Some of you are probably aware of the political situation in Bolivia. Five departments (equivalents of states) of the nine in Bolivia have expressed their desire to be autonomous: to elect their own governors and departmental authorities, to have more control over local schools, public services, etc., pretty much like in the U.S. The national, or central, government has expressed at various times that it is moving in that direction and is open to dialog, but their actions have consistently and without exception said the opposite. This has gone on for some time, and the five departments have become more and more agitated. Last week there was unrest here in Santa Cruz, mainly in the downtown area, and now there are problems in other areas as well. The differences go beyond political ideologies and include cultural and religious identities.
As a result of this continued unrest, South America Mission has decided to limit the number of missionaries in Bolivia by removing the single missionaries at this time. On Sunday morning, Katie Wells and I will be flying first to Lima and then to Pucallpa, Peru for a period of several weeks. We will be working with the SAM Academy there. Other single missionaries (Elliott Tait and Dana Wilson) were scheduled to go on Home Assignment later this year. They are now returning to the United States as soon as Monday and Tuesday. While this is difficult, we are grateful that the Mission staff have our best interest uppermost in their minds.
As you know, I have been living in the home of a missionary who is currently in the United States on Home Assignment. While I have felt very safe in Santa Cruz, and there has been no violence in the area where I have been living and working; I am concerned about leaving her home vacant. Fortunately there are Bolivians who will care for it in my absence.
Also, if you know me, you know I have a dog, Chiquito. The Lord has blessed me with another SAM family who love dogs and have agreed to keep Chiquito while I am in Peru. This is a clear blessing to me from the Lord. It puts flesh on the verse in Luke 12:6 where Jesus said the Lord cares for even sparrows that fall.
Please pray, especially for the country of Bolivia, the Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center, the missionaries still here and the believers who will be left. Ask for God's grace to be multiplied on them. Also, pray for Katie and me as we pack for an indefinite time, say our goodbyes and begin a new adventure. Help us to be confident in the words from Jer. 29:11, "'for I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
September 1, 2008
Happy Labor Day to those of you living in the U.S.! In Bolivia, Labor Day (Dia del Trabajador) is in May so we have the joy of working today on a normal schedule!
Things have been a little busy for me here, but I just couldn't let another week go by without up-dating my blog! I apologize for being a bit sporadic on my up-dates!
Things you can be praying for:
1. Last week I took my midterm exam for one of my classes and this Wednesday, I hope to take the other one. Finding time to get enough studying in continues to be a challenge. Fortunately, last week and this week I have been able to cut back on a few activities in order to have some extra study time. However, that isn't always the case and I am now down to about two months left to complete these courses with quite a bit of work yet to finish!
2. You may remember me asking for you to pray for Dalmiro as he seeks the Lord's direction to one day serve Him in India. The first step on his missionary endeavors will hopefully be to Abingdon, VA, my home supporting church. They have a mission's internship which would be a wonderful experience for Dalmiro, not to mention it would warm my heart to connect Bolivia with my hometown even in a small way! The most difficult part right now, will be getting a visa! The U.S. government doesn't hand them out easily and Dalmiro's chances don't look very good as there are some requirements that he doesn't currently meet (i.e. he is supposed to own a house here and have so many thousands of dollars in the bank to show that he has a real reason to return). However, I have seen God provide for others...and have no doubt that if this is His plan for Dalmiro, then He can work it out. Please join me in lifting Dalmiro up in prayer over the next few months as he schedules an appointment and then travels to US Embassy in La Paz for his meeting. (There is a picture of Dalmiro in the second picture at the end of this up-date.)
3. I am thoroughly enjoying being back in Special Education and I love my schedule/balance between school ministries and "other" ministries. Praise the Lord for that! On a school note...I'm being reminded of how difficult Special Education can be as I have several students who are truly struggling. I feel like we are struggling to get methods into place to help these students be successful and their parents are discouraged. Please pray for wisdom in working with these students as well as patience as we deal with their parents (who seem to appear constantly, sometimes at the most inopportune moments). Thank you for praying for the shipment the school has had waiting in customs. We were finally able to get that delivered last week and I unpacked boxes and got things put away last Friday! I'm so glad to have that chore behind me!
