Thanksgiving in Amboro National Park

While Jeanie was in the U.S. with our new grandson, Cooper, Andrew and I spent Thanksgiving weekend at a remote camp in Amboro National Park. It was two hours in by 4x4 and then two hours hiking each day to get to some spectacular spots: first a beautiful natural pool and then the next day up to a waterfall. Here's a video of what we did and where we went.

You'll see another kid in the pictures. He is our guide, Mario. I called him Surefoot because while Andrew and I were slipping and sliding on the muddy trails, he never slipped once and he wore flip flops.

Blessings,
Ron

Just call me "Lucky"

Three years ago we bought our house outside of Santa Cruz from some other missionaries who were returning to the U.S. In addition to buying the house, we agreed to keep the security system and the monthly maintenance charge. By that I mean the german shepherd, Jazz, and his considerable appetite for dog food. He had a scary reputation here in the neighborhood that has kept the house safe for many years.

Jazz was older when we got him, and reached the point this week that I thought he might be on the downhill slide. He had a baseball size tumor on his abdomen, an oozing swollen infection on the elbow of his front leg, and he's almost blind-though he gets around the yard he has lived in his whole life just fine. I took him in to the vet for an "estimate". When I called back, Dr. Ximena told me that although he is old, he isn't ready to die. So he stayed at the hospital for a couple of nights, had surgery to remove the tumor, the infection was treated and he was ready to come home. He hopped out of the car when we got home so excited to be here.

I think we have our "security system" for a while yet.

A New Grandson!

I am about 10 days late with the announcement, but we are the proud grandparents of a new grandson! Cooper Andrew Hanks was born to Sarah and Dustin in Washington, D.C. on November 20. He weighed 9 pounds.

Jeanie arrived a couple of days later to help out and she is in Grandma heaven!

Trip to Cidade de Embu

Wow, it's hard to believe our week in Brazil is over! Saturday morning our Brazilian staff took us to an artisan village called Cidade de Embu, which has as its centerpiece a Jesuit church dating from the 1600's. It had beautiful woodwork and furniture, paintings, porcelain, textiles, leatherwork and ceramics. It was amazing just walking through block after block of quaint shops.

Thanks to Ralph and Mary, Gary, Mark, Doug and Jackie, Rosemary, Clifford, Jim, Dan, Janelle, and Dale for investing a week to see a little of what God is doing in Brazil. We hope your memories will stay with you. We appreciate you. Que Deus te Abencoe Sempre!

Ron

Faith REALLY DOES come by hearing

Friday afternoon we met with our JESUS Film staff in Sao Paulo. It was exciting to hear their vision for expanding the ministry from 7 to 27 cities in the coming years. The movement is truly nationalized. I am so encouraged by their lives and by their burden to connect lost Brazilians to Jesus.


In the evening the Sao Paulo team organized an outreach event that our team attended. Jim Green the Executive Director of the JESUS Film was the speaker. As he shared the love of Christ, several people made life-changing commitments to follow Jesus. Two guys from our team, Mark and Ralph, shared what it has meant to them to be followers of Jesus.

One of the guys who attended was a taxi driver named Edson. A year ago, one of our ministry partners, Phil Kenney from Faith Comes by Hearing rode in Edson's cab and gave him a set of CD's with the complete audio New Testament. Edson told us how he had listened through the set four times! The most astounding thing to me is that he didn't commit his life to Christ until after he had listened through three times to the entire New Testament. He is now in a discipleship group.

Below is a photo of Edson sharing his story with Jim Green of the JESUS Film.

Brazilian youth at the Crossroads

Friday morning we left Sao Paulo to go out to the small town of Sumare to see our JESUS Film Crossroads strategy in action. Crossroads reaches into public schools with a message of hope about HIV/Aids and Christian values that will last a lifetime. We visited a ninth grade classroom.

The lesson was taught by Edson, one of our CCC staff guys, and his wife. It included a great story that involved volunteer student actors acting out a skit that taught about unseen/unknown dangers that may lie in our path. It was very moving to see how engaged the kids were and how effective our staff was. My friend Janelle Searles, a photographer with the JESUS film got these shots.

