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:

Easter 2011

April, 2011
Dear Friend,

Greetings from Santa Cruz, Bolivia. This is an exciting week in Latin America. In every country there are special celebrations of Semana Santa, Holy Week. Throughout our continent secular TV stations will be showing the JESUS Film and The Story of JESUS for Children. Right here in Bolivia thousands of DVD’s of Magdalena: Released from Shame have been or will be distributed in the coming weeks. We are planning multiple theater premieres of Magdalena in the Quechua and Aymara languages in the major cities of Bolivia. Please pray with us as millions will be exposed to the Gospel through television broadcasts, theater premieres of Magdalena: Released from Shame, and DVD distributions.

While we broadcast the Good News widely, the work is often one on one. Last week Marcelo, a young man I had known previously from the ministry at the Modern Language department at the university phoned me. We got together for lunch and he told me over and over again of his need to draw closer to God. I shared with him an Iphone app version of the Four Spiritual Laws and he received Christ that day! Please pray for Marcelo as we meet together to learn more and he begins to grow in his faith.

Probably our greatest task ahead is working with the next generation of leaders to equip them to take the reins of ministry. Two weeks ago I met with staff from Chile and Bolivia to learn about their ministries. I am so encouraged by the quality of new missionary staff coming up through the ranks.

Patricio (Pato) joined staff with Campus Crusade in Chile just a few months ago after serving for a few years as a volunteer. He will soon be taking the leadership of one of our University districts in Santiago. He is the kind of guy that people want to get know. I think you can tell from his photo why people like talking to him. Very often those conversations lead to the Gospel.

Marcelo and his wife Dita joined our staff a year ago in Bolivia. Marcelo is a recent engineering graduate from the big state university here. He heard the Gospel through one of our staff on campus, received Christ as his Savior and hasn’t stopped running since! He has created an amazing leadership training proposal for the Engineering Department that will allow him to teach leadership principles on campus while he gets to know students and builds a ministry there.

Please pray for Pato and Marcelo and hundreds of other young men and women who are responding to God’s call to reach their generation with Jesus’ love and forgiveness.

Andrew is in the home stretch of his senior year and has been accepted to the University of Florida for the fall. Go Gators! Jeanie is wrapping up five years of teaching at the Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center with mixed emotions: looking forward to change, but already missing the kids and her colleagues. We are looking forward to moving later in the year to Costa Rica.

Jeanie and I wish you a very Happy Easter. He is Risen!

Ron and Jeanie

Back in Thailand

Greetings from Chiang Mai, Thailand. I am here for a 7 day conference along with 30 colleagues from Campus Crusade around the world. I don't really enjoy the trip getting here, but God is really blessing our time together.

One of my responsibilities as Operations Director for CCC Latin America is the area of measurements. Basically, measurements refers to keeping track of our effectiveness in the ministry: How many people have heard the Gospel, how many have trusted Christ as Savior, how many are in discipleship, etc.

These kinds of statistics are vitally important to us for several reasons. First, they tell us if the plans and strategies we are working on in the countries are effective. Second, they give us a measure of individual staff effectiveness. If a particular staff member or team is seeing tremendous fruit, we need to ask, “What are they doing? How can we multiply their experience?” Third, measuring activity and results allows us to be more accountable to our donors and leaders. We want to be sure we are being faithful with the resources God has given us, both human and financial.

Last, and most important, the Bible is very clear on our responsibility as servants to be wise stewards. In the end, our responsibility is to the One who loved us and called us to proclaim His name.

We are using some innovative technologies that allow staff reporting all the way down to the field level using the Internet. Our national and area leaders can have quick access to information to be able to make course adjustments along the way. Well, that may be more than you want to know about Global Measurements!

We are so thankful for your partnership with us at this time! Jeanie and I have had a very full February as we completed the sale of the house in Bolivia (thank you, Lord), and moved to temporary quarters in downtown Santa Cruz until September. Andrew will be graduating from High School in May and is making a decision in the coming days as to which of two fine Universities to attend: UF or FSU. He has been accepted to both.

Thanks again for your continued support! May God continue to richly bless you.

Ron and Jeanie

Magdalena in Quechua and Aymara

We have a new video production from the JESUS Film called Magdalena, Released from Shame. It has had a tremendous impact on the lives of women around the world and in Latin America. The JESUS Film project has specialists in film translation and dubbing. In fact,the JESUS Film is now available in more than 1000 languages!

Tito Ramos, my friend and director of Campus Crusade here in Bolivia would love to have the Magdalena film translated into Quechua and Aymara, the two largest indigenous languages in Bolivia. Steve Baumann from the JESUS Film came down last week and we all flew to Cochabamba to meet with Rolando and his team with the Bible Society to work out the translation and recording details. In the photo they are reviewing the script.

God is good! The recording and editing have been placed on a fast track calendar. The recording will be done the last week of February and the first week of March, with the final editing and post-production work to be done before Easter!