I know I promised pictures last week, but forgot to attach them! Sorry about that! I've posted a few below for your enjoyment (They're pictures from an outing with a few of the leaders in my church to explore a new area being developed outside of the city where our church is praying about doing some outreach)! Blessings to you all and thank you so much for your faithful support and prayers!
Things you can be praying for:
1. Last week I took my midterm exam for one of my classes and this Wednesday, I hope to take the other one. Finding time to get enough studying in continues to be a challenge. Fortunately, last week and this week I have been able to cut back on a few activities in order to have some extra study time. However, that isn't always the case and I am now down to about two months left to complete these courses with quite a bit of work yet to finish!
2. You may remember me asking for you to pray for Dalmiro as he seeks the Lord's direction to one day serve Him in India. The first step on his missionary endeavors will hopefully be to Abingdon, VA, my home supporting church. They have a mission's internship which would be a wonderful experience for Dalmiro, not to mention it would warm my heart to connect Bolivia with my hometown even in a small way! The most difficult part right now, will be getting a visa! The U.S. government doesn't hand them out easily and Dalmiro's chances don't look very good as there are some requirements that he doesn't currently meet (i.e. he is supposed to own a house here and have so many thousands of dollars in the bank to show that he has a real reason to return). However, I have seen God provide for others...and have no doubt that if this is His plan for Dalmiro, then He can work it out. Please join me in lifting Dalmiro up in prayer over the next few months as he schedules an appointment and then travels to US Embassy in La Paz for his meeting. (There is a picture of Dalmiro in the second picture at the end of this up-date.)
3. I am thoroughly enjoying being back in Special Education and I love my schedule/balance between school ministries and "other" ministries. Praise the Lord for that! On a school note...I'm being reminded of how difficult Special Education can be as I have several students who are truly struggling. I feel like we are struggling to get methods into place to help these students be successful and their parents are discouraged. Please pray for wisdom in working with these students as well as patience as we deal with their parents (who seem to appear constantly, sometimes at the most inopportune moments). Thank you for praying for the shipment the school has had waiting in customs. We were finally able to get that delivered last week and I unpacked boxes and got things put away last Friday! I'm so glad to have that chore behind me!
I know I promised pictures last week, but forgot to attach them! Sorry about that! I've posted a few below for your enjoyment (They're pictures from an outing with a few of the leaders in my church to explore a new area being developed outside of the city where our church is praying about doing some outreach)! Blessings to you all and thank you so much for your faithful support and prayers!
Monday, August 18, 2008
August 18, 2008
I think this is one of those weeks when I have so many things to share with you, that I'm afraid I won't be able to get them all in. I thought I would try to break them down into sections so that it would help me to organize my thoughts a bit. I also have a few pictures that I'll plan to post in this entry, but it may be tomorrow before they're actually available (I need to get them off my camera and onto the computer first). Anyway, moving on to God's presence in Santa Cruz...
Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center
School is off to a running start, last week was the first week of classes. I have not started working with students yet, as I need to wait until their regular schedules have been set before I can develop my schedule. That has been fine with me, however. I have plenty of things to keep me busy. We have already been exploring a couple of students who will need to be tested for our Special Education program to determine if there is a learning disability...which is part of my job. I am also busy completing informal reading inventories and giving advice as to the appropriate placement for specific students. The school is also awaiting a shipment of supplies which is being sent down from the states. I was asked to help with organizing that and working on getting it out of customs. It is a long and rather complicated process. I spent most of the day last Friday going through the shipment there in the customs warehouse with a couple of other workers from the school. We have to compare everything with the invoices that we have and give an account for each item. The next step is getting the invoices in order and turning them in...after that we may have to go back down and go through the boxes onces again with the customs representative. I'm praying that doesn't happen and that they let us get the things without going through it all again! Anyway...it has been an eventful week!