Blessings,
Ron

Sertão

We went out on Wednesday to the town of Esperanca in the Sertão region of Brazil to meet Pastor Bruno. He has planted 36 churches in the region using the JESUS Film! As a part of their follow up, they use the Proclaimer listening device. It has the dramatized New Testament on a memory chip and has a sound system that can fill a small room.
We met a lady who has planted a new small group Bible study using the Proclaimer. Here is a photo in front of the house they meet in. Later that evening we went back to see the group in action. There were about 10 people, men and women who gathered to grow in their faith as they listened to God's word.




While we were there I met a young man, 23, named Luziano. He works in the local rock breaking trade (for roads), a labor intensive, back breaking job. He injured is leg in a motorcycle accident and will be off the job for at least 8 more months. No job, no income. We prayed for him and he was part of the listening group later in the evening.

Farther up the road we stopped in a small town and visited with some of the locals. I talked to this group of men in my broken Portuguese. They laughed when I asked if they were local older gentlemen's club. There was a 91 year old man inside the house that came out to "meet an American". A small group gathered around us and when we told them what we were doing they asked us to stay and show the JESUS Film right there. Because we were showing the film in another location that day, we promised that the local team would come back soon to show the film.

When we did show the film later that evening, I got this shot of a boy who was transfixed by the Story of JESUS for children.

Visit to Castanhal

Yesterday we went to the town of Castanhal where we got to hear the story of Pastors Aldenor, Luis Fernando, and Fernando. About six years ago they showed the JESUS Film in a neighborhood. Of the 100 people present, 68 indicated that they wanted to become followers of JESUS. God has built a church around these precious folks. Here is a photo of some of them in front of the new church that is under construction, but already in use:

Later we went to a new neighborhood to work with another local church that was showing the JESUS Film in a neighborhood for the first time. There were 142 people who came out for the film. At the end 86 children and 16 adults prayed and received Christ.

I got to talk with one 36 year old man who raised his hand when they asked who had prayed to received Christ. We had shared popcorn during the movie. I don't think I have ever seen a more serious, thoughtful decision to follow Jesus. I gave him an illustrated version (like a comic book) of the New Testament. (that's him in front)

Up the Amazon

I am in Brazil this week with a great group of leaders and friends of the JESUS Film movement from the U.S. Yesterday with went with one of our partnering missionaries to visit river villages on the Amazon.

We left Belem on a small bus met up with the Brazilian missionary and set out in his boat. We had to walk along a series of logs to get down to the water, then step through a small river boat and up into the bigger boat. How to describe the boat... Have you been on the Jungle Cruise at Disney? Let's say Walt got it about right.

We landed at a small island that can only be reached by boat and met two families that have become followers of Jesus. They are learning more about Him as they listen through the New Testament on the Proclaimer.

In the afternoon and evening we went to another island and a town of about 2000 people who desperately need the Lord. The adult population (say 16 years and up) was about 80% drinking and/or already drunk. Very sad. We showed the JESUS Film to 44 precious children. 34 prayed to receive JESUS. He is really their only hope.

Today we'll meet with a group of pastors in Belem who are planting churches throughout the region.

Blessings,
Ron

New guys

Yesterday we had over 40 students at our CineCenter lunch Bible Studies. They were divided into seven small groups of men and women, all studying the last part of Philippians chapter 1. It was great to see everyone thinking through what it would mean to put other people's needs ahead of our own!

I was with a group of three first year students from the Modern Language Department at the state university: Adalid, Jhon, and Emiterio. This Christian stuff is pretty new to them all. Last week Adalid prayed and received Christ and this week he told the other guys about it. Different needy folks often wander through asking for money and we shared a piece of pizza with a young deaf boy yesterday.

Today I went back to the food court for lunch alone. The lady who served me my lunch works at one of the small fast food places close to the tables where our students always gather. She took a look at me and asked, "What do you do with all of those students every week?" I guess we're pretty noticable. I got to share briefly with her how we study the Bible together.

Please keep praying for our pizza lunches!

