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.