Church: La Restauracion (The Restoration)
Things have been a little difficult at church lately...not because of anything a specific person has done...only because we have several key leaders right now who are very sick or hospitalized due to surgeries. My pastor has begun joking that we should change the name of our church to "La Restauracion de los Operados" (The Restoration of the Operated!). In the last two weeks there have been at least 3 people to have surgeries and be hospitalized for varying lengths of time. One of them was our pastor's father, Leopoldo, who also serves as one of the associate pastors in our church. Another was my friend Beth HAuse who you may remember me mentioning before. The third was my friend Avelina's husband, Medardo. I know three doesn't seem like many...but let me try to put it in perspective for you. Our church only has about 50 active adults...so three of the most active definitely leave some big holes for the rest of us to fill. Not to mention...they've all been in different hospitals or clinics and things just take longer to do here. Even when I drive to go visit Pastor Leopoldo...it takes me anywhere from 30-45 minutes to drive there, park, and walk up the street to the hospital (due to traffic, not distance). Then the unexpected always happens. Friday night, I went and picked up a couple of guys who wanted to go with me to see him. We drove over there...to find out that the staff had thought visiting hours was a good time to change the dressing on his incision and to do his physical therapy so we weren't allowed to go in. We waited about an hour until we could actually see him. Most people here wouldn't stay for a 5-10 minute visit, typically you should stay for at least a half hour...if not longer. Then it took us closer to an hour to get back because we ran into heavy traffic and there was a broken down car at one point that backed things up! Anyway...all that to say...a visit that in the states you could easily do in an hour if you didn't live too far from the clinic...here frequently takes me 3-4 hours.
I did say that there were several people who have been out of commission. I only mentioned three here, because they're the ones that have been in the clinic...we also have had several people who have been sick or injured and are recuperating at home.
We've decided that this is getting a little old! We're all tired of visiting people in hospitals and miss having them ministering alongside of us. The pastor feels like he's spending all of his time going back and forth to the hospital for his dad so he hasn't had time to do the visitation with other church members that he normally does, which is discouraging. All in all, we could really use your prayers! I can't help but think that as a church...we must be doing something right or else Satan wouldn't be working so hard...yet I just pray that through it all we would continue to look to God for our source of strength and comfort! You can pray particularly for a service that we have coming up this Sunday night at 6:00. The pastor is calling it basically a Spiritual Renewal service and they're encouraging all of the congregation to be present. We will spend a lot of time in prayer and worship. I think it could be a great time for us as a congregation to really sit back and listen for God's voice and to bask in His presence.
Other
You may remember that I asked you to pray with me that Avelina would be open to doing a Bible study with me. I talked to her a couple of weeks ago and she was very open to it. Her day off is now set for Saturdays whereas before it used to rotate. We have not actually started the Bible study due to the fact that her husband had hernia surgery and is still recuperating. We talked about it again when I saw her briefly yesterday, so maybe by next weekend, we can get started on that.
I also have mentioned the outing I went on with the Professional Class English group. Tonight will be their first class for this semester. Although I will not be teaching right away, I plan to go and see how the classes are done and get to know the members a little more. We will start at about 7:30.
CIET classes start again this week! Again...due to illnesses...we are short-staffed for teachers. The director himself had surgery a couple of weeks ago...Pastor Leopoldo usually teaches in CIET but will not be able to this trimester...Jeff HAuses has not been feeling well for at least the last week if not longer...that really cuts down a large percentage of the CIET teaching staff! We might be off to a rocky start. Due to the Professional Class English Group...my English classes at CIET have been moved to Friday night so that I can continue helping in both.