US Treats for Andrew

I am in Orlando for a meeting of Campus Crusade Area Financial Managers from around the world. Taking advantage of the nearby Walmart, I loaded up on something that just isn't the same in Bolivia: CEREAL. I even brought an extra duffle to take them home in. We'll see what Andrew thinks when I get home.

Dad, where do we live?

Last night Andrew was working on an assigned college application for his Life Skills class. He asked me, "Dad, where do we live?", meaning "what is our address?"

We had to laugh because our dirt road does not have a name and our house does not have a number. The best we can do is:

Kilometer 14 on the old highway to Cochabamba.
Turn in 2 kilometers to the neighborhood call "El Balcon 1"
The white house with the red tile roof next door to the tall water tower.
If you get lost, ask the neighbors where the gringos live.

I am afraid when Andrew gets around to the real college applications that won't fit in the blanks!

Ron

Happy Birthday Andrew

Andrew turned 17 on Friday. The great sacrifice for him about living in Bolivia is that you can't drive (legally) until you're 18. Because of when his birthday falls, he will spend his whole senior year next year as an 18 year old. He is counting the months!

August 2009 letter

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

August, 2009

Dear Friend,

Greetings from Santa Cruz, Bolivia! I’m sure you’re gearing up for a new school/church year just like we are here. The weather is turning warmer as we head into springtime.

Last week I was having lunch with Darling, a guy in our Bible study and Wilfredo, a guy who we had just gotten acquainted with. As we were studying the passage in Luke 24 where Jesus appears to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, it seemed pretty clear that Wilfredo did not know Christ as his Savior, yet. As we finished studying the passage I asked Darling to share the Four Spiritual Laws with Wilfredo. Wilfredo hung on every word, and at the end of the booklet joyfully received Christ as his Savior. I can’t tell you the privilege it is to serve here in Bolivia and see God work in such tremendous ways.

In my work as the South America representative for the JESUS Film, I get to support and encourage ministry throughout our continent. We supply equipment and 16mm films, DVD’s and projectors to our Campus Crusade staff and other pastors and missionaries throughout the ten countries of South America. I received this story yesterday from Wilson Moreno, one of our staff in Colombia:

“I want to tell you the story of a special pastor that I met a few years ago. I’ll call him Pedro. Physically, Pedro looks small and a little fragile, to the point that I didn’t expect much from him. He lives in a small village, San Martin, about an hour from the nearest town of any size. When I met him, his heart was on fire with the idea of planting churches the length and breadth of the Colombian state of Meta. This of course implied a lot of hard and constant labor to get to really remote locations, many of which were very dangerous because of the ongoing violence in the rural areas. The terrorist factions and the paramilitaries hate the message of love and forgiveness in the Gospel of Jesus.

We loaned Pedro a 16mm equipment set and a copy of the JESUS film. We also trained him in how to share the Four Spiritual Laws. He set off for places that we would not consider very important or strategic, but for Pedro were his top priority. The results have been astounding! Since he started with the JESUS Film, he has planted nine churches in areas where no other Christian has been able to work. He even planted a church in the town of Mapiripán, the site of a terrible massacre by paramilitary forces (right wing) in 1997.

I spoke with Pedro a few days ago and how he moves me with compassion for the people of his community who need Jesus. He has a new goal: he wants to train young people in leadership where they would learn to study the Word of God, how to disciple others, and how to start new small prayer groups. All of this is being done with the prayer of bringing revival to places where people are used to thinking only in terms of war and hatred. He gathered them together in the town of Villavicencio to encourage them and give them vision for what God can do in their villages.

The story of Pedro has been such a lesson to me of a man who made plans of faith, not based on his personal abilities or capacity, not based on his financial resources, but only trusting in the unfailing faithfulness of God.”

I want to thank you for the part you play in allowing us to serve in South America! May God continue to richly bless you!

