Farewell to Bolivia

Our move is now complete and we live in Costa Rica. This will be the last post to the Bolivia Blog.

Please keep up with us on our new Burgin Costa Rica Blog.

We will always love Bolivia and all of our friends there. We hope to visit often! We’ve moved, but our heart is still to see God build movements of evangelism and discipleship throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

Blessings,
Ron

Cooper!

 

Cooper is sometimes lost in the crush of cute girls and big brother! We have enjoyed seeing him a couple of times this fall and look forward to Christmas with our special grandson!

Enjoying South Carolina

Jeanie and I are enjoying our furlough time in South Carolina. The greatest thrill is to be the resident grandparents for the first time in our lives. Our daughter Patty and her husband Luke live here in Camden where he is the assistant pastor at a local church. This week Patty gave birth to a new little girl, Caroline Hope Tolbert. Caroline joins Anna Kate who is 20 months old. Jeanie is in Grandma heaven.

She has been over at Luke and Patty's house helping out while I continue my work as Operations Director for Campus Crusade for Christ, Latin America - thanks to my very fast internet connection.

We have been able to do a little touring around South Carolina. On Thursday we took in the South Carolina State Fair. We learned about the benefits of negative ion bracelets (no sale there) and elephant ears (we shared one). It was really a great piece of Americana to enjoy and remember as we prepare to move to Costa Rica.

Last week we visited the Kensington mansion about 40 minutes from Camden. It is an antebellum plantation mansion. The house was beautiful, but the history is also tragic as it was all built on the backs of slave labor. The older gentleman who gave us the tour was a real storehouse of local history and stories.

This week I have spent a lot of time working on a relief project proposal to bring aid to our 50 national staff members who live and serve in the countries of Central America. Heavy rains this month from a series of tropical storms, have brought devastation and misery to the area not seen since Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Floods have caused widespread damage to infrastructure, housing, agriculture, commercial interests, churches, schools, and government institutions. Total losses to the economy will take months to calculate and years to recover. God has supplied funds for emergency help to our staff in the area. Please pray for our staff and all of the people affected by the devastation.

Below is a photo from the city of Quetzaltenango in Guatelmala.

Colorado!

We have been in Colorado for a week. First we went to a returning missionary conference called Still Waters in Winter Park. We had a refreshing time thinking about transitions to our new assignment in Costa Rica and enjoying time with new and old friends. The setting was beautiful.

Following the conference we took Andrew back to the Denver airport to travel to Florida to start his new life at the University of Florida. Our older son Stephen and his wife Rachael are guiding Andy through the first steps at college.

Since Monday we have been at our Cru (we like the new name!) staff conference. Several of our staff from the Caribbean are joining us here this week:

One last photo from Colorado:

With Grace Community Church in Bolivia

We are enjoying a great week in Bolivia with our home church from Gresham, Oregon. We have been working with a local church to plant a daughter church and also with our Campus Crusade staff at the Gabriel Rene Moreno University to make contacts with new students. Here are a few pictures.

Ron

May prayer letter

Ron and Jeanie Burgin
Campus Crusade for Christ, Latin America
www.Burgin-Bolivia.blogspot.com

May, 2011

Dear Friend,

What a month! We have just finished a great week here in Santa Cruz, Bolivia celebrating Andrew’s graduation from the mission school, Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center. We are so proud of him! He will be attending the University of Florida in the fall, majoring in Business. My sister, Patty Burgin; daughter, Patty Burgin Tolbert; and our granddaughter, Anna Kate all flew down to Bolivia to be with us. It was exciting for them to be here and see our life and ministry. Here are a couple of pictures from this week.

Left to right: Patty Burgin Tolbert, Anna Kate, Jeanie, Andrew, Ron, Patty Burgin (AP)

As you may know, my job has grown over the last year as I have taken on the role of Operations Director for Campus Crusade for Christ, Latin America. I work with a great team in the areas of JESUS Film, Administration and Finance, Communications, Fund Development, Technology and Crisis Management. The week before graduation I was with our new national leadership team in Puebla, Mexico helping them make the transition. Probably the most exciting part of my job is helping new young leaders as they lead our ministry. On Sunday Jeanie and I will go to Buenos Aires for our Area Leadership Team meeting and then later in June I'll be in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Sounds like a lot of travel, and it is! Please pray for safety and effectiveness as we serve our staff, which now numbers over 300 full time national missionaries.



Working with the JESUS Film and our national ministries as they develop strategies to use its resources is a big part of my job. I want to share a story of the impact of the JESUS Film DVD and Magdalena in Mendoza, Argentina.

During Holy Week of 2010, by TV and DVD in homes, an estimated 150,000 people heard about Jesus. The impact in changed lives was so great that Pastor Bazan of the largest church in the city (4000 members) sponsored a premiere showing of the film Magdalena: Released from Shame that was attended by 2000. He and his leaders distributed 1000 DVD’s of the JESUS Film in key neighborhoods where church members opened their homes to show the DVD. The church distributed 500 more DVD’s over Christmas and they did big screen 16 mm showings with 10 projectors throughout the city. They estimate that at least 50,000 more were reached with the Gospel in December alone.

Our team in Argentina is trusting God to multiply this strategy to other parts of the country. Thank you so much for your partnership with us! God continues to do great things, and is using you and us in the process. What a privilege!

Your Missionaries in Latin America,

Ron and Jeanie

Andrew's Graduation

This is the week of Andrew's graduation. We are so proud of him! He has been named Valedictorian of his class. The year ahead brings exciting new challenges for him at the University of Florida and for us in Costa Rica.

Here is a (very) brief video slide show: