Home for the Holidays

Merry Christmas! We are in Orlando for the holiday sharing a couple of apartments at the Wycliffe Mobilization Center with all of our children. We are all together at Christmas for the first time in six years.

Andrew and Jeanie had fun last night decorating a real Christmas tree and we are all having fun playing with 11 month old Wesley, Sarah and Dustin's baby. Stephen and Rachael are expecting in April. We are expecting Patty and Luke in later this evening from North Carolina.

Blessings!

Ron and Jeanie

Our local police

I like to smile and wave at the folks in our neighborhood. Today I noticed a police car (whatever image that conjures up, think much smaller, much older, and with significant body damage), so I stopped and said hello from my driver side window to the officer at the wheel of the police car.

He was friendly enough, but then asked a couple of questions:
Where do you live? (around the corner)
What time do you leave for work? (around 7:30 or 8:00 am)
Then he told me, "We'll be stopping by to see you."

Now it was my turn for (unspoken) questions:
What are you up to?
What do you want from me?

From this scenario you might get a little scared about living in a police state. But that isn't what I suspect is going on.

At this time of year everyone in Bolivia gets/expects a Christmas bonus or gift basket. The police are probably expecting some kind of gift from us in return for their faithful service in the neighborhood. (Although the reason I stopped in the first place was that their presence was such a novelty.)

Anyway, we'll see what they want when they show up. They might just want $10 for gas.

Ron

Too Cute... How can we stand being so far away?

This is our daughter Sarah with Wesley, all bundled up for the Washington, D.C. late fall weather. Is he cute? We'll all be together for a week at Christmas in Orlando for the first time in six Christmases, but man, is it hard for Jeanie and me to be away from the kids.

How can we do it? Well, God gives us bonuses that carry us through. On Saturday night I was taking one of the guys home after our meeting. We had never had a private conversation before, so I asked him some probing questions about his relationship with God. He had some common, but mistaken ideas about his salvation depending on his living a good life. I shared with him the sad news that he could NEVER be good enough to please God. Then I told him the GREAT NEWS that he didn't have to be good enough. Jesus made all the payment necessary for his salvation on the cross. He prayed to receive Christ right there in my Pathfinder by the side of the road. We're meeting later this week to explore some more about the "excellencies" of Jesus (I Peter 2).

Oh. Something funny. I was so excited to get back together with him that I set up our appointment for Thursday at 2 p.m., forgetting that we are going to celebrate American Thanksgiving with some friends on Thursday at 2 p.m. Jeanie would not be amused. I changed the appointment.

Ron

Quito, Ecuador Directors Conference

This week I have been in Quito, Ecuador for our annual directors conference for South America. It was a great time of vision and planning. One of our big challenges is a transition of leadership over the coming year as our continental director of the last 20 years steps into a new role as "Elder Statesman" in a ministry to high level government and business leaders throughout the continent.

Here are some photos I took this week. I'm the guy behind the camera, so you won't see me. But I was there :)

Photoshop. Oh no.

Every year at this time we send a real snail mail letter to our friends and supporters in the U.S. This year I decided to include a new prayer card - really just a photo with some writing on it. It is something missionaries do. Hopefully it will make it to some refrigerators and people will be reminded to pray for the ministry.

The mountain is an hour or so from our house. I love the colors on the sheer cliffs. The mountain is real. The people and the sky have been photoshopped. (Jeanie just commented that the people, although photoshopped, ARE real).

Little did I realize

Two years ago I started a men's group for university students. It grew. The guys wanted to include girls. The group grew even more :) And the men in the initial group kept growing spiritually.

Our vision was to build the group around the Win Build Send basics of Campus Crusade for Christ, but with a special emphasis on using the JESUS Film to help pastors plant local churches. We are really seeing the fruit! This past weekend we sent 24 students and staff to Cochabamba to partner with pastors from the UBB Baptist denomination to help reach their neighborhoods with the Gospel.

This coming weekend we are sending film teams of students to Yacuiba in the South of Bolivia to work with a Free Brethren pastor to plant new groups. Also this weekend, Ever Castro, one of my key men is leading another group of 50 young people from his church to Sucre, taking a JESUS Film equipment set with them.

The joy of seeing these guys and girls go out, at their own expense, to share the Good News is tremendous! Thanks for praying and giving to make this possible!

