Easter weekend in Bolivia

Ron and Jeanie Burgin
Campus Crusade for Christ, South America


Hi from Bolivia!

We had a great Easter weekend in Bolivia. Andrew and I went with about 35 friends from our local Campus Crusade ministry out into the campo to show the JESUS Film in a couple of small villages. Jeanie stayed home with some other Easter weekend responsibilities (breakfast on Sunday at the churchJ).

Conditions were interesting! We stayed at the ranch of some friends. It was a nice house, but it had very little water. What little came out of the tap was very rusty. Fortunately, Andy and I brought 4 five gallon containers of water from home. It’s a good thing we did, because there was no other available water to cook with. The bathroom facilities were nice, just no water. So, we worked out a two bucket system: one to dip from for “showering” and another to empty into the toilet to flush it. Everyone was responsible to fill the buckets outside when the finished with the bathroom.

Have you ever heard of a “peto”? It is a particularly aggressive Amazonian wasp. I was with several of my guys when I found a nest of petos in a tree near the ranch house. I thought it would be a good idea to throw a brick at the nest. You have never seen a bunch of Bolivian guys run faster! Meanwhile, I stood and looked at the petos as the nest fell to the ground. Within a couple of seconds one of them stung me on the forehead with such force that it felt like someone hit me! Over the next 24 hours my forehead and left eye swelled up. The pain was like no Oregon yellow jacket sting I have ever felt.

To get between the ranch and the villages we had to ford a river in the jeep. It is four wheel drive, but it was a little bit of an adventure each of the 10 crossings. Andrew and the college guys thought it was a lot of fun. I held my breath each time.

On the Saturday afternoon Andrew showed the guys how to play American football in the river. I explained the rules, which the Bolivian guys find hilarious compared to soccer. The hardest rule for them to understand was: no tackling after the ball is dead – incomplete pass, runner is already down, etc. They really liked the tackling part. Here is a video in the river (the same river we had to cross 10 times).



We showed the film on the soccer field opposite the little Catholic church. The local community leader gave us permission to use the benches from the church! Here is Milton Andy carrying a bench for the showing.

That evening 25 adults and 15 children made decisions to follow Jesus as their Savior. I shared with two boys, Jose Patricio and Rodrigo. They were 10 and 11 years old. As an American, you would look at them and think they were about seven. They are very small. I asked them if they were sure that if they died that they would go to heaven. They weren’t positive, but wanted to know for sure. I explained how they could know for sure, and each of them prayed to receive Christ as his Savior.

We were working with a local pastor who has been in the area for about 6 months and he will be following up with the new believers.

Please pray for:


*Jose Patricio and Rodrigo – that they would grow in their faith.
*Pastor Adolfo who will be following up with the new believers.
*Jesús, Luis, Milton Andy, Edén, Never, Adolfo and Renato – the guys from our Bible study who went on the retreat. Pray that God would give them a vision to reach lost people.
*Pray for the growth of our ministry to college age men and women. Next week I will be giving a talk at the state university. We are trusting God to grow from 12 to 50 kids in the next several months. (We are just one of many college groups sponsored by Campus Crusade here in the city)
*Pray for our friends Tony and Sarah, missionaries here in Bolivia, whose premature twins died after a few days of life last week. Sarah is still very weak.
*Pray for God to give me wisdom as I work with our staff in the other countries of South America to maximize the impact of the JESUS Film.

Thanks for being part of what God is doing here in Bolivia! We couldn't be here without you!

In Christ's love,
Ron, Jeanie and Andrew