Welcome to our Blog! We are missionaries with Campus Crusade for Christ in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Our purpose is to serve Christ by working with national believers to reach people in every language group and every level society with the Good News of the Gospel. Thanks for visiting!
Please write us: RBBolivia@aol.com
This is our daughter Sarah with Wesley, all bundled up for the Washington, D.C. late fall weather. Is he cute? We'll all be together for a week at Christmas in Orlando for the first time in six Christmases, but man, is it hard for Jeanie and me to be away from the kids.
How can we do it? Well, God gives us bonuses that carry us through. On Saturday night I was taking one of the guys home after our meeting. We had never had a private conversation before, so I asked him some probing questions about his relationship with God. He had some common, but mistaken ideas about his salvation depending on his living a good life. I shared with him the sad news that he could NEVER be good enough to please God. Then I told him the GREAT NEWS that he didn't have to be good enough. Jesus made all the payment necessary for his salvation on the cross. He prayed to receive Christ right there in my Pathfinder by the side of the road. We're meeting later this week to explore some more about the "excellencies" of Jesus (I Peter 2).
Oh. Something funny. I was so excited to get back together with him that I set up our appointment for Thursday at 2 p.m., forgetting that we are going to celebrate American Thanksgiving with some friends on Thursday at 2 p.m. Jeanie would not be amused. I changed the appointment.
This week I have been in Quito, Ecuador for our annual directors conference for South America. It was a great time of vision and planning. One of our big challenges is a transition of leadership over the coming year as our continental director of the last 20 years steps into a new role as "Elder Statesman" in a ministry to high level government and business leaders throughout the continent.
Here are some photos I took this week. I'm the guy behind the camera, so you won't see me. But I was there :)
Every year at this time we send a real snail mail letter to our friends and supporters in the U.S. This year I decided to include a new prayer card - really just a photo with some writing on it. It is something missionaries do. Hopefully it will make it to some refrigerators and people will be reminded to pray for the ministry.
The mountain is an hour or so from our house. I love the colors on the sheer cliffs. The mountain is real. The people and the sky have been photoshopped. (Jeanie just commented that the people, although photoshopped, ARE real).
Two years ago I started a men's group for university students. It grew. The guys wanted to include girls. The group grew even more :) And the men in the initial group kept growing spiritually.
Our vision was to build the group around the Win Build Send basics of Campus Crusade for Christ, but with a special emphasis on using the JESUS Film to help pastors plant local churches. We are really seeing the fruit! This past weekend we sent 24 students and staff to Cochabamba to partner with pastors from the UBB Baptist denomination to help reach their neighborhoods with the Gospel.
This coming weekend we are sending film teams of students to Yacuiba in the South of Bolivia to work with a Free Brethren pastor to plant new groups. Also this weekend, Ever Castro, one of my key men is leading another group of 50 young people from his church to Sucre, taking a JESUS Film equipment set with them.
The joy of seeing these guys and girls go out, at their own expense, to share the Good News is tremendous! Thanks for praying and giving to make this possible!
After months of planning and preparation in Brasil, we have launched a pilot project partnering the JESUS Film and the Faith Comes by Hearing audio New Testament. The project is called the End to End Partnership. This week we have been training national church planters to use these effective tools to reach people with the good news of Jesus and disciple them in small groups, embryonic churches, using the audio bible - the Proclaimer device.
Our first of three trainings took place in Northeast Brasil, in a region called the Sertao. It is a starkly beautiful region as you can see from this photograph. The people of the region are among the poorest of Brasil and among the least reached with the Gospel.
My role was to explain the vision of the project and the role of the national church planters in testing the concept over the next 10 months. If the initial test with 200 proclaimers is successful, i.e. if the church planters have a higher percentage of people who remain in the new churches as a result of the new discipleship training, the plan will be to expand the program dramatically.
Here a couple of our trainees learn how to use the proclaimer.
In the two day training, the partner church planters learned how to use the JESUS Film effectively to reach people with the Gospel, how to use the Proclaimer in follow up sessions to listen through the New Testament, how to effectively lead a small group and ask good questions, and how to monitor and report the results of their efforts. We all left the trainings encouraged and very hopeful.
Please join us in praying that God will do a great work in Brasil in the End to End Partnership.
"There cannot be a crisis today, my schedule is already full." Henry Kissinger
The governors and the president of Bolivia continue in crisis negotiations to avert a political meltdown in the country. But meanwhile, life is pretty normal.
Yesterday our 14 student leaders gathered for the regular lunch meeting, and we are planning our upcoming mission trips.
I am leaving for Brasil on Saturday to attend a couple of training sessions for pastors. We are implementing a new strategy using the JESUS Film for proclamation, and Faith Comes by Hearing audio versions of the New Testament for follow-up with the goal of planting new baby churches. The big difference with this new END TO END Partnership is to see whether we can successfully equip national church planters to use the tools we have developed. The tools have worked well for our Campus Crusade staff, the time has come to multiply their impact. Brasil, along with India and Nigeria have been selected for the initial test.
By the way, while we are not fighting roadblocks this week in Santa Cruz, I am fighting a chest cold. I broke down today and went to the neighborhood doctor. He did the usual BP, temperature (had to remind him on that one), physical exam and the stethoscope part. After we finished he determined I needed a dose of penecillin, just in case. I got about 8 cc's in the posterior. He said I'd be fine to go to Brasil. Total office visit and prescriptions: Bs. 66 (a little less than $9). Uh-oh! I forgot to get a receipt to turn it in to my U.S. insurance carrier, Blue Cross - just kidding.
School was cancelled again today, although Jeanie went in to get some grading done. I ran across an article in the Economist.com that gave a great summary of the situation here. I would recommend it to you.