Please pray for all of the details and the hard work ahead for the Bolivian translators and voice actors, and recordists who will come from the U.S. Then pray as well for the impact of the film on the lives of women who need the hope that only Christ can bring.

Ron

A different Bolivia

The new government has renamed the country: The Plurinational State of Bolivia. Plurinational because there are so many different people groups.

Over New Years weekend we went out to the Trans World Radio station in Pailon. The ministry there, directed by our friends Jake and Dorothy Fehr, is directed to Spanish speaking Bolivians, Quechua speaking Bolivians and Plautisch speaking Bolivians. Plautisch, or Low German, is the language of the Mennonite colonies. An estimated 60,000 folks live in the colonies in lowland Bolivia. They have a very closed, restricted culture where people can be excommunicated for listening to the radio or reading the Bible. It is a culture where people have very little access to the Good News of the Gospel.

Jake and Dorothy broadcast to these people and the ministry is flourishing. They have many live events at the station where hundreds of Mennonite colonists will come to hear solid teaching from God's word. Among the many tools they use is the JESUS Film on DVD as well as the radio version in Low German.

Here's Jeanie with her friend Dorothy:

Jake drove us around the community near the station and I caught this Mennonite boy hiding from us in a puddle. Kids are kids!

Been away awhile!

It's been a while since I posted last, but not because of lack of activity! I am amazed at the changes that are coming fast in our lives. Because of our ministry reorganization earlier this year, we are making a move to Costa Rica where we will establish our new office of Campus Crusade for Christ, Latin America.

Picking up from one place and moving to another country is a challenge. We have really put down roots here, including owning a house and a couple of dogs. Knowing that selling a house can take time under the best of circumstances, we decided to list the house with a real estate agent at the end of November.

Have you ever listed a house for sale in the U.S.? If so, you know that there is a listing agreement that you sign with the real estate person, guaranteeing their performance and your payment of 6% more or less when they sell your house. No such thing here. It is all a handshake, a smile and 3% when all is said and done. We listed the house for the agent's recommended price and hunkered down for a many-month process. To our great surprise, the house sold in two weeks. A little less than we were asking, but more than we paid for it.

We signed the papers at an attorney's office and plan to close on or before Feb. 15. Great. The buyer gave us $5000 down - in US $100's and into my pocket. There is no escrow account, because the buyer can't get out of it. No inspection contingency, no house sale contingency, no financing contingency. Just do it or lose the $5000. Very simple.

Very frequently in Bolivia, the new owners purchase a house furnished, so we made a list of items we would not be moving. They came out yesterday to the house with the whole extended family for another tour and to look at the items on the list. They bought it all, with the exception of the piano. We have already lined up an apartment from February through August in downtown Santa Cruz.

There have been times in our life when God has really confirmed His will for us through circumstances. This is DEFINITELY one of those times. We are so thankful for how He is moving to make this move happen.

Now we need to think and pray about the dogs. Stay in Bolivia? Move them to Costa Rica? Lord?

Ron

The story of Mario

Mario Rios is a dynamic, joyful university student who attends the UAGRM (Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno) state university in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. His major is modern languages. When we met last March, he shared how his father had recently passed away, leaving his mother in the small village Mario still calls home. The village is called Malca Mayu in the highland state of Potosi in Bolivia. The people of Malca Mayu speak Quechua and live a rural, agrarian life, though many have gone to the big cities of Bolivia and Argentina to earn a living.

His father was well-loved in his home village and the three neighboring villages. He was always smiling, and always willing to lend a hand. The people of the village see a lot of his father in Mario. His dad was a farmer and rose every day at 4 a.m. to provide for his family. Mario had nine brothers and sisters that lived to adulthood of whom seven are still living. Besides the nine, however, there were eight others who died young. He remembered his favorite little sister who died when she was four, of unknown causes. “She was already reading and the joy of our lives”, he explained. Hardship has always been part of their lives.

Soon after his father died, I gave Mario copy of the JESUS Film in Quechua. He kept hoping for a chance to take it home to the village, but finally sent it to his sister who still lives there. Last week he got the news that they had watched the film. His mother, sister, two aunts and two uncles all saw the film. The only word he has gotten back is that they “liked” the film, and really appreciated that they could see it in their own language. You have to know Mario to understand that “liking” the film isn’t good enough for him.

Mario received Christ as his Savior in 2005 and is excited about his faith. He shared how he preached on the bus when he went home for the funeral of his father. He is very bold with the Good News and wants to see his Quechua people reached with the Gospel. He tells of a certain coldness that the people have toward the Gospel. He says many are enmeshed in the traditions of the Catholic Church and the traditional indigenous worship of the Pachamama, the earth goddess.

In Bolivia funerals always take place on the morning following the death. If someone dies very early in the day, the funeral might take place later that same day. There is no embalming, and the thought of waiting several days, even for distant relatives to arrive, is abhorrent. They have another tradition that Mario shared with me. His eyes lit up as he told me that very often people will gather to spend an afternoon and evening together on the first anniversary of the death of a loved one. Someone as well-loved as Mario’s father, and with as many children, will have a big gathering of remembrance. People bring flowers and lay out the favorite foods of their loved one.