Your missionaries in Bolivia,
Ron, Jeanie and Andrew Burgin

Prayer requests:
-Pray for Wilfredo and the many new believers in our ministry.
-Pray for Pastor Pedro and the hundreds of pastors like him who struggle against long odds to proclaim the truth of the Gospel.
-Pray for the effectiveness of our ministry to students here in Bolivia and for partnering pastors as they plant churches and build disciples throughout South America.
-Pray for Jeanie and Andrew as they begin a new year at the mission school here in Santa Cruz; Jeanie as a teacher of Social Studies and U.S. History and Andrew as a high school junior.
-Pray for God’s care over our daughters Sarah and Patty (and their husbands, Dustin and Luke). They are expecting in November and February respectively. The babies will be grandchildren number three and four for us.
-Pray for our granddaughter Leah Rose Burgin (four months old). She has been diagnosed with vision deficiencies. We praise God that apart from the vision problem she is a happy, giggling little girl.

Mar del Plata

I am in Mar del Plata, Argentina for the COICOM Conference. Coicom is the Latin equivalent of the National Religious Broadcasters convention in the US, but has grown to include pastors, mission leaders, and educators as well as broadcasters. I am here with several of our key leaders representing the JESUS Film, but more specifically the Magdalena film and strategies for reaching leaders and planting churches.

This is a great gathering place for new ideas and direction. Mar del Plata is kind of chilly in August. It is more like a California coastal city than a tropical resort. I'd appreciate your prayer as we meet together this week.

Back in Bolivia

I am back in Bolivia after 10 days in the US. I went home for a great reason: Mom and Dad were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. We had a great celebration in Portland. Congratulations Mom and Dad!

Mission trips and more mission trips

This is the high season for mission trips and we are loving it! We combine three vital forces all under the command of the Holy Spirit: First, a team from a U.S. church with a heart for Bolivia; second, bolivian students from our university ministry; and third, a local Bolivian pastor and a few followers who want to plant a church. The results are astounding!
This week we were in Cochabamba with Christ Fellowship from Miami, 15 university students from Santa Cruz, and Pastor Jorge and friends from Fraternidad Cristiana in Cochabamba. Pastor Jorge is in our T-Net training program and has gotten permission to set up portable tents every week in a plaza in a growing neighborhood of Cochabamba. We got to help set it up the first Sunday.
Here is the photo record:

Watching Wesley in Washington, DC

I had a great day enjoying Wesley in Washington, DC. First a one-year-old birthday party for a friend. about 15 one-year-olds were present. Then we went to National Community Church for the Saturday evening service.

Sarah and Dustin left me alone in charge for a while this evening. Wesley was supposed to eat oatmeal. Things went from Ok to worse (as you can see in the pictures). Sarah came home and Wesley got happy real quick.

Grandpa and Leah Rose

It works out pretty well that the world headquarters for Campus Crusade is only two hours away from world headquarters for my new granddaughter Leah Rose.

After a full day of meetings on Monday, I dashed up to Gainesville to meet Leah Rose Burgin, 2 months old. She is beautiful, inquisitive and cuddly!

Tomorrow I'll go back to Orlando for more meetings.

No easy answers

Still making the issue clear here in Bolivia. But it's tough.

Last night I spent some time talking with Juan Gabriel, a 21 year old university student. We were talking about the amazing love and grace of God. I shared with him that we need to understand that we are sinners to be able to appreciate and benefit from God's grace. I asked him if he believed he was a sinner - as I believe I am. He said yes, but then said, "My worst sin is my anger at God. It is a sin to be angry with God, isn't it?"

Juan Gabriel went on to share about his struggle with epilepsy, only partially controlled by medication. Two weeks ago he had a convulsion in class. Painful, embarrassing, disruptive, humiliating. I can only guess at his pain. He is angry that he should have to deal with this in his life. But he didn't question that God loved him, only that he felt bad about his anger.

David was angry (OK, frustrated?) with God in the Psalms 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer”

But he goes on to proclaim God’s dominion in the same Psalm:
“All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.”

Pray for Juan Gabriel as he struggles with knowing God in His Goodness.

Making the issue clear

What is the Gospel? How can a person be saved?

For someone who has been an evangelical Christian for 38 years, the answer is pretty clear: Believe and be saved. OK, believe what, exactly?

The Word of God gives clear guidance on this issue, but it is a matter that is both "critical and progressive". That is, salvation has a clear beginning point and then a lifetime of growing in grace and understanding.