All American Airlines flights to Bolivia have been cancelled for the last week. I found myself stuck in Orlando with the earliest possible reservation for Sunday September 21, but that flight itself was subject to cancellation.
The alternative I found was to travel from Orlando-Miami-Sao Paulo, Brazil on American and then from Sao Paulo to Santa Cruz, Bolivia via AeroSur, a Bolivian airline. It took 24 hours, but I'm home.
Jeanie and Andrew are fine, and the school is operating, but there is a lot of nervousness in the country. Last night the opposition governors signed an agreement to dialog with the national government and its president, Evo Morales. The agreement brings at least the possibility of a truce. Please pray that God will bring a just peace to this country.
I am stranded here with all American Airlines flights to Bolivia cancelled. Jeanie and Andrew are in Santa Cruz with plenty of food and gasoline. The political unrest is nowhere near our house, but with things heating up, I need to be there. Please pray that a flight would open up soon for me to go home.
Ron
Here is an article from google that is a pretty good summary:
Tense, fearful feeling grips Bolivia's economic heartland 14 Sep, 2008, 0741 hrs IST, AGENCIES SANTA CRUZ-BOLIVIA: Santa Cruz, Bolivia's most economically vital state, was in the grip of fear and suffering fuel shortages over the weekend as a conflict pitting it and other rebel regions against the leftwing government deepened.
Hundreds of cars lined up in front of service stations around the city of Santa Cruz - capital of the state of the same name - waiting for limited deliveries of gasoline and diesel. Drivers slept for hours in their vehicles to receive a ration of 10 liters (2.5 gallons).
Families also lined up to fill compressed gas cylinders needed for cooking. Around the state, trucks transporting food and goods were held up at roadblocks manned by anti-government protesters. The unrest was also affecting Santa Cruz's airport. Passengers arriving on the few flights still going to Bolivia during the crisis found a blockade at the road entrance to the facility prevented taxis from getting through.
Cellular and land telephone lines were patchy at best, with the biggest operator, state-run Entel, badly affected by the ransacking of its offices in the city. But with most residents of the state backing conservative governor Ruben Costas in his struggle with President Evo Morales, there was little overt violence.
There was, however, fear. Eugenio Ondo, a street vendor in an indigenous district that was one of the few enclaves dominated by pro-Morales sentiment, said the normally busy market where he was working was "empty, no activity." "There are provocations every day, every night," he said, as he sold a cup of caramel and cream to a customer.
Nearby, another vendor, Jose Luis Garcia, explained that the outlying neighborhood was being harrassed in the evenings by a rightwing group called the Youth Union which has ties to the governor and other opposition figures. "People are afraid that the Youth Union will come here from the town to burn everything," he said.
In several places around Santa Cruz, mainly Entel and government offices, the scars of rampages that have shaken the city this week were evident. The glass exterior of an Entel building with transmission equipment was pocked with jagged holes where anti-government militants had thrown rocks.
A street away, offices for "agricultural reform" were closed with burnt furniture stacked outside and the place sealed with yellow tape declaring entry to be prohibited. Someone had scrawled "Evo Murderer" on a wall. Government vehicles belonging to the office were nearby, all their windows smashed and their panels badly dented.
The center of Santa Cruz was calm, with people reading and sitting on benches in the main square. But around them, usually busy shops were empty, with a few shuttered. A Christian concert exhorting peace was the principal animation in the city on Saturday.
A few hundred people, some clutching Bibles or flags, marched up to the stage to hear the band appeal for an end to the violence between tropical tunes dedicated to Jesus Christ.
This morning I have been working away in my office in downtown Santa Cruz. My office is on the second floor overlooking the street. They are remodeling the house across the street and the guys like their music loud. There are lots of styles of music in Bolivia. I confess it can get annoying.
Two minutes ago I looked up suddenly as I heard the strains of John Denver singing "Sunshine on my Shoulders". I laughed out loud. My irritation went away!
Bolivians like their music and their celebrations LOUD. There is a whole cottage industry here with home delivery of rental amps and huge speakers. Families host parties for quinceaneras (15 year old coming out parties), birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and weddings.
Tonight the sound is intense inside our house as some neighbors a block away celebrate a wedding. Now, in the U.S., we would be righteously indignant, maybe call the police, or at least the president of the homeowner's association. Not here. This is how you celebrate. I took the dog out for a walk and the hosts of the party invited me in for a drink and some dancing. I passed, but congratulated them on the wedding.
The sound thing cuts both ways. Every Saturday evening we have our campus ministry meeting in a neighborhood in town and we have pretty loud music with drums, keyboard and electric guitar on the back patio, with preaching and loud singing, 60 voices strong. No one has ever complained. Can you imagine the response to our group in a U.S. neighborhood. Every Saturday evening?
Have a great evening! Ron
P.S. Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Macbeth, act 5, scene 5
Psa 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
The last several weeks have seen the homegoing of two precious brothers in the Lord.
Our good friend Earl Gosvenor lived a rich, full life. Together with his wife Joan, they have been a constant encouragement to this missionary and countless others. In their 70's they came to Bolivia as part of a mission team, and the children flocked to Earl's side. He was a precious man.
We saw Earl and Joan just a few days before his death and had a chance to pray with them. Death is not easy and we could see that he was weary and sorry to be leaving his loved ones. At the same time his confidence was sure. Please pray for Joan as she adjusts to her new life.
_______________________
At the end of July, a faithful missionary with the JESUS Film project in Brasil lost his life. Here is his story:
Valdi Daniel lived in Brasilia - Federal District and worked for Campus Crusade in Brazil for ten years, specifically in Jesus Film Movement, On July, 29th he was returning from a evangelistic project in Minas Gerais state, when a bus which was trying to avoid a hole on the road, hit his car in a frontal crash. He passed away immediately, leaving his wife, Luiza Daniel and his sons Tiago Daniel and Jeferson Daniel.
