Mother’s Day:
This past month we celebrated Mother’s Day here in Bolivia. We celebrate it a few weeks behind the US but it is probably a bigger holiday here. Mothers are a central part of the society and family here, perhaps because in the majority of families the father is either non-existent or has very little to do with them. This year we decided to have a Mother’s Banquette on Saturday with the men doing the cooking and serving. One of the men prepared baked chicken, another the rice and another the salad. Since I have always had a sweet tooth, I was in charge of fixing the dessert. We had close to 60 mothers come, not including the kids and workers, with several visitors. As a special speaker we invited Evelyn Mendoza to speak to the ladies. Evelyn is from Peru but has visited us several times helping in different areas of the ministry. She did a great job and the ladies really enjoyed it. Then on Sunday we recognized all the mothers of the church with a special gift and the children did a special presentation. The message focused on how to resolve problems with our children and raise them for the glory of God. It was a very special time and blessing to remember what is means to be a mom and also thank the Lord for the mom’s that He has given us.
Christmas in June:
Also this past month we had a very special activity at our church. We called it Christmas in June. I have seen Christmas in July and other activities for kids but this was a bit different. Whereas July in the states is hot here it is actually winter and seems like Christmas weather. With the cold weather (in the 30′s at night) there are many people that suffer because they don’t have anywhere to live and usually sleep in the plaza downtown. We decided that this would be a great opportunity to help many of these people and show God’s love to them. The people of the church brought sweaters, gloves and toboggans to give out along with heavy blankets. We took coffee and bread and the other things and as we gave it out we took the opportunity to give them a tract and share the gospel with them. The response was amazing and several made a profession of faith. The most amazing part, perhaps, was how much it affected those that went with us. We pray that we can continue to show the love of God to the many people that don’t know him.
Special Visitors:
This past month we had two special visitors from Peru here with us. Since we were in between semesters in our seminary we took advantage of the opportunity to invite two pastors over to teach interim classes for the guys. These classes are usually intense because they take a semester worth of material in one week. First we had pastor Juan Pacheco from Lighthouse Baptist Church in Arequipa and he taught the guys on Home and the Family. Then pastor Pablo Villegas from the Victory Baptist Church came over and taught on Major and Minor prophets. They had classes from 9:00 am till later in the afternoon most days and then they had homework and projects to do on the side. The guys had to work really hard to get it all done but they all said it was a great experience and blessing to them. Also while they were here we took advantage of the pastors having them preach. Both preached great messages and challenged our people to do great things for the Lord. Please pray for the guys in the seminary that the Lord will continue to work in their lives.
Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for the guys that are studying in the seminary and several that are praying about starting.
2. Pray for pastor Lorenzo Laura and the church in Cobija as they work to finish their new construction.
3. Pray for our family as everyone is fighting sickness from the colder winter weather.
4. Pray for our meeting that we are having in Quillacollo on Thursday nights.