Ron

Training in Brasil

After months of planning and preparation in Brasil, we have launched a pilot project partnering the JESUS Film and the Faith Comes by Hearing audio New Testament. The project is called the End to End Partnership. This week we have been training national church planters to use these effective tools to reach people with the good news of Jesus and disciple them in small groups, embryonic churches, using the audio bible - the Proclaimer device.

Our first of three trainings took place in Northeast Brasil, in a region called the Sertao. It is a starkly beautiful region as you can see from this photograph. The people of the region are among the poorest of Brasil and among the least reached with the Gospel.


My role was to explain the vision of the project and the role of the national church planters in testing the concept over the next 10 months. If the initial test with 200 proclaimers is successful, i.e. if the church planters have a higher percentage of people who remain in the new churches as a result of the new discipleship training, the plan will be to expand the program dramatically.

Here a couple of our trainees learn how to use the proclaimer.

In the two day training, the partner church planters learned how to use the JESUS Film effectively to reach people with the Gospel, how to use the Proclaimer in follow up sessions to listen through the New Testament, how to effectively lead a small group and ask good questions, and how to monitor and report the results of their efforts. We all left the trainings encouraged and very hopeful.

Please join us in praying that God will do a great work in Brasil in the End to End Partnership.

We have decided not to participate in the crisis

"There cannot be a crisis today, my schedule is already full." Henry Kissinger

The governors and the president of Bolivia continue in crisis negotiations to avert a political meltdown in the country. But meanwhile, life is pretty normal.

Yesterday our 14 student leaders gathered for the regular lunch meeting, and we are planning our upcoming mission trips.

I am leaving for Brasil on Saturday to attend a couple of training sessions for pastors. We are implementing a new strategy using the JESUS Film for proclamation, and Faith Comes by Hearing audio versions of the New Testament for follow-up with the goal of planting new baby churches. The big difference with this new END TO END Partnership is to see whether we can successfully equip national church planters to use the tools we have developed. The tools have worked well for our Campus Crusade staff, the time has come to multiply their impact. Brasil, along with India and Nigeria have been selected for the initial test.

By the way, while we are not fighting roadblocks this week in Santa Cruz, I am fighting a chest cold. I broke down today and went to the neighborhood doctor. He did the usual BP, temperature (had to remind him on that one), physical exam and the stethoscope part. After we finished he determined I needed a dose of penecillin, just in case. I got about 8 cc's in the posterior. He said I'd be fine to go to Brasil. Total office visit and prescriptions: Bs. 66 (a little less than $9). Uh-oh! I forgot to get a receipt to turn it in to my U.S. insurance carrier, Blue Cross - just kidding.

Good summary in the Economist.com

Hi from Bolivia,

School was cancelled again today, although Jeanie went in to get some grading done. I ran across an article in the Economist.com that gave a great summary of the situation here. I would recommend it to you.

Blessings,
Ron

Follow this link to the story.

Back in Bolivia!

All American Airlines flights to Bolivia have been cancelled for the last week. I found myself stuck in Orlando with the earliest possible reservation for Sunday September 21, but that flight itself was subject to cancellation.


The alternative I found was to travel from Orlando-Miami-Sao Paulo, Brazil on American and then from Sao Paulo to Santa Cruz, Bolivia via AeroSur, a Bolivian airline. It took 24 hours, but I'm home.

Jeanie and Andrew are fine, and the school is operating, but there is a lot of nervousness in the country. Last night the opposition governors signed an agreement to dialog with the national government and its president, Evo Morales. The agreement brings at least the possibility of a truce. Please pray that God will bring a just peace to this country.

Stranded in Florida

Hi from Gainesville, Florida.

I am stranded here with all American Airlines flights to Bolivia cancelled. Jeanie and Andrew are in Santa Cruz with plenty of food and gasoline. The political unrest is nowhere near our house, but with things heating up, I need to be there. Please pray that a flight would open up soon for me to go home.

Ron

Here is an article from google that is a pretty good summary:

Tense, fearful feeling grips Bolivia's economic heartland
14 Sep, 2008, 0741 hrs IST, AGENCIES
SANTA CRUZ-BOLIVIA: Santa Cruz, Bolivia's most
economically vital state, was in the grip of fear and suffering fuel
shortages over the weekend as a conflict pitting it and other rebel
regions against the leftwing government deepened.