Valdi was a pioneer of Campus Crusade Movement in the Brazilian Northern Region, specially Pará state. He was a man that did not fear obstacles or new frontiers to spread the Gospel. He traveled a lot, always with this purpose in his heart. He called himself an "Jesus' Office Boy" [Office Boy is generally the first job a boy gets in Brazil doing all kind of things in a company, usually things no one else desires to do]. He loved personal evangelism and never lost opportunities to share about Christ. He trained thousands of Christians teaching them how to multiply, performing the same task as his.
For sure, a huge void now exists in Brazil, considering one of our warriors has left this world. Our comfort is to know that he is with the Lord, and our task is to depend on God and in his consolation.
Greetings from Santa Cruz. We are home again after our time in the U.S. and it feels good. The house was well cared for and the dogs were healthy - covered with ticks - but healthy. School starts for Jeanie and Andrew on Monday.
Today is a big day for us: Jeanie and I are celbrating our 30th wedding anniversary. What a joy it is to see all that God has done in our lives. We are planning a special getaway to celebrate.
We are back up to speed in the ministry, working with students and the JESUS Film project. Bolivia is part of Andean South America where there are many indigenous languages. The JESUS Film has been produced for dozens of different people groups and languages. Sadly, our distribution efforts over the years have not been 100% effective in getting out to those people groups.
With the advent of multi-language DVD's, direct student volunteers and an installed base of DVD players in even the most remote villages, God is beginning to do a great work.
Over the past 4 months we have produced multi-language DVD's for Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Bolivia. The Bolivia version, for example includes 8 languages. The response to the DVD has been overwhelming. Our Campus Crusade staff have never before had masters for these languages available for duplication in their countries.
Here in Bolivia, we have a group of university students who are part of our JESUS Film movement. Some are only one generation removed from indigenous communities. I took the Bolivian DVD to my Monday Bible study with university men and challenged them with Paul's words from Romans 15:20-21 to take the Gospel of JESUS where Christ has not already been named, to make it their "holy ambition" to be a part of movements everywhere.
As the men, including Dennis pictured here with his little brother and sister, gathered around the portable DVD player, I watched their faces light up as they saw the story of JESUS play out in Quechua with Spanish subtitles. Dennis said, "I have to take this to my grandparents". Tomas, another student is from an indigenous Quechua community east of Santa Cruz and wants a copy. Cesar was fascinated: his mother is Quechua and his father is Aymara. Both languages are on the DVD. Cesar took my copy of the DVD with him to show his family. What a difference it will make to hear and see JESUS in their heart languages!
For many years we have looked for ways to take the JESUS film to the people groups. It seems that our technology has finally caught up with our vision! God has given us
missionary university students with a vision for planting groups,
a transferable technology: the DVD player,
and an inexpensive ($3) multi-lingual DVD with a clear message of hope.
For years we have been looking for missionaries to go to the indigenous groups. It turns out the "missionaries" were in universities all around us!
Please pray that God will raise up hundreds of missionary university students who will be willing to step back into their culture of origin and plant seeds of hope and movements everywhere.
Thanks so much for your partnership with us! It was great to see so many of you while we were home on our brief furlough. We appreciate your continued prayer very much.
We love Skype. We are far away, but our daughter Sarah is a faithful Skyper. Almost every day we gather by the computer for the "Wesley Show". Here is a video snapshot - the same live image we see-of our grandson from tonight's conversation. Not as good as being there, but we can't complain!
What do you do on a Sunday night at your house? We are in the middle of a couple of weeks of conferences with our national directors from all over South America. It's a quiet evening home, and I got to thinking about all the boards that the Tae kwan do team from Miami left behind. I challenged Andrew to see who could build the highest tower. Here's his effort - you can see his construction assistant with him! The last photo shows the tower in mid-crash.
A week into our new term in Bolivia and we are reminded of the differences between life at home and life here.
Last night on the way home from an event at around 9 p.m., we came to an impromptu police checkpoint. The officer came to the window and I showed him my various stickers on the windshield that make the car legal: insurance, inspection, third license plate sticker. He asked where we had been and where we were going, and wanted to see my driver's license. Satisfied with all of the above, he asked me to blow in his face - apparently checking for any whiff of liquor on my breath.
Such is life in Bolivia. The police can stop you any time, any place for any or no reason at all. It will never feel right. Our motto for living here is "it's not wrong, it's just different". These kind of police stops are not only uncomfortable, they just feel wrong.
Just before we left for furlough in the U.S., I wrote about Rodrigo. He was a guy who received Christ with great joy in his heart and deep repentance. The first time he met with our men's small group, his prayer request was that God would change his life. It was hard to leave Bolivia just a few days later and hope that Rodrigo would stay involved and begin to grow in Christ.
We arrived back in Santa Cruz last week and immediately welcomed a team from Christ Fellowship church in Miami. We always involve our university students with the Americans and to my delight Rodrigo was on the list. Last night he was right up front leading the group of children as the American team played music. I thought you'd enjoy a picture of him. God is amazing!
I arrived back in Bolivia on Wednesday and spent two full days opening up the house, de-ticking the dogs, paying the power and phone bills, charging a car battery and buying car insurance. Whew! I guess we're ready to get on with life! Jeanie and Andrew left early this morning from Portland and, God willing, will be here tomorrow morning.
The team from Christ Fellowship in Miami arrived late last night. All the luggage arrived with the exception of a big soundboard they will need for the music team. It came in this morning, so Pastor Berch from CF and I went back to the airport in my newly insured Pathfinder to get the equipment.