This week I met with two young men with very different perspectives. The first has a traditional Roman Catholic background. When I asked him if he was sure about going to heaven, he replied, "I hope so, unless there are some sins I am unaware of that will prevent me from entering heaven." His hope is built on his own goodness, rather than on Christ's all-sufficiency. That is a pretty common misunderstanding that people from all kinds of church backgrounds hold to.

The other young man I talked to yesterday had a background of Bible studies with Jehovah's Witnesses (he had since fallen away from them). He said, "The Jehovah's witnesses talk only about God. You Christians talk only about Jesus Christ." Wow. Where to begin.

I am learning that the place to begin is with humility and compassion. The Gospel really is Good News. I love this verse:

Mat 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

These young men both need rest. Pray for us that we would make the Good News clear to them.

Ron

Pastors in El Alto

Last week we went to El Alto in the highlands of Bolivia to visit pastors involved in our church planting project. The project includes training through T-Net, proclamation of the Gospel with the JESUS Film and follow-up using the audio Bible from Faith Comes by Hearing in Spanish, Quechua and Aymara.

It was astounding and moving to hear the pastors' stories. People's lives are being transformed! This is a picture of Julia who was paralyzed for much of her life. God has healed her to be able to minister to other Aymara women. We met Julia in her home along with several of the women she ministers to. They gave us a traditional lunch. Please pray for Julia and the pastors in El Alto.

CineCenter Invasion

The biggest multiplex cinema in Bolivia is right here in Santa Cruz. It also the biggest hangout for kids in town, since we don't have a real mall. The CineCenter, does, however have a big food court. It is sort of like a big mall, minus the stores (OK, it has a FEW stores).

I have been meeting with a couple of small groups of guys for lunch there for a year and a half. We have pizza and talk about Jesus and His word. Well, this school year (just started), I decided to make the CineCenter lunches an incubator for new small groups and also to start inviting the girls.

This week we had a total of 60 students, divided into 15 small groups eating pizza and studying what Jesus says about worrying in Luke 12. There were 8 girls groups and I had 7 guys small groups. Can you imagine the joy of seeing 15 new small group leaders caring about the guys in their groups, leading discussion and praying with them? I am excited! Please pray that the groups will continue to multiply and that many students will come to know Christ as Savior.

Also ... please pray for the management at CineCenter. They are a little overwhelmed by our numbers. I guess as long as we keep buying pizza they can't throw us out :)

What would Jesus ask me?

Wow - Back home in Santa Cruz after a week or so in Gainesville, Florida. We were awaiting the birth of our second grandchild: Leah Rose born to Stephen and Rachael. She is beautiful!

Jeanie stayed the extra day to see the long awaited Leah Rose (nearly a week overdue), but I came back on schedule to be with our son, Andrew and get to work. Two hours after getting through customs I was leading a Bible study for 24 university students, both men and women.

We eat pizza and divide into small groups to learn more about Jesus. We'll do the same with a different group of students today. This week we studied the story in Luke 10 of the man who asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus' reply includes the story of the Good Samaritan.

I was struck by how Jesus answered his question with a question based on all the teaching God had already provided the man: "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?"

How often do we cry out to God with a question or doubt (or even a challenge) demanding an answer? I wonder if we shouldn't be still and listen to Jesus' question in reply:

"Child, do you remember my faithfulness last year?"
"What did I show you yesterday in the Psalms?"
"Son, do you already know the right thing, the thing that honors Me?"

I am going to be listening more for His question.

Ron

On Baby Watch in Gainesville

This week Jeanie and I are in Gainesville with our son and daughter-in-law, Stephen and Rachael, awaiting the birth of their first child. We had a beautiful Resurrection Day service at their church and then dinner at the home of friends. Here is a picture of Stephen and Rachael just a few steps down the patio of their friends house.