Hundreds of cars lined up in front of service stations around the
city of Santa Cruz - capital of the state of the same name - waiting
for limited deliveries of gasoline and diesel. Drivers slept for hours
in their vehicles to receive a ration of 10 liters (2.5 gallons).

Families also lined up to fill compressed gas cylinders needed for
cooking. Around the state, trucks transporting food and goods
were held up at roadblocks manned by anti-government
protesters. The unrest was also affecting Santa Cruz's airport.
Passengers arriving on the few flights still going to Bolivia during
the crisis found a blockade at the road entrance to the facility
prevented taxis from getting through.

Cellular and land telephone lines were patchy at best, with the
biggest operator, state-run Entel, badly affected by the ransacking
of its offices in the city. But with most residents of the state
backing conservative governor Ruben Costas in his struggle with
President Evo Morales, there was little overt violence.

There was, however, fear. Eugenio Ondo, a street vendor in an
indigenous district that was one of the few enclaves dominated by
pro-Morales sentiment, said the normally busy market where he
was working was "empty, no activity." "There are provocations
every day, every night," he said, as he sold a cup of caramel and
cream to a customer.

Nearby, another vendor, Jose Luis Garcia, explained that the
outlying neighborhood was being harrassed in the evenings by a
rightwing group called the Youth Union which has ties to the
governor and other opposition figures. "People are afraid that the
Youth Union will come here from the town to burn everything," he
said.

In several places around Santa Cruz, mainly Entel and
government offices, the scars of rampages that have shaken the
city this week were evident. The glass exterior of an Entel building
with transmission equipment was pocked with jagged holes where
anti-government militants had thrown rocks.

A street away, offices for "agricultural reform" were closed with
burnt furniture stacked outside and the place sealed with yellow
tape declaring entry to be prohibited. Someone had scrawled
"Evo Murderer" on a wall. Government vehicles belonging to the
office were nearby, all their windows smashed and their panels
badly dented.

The center of Santa Cruz was calm, with people reading and
sitting on benches in the main square. But around them, usually
busy shops were empty, with a few shuttered. A Christian concert
exhorting peace was the principal animation in the city on
Saturday.

A few hundred people, some clutching Bibles or flags, marched
up to the stage to hear the band appeal for an end to the violence
between tropical tunes dedicated to Jesus Christ.

Random funny event

This morning I have been working away in my office in downtown Santa Cruz. My office is on the second floor overlooking the street. They are remodeling the house across the street and the guys like their music loud. There are lots of styles of music in Bolivia. I confess it can get annoying.

Two minutes ago I looked up suddenly as I heard the strains of John Denver singing "Sunshine on my Shoulders". I laughed out loud. My irritation went away!

The sound and the fury

Bolivians like their music and their celebrations LOUD. There is a whole cottage industry here with home delivery of rental amps and huge speakers. Families host parties for quinceaneras (15 year old coming out parties), birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and weddings.

Tonight the sound is intense inside our house as some neighbors a block away celebrate a wedding. Now, in the U.S., we would be righteously indignant, maybe call the police, or at least the president of the homeowner's association. Not here. This is how you celebrate. I took the dog out for a walk and the hosts of the party invited me in for a drink and some dancing. I passed, but congratulated them on the wedding.

The sound thing cuts both ways. Every Saturday evening we have our campus ministry meeting in a neighborhood in town and we have pretty loud music with drums, keyboard and electric guitar on the back patio, with preaching and loud singing, 60 voices strong. No one has ever complained. Can you imagine the response to our group in a U.S. neighborhood. Every Saturday evening?

Have a great evening!
Ron

P.S.
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. Macbeth, act 5, scene 5

Death of his Saints

Psa 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

The last several weeks have seen the homegoing of two precious brothers in the Lord.

Our good friend Earl Gosvenor lived a rich, full life. Together with his wife Joan, they have been a constant encouragement to this missionary and countless others. In their 70's they came to Bolivia as part of a mission team, and the children flocked to Earl's side. He was a precious man.

We saw Earl and Joan just a few days before his death and had a chance to pray with them. Death is not easy and we could see that he was weary and sorry to be leaving his loved ones. At the same time his confidence was sure. Please pray for Joan as she adjusts to her new life.