After we picked it up, as we were going through an intersection, I was clipped by a truck. Of course it was 100% his fault :)
I stormed out of the car like a typical American guy and started talking? to the young truck driver. He accepted at least 50% of the blame and suggested that we drive to a body shop and get an estimate. (His suggestion in itself is pretty miraculous in Bolivia.) I was to follow him in my car, so to be sure he didn't just drive off, I had Pastor Berch (no Spanish) ride in the truck with the driver. The body shop gave us an estimate of $50 plus maybe another $40 in parts. You should see the damage. It would be $800 in the US.
Jose Alberto, the truck driver, rode with us from the body shop in my car for another quote on a part and we got to talking. I found out he and his wife have a daughter and had a baby boy who died a year ago. We talked more and I shared my story about knowing Jesus as my personal Savior. As I shared God's offer of eternal life with him, he prayed with me, right out loud, to receive Christ. We exchanged phone numbers and look forward to having coffee together.
We got back to the hotel in time for lunch. God really uses circumstances to open new conversations and new relationships. Please pray for Jose Alberto and his family.
Here's a photo of the team from Miami. Pray for us this week as we share Christ's love with lots of young people like Jose Alberto.
Today we went on a family hike to Angel's Rest in the Columbia River Gorge. The trail gains 1500 feet elevation in 2.3 miles. Very steep, but worth the effort when you reach the top. I went with Andrew, my daughter Patty and her husband, Luke, and my brother Gary. In just three weeks we'll be headed back to Bolivia and a different kind of beauty.
It has been a whirlwind furlough with both of us making trips to DC and then settling in to Oregon for several weeks of visiting family, friends and supporters. I thought you might like this picture of Jeanie with Wesley, our first grandson.
I have been in the USA for a month travelling from Miami to Washington, D.C. to Iowa to Portland to Seattle and back to Portland. Jeanie and Andrew arrived on Monday and will be in Portland with me on Friday - At last!
I went to Seattle last week and spent time with my sister, Patty and then a group of great folks who came with a mission team to Bolivia in 2006 from Grace Community Church in Auburn. The photo above is of Patty and me.
I also went to the Museum of Flight in Seattle. It would be great to take our college group in Santa Cruz:
This year Andrew is enrolled at Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center, the mission school in this part of Bolivia. There are around 240 students in the high school, about half Bolivian and half missionary kids. This weekend was the big Junior/Senior banquet. At SCCLC, everyone is invited. Here is a picture of Andrew with his proud parents.
Since the earliest days of our work in Bolivia, Jeanie has been involved with the Talita Cumi Children's Home. Last night we had the board over for dinner on the occasion of the visit of some friends from the U.S.
Talita Cumi is home to 30-35 orphaned or abandoned children. They learn, perhaps for the first time, how to live as part of a family. They learn about God's love for them and have constant encouragement academically, emotionally and socially.
This is a photo of the Talita Cumi Board for 2008. That's Jeanie seated on the left.
Several weeks ago one of our JESUS Film student volunteers, Saul, left for the University of Arkansas on a Fulbright Scholarship. Saul comes from a humble part of Santa Cruz, Plan 3000, where he lived with his mother. He is really a great guy who wants to know the Lord more deeply. He wrote to me after a week in Arkansas and told me that he was a little lonely. I called Jason, a Campus Crusade staff member in Fayetteville and asked him to invite Saul to their weekly meeting. The U.Ark. CCC Campus Director, Tim Casteel, wrote back and said that Saul had a great time.
Here is what Saul wrote me today: "First you have to tell me how you knew? (that I attended the CRU meeting at U. Ark.) Well I am going to tell you something about the meeting, it was really good, approximately 150 young people, they have a band, and there is just one word to describe it, it was awesome. Besides, a preacher came from Oklahoma, and he was really funny explaining the gospel. Furthermore they talk about their next trip that they are going to have to Thailand, they do the same things that we do in Bolivia, and I felt like if I was in Sirari. It’s wonderful to see many people around the world that are adoring the lord, different cultures, different languages, but they are looking for the same like us in Bolivia. Thank you for being in contact with me, sometimes I feel alone, and its good to receive news from Bolivia. Please say hello to everybody in the group and God bless all of you."
I am just so thankful for God's people around the world. Please pray for Saul as he works to adjust to life in the USA and as he continues to grow in the Lord.
Can I give you a few random thoughts about life in Bolivia this Sunday?
We finally sold our 1994 Jeep Cherokee. It was a real problem. Never-ending maintenance. The good news is that I sold it to the mechanic who worked on it, so I have a clear conscience. Not the kind of car you would want to sell to a non-mechanic friend.
We bought a 1997 Nissan Pathfinder. (That's Andrew and Frisky in front of the car. Frisky is a Bolivian Terrier. Really.) The Pathfinder started life in Massachussetts and was imported a couple of years ago. I have no illusions. It is an older car, but the engine runs well and Japanese cars have readily available parts here. I am thrilled to have a more reliable (I hope!) vehicle to haul kids around in. Last night I took four university students home over very rough roads and we did well. By comparison, with the Cherokee, you just never knew when it might break down!
We are very thankful for Skype. We get to see Wesley (our new grandson) in real time video. I think being a missionary in 2008 is very different from being an overseas missionary in, say, 1908 or even 1988! Wesley's blog is very cute: http://babyhanks.blogspot.com/.
We had a great group last night at our CCC campus ministry meeting. Around 70 people came to the regular weekly meeting, including some family members and several new university students. We are seeing some new leaders forming. Very exciting things! Last night we had a very significant time of praise and worship. God was glorified!
Bolivia is still in turmoil. This time the central government is trying to control cooking oil prices by banning exports. The domino effect: Vegetable oil producers cut production>Truckers are out of business>farmers are stuck with crops they can't sell>farm workers are without the daily income they need to survive. Terrible. Here is a post from the usually "progressive - somewhat leftist" Democracy Center that is really pretty balanced and will give you a more complete picture, if you want to take a few minutes to read it: http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/03/bolivia-notes-on-divided-country.html
This afternoon, Andrew and I worked in our storeroom, the one we built 2 years ago when we moved in. We saw tell-tale sawdust that told me we had termites. (None in the main house, as far as we know). We tore out all of the shelving and threw out everything made of wood or cardboard or paper, then swept it out and FOGGED it. We'll see if it works!
