This is Dan and Daryl Collins with their 3 kids: Ben, Naomi, and Rachel... and they are an amazingly warm, fun, friendly, generous, and loving family. They serve as missionaries for World Venture in Bolivia where Dan works with local churches to help young people grow in their faith – mostly by spending time building relationships and mentoring them. Dan has the kind of authenticity, depth, and wisdom in his faith that you don’t expect to find in someone just past 30. Daryl has an aura of peace and faith that seems to sustain her as she raises three energetic children in Bolivia. The first few years were tough as they adjusted to Bolivia (language school, trips to multiple street stalls to buy groceries, having to move 4 times...). But despite the hardship, they are committed to at least 3 more years in Bolivia, possibly longer.When we visited the Collins' home, our first reaction was that it smelled like an American home. Living in the U.S, you don’t realize that homes have a particular smell in different countries (not good or bad, just different). And after 6 weeks of travel, the familiar smells of home were comforting... especially when Dan treated us to cheeseburgers and hot dogs from a local restaurant that knows how to please Americans. We knew Dan’s kids were used to hosting visitors when Ben (age 6) told us he lived “with my team and my mom and dad and sisters”. As we were leaving one afternoon, Ben was sad and started to cry. Through his tears, he was pleading “I want to go with my team!”
Dan went to the University of Oregon and invited a college group from First Baptist Church in Eugene (Joe's college group) to send a team to Cochabamba. After two overnight flights from Lima, we joined 8 Oregon Ducks who welcomed us into their team. It was fun for Joe to reunite with college friends and strut his Oregon Duck pride (including listening to an Oregon football game by audio over the Internet after midnight Bolivia time).
In Bolivia, we were in Cochabama at 8,000 feet. 
The first few days, we were winded just walking up 3 flights of stairs to our rooms at the Bolivian Baptist Union.But after a week, we walked the 1,399 steps up the mountain to El Cristo, a large statue of Christ similar to the one in Rio de Janeiro (but 0.2 meters taller, the Cochabambans will tell you). You can even climb up stairs inside the 40 meter statue. Lots of people say they have Jesus in their heart, but we’re among the few who can say they’ve been inside Jesus’ heart.
In Bolivia, we visited many churches to put on puppet shows and children’s programs (songs, games, crafts) or to help in practical ways, like painting. The Bolivians welcomed us warmly (often every person in the church service), cooked delicious local food (mostly meat, beans, rice, and juice) and worked even harder than we did on the painting projects. They painted the 20-foot high ceiling and let us do the walls.
On the streets and in churches, we saw many women dressed in traditional Bolivian clothing with bowler hats. The average height of the women is about 4-foot-nothing. Mothers often carry infants and toddlers on their backs by wrapping them in colorful blankets. 
This woman worked at one of the churches and graciously posed for a picture. Later, we got word that she wanted a copy.
Of course, the really big news is that David bought a guitar in Bolivia and is well on his way to becoming a rock star. Or at least, that's what he keeps telling us :)While we were in Cochabamba, the city had a huge parade where we got to see some elaborate costumes and dancing that didnt look like any 4th of July Parade I've ever seen... unless I was having a nightmare.
One of the highlights was visiting Oruro, a mining town at 12,000 feet founded when the Spanish discovered silver there in 1538. We went on a tour of one of the old mines. If you click the picture to enlarge it, you'll see the Tia (or "Uncle") god in the background that the miners asked to protect them every day by leaving coins or alcohol or tobacco as an offering. The day we were there, the Tia god had a lit cigarette in its mouth. It was very eerie.
Jhonny Oruzco, pictured here, grew up near Oruro and worked in the mines from 17 to 22 until he was almost crushed in a mining accident. After that, he never wanted to work in a mine again. He became a pastor at the oldest Christian church in Bolivia (in Oruro). He now works with the Bolivian Baptist Union and is one of Dan Collins’ primary ministry partners.Jhonny told us that the Protestant (non-Catholic) church has only existed in Bolivia for about 100 years. As recently as 1947, several Baptist missionaries were killed by a mob near Oruro for their beliefs. Jhonny took us to the memorial crypt at the Oruro Cemetery to see where they are now honored as martyrs. Their deaths ignited a movement that spurred the Christian church to grow in Bolivia.
Norman Dabbs, a Canadian, was the leader of those missionaries. About 10 years ago, Norman Dabbs’ widow asked Jhonny to find her husband’s remains and cremate them. After a lengthy search, Jhonny found them in a pauper's grave. With no money or means for cremation, Jhonny poured gasoline on the remains and burned them. He gathered Norman Dabbs ashes and brought them to Oruro where he raised money for the memorial. As we stood in the crypt, Jhonny removed a tile in the floor and lifted an urn with Norman Dabbs ashes. It was a powerful experience to see the urn and the mural on the wall depicting the killing of the missionaries. It was even more powerful to hear Jhonny tell the story, and to know that this former miner turned pastor was helping churches all across Bolivia because of a man he never met, but who he cremated and now honors with a memorial in Oruro.
After such a meaningful time in Bolivia with an American team we were sad to leave... but we were excited to go to Brazil to partner with Cidade dos Meninos (City of Youth), a community for about 200 former street children. On to Sao Paulo...
- Steve