Well, I guess that's it for this week. I'm sure I could think of more things to tell you about...but this is enough to keep you busy for awhile! Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers! They are particularly needed right now! Blessings to you all!
Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center
School is off to a running start, last week was the first week of classes. I have not started working with students yet, as I need to wait until their regular schedules have been set before I can develop my schedule. That has been fine with me, however. I have plenty of things to keep me busy. We have already been exploring a couple of students who will need to be tested for our Special Education program to determine if there is a learning disability...which is part of my job. I am also busy completing informal reading inventories and giving advice as to the appropriate placement for specific students. The school is also awaiting a shipment of supplies which is being sent down from the states. I was asked to help with organizing that and working on getting it out of customs. It is a long and rather complicated process. I spent most of the day last Friday going through the shipment there in the customs warehouse with a couple of other workers from the school. We have to compare everything with the invoices that we have and give an account for each item. The next step is getting the invoices in order and turning them in...after that we may have to go back down and go through the boxes onces again with the customs representative. I'm praying that doesn't happen and that they let us get the things without going through it all again! Anyway...it has been an eventful week!
Church: La Restauracion (The Restoration)
Things have been a little difficult at church lately...not because of anything a specific person has done...only because we have several key leaders right now who are very sick or hospitalized due to surgeries. My pastor has begun joking that we should change the name of our church to "La Restauracion de los Operados" (The Restoration of the Operated!). In the last two weeks there have been at least 3 people to have surgeries and be hospitalized for varying lengths of time. One of them was our pastor's father, Leopoldo, who also serves as one of the associate pastors in our church. Another was my friend Beth HAuse who you may remember me mentioning before. The third was my friend Avelina's husband, Medardo. I know three doesn't seem like many...but let me try to put it in perspective for you. Our church only has about 50 active adults...so three of the most active definitely leave some big holes for the rest of us to fill. Not to mention...they've all been in different hospitals or clinics and things just take longer to do here. Even when I drive to go visit Pastor Leopoldo...it takes me anywhere from 30-45 minutes to drive there, park, and walk up the street to the hospital (due to traffic, not distance). Then the unexpected always happens. Friday night, I went and picked up a couple of guys who wanted to go with me to see him. We drove over there...to find out that the staff had thought visiting hours was a good time to change the dressing on his incision and to do his physical therapy so we weren't allowed to go in. We waited about an hour until we could actually see him. Most people here wouldn't stay for a 5-10 minute visit, typically you should stay for at least a half hour...if not longer. Then it took us closer to an hour to get back because we ran into heavy traffic and there was a broken down car at one point that backed things up! Anyway...all that to say...a visit that in the states you could easily do in an hour if you didn't live too far from the clinic...here frequently takes me 3-4 hours.
I did say that there were several people who have been out of commission. I only mentioned three here, because they're the ones that have been in the clinic...we also have had several people who have been sick or injured and are recuperating at home.
We've decided that this is getting a little old! We're all tired of visiting people in hospitals and miss having them ministering alongside of us. The pastor feels like he's spending all of his time going back and forth to the hospital for his dad so he hasn't had time to do the visitation with other church members that he normally does, which is discouraging. All in all, we could really use your prayers! I can't help but think that as a church...we must be doing something right or else Satan wouldn't be working so hard...yet I just pray that through it all we would continue to look to God for our source of strength and comfort! You can pray particularly for a service that we have coming up this Sunday night at 6:00. The pastor is calling it basically a Spiritual Renewal service and they're encouraging all of the congregation to be present. We will spend a lot of time in prayer and worship. I think it could be a great time for us as a congregation to really sit back and listen for God's voice and to bask in His presence.
Other
You may remember that I asked you to pray with me that Avelina would be open to doing a Bible study with me. I talked to her a couple of weeks ago and she was very open to it. Her day off is now set for Saturdays whereas before it used to rotate. We have not actually started the Bible study due to the fact that her husband had hernia surgery and is still recuperating. We talked about it again when I saw her briefly yesterday, so maybe by next weekend, we can get started on that.