Other than that, Sunday is a great day to just relax, read, watch a DVD episode or two and get ready for the next week.
This morning we awoke to the sounds of heavy rain again. Shortly after we got up we received a call from school that classes had been cancelled for the day because several classrooms and the lunch room were flooded. Andrew and I headed down to see if we could help. Roads from our house to the highway are very washed out and the highway itself was under a foot of fast flowing water. Pumps are working at the school, but until the rain stops, they won't make much headway.
Here's a picture of the dirt road in front of out house. The house itself is high and dry. We left the neighborhood on another street :)
Jeanie just got home yesterday from three weeks in Washington, D.C. for the birth of our first Grandson, Wesley Paul Hanks. I was there last weekend and, with the help of a new camcorder took a few videos.
Here is some video - probably more than you want to see, but not near enough for his grandparents!
Today through Tuesday is Carnaval in Bolivia. It is a wild time when it is best to stay off the streets, unless you don't mind being pelted with water balloons, or worse, balloons and water guns filled with paint or indelible ink. Since I have to go out to pick up a friend at the airport, I am following the lead of the buses and taxis. Can you see a car under this mud? The idea is that the ink and paint will wash off with the mud.
Meanwhile in cooler, calmer Washington, DC, Jeanie is with Sarah and Dustin taking care of little Wesley.
Jeanie and I are now Grandparents! Wesley Paul Hanks was born at 2:33 PM, Saturday, January 26, 2008 in Washington, D.C. He is 8lbs. 12oz. and is 21 inches long! The proud parents are Sarah and Dustin Hanks.
The pounding rain started about a week ago and has continued for several hours every day since. Everything feels damp. Children play in muddy flowing streams. Cars and taxis break down in deep water. Hidden potholes "swallow" the undercarriages of vehicles large and small. The poor neighborhoods always suffer the most. This picture was in our local newspaper this morning. Please pray for the people here and especially for the pastors and Christian brothers and sisters who are struggling with the high water.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, are experiencing scenes like this (photos from El Deber newspaper):
This is a photo of Andrew's school today. I got a call this morning that the rising water had moved into some classrooms. The principal closed the school at noon for the rest of the week. Please pray that the buildings suffer little damage and that classes can resume next week.
The ministry continues in spite of the rain! Today Daniel, one of our university disciples and JESUS Film volunteers left for Argentina. He is going to live with his aunt and uncle in Tierra del Fuego at the very southern tip of South America. He is going in search of a job to be able to help his parents and sisters here in Bolivia. There is no Campus Crusade in Tierra del Fuego, and God has given him a vision to start a ministry among students there. We loaded him up with materials and a lot of prayer. Please pray for Daniel as he heads out in the power of the Holy Spirit to help connect lost people to their creator.
I took Jeanie to the airport this morning to travel to Washington, D.C. to be with our daughter, Sarah as she and Dustin expect our first grandchild. Her due date is January 26. We'll keep you posted on the progress. Please pray for Sarah and Dustin as they await the birth. Please pray that WESLEY will be born strong and healthy.
Jeanie and I love you and value your partnership with us.
In Christ,
Ron, Jeanie and Andrew
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31-32
It's January and university students in Bolivia are in the middle of summer break. We want to keep the momentum going, however, so we had a day in the sun - with morning rain - at a local hotel resort called the Villa Rosita. There were about 30 students who came out and we talked about discipleship from Matthew 4:
Jesus is the one who calls us.
He calls us with a purpose, to make us fishers of men.
Those He called followed Him immediately.
There was and is a cost to discipleship.
What a privilege to see God build a new generation of Christ-followers! Here's a slideshow/video from the Villa Rosita. Blessings!
2007 has been an amazing year for our ministry. About 18 months ago, I began a Bible study for university men, many of them students of English. By January, 2007 I had about a dozen guys involved. Early this year the guys asked if we could include college women in the group. Funny how that worked out.
I recruited some young professional women to work with me, Patricia and Paola. Working together we have seen dozens of young people commit their lives to Christ and we are averaging 50 in our weekly meeting.
Last Saturday we had our first annual Christmas dinner/party and served 80: About 60 of our students and 20 family members. We praise God for his faithfulness to build a movement here among College men and women.
Here is a short video of the dinner. I trust you will have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!
On Sunday we had the joy of entertaining two of the kids from Talita Cumi, the children's home near our house. Jeanie is on the board of the home. Once a year the kids all find families for a day so that the 24/7/364 staff can have time together for planning. Beatriz, 17, and Juan de Dios, 5, spent the day with us. We went out for pizza and a movie (Disney's Enchanted) and then home to make a cake. Here is a picture of Juan de Dios helping Jeanie clean up.
Juan de Dios has only been at the home for five months and everything is an adventure for him. He had hardly been cared for with an absent mom and a father just out of prison. He is missing his front teeth, but from decay, not because they fell out normally. Nonetheless, he is one happy boy. You should have seen him doing cartwheels, a recently acquired skill, through the lobby of the movie theater!
Please pray for Juan de Dios and all the kids at Talita Cumi.
The last several days have brought fear, confrontation, and uncertainty in Bolivia. Rather than try to explain the situation, I'll give you a link to an article on the democracy center's blog. The democracy center is run by a left-wing American who is usually anything but objective. Intestingly he gets it about right in his analysis this time. If you have a few minutes you can read about what's going on here in Bolivia. Then please take time to pray. Ron
We celebrated a good old US Thanksgiving with about 70 folks from the American missionary community here in Santa Cruz on Thursday. We had turkey and stuffing, pumpkin pie, and everything except Grandma's "green fluff" jello.
