Dear Brothers and Sisters,
May our great God be blessed in a great way by your lives. I am grateful for the help you give to me and my family that permits us to work together in the Good News of God here in Tarija. Thank you for your patience and your belief in the mission’s team. Starts are often difficult and many times frustrating. When we started, we had expectations of the people we would meet and get to know and we have not seen a response on their part, but we know we are simply the sowers of the pure and blessed seed that is the Word of God. The growth comes from God and is not based on our own desires. We are doing our part and have hope that the community that God builds up here will be very big. Perhaps we will be a part of that harvest and if not, others will come after us to gather what was planted. This is motive for much joy on our part. The Gospel continues to be announced; we continue forward in our goal.
Many have come to El Camino and are inviting others to come to the activities that we have. This past month we are seeing more fruit in the activities as new youth are coming, some with questions about relationships, what is the purpose life on Earth or what will happen when we die. These questions allows us to respond through the Bible and these conversations encourage us a lot as we can share Christ. It is very gratifying to my heart to do this and it gives me much peace and tranquility to know we are realizing the mission for which we came back to Bolivia for. Glory to for His ineffable gift.
I traveled to Cochabamba in September for a seminar for the program PLM (Programa de Liderago Ministerial- Program of Ministry Leadership). This is part of EQEB (Quito Bible Institute in Ecuador). The purpose of this program is to train members in local churches so that the leadership in these churches is more organized, better equipped in the Word of God, to be able to do a good work in their churches and to be prepared to train others. This is a great need for the churches where there are no missionaries. This seminar was on Geneses 1-2 about how God created good and how evil entered the world. It was very edifying for those who were able to participate in the three-day seminar.
On a more personal note, our son Doddy is in Tarija with us. He was doing his apprenticeship (through Baxter Bible Institute, Honduras) in Salvador Central America. He got sick with dengue and was in the hospital for two days as he was very ill. After he was still not getting better as hoped and so we decided that he should come to Tarija and be with us where we could take care of him and make sure he got the care he needed. We took him to see a specialist and they ran tests. The tests came back that he had typhoid, parasites and high triglycerides. As bad as that is, we were relieved as he has had very bad migraines and there was fear it could be something else. Thanks to the mercies of God and His endless love, it was something that could be treated with some medicine. I am grateful to all of you and in debt to God who is so very loving and merciful towards my family.
A hug to all. May the All-powerful God supply all that is needed in your lives.
Grace and peace to you.