Dear friends and family,
In just three weeks Bolivia will elect a president for the next five year term. Please be praying with us for God's hand on the elections, the next President, and on this nation!
Sometimes photos do a better job than words in describing our lives to you. Below are some photos from the past two months and prayer requests for the next two. As ever, we are grateful for you and the prayers that sustain us and bear fruit around us.
In Him,
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INDEPENDENCE DAY: August 6 is Independence Day in Bolivia. Students at the kids' school celebrated by dressing up in typical attire of the different areas of Bolivia. Jaran's class represented Oruro, an area in the altiplano known for mining. Zolah's class (in the photo at the top of the page) represented the lowlands of Santa Cruz. Please pray for Bolivia!
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THE SEMINARY: The week after teaching the Transcultural Missions class about Paul's vision of the man from Macedonia calling for help, a man from Ethiopia, serving with SIM in another African country, came to Bolivia calling for help. His goal was to take at least 10 Bolivians back with him because the hunger for God is so great in his country of service that the missionaries currently there can't meet it. The group in the photo are seminary students who heard this missionary share about what's happening and are responding to God's call to GO to the nations! Please pray for more workers - not just from Bolivia but from around the world to go where God's name is not yet known.
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CARACHIPAMPA: There are twelve seventh graders at Carachipampa. In the English class I teach them, we just completed a poetry unit where the students wrote some of their own poems. Some of my favorites were odes to things like sleeping, pineapples, Minecraft, Rubik's cubes and tennis shoes. Please pray for these students to daily discover new things about God!
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BUSES: From our new house, a bus runs right into the center of town which is a great convenience! Buses in Cochabamba tend to be colorful. The kids particularly liked this driver's stuffed animal collection.
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PERSPECTIVES & WHEN HELPING HURTS: We got to host Jim Ardill again for lesson 12 of Perspectives (Christian Community Development) and a workshop on the When Helping Hurts book. (The photo is of the Cochabamba Perspectives team with Jim.) Many times our efforts to 'help the poor' end up hurting them instead by failing to recognize potential and creating dependency. This material explores the dignity and ability of each created person and how God calls us to walk alongside others in our efforts to be part of a solution. Please pray for those who took part in the classes to live out the concepts as they confront poverty in Bolivia.
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A WEDDING! Jaran and Zolah got to be Bible bearer and one of the flower girls in a wedding of our friends. It was an honor to be part of the ceremony and a joy to watch two people who love God joined together.
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FIRES: As I sat down to put this letter together, I took this photo from our window of the fires burning on the mountains behind us. Each year Bolivia experiences seasons of dryness and fires, but this year has been particularly bad. In the eastern part of Bolivia there is a burn area approximately the size of the country of Switzerland. Whole communities there have been impacted and lives lost. Please pray for God's hand on Bolivia to confront these disasters not just short term, but long term.
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Additional prayer requests:
- MOBILIZATION CONFERENCES: In early November we launch a series of conferences to teach and equip people whose role is to mobilize the churches to take their place in sending missionaries to the nations. Please pray for God to raise up mobilizers to turn the church's eyes to Him.
- WINDING UP PERSPECTIVES: We have just three instructors left in this year's Perspectives courses. Osvaldo travels to Brazil in December in his role as coordinator of Bolivia's classes to take part in three events. Please pray for God's hand on planning for the future of Perspectives in Bolivia.
- SIM BOLIVIA'S PROJECTS: Osvaldo has been working through another reporting season for projects and will travel in October to visit project sites. Please pray for wisdom, insight and productive travels for him.
Thank you for thinking of us, praying for us and being a constant source of joy and encouragement to us!
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