Meanwhile back in Gainesville, Florida our grown children and their spouses all got together at our son Stephen and his wife Rachael's home for the holiday. We are so happy to see that they are staying close.
I want to tell you about my good friend Alfredo. He is a small young man, 25 years old. Two weeks ago we celebrated with him as he successfully defended his thesis and graduated from the Gabriel Rene Moreno University. He has been a leader in our student movement since it began about a year ago. Alfredo has been with us on mission trips and has a heart for leading people to faith in Christ. He leads the fun time at the beginning of our big weekly meetings. Since his father died 12 years ago he has helped his mom raise his four younger brothers and sisters. In the last several years she has been in poor health and has depended on Alfredo's teaching job to bring in most of the family income.
Last Sunday night he called me just before I was to leave on a trip the next day to Uruguay. He was sobbing. His mother had just died of pneumonia in the public charity hospital in Santa Cruz. I told him I would meet him at his house. When I arrived a few friends had gathered to wait for Alfredo and his mother’s remains. I comforted the younger kids and waited with them.
The old Toyota station wagon arrived with the casket and we carried it from the dirt street up the embankment to the house. The kids had cleared out one of the two rooms in front of the house and the morticians went to work. They did all of their work right there at the house. The neighbor ladies asked the kids to get their mother’s best dress and shoes. Someone scrambled to find shoe polish. After about an hour, the work was done and the room was open for visitors.
By midnight there were around 40 people sitting quietly in the yard. I slipped some money into Alfredo’s pocket and prayed with him, then left for home and my trip to Uruguay. I phoned my Bolivian Campus Crusade staff friends to give them the news and they assured me that they would be there to support Alfredo. The service was held on Tuesday and a dozen friends from the student group and dozens from their mother’s church were there.
Jeanie and I went to visit the kids yesterday. Alfredo and his sisters showed me albums of photos they had put together and were doing pretty well. His fourteen year old brother Noah hung around quietly in the background. Alfredo is committed to keeping the family together in the coming years. His sobs have given way to courage as the younger kids lean on him for strength. Please pray for Alfredo, because for him youth has come to a screeching halt. He is the man of the family now.
Hi from Sao Paulo, Brasil. I am here with 20 leaders from all around South America thinking and dreaming together. They all work with the JESUS Film project to reach lost people in their countries. As we move toward the future we remember fondly the picture of two men and a burro taking the projector, generator, and JESUS Film out to the villages. In some countries we still do exactly that! In most of urban South America, we need to think through new, effective strategies to reach people using DVD's, new films, Internet, etc. It is thrilling for me as the JESUS Film leader for South America to learn from the creativity and energy of these national leaders. Please pray for our leaders in South America as they continue to seek new and relevant ways to reach lost people with the Good News of Jesus Christ,
A few months ago some friends of ours had an unplanned litter of puppies. The mother is a boxer and the father, well, maybe a poodle. So the puppies are Boxerdoodles. However, now that we have one of the puppies (not house trained yet) Jeanie says she is a Pooboxer. She is almost 4 months old, black with white trim and really gives 7 year old Lizzie a run for her money. We named her Sheba. The video gives you an idea of what life in the living room is like.
First off, we had a tremendous weekend with about 60 young people from our ministry together at a retreat just outside of town. We shared a lot of the CCC basic discipleship messages like: How to be sure you're a Christian and How to experience God's love and forgiveness. About 9:30 pm on Saturday, the heavens opened up and we had several hours of hard pounding rain. It was so loud that we had to give up on any kind of conference sessions. Like a lot of buildings here, the conference center has a tin roof. The GREAT news is that the rain washed away the smoke!
On the morning the conference was to begin, I was up early and went into the bathroom in our house and found THOUSANDS of mosquitos. We had some spray, so I gassed them and closed the door. The floor and counters were covered when we went back in. Who knows where they came from. That night Jeanie went home to take care of the dogs. The storm that brought the rain also burned out our computer monitor and the water pump. I guess the lightning got pretty close!
Speaking of discipleship, I found a great article by a missionary with International Teams, Woody Roland. He describes some the barriers to effective discipleship in Latin America. His points are right on target. If you have a few minutes, follow this link and read the article.
FIRES IN BOLIVIA "Hundreds, possibly thousands of fires (locations marked in red) were burning in South America when the MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite passed overhead on September 25, 2007, and captured this image. The most intense fire activity was in Bolivia, where fires are concentrated in the Santa Cruz Department, in the southeastern part of the country."
That's the news from NASA. The news from our house is that the smoke is intense. Coming home from the office today the sun was completely blocked out and it was dark earlier than normal. It's not too smoky in the house, but outside is bad. Bolivia has no real fire fighting capablity, and the president is preoccupied entertaining Iranian dictators. The only solution will probably come with the rainy season in a month or two.
Last week I was in Cartagena, Colombia for the religious broadcasters convention for Latin America. I was there to premiere the new film we are working on called Magdalena: Released from Shame. The film presents the gospel story from the point of view of Mary Magdalene. The producers really wanted to reach women who are oppressed around the world. It really struck a chord with women here in South America.
We had a couple of goals, one was to distribute 1300 free DVD's of the film to participants, but more than that to encourage them to use the DVD to reach women for Christ and to start new small groups of women. In addition we showed the film on the big screen to an audience of several hundred.
I was anxious to get the reaction of the women who saw the film. Here is a brief video of some of their responses. Their excitement was plain to see:
I'll keep you posted as we distribute the film more widely throughout South America.
Last weekend found us in separate countries, thousands of miles apart involved in very exciting ministry projects. While I (Ron) was in Cartagena, Colombia (I'll be writing about that separately), Jeanie was hosting some friends of ours from Miami, Bernadette and Jeff Todd.
