Share: 
Barefootin'

A new guide to Lewes; Sticklers, Jesus and Colombia

October 25, 2013

Jason and Alejandra Stickler stopped by the office last week to say they’re taking their Christian ministry to Alejandra’s home town of Manizales in Colombia, South America.

Many will remember them from their wood-fired DiBonaventure’s Bakery, located behind a brick home on Kings Highway next to Parsell Funeral Home. For 16 years, Jason baked popular breads, pies, focaccias and rolls and made homemade soups. In addition to selling over the counter, with racks of loaves and rolls waiting for their turn in the oven, the couple also provided fresh bread to many of the restaurants in the area.

Jason was never shy about his strong Christian beliefs. He and Alejandra used a portion of their sales to support their Colombian Children’s Christian Charity in Alejandra’s native country, and Jason occasionally bought space in the Cape Gazette to exercise his constitutional freedoms and discuss his Bible-based beliefs.

After closing their business and selling their property, the couple enjoyed a several-months’ break in the mountains of West Virginia. They raised and butchered cows, sheep, pigs, and turkeys and roamed the hills foraging for wild mushrooms.

When they left Delaware’s Cape Region, they said they might come back in a couple of years and open another business after rejuvenating in the mountains. But the Lord works in mysterious ways. While there, they also made connections with three churches that had been doing missionary work in various countries around the world. Now they’re pooling their efforts to everyone’s advantage. The Colombian Children’s Christian Charity has evolved into the Colombian Bible Institute, and Jason and Alejandra will soon be raising spirits instead of bread. “The pastors from the churches here will be coming down three times a year, and we will support the work that they bring with them. Our main emphasis will be translating English Christian works into Spanish and training pastors there in good theology,” said Jason. “The prosperity gospel is rampant in Colombia. People there are taught to ask God for new cars and new houses. We’re much more Christo-centric. Our prosperity gospel teaches that you will be prosperous in heaven, not here. Suffering brings you closer to God and you can help yourself by helping others - by looking outside yourself, through Jesus, to others.”

“Humans can’t really love others,” said Alejandra. “They’re too sinful. But it is possible to love others through Jesus.”

They said they’re excited to continue on with the work of their churches. “There’s a huge need,” said Alejandra, “especially translating English books into Spanish.”

“We want to get people out of the churches and helping others - do something that demonstrates Christ’s love for people,” said Jason.

Alejandra said moving from Delaware to West Virginia was hard. “We liked it here, but we also came to like West Virginia, the mountains and the mushrooms. It was a totally different life than the last one.”

She said she’s excited but nervous about moving back to Colombia for four or five years. “I didn’t think I’d ever be going back. The United States is my home now.”

Insider’s guide to Lewes

Neil Shister of Lewes and Washington D.C. recently published one of the richest and most professional guidebooks to Lewes that has come along in a long time. The 160-page perfect-bound book, titled “Living Lewes - An Insider’s Guide,” features wide-ranging content and excellent photographs, maps and other graphics in a handy and attractive format designed and assembled by Rob Waters. Included are walking tours and garden tours, bicycling tours and automobile tours, restaurant and shopping guides and reviews, and natural and cultural history from horseshoe crabs, sharks and menhaden to lighthouses, fire towers, Native Americans, Dutch settlers and the University of Delaware’s iconic wind turbine.

Shister’s book is one that Lewes residents and visitors will be picking up for years to come in their homes and rental units as a guide to their explorations in a town that in 2013 is just 18 years away from the 400th anniversary of its founding.

Priced at $19.95, “Living Lewes” is available through Amazon or at www.LivingLewes.com. Shister plans to donate a portion of each sale to the Friends of Lewes Canalfront Park.

Subscribe to the CapeGazette.com Daily Newsletter