_______________________

At the end of July, a faithful missionary with the JESUS Film project in Brasil lost his life. Here is his story:

Valdi Daniel lived in Brasilia - Federal District and worked for Campus Crusade in Brazil for ten years, specifically in Jesus Film Movement, On July, 29th he was returning from a evangelistic project in Minas Gerais state, when a bus which was trying to avoid a hole on the road, hit his car in a frontal crash. He passed away immediately, leaving his wife, Luiza Daniel and his sons Tiago Daniel and Jeferson Daniel.

Valdi was a pioneer of Campus Crusade Movement in the Brazilian Northern Region, specially Pará state. He was a man that did not fear obstacles or new frontiers to spread the Gospel. He traveled a lot, always with this purpose in his heart. He called himself an "Jesus' Office Boy" [Office Boy is generally the first job a boy gets in Brazil doing all kind of things in a company, usually things no one else desires to do]. He loved personal evangelism and never lost opportunities to share about Christ. He trained thousands of Christians teaching them how to multiply, performing the same task as his.

For sure, a huge void now exists in Brazil, considering one of our warriors has left this world. Our comfort is to know that he is with the Lord, and our task is to depend on God and in his consolation.

Technology catches up with the Vision

Ron and Jeanie Burgin
Campus Crusade for Christ, South America
http://burgin-bolivia.blogspot.com/

August 5, 2008

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Santa Cruz. We are home again after our time in the U.S. and it feels good. The house was well cared for and the dogs were healthy - covered with ticks - but healthy. School starts for Jeanie and Andrew on Monday.

Today is a big day for us: Jeanie and I are celbrating our 30th wedding anniversary. What a joy it is to see all that God has done in our lives. We are planning a special getaway to celebrate.

We are back up to speed in the ministry, working with students and the JESUS Film project. Bolivia is part of Andean South America where there are many indigenous languages. The JESUS Film has been produced for dozens of different people groups and languages. Sadly, our distribution efforts over the years have not been 100% effective in getting out to those people groups.

With the advent of multi-language DVD's, direct student volunteers and an installed base of DVD players in even the most remote villages, God is beginning to do a great work.

Over the past 4 months we have produced multi-language DVD's for Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Bolivia. The Bolivia version, for example includes 8 languages. The response to the DVD has been overwhelming. Our Campus Crusade staff have never before had masters for these languages available for duplication in their countries.

Here in Bolivia, we have a group of university students who are part of our JESUS Film movement. Some are only one generation removed from indigenous communities. I took the Bolivian DVD to my Monday Bible study with university men and challenged them with Paul's words from Romans 15:20-21 to take the Gospel of JESUS where Christ has not already been named, to make it their "holy ambition" to be a part of movements everywhere.

As the men, including Dennis pictured here with his little brother and sister, gathered around the portable DVD player, I watched their faces light up as they saw the story of JESUS play out in Quechua with Spanish subtitles. Dennis said, "I have to take this to my grandparents". Tomas, another student is from an indigenous Quechua community east of Santa Cruz and wants a copy. Cesar was fascinated: his mother is Quechua and his father is Aymara. Both languages are on the DVD. Cesar took my copy of the DVD with him to show his family. What a difference it will make to hear and see JESUS in their heart languages!

For many years we have looked for ways to take the JESUS film to the people groups. It seems that our technology has finally caught up with our vision! God has given us

• missionary university students with a vision for planting groups,


• a transferable technology: the DVD player,


• and an inexpensive ($3) multi-lingual DVD with a clear message of hope.

For years we have been looking for missionaries to go to the indigenous groups. It turns out the "missionaries" were in universities all around us!

Please pray that God will raise up hundreds of missionary university students who will be willing to step back into their culture of origin and plant seeds of hope and movements everywhere.

Thanks so much for your partnership with us! It was great to see so many of you while we were home on our brief furlough. We appreciate your continued prayer very much.

Your missionaries,
Ron, Jeanie and Andrew Burgin

Hooray for Skype!

We love Skype. We are far away, but our daughter Sarah is a faithful Skyper. Almost every day we gather by the computer for the "Wesley Show". Here is a video snapshot - the same live image we see-of our grandson from tonight's conversation. Not as good as being there, but we can't complain!