Bernadette was here in the summer of 2006 and came again to share her story with students and families. She suffers from muscular dystrophy to such an extent that she has very little movement in her body. But, as she is fond of saying, she has her voice! And she uses her voice to tell people about God's goodness and his love.
Here is a video that our Campus Crusade team put together of her time in Bolivia last weekend:
Please pray for the folks that made commitments to Christ as they heard Bernadette's story. Pray as well for Bernadette and Jeff as they continue to minister together.
This month Andrew celebrated his 15th birthday with Mom and Dad and then later with some friends. He got a new guitar that he's already playing pretty well. It's hard to believe that Andrew is growing up so fast. We are really proud of him.
Behind him in the picture you can see the gas stove we bought when we moved to Bolivia in 2003. It works OK, but one of the things Jeanie missed from her range in Miami was the delay timed cooking feature. She used to put Sunday dinner in the oven to turn on while we were at church so that it would be ready when we came home. She has missed that a lot lately because we have a lot of young people at church that we like to invite home with us.
You can buy that kind of electric stove here, imported from the U.S., but they are very expensive, about double what they cost in the U.S. Well, God in his goodness brought some missionaries to town from Cochabamba who had just the stove that Jeanie had in mind. We bought it and brought it home this week. Not a big thing, but it will make life and entertaining more enjoyable for Jeanie. We donated our old stove to the Campus Crusade ministry center. Anyway, on the left is a photo of the new stove.
Last, here's a photo of some wildlife that Andrew found on the shower curtain this morning:
After an intense time of graduation, wedding, mission teams (6), and a lot of travel (Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Orlando), I think life is going to settle back down to normal for a few weeks.
The big change in our lives involves school. Andrew is back at the Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center beginning his freshman year at the high school. He is really enjoying it so far. The other big change is that Jeanie is now working as a teacher at the school. She has two classes, freshman English and first year Spanish. Because the high school is very small, she only has VERY small classes: one in the special English class and four students for Spanish. She says reviewing the basics in Spanish really helps her. I can tell you her accent is great!
This morning is the big kick off brunch for the women’s bible study that Jeanie helps to lead. They are expecting about 50 ladies this year. Thanks for praying!
This week has been a fantastic time with the team from National Community Church from Washington, DC. Our daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and Dustin Hanks are members of the church and both had planned to come with the team. As it turns out, Sarah is expecting a baby in January and they decided that it might be better for her to stay in the U.S. We have enjoyed having Dustin with us this week.
These guys from DC are amazing. They are professionals, mostly, and ready for anything. We have built a church floor, ministered in schools and neighborhoods, climbed the Inca Ruins, and had a few sicknesses. We have seen a lot of people express faith in Jesus this week.
And, wow, these guys know how to blog! World champions. GREAT PICTURES. Here is the link to a much more complete story of what's been happening.
This week I have been in Quito, Ecuador and Ayacucho, Peru working with our JESUS Film coordinators in both countries. In Quito the national director of Campus Crusade took me up the new gondola lift up the side of the mountain on the west side of the city. The top of the ride is at 13,300 above sea level.
We walked around awhile and I saw a sign offering horse tours that would go farther up the mountain. I rarely do tourist things when I travel, but decided to go for it. I rode with a guide up to 15,100 feet, to the base of the Rucu Pichincha volcano. Horses that work at that altitude are a special smaller breed.
This morning I arrived in Ayacucho with my friend Carlos Olano. We met some of the volunteer pastors who are leading the Quechua Ayacucho project, targeted to Quechua Ayacucho speakers and their Spanish speaking children.
Tonight we drove about 20 minutes outside of the city on a dirt road to a hillside village at about 10,000 feet elevation. The JESUS Film team was there before we were, but were having trouble making the projector work. The village has no electricity, so about 15 Quechua men and boys gathered around the projector and generator in the dark to try to figure out the problem. They were amazingly patient and calm as the minutes stretched into an hour of waiting. They worked on it together with no real sense of time. In the end the problem was solved and people gathered to see the story of JESUS.
Thank you Grace for sending a team to Bolivia. Together with Christ Fellowship in Miami, Windermere Ministries in Orlando, and National Community Church in DC you are making a mark for Jesus in Bolivia in 2007.
In fact you are leaving a legacy. With the Grace Team alone, hundreds of people have heard the Gospel one on one, through group presentations, and through the JESUS Film. Hundreds have made the life changing decision to receive Christ as Savior. You have helped to plant two new home churches and have left wonderful structures for them to meet in.
Jeanie and I and the whole team of Bolivian staff and volunteers thank our Great God for leading all of our teams to share in the ministry He has called us to. As you return to the U.S. may He be your constant Guide, Companion, and Teacher as you take the same Gospel to a lost and dying people. We love you!
Thursday. The team has one more ministry day in Montero and everyone is holding up great!
Every day the team from Oregon has been ministering to children through puppets, music and crafts. Today the kids decorated little pouches and made toy fishing poles. This is a picture of Stephanie leading songs with Amelia, one of our Bolivian volunteers. (That's Andy in the background).
After the kids activities we have been showing the JESUS Film. This is photo from this evening. The film presents the story of Jesus from the book of Luke. It gives people a chance to understand more about the life of the Savior, either just before or after they have trusted Him.
Tomorrow we will lay the brick floor for the second tent. The tents are used for the new home groups that are forming in two new neighborhoods.
After that we'll go back to the neighborhood in the afternoon for more house to house evangelism and children's activities.
Today is Day 4 for the Grace Team from Oregon. They have been out sharing Gods love door to door using the Four Spiritual Laws, they participated in a JESUS Film showing tonight and did VBS activities and small group Bible study in the new tent structure for one of the new church plants. This photo was taken this afternoon.