Jeanie shows Magdalena

This past week we had a group of 34 from LSU with us in Santa Cruz. We did campus ministry, door to door evangelism, and high school outreaches.
On Tuesday evening, Jeanie had planned an outreach for Bolivian women at our church. This is Holy Week and people are more aware than normal of the reality of Jesus' death on the Cross. The women showed the new film from the JESUS Project called Magdalena: Released from Shame. More than 120 women came to the event and the girls from LSU helped with comment cards and conversation after the showing. It was a great success and many of the Christian ladies were moved to purchase the DVD to show in their own homes and churches.

Overall the team from LSU, together with our staff and students presented the Gospel to more than 1500 people with more than 600 praying to trust Christ as their Savior!

One of the last of a generation

I am in Curitiba, Brasil for a Call2All conference. The conference challenges Christians, churches and organizations to adopt one of the last unreached and unengaged people groups. The worship has been amazing, once you get used to the Brazilian style.

Last night Loren Cunningham, founder of YWAM, spoke. His message of vision and commitment to a cause really struck home with me. He is one of the last of a generation of leaders who founded organizations and movements in the post-war era, including Bill Bright. I have the impression that my generation has largely kept the light burning after these fellows have cast the vision. The current and coming generations will have to do much more to trust God for revival. We need new ideas, new structures, maybe a break with the past. I am excited to see it coming.

A Wedding in our Leadership Team

This weekend Paola and Christian were married. Paola is a Bolivian staff member and Christian is an associate staff member from Switzerland. They have been dating for a year or so. For Christian it was love at first site. It took a little longer for Paola. :)

Here are a couple of pictures, first of the bride and groom, then of the parents meeting for the first time.

You know what's exciting?

I'll tell you what's exciting: Having student leaders who are growing and taking charge. I have been leading two men's groups on Monday and Tuesday every week for a year and a half. This week my two disciples, Dennis and Darling, will start taking over. I'll still be there for a while, but they're ready! Each group has 8-10 men. I'm thinking that after that, I'll start over with a new group.

I'll tell you what's NOT exciting: Jeanie just sent me a note saying that we're going to be confined to the house on Saturday, by government edict. We are in the midst of an epidemic of Dengue Fever, about 40,000 cases so far. It is a mosquito borne illness that can be very severe, even fatal (about 40 deaths so far). We are using lots of insect repellent - graciously left behind by our Christ Fellowship team from Miami last summer. The enforced closure of the city is for the purpose of cleaning up around our houses: eliminating trash and standing water that can be a breeding ground for mosquitos.

Amazing ministry, Beautiful Bolivia

We had a great trip out to Comarapa, and, thankfully, our car had no troubles! That is really news after lots of breakdowns with our previous car - the Jeep Cherokee. We went out to Comarapa for our annual national Carnaval Conference for Campus Crusade. I spoke on the last day on the subject of Walking in the Spirit. The response was tremendous as more than half of the students made a commitment to a lifetime of service. Here are a few of the promised photos:

Carnaval in Monteblanco

Greetings from Comarapa/Monteblanco, Bolivia. We are about 150 miles from home celebrating the 4 day Carnaval weekend with 270 students and families involved with Campus Crusade from all over Bolivia. It has been a great time: Great worship, good messages and lots of fun!

I'll upload some pictures when we get back to Santa Cruz and "fast" internet.

Ah, Bolivia

Can I share a story without seeming critical of the country in which we reside? Chalk this up to the confused foreigner who tends to view procedures from my own US lens. As Jeanie says, "it's not wrong, it just different".

Anyhow, my driver's license (brevet) was issued in 2004 and was good for five years. Since there is no mail service here and the transit department doesn't warn you that your license is about to expire, it was good that I looked at it and happened to notice that mine expires on March 4, 2009.

Ok, so I went to "Transito" to renew it. Not so fast! First, I learned that you cannot renew it until it is expired, so March 5 would be the first day that I could renew. (Which raises the question, what if I'm stopped after it expires? I would be in trouble.) As long as I was there, I asked the requirements for the renewal. Here goes:

1. Police background check. You have to request this a couple days in advance. It is a whole procedure in itself.
2. An attorney must prepare an official request for a renewed license.
3. Medical and ocular certificate.
4. copies of ID card and present driver's license front and back.
5. the expired license itself.
6. 2 photos with blue background.