Sunday night at our house

What do you do on a Sunday night at your house? We are in the middle of a couple of weeks of conferences with our national directors from all over South America. It's a quiet evening home, and I got to thinking about all the boards that the Tae kwan do team from Miami left behind. I challenged Andrew to see who could build the highest tower. Here's his effort - you can see his construction assistant with him! The last photo shows the tower in mid-crash.

Reality strikes

A week into our new term in Bolivia and we are reminded of the differences between life at home and life here.

Last night on the way home from an event at around 9 p.m., we came to an impromptu police checkpoint. The officer came to the window and I showed him my various stickers on the windshield that make the car legal: insurance, inspection, third license plate sticker. He asked where we had been and where we were going, and wanted to see my driver's license. Satisfied with all of the above, he asked me to blow in his face - apparently checking for any whiff of liquor on my breath.

Such is life in Bolivia. The police can stop you any time, any place for any or no reason at all. It will never feel right. Our motto for living here is "it's not wrong, it's just different". These kind of police stops are not only uncomfortable, they just feel wrong.

The Joy of the Lord

Just before we left for furlough in the U.S., I wrote about Rodrigo. He was a guy who received Christ with great joy in his heart and deep repentance. The first time he met with our men's small group, his prayer request was that God would change his life. It was hard to leave Bolivia just a few days later and hope that Rodrigo would stay involved and begin to grow in Christ.

We arrived back in Santa Cruz last week and immediately welcomed a team from Christ Fellowship church in Miami. We always involve our university students with the Americans and to my delight Rodrigo was on the list. Last night he was right up front leading the group of children as the American team played music. I thought you'd enjoy a picture of him. God is amazing!

Back in Santa Cruz

I arrived back in Bolivia on Wednesday and spent two full days opening up the house, de-ticking the dogs, paying the power and phone bills, charging a car battery and buying car insurance. Whew! I guess we're ready to get on with life! Jeanie and Andrew left early this morning from Portland and, God willing, will be here tomorrow morning.

The team from Christ Fellowship in Miami arrived late last night. All the luggage arrived with the exception of a big soundboard they will need for the music team. It came in this morning, so Pastor Berch from CF and I went back to the airport in my newly insured Pathfinder to get the equipment.

After we picked it up, as we were going through an intersection, I was clipped by a truck. Of course it was 100% his fault :)

I stormed out of the car like a typical American guy and started talking? to the young truck driver. He accepted at least 50% of the blame and suggested that we drive to a body shop and get an estimate. (His suggestion in itself is pretty miraculous in Bolivia.) I was to follow him in my car, so to be sure he didn't just drive off, I had Pastor Berch (no Spanish) ride in the truck with the driver. The body shop gave us an estimate of $50 plus maybe another $40 in parts. You should see the damage. It would be $800 in the US.

Jose Alberto, the truck driver, rode with us from the body shop in my car for another quote on a part and we got to talking. I found out he and his wife have a daughter and had a baby boy who died a year ago. We talked more and I shared my story about knowing Jesus as my personal Savior. As I shared God's offer of eternal life with him, he prayed with me, right out loud, to receive Christ. We exchanged phone numbers and look forward to having coffee together.

We got back to the hotel in time for lunch. God really uses circumstances to open new conversations and new relationships. Please pray for Jose Alberto and his family.

Here's a photo of the team from Miami. Pray for us this week as we share Christ's love with lots of young people like Jose Alberto.

The Gorge

Today we went on a family hike to Angel's Rest in the Columbia River Gorge. The trail gains 1500 feet elevation in 2.3 miles. Very steep, but worth the effort when you reach the top. I went with Andrew, my daughter Patty and her husband, Luke, and my brother Gary.
In just three weeks we'll be headed back to Bolivia and a different kind of beauty.

Back in the USA

It has been a whirlwind furlough with both of us making trips to DC and then settling in to Oregon for several weeks of visiting family, friends and supporters. I thought you might like this picture of Jeanie with Wesley, our first grandson.

Back in the USA

I have been in the USA for a month travelling from Miami to Washington, D.C. to Iowa to Portland to Seattle and back to Portland. Jeanie and Andrew arrived on Monday and will be in Portland with me on Friday - At last!

