El Jordán - Updates

Update From the Soria Family

2025-01-01T01:00:00+00:00

These last couple years have been stretching... Last year, was more stretching financially... We had trouble accessing El Jordán monies here in Bolivia and it caused stress for most of the year... This year, we have been stretched in another way. In March, El Jordán´s administrator had to leave for several months and then off and on for the rest of the year because of a family situation (his father had a brain hemorrhage which he never has recovered from and Melvin has to look after the family farm and also be on call for his mom and younger sisters). This left a heavier burden on myself and the whole team.... At the end of August, one of our workers, Tania, passed away unexpectedly, leaving another hole in our team.... Tania helped with the babies on the kids´ floor, made snacks, helped in cleaning and organization, and was a teacher and guide for our ladies in the baking area.... It has been a difficult season for all of us, workers and students alike.... and yet in all, we can give testimony to God´s faithfulness. Our team has had to come together even more. We all have had to learn new things and teach new things....

Now we are already on the last day of the year.... As we move into 2025, here are some prayer requests:

Update From the Soria Family

2022-10-24T23:00:00+00:00

Hello everyone! Thanks to each one of you who partner with us in one way or another! We appreciate you and thank God for you!

A few weeks ago, we had an “EXPOSITION” in El Jordan, where our ladies made food, crafts, baking and juice to sell and we invited neighbors, friends and churches to come and support our ladies in this very practical way. Workers, volunteers (30!) and our ladies worked together to sell over 250 plates of food, 100 bowls of soup, 100 liters of juice and hundreds of cakes, typical treats, jams, granola, and so much more.... What a blessed time! A living out of Ephesians 4:28 “Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.”

October 2021 Update from Bolivia

2021-10-23T23:00:00+00:00

OCTOBER 2021

Hello everyone!

You have a couple of choices for this update (link to PDF document below) ...

You can get a comfortable chair and a coffee and read it in one sitting ...
You can divide it into many days, reading one section at a time ...
You can just look at the pictures!

Thank you for your part in the ministry of El Jordan ...

Because HE is faithful,

Corina (for Marco, Keiden and Marlee... and everyone at El Jordan)

Marco & Corina Clements Soria
WhatsApp: 591-776-90452
El Jordan: www.KidsInBolivia.org

February 2021 Soria Praise & Prayer Update

2021-02-06T01:00:00+00:00

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

At El Jordan we walk alongside many women, who once were on the streets, but now are searching for a different life. Some still have quite hard hearts and we are asking God to soften those. Others, like Gabriela, are growing in their faith and walk with God… They stumble and they fall, they get up again. They need a hug and encouragement along the way. At El Jordan, we pray that we will have the wisdom and discernment to know how to “HELP” without getting in the way of them seeing JESUS in their life.

This is a PRAISE GOD! that was in our Spanish “El Jordan Prayer Whatsapp Group" (and then our El Jordan News Group) about Gabriela, our El Jordán student (single mom of 4 boys between 7 and 15) in who we have seen “FRUIT” in her life over the last year…

January 2021 Soria Praise & Prayer Update

2021-02-02T01:00:00+00:00

JANUARY 31, 2021

Thank you to each one of you who pray for and partner with us! You encourage us and accompany us… Here are some praise and prayer requests:

PRAISE:

We were finally able to change Marco´s truck for a “younger” one!!!! Yeah!! We are SO thankful!!! …and thrilled to not have to worry about mechanics every time we turn around! Thank God with us!
We have had a good start to our year at El Jordan - remembering our Mission’s Statement with our team so that we can move forward together… We have also been working through questions like: “What kind of help HURTS and what kind of help HELPS?” “What are the best ways to transmit our Biblical values and principles to our El Jordan families?”
The continued “COVID Restrictions” have given us the time to work on fixing up our workshops – putting a roof over our field and changing the synthetic grass, remodeling the “classrooms” for the boys, painting the shops with a more welcoming color and more! God has provided for us, every step of the way! (The synthetic soccer field is for our boys… but also to rent out to help to sustain our program.)

Update From the Soria Family

2020-12-28T01:00:00+00:00

A year ago, we had our “Christmas at Home” – where we invited three different groups of street ladies to El Jordan to get a taste of “HOME”, to build trust and bridges that we hoped would result in some of them getting brave enough to come back for Bible Studies and practical classes at El Jordan in the new year….

Well… we are almost at the end of that “new year”… and it looked much different for us that what we “planned” – but then:

In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9

What a comfort to know that the LORD establishes our steps! There are no surprises for Him! Our year was established by HIM ... and what a year it was!

Update from El Jordan - Bolivia

2020-07-07T23:00:00+00:00

First of all, I would like to ask for your prayers for our El Jordan family.... over the last 6 weeks, we have lost two very dear volunteers... (Susana our bread/baking teacher... Maria Elena our crochet teacher) while multiple volunteers have lost their mom, dad or family members...

Please pray for comfort and hope for the family and friends left behind... These losses affect our students as well... because these volunteers were much more than teachers to our girls, they were like family.... We also buried Mirtha, a lady who came for the first time to El Jordan at our "Christmas at Home" outreach... We had been helping her and her two boys (9 and 11) through this crisis time... but she passed away suddenly a week or two ago... leaving behind her two boys... In all of the 20 some years on the streets, no one knew anything about any family members.... Pray for her boys, Jorge and Jesus.... Another lady who came as a student for a short while at El Jordan long ago, at 32 years old was just left a widow - with 5 children (Clarix 15, Randy 12, Diana 6, Esteysi and Deysi 13 month old twins). There is so much pain.... so much sadness... so much need... Please pray for us at El Jordan to have wisdom in knowing how to serve the Lord during this time.... The crisis in Bolivia is far from over... and I only pray for God´s grace and mercy on Bolivia....

A Note from Claudia

2020-07-01T23:00:00+00:00

Last Wednesday, Claudia, our volunteer dentist from El Jordan, asked to come with me on my rounds to our families to deliver donations of vegetables… This is a little note and some stories from her
perspective from that experience.

My dear brothers and sisters,

I want to give my thanks to each and every one of you for giving to help so many families with groceries, diapers, milk – people who in many cases didn’t have anything to eat that day – and the help arrived just when they most needed it. We thank God for your lives and the great love and mercy that He put in your hearts. I want to encourage you not to tire of doing good and to listen to the sweet voice of the Father, talking to us through His Word.

Ephesians 4:28 - Stories from El Jordan

2020-04-16T23:00:00+00:00

“Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.” Ephesians 4:28

This is one of El Jordan’s theme verses… a reminder of what we desire in the lives of our students…. When they leave the life of the streets, addictions or easy money, we want them to work, living lives worthy of the gospel… However, it is easy to slide into the idea that an “honorable” goal for our students is that they rise up out of poverty… be more economically stable… and live “comfortable” lives…. There is nothing bad about those things… those things often happen when a person comes to know the transforming power of Christ in their lives. However, this verse reflects something deeper, more important…. “that they may have something to share with those in need.” If you go back a few verses, you can see that this is possible by knowing God, putting off the old self and putting on the new self, created to be like Christ Jesus.