Mario is already thinking strategically (He actually said, “I have a strategic plan”) about this one year anniversary gathering in February, 2011. “If six people ‘liked’ the film, imagine a gathering of 70! With me there to share and encourage them to trust Christ as their Savior!” He is planning to make the trip in February with several more DVD’s of the JESUS Film to give away. He is trusting God that the remembrance of his father’s life will give him an opportunity to share about real life in JESUS!

Friskie the tree climber

This morning I was in the kitchen when I heard a ruckus in the yard and saw a cloud of dust as both dogs took off after some alien intruder. I went outside and spotted the culprit up a tree:

Friskie decided that she should not remain earthbound and started up the tree:

About 10 seconds later, the kitty departed our yard and out under the gate.

Jeanie is pointing on the tree how far Friskie climbed (Friskie is still prowling for the cat):

New life in the backyard

A couple of steps out our backdoor there is an arbor that for many months of the year is awash in flowers. This is the driest time of year and there are no flowers and the leaves are sparse. Through the twigs, though, you can see a mother and father bird guarding a nest. They hold stock-still as you approach. Here's a photo from a few feet away. Spring rains are coming.

Changes

Change is a good thing! (I think)

This year is a time of change for us in Campus Crusade Latin America as we restructure to serve the staff in our continent better. The biggest change at all levels is a change to team leadership. Now, instead of having a continental director who makes the final decisions, we have a leadership team who works together to determine direction and strategy. We hope to multiply the model out to our national ministries as well.

The major implication of the change for us this month is the reduction in size of our former continental office in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. We have reduced down to just four of us as Jeanie and I plan a move to our new central office, probably in San Jose, Costa Rica sometime in late 2011, after Andrew graduates from High School.

While the move is definitely in the works, it is not imminent. During the year or so we have left in Bolivia, we are excited to see what God has in store. I met last week with Tito Ramos, our Bolivian National Director. I am very encouraged by his vision and plans. We will be working very closely with him and his team as we bring several teams from the U.S. to Bolivia in the coming year.

Jeanie is in her second week teaching 10th grade U.S. History and English at the mission school. She is excited about this group of kids. She was their social studies teacher back when they were in 8th grade. Please pray for her!

Andrew is due back on Thursday night from Oregon. He has stayed an extra couple of weeks for a final check by the surgeon. We praise God for a successful surgery for Andrew!

Tomorrow I will head out for Mexico to join with our staff in their national conference and then meet with our Latin America leadership team.

Thanks again for your support and prayer!

Finishing the trip.

Hi from Coeur D'Alene. The last few days have been a whirl of cross-country activity. We have gone to the Eisenhower Presidential Museum, Mt. Rushmore,Badlands National Park, Yellowstone, and a couple of minor league, but fascinating museums and hikes. Tomorrow it is home to Portland! Meanwhile, here are a few pictures:

This is the house Eisenhower grew up in. They built the Library and Museum around it.


We did the loop drive through the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. It is amazing. Really BAD.


Need I say more?


This is a yellow-bellied marmot that we saw in the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming on the way to Yellowstone.


Old Faithful was so amazing we stayed to watch it erupt twice! We packed a lot into our two days in Yellowstone including a hike to the top of Mt. Washburn.

The buck stops here.

Greetings from Independence, MO. We spent the morning at the Truman Library and Museum, then on the way to Abilene, KS and the Eisenhower museum we stopped at the US Cavalry Museum at Ft. Riley, Kansas.

Here are Jeanie and Andy in front of the Eisenhower Museum.

This is a replica of the Truman oval office.

Out in the courtyard, Jeanie found the flag from the most beautiful state in the Union.

In front of the Truman home.

All you ever need to know.

At the Ft. Riley U.S. Cavalry Museum

In front of General Custer's house. (He didn't make it home from his last business trip).

Herbert Hoover - not as bad as you think

Today we saw the Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum in West Branch, Iowa. We learned a lot about a president we had only thought of in relation to "causing" the Great Depression. First, he didn't do that, and second he was a great humanitarian. We're all learning a lot and enjoying the trip. The picture is in front of his birthplace.

Tomorrow it's on to Independence, MO and Harry Truman.

Land of Lincoln

We arrived in Springfield, IL on Sunday night and spent all day yesterday learning about Abraham Lincoln.

In the morning we went to the Lincoln home. The National Park Service has restored four city blocks to their 1860 appearance. We toured the Lincoln home and took lots of pictures.

In the afternoon we went to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. They had a couple of great multimedia presentations and some self-guided "journeys" through the life of Lincoln. Again, really worth the trip. I can't believe we have never done this before (sorry, older kids:).

Here we are with the Lincolns at the White House (that's John Wilkes Booth over Andrew's right shoulder):