I went to Seattle last week and spent time with my sister, Patty and then a group of great folks who came with a mission team to Bolivia in 2006 from Grace Community Church in Auburn. The photo above is of Patty and me.

I also went to the Museum of Flight in Seattle. It would be great to take our college group in Santa Cruz:

High School in Bolivia

This year Andrew is enrolled at Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center, the mission school in this part of Bolivia. There are around 240 students in the high school, about half Bolivian and half missionary kids. This weekend was the big Junior/Senior banquet. At SCCLC, everyone is invited. Here is a picture of Andrew with his proud parents.

Talita Cumi Board

Since the earliest days of our work in Bolivia, Jeanie has been involved with the Talita Cumi Children's Home. Last night we had the board over for dinner on the occasion of the visit of some friends from the U.S.

Talita Cumi is home to 30-35 orphaned or abandoned children. They learn, perhaps for the first time, how to live as part of a family. They learn about God's love for them and have constant encouragement academically, emotionally and socially.

This is a photo of the Talita Cumi Board for 2008. That's Jeanie seated on the left.

Finding Christians in the USA

Several weeks ago one of our JESUS Film student volunteers, Saul, left for the University of Arkansas on a Fulbright Scholarship. Saul comes from a humble part of Santa Cruz, Plan 3000, where he lived with his mother. He is really a great guy who wants to know the Lord more deeply.
He wrote to me after a week in Arkansas and told me that he was a little lonely. I called Jason, a Campus Crusade staff member in Fayetteville and asked him to invite Saul to their weekly meeting. The U.Ark. CCC Campus Director, Tim Casteel, wrote back and said that Saul had a great time.

Here is what Saul wrote me today:
"First you have to tell me how you knew? (that I attended the CRU meeting at U. Ark.) Well I am going to tell you something about the meeting, it was really good, approximately 150 young people, they have a band, and there is just one word to describe it, it was awesome. Besides, a preacher came from Oklahoma, and he was really funny explaining the gospel. Furthermore they talk about their next trip that they are going to have to Thailand, they do the same things that we do in Bolivia, and I felt like if I was in Sirari. It’s wonderful to see many people around the world that are adoring the lord, different cultures, different languages, but they are looking for the same like us in Bolivia. Thank you for being in contact with me, sometimes I feel alone, and its good to receive news from Bolivia. Please say hello to everybody in the group and God bless all of you."

I am just so thankful for God's people around the world. Please pray for Saul as he works to adjust to life in the USA and as he continues to grow in the Lord.

Ron

Random Paragraphs

Hi from Bolivia,

Can I give you a few random thoughts about life in Bolivia this Sunday?

We finally sold our 1994 Jeep Cherokee. It was a real problem. Never-ending maintenance. The good news is that I sold it to the mechanic who worked on it, so I have a clear conscience. Not the kind of car you would want to sell to a non-mechanic friend.

We bought a 1997 Nissan Pathfinder. (That's Andrew and Frisky in front of the car. Frisky is a Bolivian Terrier. Really.) The Pathfinder started life in Massachussetts and was imported a couple of years ago. I have no illusions. It is an older car, but the engine runs well and Japanese cars have readily available parts here. I am thrilled to have a more reliable (I hope!) vehicle to haul kids around in. Last night I took four university students home over very rough roads and we did well. By comparison, with the Cherokee, you just never knew when it might break down!

We are very thankful for Skype. We get to see Wesley (our new grandson) in real time video. I think being a missionary in 2008 is very different from being an overseas missionary in, say, 1908 or even 1988! Wesley's blog is very cute: http://babyhanks.blogspot.com/.

We had a great group last night at our CCC campus ministry meeting. Around 70 people came to the regular weekly meeting, including some family members and several new university students. We are seeing some new leaders forming. Very exciting things! Last night we had a very significant time of praise and worship. God was glorified!

Bolivia is still in turmoil. This time the central government is trying to control cooking oil prices by banning exports. The domino effect: Vegetable oil producers cut production>Truckers are out of business>farmers are stuck with crops they can't sell>farm workers are without the daily income they need to survive. Terrible. Here is a post from the usually "progressive - somewhat leftist" Democracy Center that is really pretty balanced and will give you a more complete picture, if you want to take a few minutes to read it: http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/03/bolivia-notes-on-divided-country.html

This afternoon, Andrew and I worked in our storeroom, the one we built 2 years ago when we moved in. We saw tell-tale sawdust that told me we had termites. (None in the main house, as far as we know). We tore out all of the shelving and threw out everything made of wood or cardboard or paper, then swept it out and FOGGED it. We'll see if it works!