Except for point one and four, the items on the list can be accomplished at "transito", for a fee in each case. The background check form, for instance, costs $4US plus about a $1.50 tip for the guy who fills it out. I know that because I just applied for the background check to be able to comply with registration requirements as a board member of our church.

So these things seem like a lot of work to me, but to a Bolivian the procedures are just a part of life. To tell the truth, I'm not sure taking a number and waiting at the DMV in Florida is any easier. I remember driving our kids around South Florida trying to find the least busy DMV office.

Election Day - again

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

January 25, 2009

Dear Friend,
Greetings from Santa Cruz, Bolivia! Today we spent the whole day at home because it is Election Day here in Bolivia. The voters are deciding whether to approve a new constitution that will have lasting impact on the country. The early results show it being approved by a 60% to 40% margin, which was pretty much what was expected. As I write I can hear some fireworks in our neighborhood celebrating the new constitution. That's a photo of our president at a polling station.

Pastors and Christian school leaders are anxious as to the impact of the new constitution on their institutions. We all need to remember that God is still on His throne and at work in the hearts of Bolivians.

We were home all day because no driving is allowed. Election Day is a good day to rest and catch up. Around midday we lost electricity, which isn’t too unusual, so we waited a while for the power to come back. I usually assume it is a neighborhood outage and the electric coop must be aware of the problem. When we were still out of power after 45 minutes, I called the cooperative and they said the problem must be at our meter. We went out to check and the breaker was flipped off. I think we got carried away in our electrical consumption. We had one A/C unit going, the electric dryer, soup cooking on the electric range and the water pump running to wash the cars, plus miscellaneous computer, monitor, tv, etc. I guess we learned the limits of our electrical system. (Anyone remember the 1960’s sitcom, “Green Acres”? )

People are still very open to the Gospel. Friday while I was still in Colombia working with staff there, students in our university ministry went to the big state university here to share the Gospel with students waiting to register. Overall, 80 students heard the Gospel using the Four Spiritual Law booklet and 40 prayed to receive Jesus as Savior.

Last night at our weekly meeting, one of our students, Darling, told about his experience sharing Christ. He has taken some good-natured ribbing in the past because whenever we go on mission trips, he seems to end up sharing the gospel with whole groups of young ladies. Can’t figure that out J. Anyway, Friday he ended up talking with 15 guys and 8 of them prayed to receive Christ! He was excited. There were several new guys from the U at our meeting, including Maxim and Juan Gabriel. Please pray for these kids as God draws them to Himself.

This week we have a group of Campus Crusade leaders from around South America here in Santa Cruz to think together about how we can work effectively with pastors and denominations in planting new churches in every corner of the continent. Please pray that God would use our time together to build His Kingdom.

Thanks for your unceasing prayer and financial support of our ministry! We appreciate you now more than ever!

Your missionaries in Bolivia,
Ron, Jeanie and Andrew Burgin

Mataburros and other repairs

It is always a challenge to return to Bolivia after being away. It seems that things magically fall apart in our absence. Tires go flat, light bulbs burn out, dogs get tick infestations, etc. So... I always want to get back to the ministry, but the circumstances require me to do general "tech support" around the house.

On Monday Jeanie and Andrew came home complaining about a thumping sound in the little car. Turns out the mataburros (burro killer-sort of an additional superbumper) on the front of the car came loose and needed to be welded back in place on one side. We have a neighbor, Freddy, who is now doing body work in his yard, so I decided to ask him to take a look. (This is the same Freddy whose cow died in the field across from our house some time back. He has broadened his professional interests since then.)

Anyway, getting to and from his yard is an experience. You have to walk through the barnyard of vacant lots to get there: mean dogs, pigs, lambs, goats and lots of Freddy's relatives. They mostly speak Quechua, though Freddy and his father-in-law do Ok in Spanish as well. It has been fun to get to know them. Freddy has an arc welder and sent me on the way with a repaired mataburros in a couple of hours.

I am going to go back and offer them the Quechua version of the JESUS Film on DVD. Maybe we can watch it together. Pray that God will touch their hearts.