I also have mentioned the outing I went on with the Professional Class English group. Tonight will be their first class for this semester. Although I will not be teaching right away, I plan to go and see how the classes are done and get to know the members a little more. We will start at about 7:30.
CIET classes start again this week! Again...due to illnesses...we are short-staffed for teachers. The director himself had surgery a couple of weeks ago...Pastor Leopoldo usually teaches in CIET but will not be able to this trimester...Jeff HAuses has not been feeling well for at least the last week if not longer...that really cuts down a large percentage of the CIET teaching staff! We might be off to a rocky start. Due to the Professional Class English Group...my English classes at CIET have been moved to Friday night so that I can continue helping in both.
Well, I guess that's it for this week. I'm sure I could think of more things to tell you about...but this is enough to keep you busy for awhile! Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers! They are particularly needed right now! Blessings to you all!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Happy Bolivian Independence Day!
Due to the fact that it is a holiday in Bolivia...I'm taking advantage of the time to allow myself to be a bit lazy without being too lazy! I still have studying to do after all! I started the day by letting myself sleep in until 9:00! That was exciting! Then I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast while watching a movie. After that I read for a bit and enjoyed a catnap! Now I'll be doing a bit more studying before spending the evening with some friends!
The last few days I have been busily working on trying to get my classroom ready for school to start next week. My classroom this year is actually an old locker room that has been transformed into a classroom. Thanks to the team of young people from Atlanta that came down about a month ago...it looks really good! That got most everything finished up to the paint job! Typically the workmen at school will do the painting, but since we were already working on so much, I decided I wanted to paint it myself! That way I got to choose a color, rather than use the standard white! I had a few friends help me do most of the painting last Friday morning...cheap labor...all I did was buy lunch (which was chicken dinners - two pieces of chicken, rice, french fries, and soda - for all 5 of us plus 4 to go so 9 total...only about $20!!!! Not bad at all!)! Then I handled the touch-ups on Monday morning. After the hard work and an allergic reaction to what we assume was the paint thinner, which caused me to break out in a rash and get itchy...I'm ready to hang up the paint brushes for awhile! Now if I can track down some furniture, we'll be all set to role! I'll be sure to post some pictures next week once things are in place!
On Sunday I went along for a day outing with a few other missionaries. They have been working on ministering to the professional or upper class in Bolivia. One of the main aspects of their ministry is an English group that they have on Monday nights to teach them or help them work on their English. They took a break for a few months, but will be starting up again at the end of this month. I have been asked to consider working with this ministry...so we've moved my CIET English class to Friday nights at the start of the next trimester in a few weeks and I will begin going to the English group on Monday nights. This will be particularly helpful to them since one of the teachers will be going on furlough in October. Anyway, the day outing was just a chance for me to get to know some of the students or families that attend the group. Many of them are not Christians so this is an excellent way for us to share the gospel and God's love with them! Please continue to pray for this ministry. I have a few pictures posted below and will continue to share more about this a little later on as we begin classes again.
I guess those are the highlights for this week! Thank you so much for your continued prayers! They are appreciated! Enjoy the day as we are enjoying ours here!!!!!
The last few days I have been busily working on trying to get my classroom ready for school to start next week. My classroom this year is actually an old locker room that has been transformed into a classroom. Thanks to the team of young people from Atlanta that came down about a month ago...it looks really good! That got most everything finished up to the paint job! Typically the workmen at school will do the painting, but since we were already working on so much, I decided I wanted to paint it myself! That way I got to choose a color, rather than use the standard white! I had a few friends help me do most of the painting last Friday morning...cheap labor...all I did was buy lunch (which was chicken dinners - two pieces of chicken, rice, french fries, and soda - for all 5 of us plus 4 to go so 9 total...only about $20!!!! Not bad at all!)! Then I handled the touch-ups on Monday morning. After the hard work and an allergic reaction to what we assume was the paint thinner, which caused me to break out in a rash and get itchy...I'm ready to hang up the paint brushes for awhile! Now if I can track down some furniture, we'll be all set to role! I'll be sure to post some pictures next week once things are in place!