Other than that, Sunday is a great day to just relax, read, watch a DVD episode or two and get ready for the next week.

Talk to you soon,


Ron

La Niña Rains continue

This morning we awoke to the sounds of heavy rain again. Shortly after we got up we received a call from school that classes had been cancelled for the day because several classrooms and the lunch room were flooded. Andrew and I headed down to see if we could help. Roads from our house to the highway are very washed out and the highway itself was under a foot of fast flowing water. Pumps are working at the school, but until the rain stops, they won't make much headway.

Here's a picture of the dirt road in front of out house. The house itself is high and dry. We left the neighborhood on another street :)

Baby Wesley

Jeanie just got home yesterday from three weeks in Washington, D.C. for the birth of our first Grandson, Wesley Paul Hanks. I was there last weekend and, with the help of a new camcorder took a few videos.

Here is some video - probably more than you want to see, but not near enough for his grandparents!

Ron

Carnaval and Baby

Hi from Santa Cruz!

Today through Tuesday is Carnaval in Bolivia. It is a wild time when it is best to stay off the streets, unless you don't mind being pelted with water balloons, or worse, balloons and water guns filled with paint or indelible ink. Since I have to go out to pick up a friend at the airport, I am following the lead of the buses and taxis. Can you see a car under this mud? The idea is that the ink and paint will wash off with the mud.

Meanwhile in cooler, calmer Washington, DC, Jeanie is with Sarah and Dustin taking care of little Wesley.

New Grandson

Jeanie and I are now Grandparents! Wesley Paul Hanks was born at 2:33 PM, Saturday, January 26, 2008 in Washington, D.C. He is 8lbs. 12oz. and is 21 inches long! The proud parents are Sarah and Dustin Hanks.

January newsletter

Dear Friends,

The pounding rain started about a week ago and has continued for several hours every day since. Everything feels damp. Children play in muddy flowing streams. Cars and taxis break down in deep water. Hidden potholes "swallow" the undercarriages of vehicles large and small. The poor neighborhoods always suffer the most. This picture was in our local newspaper this morning. Please pray for the people here and especially for the pastors and Christian brothers and sisters who are struggling with the high water.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, are experiencing scenes like this (photos from El Deber newspaper):














This is a photo of Andrew's school today. I got a call this morning that the rising water had moved into some classrooms. The principal closed the school at noon for the rest of the week. Please pray that the buildings suffer little damage and that classes can resume next week.


The ministry continues in spite of the rain! Today Daniel, one of our university disciples and JESUS Film volunteers left for Argentina. He is going to live with his aunt and uncle in Tierra del Fuego at the very southern tip of South America. He is going in search of a job to be able to help his parents and sisters here in Bolivia. There is no Campus Crusade in Tierra del Fuego, and God has given him a vision to start a ministry among students there. We loaded him up with materials and a lot of prayer. Please pray for Daniel as he heads out in the power of the Holy Spirit to help connect lost people to their creator.

I took Jeanie to the airport this morning to travel to Washington, D.C. to be with our daughter, Sarah as she and Dustin expect our first grandchild. Her due date is January 26. We'll keep you posted on the progress. Please pray for Sarah and Dustin as they await the birth. Please pray that WESLEY will be born strong and healthy.

Jeanie and I love you and value your partnership with us.

In Christ,

Ron, Jeanie and Andrew

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31-32

Happy New Year at the Villa Rosita

It's January and university students in Bolivia are in the middle of summer break. We want to keep the momentum going, however, so we had a day in the sun - with morning rain - at a local hotel resort called the Villa Rosita. There were about 30 students who came out and we talked about discipleship from Matthew 4:

• Jesus is the one who calls us.
  
• He calls us with a purpose, to make us fishers of men.
  
• Those He called followed Him immediately.
  
• There was and is a cost to discipleship.

What a privilege to see God build a new generation of Christ-followers! Here's a slideshow/video from the Villa Rosita. Blessings!