new stage in the development of our relationship with our Mapuche friends. Last week we were invited to attend a Ngillatun in the upcoming week. This is the religious ceremony of the Mapuche, held every two to four years. Outsiders ("wingka," in Mapudungun) are only allowed in by special invitation. One of Alfonso's neighbors invited us. He got to know Dwight when he attended the Mapudungun workshops which taught Mapuche to read their own language using the Bible as the textbook. Though this man is not a Christian, he appreciated Dwight's respect for the culture and we are honored by his invitation to observe this event.

These Mapudungun workshops were such a success, we are planning to do another series in 2006 in each of the three communities where we work and any other community that invites us.

Some IN/KY Region churches are making this possible financially.We just enjoyed a visit from a group of 14 from that region.

Other Mapuche projects in the works:

• A brochure explaining the Mapuche weaving project to be used by women in the US to promote the weavings in their local craft stores and boutiques.
• The weaving and beekeeping projects enter new communities.
• A photojournalism project with Mapuche youth take pictures of what they see that demonstrates their identity and calling.
• We will be working with our colleagues, the Bonillas, professors in the Baptist Theological Institute, to re-establish the Mapuche churches' Berea Institute, dedicated to giving contextualized theological training to Mapuche leaders.
• Work groups, work groups, work groups… We are looking forward to the team from the First Baptist of Loveland, Colorado who will be here for the last week of February and the first week of March. They are coming to share Christ through vacation Bible school, seminars on poverty, conflict transformation, sermon development, and dental care. Just to mention a few!
• Dwight gave quinoa seeds to one family and they are successfully growing it.Quinoa is a food that was always grown by the Mapuche until the Spaniards came.We are planning a project to promote its cultivation and consumption in Mapuche communities, for income and health benefits.Another new friend is a Mapuche nutritionist, who is going to work with us address diet-related health problems prevalent in Mapuche communities.
• Barb will working with the women from both Baptist conventions in Chile to plan a three day congress in which they will examine the status of women in Chile and look for God's leading as they commit themselves to minister to the needs women in Chile are facing today.
• We will participate in some training for Mapuche churches to plant churches in other communities.Part of the vision is that they lead development projects themselves (in weaving, beekeeping, etc.) as a form of Christ-like service in these communities.

That's not all, but its enough for this edition!

One thing we have learned is the importance of caring for ourselves, spiritually, emotionally, physically, and as a family.We feel called to cultivate the contemplative, spiritual formation and pastoral dimensions of our life and work as missionaries.

• Please pray for us as we seek spiritual direction and pastoral care for ourselves, only seeking to become more like Christ.

• Please pray for our sons, Jack and Will, that they may continue adapting to and thriving in the challenges and opportunities of being ‘Third-Culture Kids" in Chile.

• Pray for us as parents.

May God equip us all with every good thing for doing His will.May the joy of the Lord be your strength in 2006!

Grace and peace,

Barb and Dwight Bolick