On Sunday I went along for a day outing with a few other missionaries. They have been working on ministering to the professional or upper class in Bolivia. One of the main aspects of their ministry is an English group that they have on Monday nights to teach them or help them work on their English. They took a break for a few months, but will be starting up again at the end of this month. I have been asked to consider working with this ministry...so we've moved my CIET English class to Friday nights at the start of the next trimester in a few weeks and I will begin going to the English group on Monday nights. This will be particularly helpful to them since one of the teachers will be going on furlough in October. Anyway, the day outing was just a chance for me to get to know some of the students or families that attend the group. Many of them are not Christians so this is an excellent way for us to share the gospel and God's love with them! Please continue to pray for this ministry. I have a few pictures posted below and will continue to share more about this a little later on as we begin classes again.
I guess those are the highlights for this week! Thank you so much for your continued prayers! They are appreciated! Enjoy the day as we are enjoying ours here!!!!!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
July 30, 2008
I'm so sorry for the delay in up-dating my blog! I didn't get to it last week and then again missed the opportunity this week. I decided I should go ahead and give you a brief up-date of what's going on and fill you in on a couple of up-coming things so that you could be praying specifically for those things.
Today, I finished working with other SAM missionaries in hosting a Vacation Bible School for the English speaking community. I was in charge of teaching 1st - 2nd grades, however, due to the lack of available teachers in order to offer a class for the Pre K and Kinder grades...I also had a few students from those grade-levels who really wanted to participate. By the end of the week I had about 20 students. In short we talked about the truths God has given us. The first day was spent talking about the truth of God's Word. We discussed basic facts about the Bible as well as how we can know it is true. The next two days we talked about the truth of God's Son, Jesus. We not only talked about who Jesus is and why we can believe in Him, but we also talked about what He did for us and provided an opportunity for all to accept Him into their lives. The fourth day was then used to talk about the Spirit of Truth. The fifth and final day was used to talk about the importance of sharing these truths with others. After that we had a closing ceremony as well as games and snacks for the families. It was a lot of fun and a real blessing, however, it has left me pretty tired.
Over the next week I need to finish getting my classroom painted and setup so that I'll be ready for the start of the new school year. There are meetings for the teachers on Aug. 7 and 8, then the first day of classes is Aug. 11. I will be teaching only part-time at the school...half days every day. Please pray for teachers and students alike as we work to get back into the swing of things!
I just got word that my friend Avelina has her day off tomorrow. I have been feeling God prompting me toward beginning a Bible study with her. Her days off are pretty sporadic so she isn't able to make it to church very often. I think it could be a great encouragement to her and a wonderful experience for both of us. I plan to go see her tomorrow so that I can talk about it with her. I have a Bible Study book entitled "Vive lo que Crees" (Live What you Believe) that I would like for us to do together. Please pray for our initial meeting tomorrow as well as diligence to follow through with subsequent meetings.
Thank you as always for your prayers...even when I get distracted and fail to keep you up-dated! Your prayers and encouragement mean so much to me!
Today, I finished working with other SAM missionaries in hosting a Vacation Bible School for the English speaking community. I was in charge of teaching 1st - 2nd grades, however, due to the lack of available teachers in order to offer a class for the Pre K and Kinder grades...I also had a few students from those grade-levels who really wanted to participate. By the end of the week I had about 20 students. In short we talked about the truths God has given us. The first day was spent talking about the truth of God's Word. We discussed basic facts about the Bible as well as how we can know it is true. The next two days we talked about the truth of God's Son, Jesus. We not only talked about who Jesus is and why we can believe in Him, but we also talked about what He did for us and provided an opportunity for all to accept Him into their lives. The fourth day was then used to talk about the Spirit of Truth. The fifth and final day was used to talk about the importance of sharing these truths with others. After that we had a closing ceremony as well as games and snacks for the families. It was a lot of fun and a real blessing, however, it has left me pretty tired.