Please pray for continued good health and strength as we move into the second neighborhood tomorrow.
The Grace team is doing great! Here is a picture from our training time together with the church we will be working with in Montero.
This morning we woke up to cold and rainy weather - about 52 degrees Farenheit. The school we were planning to visit this morning with the puppet show cancelled classes! We had a great time of prayer and praise and are looking forward to sharing God's love in a children's home later this afternoon.
A mission team from our home church from Oregon, Grace Community Church in Gresham, arrived this morning after 23 hours of travel. We let them rest about an hour and a half before lunch and then a quick tour of the downtown plaza in Montero.
This afternoon we started training on how they will be sharing the Good News of the Gospel using the Four Spiritual Laws. In Spanish! They will have volunteers from our campus ministry and the local church working alongside.
Tomorrow they will be sharing the puppet show at a school, putting up semi-permanent tent structures, doing a childrens Bible school, sharing the Gospel door to door and showing the JESUS Film. Please pray for the team that God will give them extra strength and good rest.
They are tired, but we promise a good night sleep tonight.
Last week we were working with a team of Chiropractic physicians to help plant a church in a town in the campo called La Porfia.
I was sharing the Great News of salvation by faith alone, by grace alone with a couple of men who were watching the construction of the new church building. As I shared with them, we got through the part of God's love - they agreed; then I talked about our sin -and they also agreed that we are are all sinners. I moved on to the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the cross on our behalf. Again, they knew that story.
Last, I shared our need to receive by faith God's free gift of salvation and eternal life. By way of illustration I asked them each if they had ever received a wrapped birthday or Christmas present. I often use that illustration to show people that all we do is receive the gift - that we don't work for it.
Each man replied no, they had not ever received a gift. But, I insisted, as a child surely you received a gift? Again, No.
How do you explain the concept of a free gift to someone who has never received one? We talked further and I explained what it might mean to receive the free gift of salvation and one of the men prayed with me to receive Christ as Savior.
Please pray for the new church in La Porfia. Pray that God will use the ministry of the church to bring the free gift of salvation into many homes.
We are home again in Bolivia after a hectic 3 weeks in the USA. We went to South Carolina for Patty's graduation from Furman University and then on June 15, her wedding to Luke Tolbert. We came home thrilled with our new son-in-law, nostalgic for our little girl, and sorry to be thousands of miles away from our grown children. The number one sacrifice all of our missionary friends mention is the separation from family.
Here is a link to a video I just posted of the graduation and wedding. We're pretty proud of Patty!
Our young adult group is growing! Last Saturday 24 men and women came out to our meeting. Every week we have some new people and I try to meet with all of the new men over lunch during the week following the meeting.
This week I met with Pepe on Tuesday and Marcos on Wednesday. Both are about 30 years old, single but in relationships. I met with Pepe, and we had a good time getting to know one another. I learned from his story that he was living with his girlfriend. I shared the gospel with him using the Four Spiritual Laws. When I came to the end of the booklet, his response was that he was sure he had Christ in his life. That made the challenge to receive Christ a little redundant.
We talked some about God being the author of life and the One who sets the standards of right and wrong. Pepe is a great guy, but the issue of sin is definitely not clear to him yet. We’ll spend more time together in the weeks to come talking about the holiness of God and His standard of perfection. Only when we understand His holiness does our need for a Savior come into clear focus.
The next day (today, actually, as I write this) I met with Marcos. We spent 45 minutes or so just chatting. He has almost completed his degree in English and works for a Tour company. Like Pepe, he is one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet. He lives with his younger sister. His parents have long since split up.
As I shared the Gospel with Marcos, I was thinking about Pepe and really wanted to make the issue of sin clear with him. I really emphasized why we need salvation. As I came to the point of decision in the Four Spiritual Laws booklet, I read him the prayer, but then explained again that it was a matter of faith in response to God’s offer of grace. We talked again about sin. He said that he wanted to pray to receive Christ. Again I explained that it was a matter between him and God, that God was calling him to repentance.
He responded, “Ron, I know I’m a sinner. I want to pray that prayer right now.” So he did, right out loud. We were both overcome with joy. I shared more with him from the Bible what it means to know Christ. My favorite thing to share with a man who receives Christ is John 1:12. I explained that since he had received Christ, he had a right to be called a son of God. I asked him who his Father was, Marcos responded, “God is”. I told him that 36 years ago I prayed to receive Christ as well, so God is my Father, too. Then I asked him if we had the same Father what that made us. A big smile spread across his face as he answered, “BROTHERS!”
Please pray for Marcos as he grows in Christ, and for Pepe that God will continue to draw him to Himself.
Well, about the time we read about warm tempertures in the U.S., the temperature begins to drop in Bolivia! This morning we had a low of 51 degrees, with 14 mph winds from the South (that's where cold comes from in our part of the world south of the equator). It is a hard time for poor people here, because no house has central heating. Coats and blankets are always scarce.
For us, it's kind of fun to feel the cold and think of life back home. Our new house out in the country has a wood cookstove that has stood idle through our first months - summertime - in the house. This morning Jeanie decided we would fire it up. As I left for the office, smoke was coming out of the chimney, the kitchen was warming up and Andrew was scrambling eggs!
We'll enjoy it while it lasts. On Saturday the forecast is for clear skies and 86 degrees.
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!
This is our daughter Sarah with Wesley, all bundled up for the Washington, D.C. late fall weather. Is he cute? We'll all be together for a week at Christmas in Orlando for the first time in six Christmases, but man, is it hard for Jeanie and me to be away from the kids.
My role was to explain the vision of the project and the role of the national church planters in testing the concept over the next 10 months. If the initial test with 200 proclaimers is successful, i.e. if the church planters have a higher percentage of people who remain in the new churches as a result of the new discipleship training, the plan will be to expand the program dramatically.