Over the next week I need to finish getting my classroom painted and setup so that I'll be ready for the start of the new school year. There are meetings for the teachers on Aug. 7 and 8, then the first day of classes is Aug. 11. I will be teaching only part-time at the school...half days every day. Please pray for teachers and students alike as we work to get back into the swing of things!
I just got word that my friend Avelina has her day off tomorrow. I have been feeling God prompting me toward beginning a Bible study with her. Her days off are pretty sporadic so she isn't able to make it to church very often. I think it could be a great encouragement to her and a wonderful experience for both of us. I plan to go see her tomorrow so that I can talk about it with her. I have a Bible Study book entitled "Vive lo que Crees" (Live What you Believe) that I would like for us to do together. Please pray for our initial meeting tomorrow as well as diligence to follow through with subsequent meetings.
Thank you as always for your prayers...even when I get distracted and fail to keep you up-dated! Your prayers and encouragement mean so much to me!
Monday, July 14, 2008
July 14, 2008
Greetings from sunny Santa Cruz! I apologize for not up-dating my blog last week. On Monday I drove up to the mountains for the day. The trip didn't exactly go as planned, but I still enjoyed the day. It meant, however, that I was pretty busy on Monday...then I had a meeting and some other running around to do on Tuesday...by the time Wednesday rolled around I was completely exhausted...then the closer I got to the end of the week, the better it sounded to just wait and write an up-date today...so here I am!
I have a couple of ministry highlights from this week that I would like to share with you.
On Saturday afternoons from 4:00 to 5:00...my church has what they call an "hora feliz" (happy hour) for the children of the neighborhood. We play games or make a craft, present a Bible story and verse, sing songs, and have a snack...basically Vacation Bible School only on Saturday afternoons! The kids love it and we have anywhere from about 20 to 40 kids. All those who want to help with this are divided into groups so that each group is in charge about once per month. This past Saturday it was my groups turn. We have begun studying the Life of Jesus with them and the lesson presented by my group was called "Los Magos Adoren a Cristo" (The Wisemen Adore - or Worship - Christ). It was a lot of. I'm looking forward to the ways in which God can use me further in that ministry both with the children as well as with the other adults in my group.
Also, after the Sunday morning service I sat down to talk to one of the girls from the youth group, Eva. She hadn't made it to the youth activities on Saturday night so I told her that we missed her and made a couple of small talk type comments, which is usually all there is time for on Sunday morning. Within minutes she began to open up to me and share about some difficulties she is having at home. It takes her an hour to get to church since youth group doesn't end until between 9 and 9:30, she arrives pretty late at her house. That is a concern for her parents, understandably, but they also don't want her spending the night with some of the other girls in the youth group and then going home on Sunday afternoon. They are believers, but according to her, have lost a lot of the faith they once had as they aren't going to church or walking with the Lord on a regular basis. She is also studying in one of the universities and is often there taking classes...which I gathered was a topic of disagreement with her parents as well. I won't go into any more details, but she could certainly use your prayers...both she and her parents. Eva and I haven't had many opportunities to talk before so I was especially thankful that she felt comfortable to open up and talk to me, even amidst her tears. I also appreciated the opportunity to pray with her and look forward to the ways in which God will continue to use me in her life. The girls from the youth group will be coming to have a sleep-over at my house on Friday night and I am really praying that her parents will allow her to come. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity for us to reach out to her.
There is a team here this week from a church near Atlanta. A couple of the days they are working out at the Learning Center, mainly helping to get my classroom ready! It's been exciting and I'm really appreciating their ministry here! I spent Saturday with them at the school and will be there with them again this Thursday. The rest of their week is spent working in a place called Posa Verde, it is one of the camps where the Aeyore (an Indigenous group of people) live.
The rest of my week is spent doing quite a bit of visitation, which I love! Tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to visit a friend from church. Her son was born a week after my nephew, you may remember me talking about her. I plan to go hang out with her and her kids for a little while. I also have some English tutoring planned for the afternoon. On Wednesday, I have breakfast with one friend and lunch with another! Crazy I know! In between visitations I'll be working on my classes and helping to take care of a little girl from church. Her grandfather had surgery this morning on his back so her parents have been busy helping her grandparents at that hospital. She spent the better part of the day with me today and plans to go visiting with me tomorrow afternoon. Thank you so much for your continued prayers for my ministry here. It is exciting to see how God is working!
Monday, June 30, 2008
June 30, 2008
Greetings once again from Santa Cruz! I'm afraid I don't have very much to share and it is getting late so I will just give you a quick up-date for this week!
Highlights from this past week:
1. I spoke at my church on Sunday morning. It was our missions Sunday led/organized by Dalmiro Ortiz one of the pastors at our church. Dalmiro is a Bolivian pastor who feels God calling him to overseas ministry in India. He would like to complete the mission's internship program that my home church, Abingdon Bible Church, offers...starting after Christmas. After that he hopes to serve the Lord as a missionary in India. We are very excited for Him and are praying that God will provide for all of his needs both financially as well as through the paperwork he would need to go to the states and then to India. Please join us in praying for him!
2. On Sunday afternoon, the youth from my church went to the children's hospital to hand out teddy bears that had been handmade by a retirement village in the states and sent down to missionaries here. We visited around the hospital visiting with the patients, praying for them, and where God opened doors...shared the gospel! It was an exciting time and I enjoyed being a part of it! It is so exciting to see God working in the lives of our youth!
Those are the two main highlights from this week! On Friday I will join the SAM family as well as a team that is here for a 4th of July picnic! This particular team comes every year and brings bratwurst and I'm not sure what else...but things we can't find here! It's a great time of fellowship and the team helps to make it extra special! I'll conclude this up-date with a few pictures of my house that I recently took...Enjoy! Thank you for your continued support and prayers! I appreciate the comfort of knowing you are lifting me and my family here up in your prayers! (I'm not having any success with the pictures...I'll try again in a couple of days when I can get to a different computer to see if a faster connection will help! Sorry!)
Highlights from this past week:
1. I spoke at my church on Sunday morning. It was our missions Sunday led/organized by Dalmiro Ortiz one of the pastors at our church. Dalmiro is a Bolivian pastor who feels God calling him to overseas ministry in India. He would like to complete the mission's internship program that my home church, Abingdon Bible Church, offers...starting after Christmas. After that he hopes to serve the Lord as a missionary in India. We are very excited for Him and are praying that God will provide for all of his needs both financially as well as through the paperwork he would need to go to the states and then to India. Please join us in praying for him!
2. On Sunday afternoon, the youth from my church went to the children's hospital to hand out teddy bears that had been handmade by a retirement village in the states and sent down to missionaries here. We visited around the hospital visiting with the patients, praying for them, and where God opened doors...shared the gospel! It was an exciting time and I enjoyed being a part of it! It is so exciting to see God working in the lives of our youth!
Those are the two main highlights from this week! On Friday I will join the SAM family as well as a team that is here for a 4th of July picnic! This particular team comes every year and brings bratwurst and I'm not sure what else...but things we can't find here! It's a great time of fellowship and the team helps to make it extra special! I'll conclude this up-date with a few pictures of my house that I recently took...Enjoy! Thank you for your continued support and prayers! I appreciate the comfort of knowing you are lifting me and my family here up in your prayers! (I'm not having any success with the pictures...I'll try again in a couple of days when I can get to a different computer to see if a faster connection will help! Sorry!)
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