Gadgets are good

Hi from Bolivia!

I just finished a couple of intense days of meetings with our Bolivan Campus Crusade leaders, leaders from JESUS Film and representatives from Hosanna Ministries. We are working on a comprehensive evangelism and follow-up strategy that churches can use.

They brought us samples of a revolutionary device the size of a brick that looks like a radio. It is not a radio! It's called the PROCLAIMER and it comes with a flash memory chip containing the whole bible in dramatized audio format. It has a speaker that will easily allow 100 people to listen. It has three power sources: AC power, solar power, or crank.

We plan to use the device with poor congregations that partner with us to show the JESUS Film. The new follow up groups for people who come to Christ at the film showing, will gather once or twice a week to listen through the New Testament.

We will be working with new groups in Quechua, Aymara, Guarani and Spanish.

Gadgets are good! (But God is GREAT!)

Ron

The extremes of life

Hi from South Carolina!

Jeanie, Andrew and I are here in South Carolina to celebrate our daughter Patty's engagement to Mr. Luke Tolbert of Greenwood, SC. As a violin major at Furman University, Patty is required to perform a senior recital. We all attended the recital Tuesday evening. She was amazing (even if her dad says so)!


On Monday we went with the whole clan to visit Biltmore in Asheville, NC. It is the largest private home in the U.S. I have to say the contrast in wealth between that house and and average U.S. home is about the same as the contrast between the average U.S. home and the average Bolivian home. The house was beautiful in every respect.

In the end, however, the only thing that matters is our relationship with Christ. Whether you are the poorest Bolivian or a Vanderbilt, you'll have to give an account to your Maker someday. We'll be on our way back to Bolivia on Friday.

Thanks for your prayers for the country. In the days we have been away, things improved and then got worse again politically. Please pray for our friends Dan and Daryl Collins and everyone who lives in Cochabamba, the focus of unrest these days. Pray that Christians in Bolivia will be strong in the strength of the Lord.

Blessings,
Ron

Pray for Pastor Johnny

In our Christmas letter we mailed back to the U.S. I mentioned Pastor Johnny:

"I want to tell you about Johnny. He is a pastor of a small church in El Alto. For the past two years he has faithfully attended our T-Net pastors training. He has learned to use the JESUS Film to win people to faith in Jesus. He has learned how to follow up new believers and help them grow. He has learned how to build spiritual disciplines into their lives so that they can become Christ-centered multiplying disciples.

Johnny is determined to develop leaders in his church who are multiplying disciples of Jesus Christ. More than that, he wants to train other pastors to do the same. This morning while I was in a meeting, we got a phone call from Johnny. He has organized three groups of pastors, 25 in El Alto, and 10 each in different outlying areas to come together to be trained. We’ll help him, but he’ll do a lot of the training himself. It is because of people like Johnny that we love serving in Bolivia."

Two days before Christmas Johnny was attacked near his home. He was choked and was unable to speak for nearly two weeks. He lost his cell phone, wallet and his identity card in the attack. You would have to live in Bolivia to understand the magnitude of his loss. He has been forced to move his family because of threats on their lives.

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that a key leader would come under spiritual attack. Please join us in praying for God's strength for Johnny and his family as he recovers, and as we seek ways to help.

Ron

Project in Peru

My job has changed in the last six months to include JESUS Film Distribution representative. The JESUS Film is a 2 hour film on the life of Christ that has been translated into more than 950 languages. I had a great week last week in Peru last week helping to get the JESUS Film Quechua project off the ground.

Our first major hurdle for the Quechua project is personnel. To accomplish the goals of the project, i.e. to effectively reach a people group and assure the beginning of a real movement of multiplication and church planting, we need the right man to direct the project.

Both our national director, Jorge Mariaka, and our AOA Director, Rolando Justiniano, have recommended Carlos Olando. I first met Carlos 10 years ago in Colorado. He and his wife joined CCC staff about 20 years ago. He is very effective in building networks of pastors. He is very relational, and a real pleasure to work with.

Last week Carlos and I traveled to Ayacucho and Huanta in the interior of Peru to get a feel for the project. We met with several pastors in both places. They were all excited about the project and the possibility of equipping pastors and church leaders to expand the ministry.

Carlos will come to Bolivia in early January for 10 days of intensive training in the new church planting and multiplication strategy we are using. While he is here we will work on a strategic plan that will include to main objectives:

1. Saturation. This aspect of the plan will use the JESUS Film in partnership with churches to saturate the area with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

2. Pastoral equipping. The majority of pastors have no formal training. Our process includes five week-long modules that equip them in:

-Evangelism and Multiplication
-Bible Study Methods
-Building a disciple-making church
-Developing Leaders and launching disciple-making ministries
-Managing and multiplying disciple-making churches.


I also talked at length with a young Quechua man, Isaias, who works with the JESUS Film project. Isaias grew up in the Amazon area of Peru and has been on his own, away from his parents since he was eight. He has finished high school and a year in a technical institute. His dream is to become a pastor. I think he will play a key part in the plan to reach the Quechua people.

Prayer requests:
Pray for Carlos as he begins work on the project.
Pray for God’s wisdom as we work out the target population. There are many sub-groups of Quechua peoples.
Pray for a productive time planning and training in January.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Ron

Life goes on

Christmas season in Bolivia is pretty rough this year. There is a lot of uncertainty, fear and hate between different political factions. Here in Santa Cruz, our main square is filled with hundreds of hunger strikers protesting against Evo Morales and his socialist government.

Here is a link to an article from the Miami Herald about our current situation in Bolivia: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16188677.htm


Jeanie brought 3 kids from Talita Cumi children's home back to our house to spend the weekend with us. Every year, the kids all go visit their "Tios" (aunts and uncles) so that the staff of the home can take time together for a retreat. While they were here we celebrated Cristina's 14th birthday.



Blessings,
Ron

Bad news

Sorry to report that Freddy's cow didn't recover.

Ron

This weekend I met a neighbor. Freddy and his wife Yovanna have two kids and 11 cows. One of their cows was "down" on the field across from our house. She had not gotten up for a couple of days. I mentioned to Freddy that I have a friend, Bill, who is a large animal veterinarian. He works with Christian Veterinary Mission out in the campo.

Freddy came to my gate at 7 a.m. the next morning and asked me to bring Bill to take a look at the cow who was still down. To lose this cow would be to lose a huge asset for Freddy and his wife. He had been sitting with the cow for a couple of days. They had built a tent over her to protect her from the sun. He had been cutting grass and hand feeding her, but she could not stand.

Bill came over and gave her a couple of IV's and a vitamin injection, but he was not very hopeful. Andrew and I stood and watched. After Bill finished we all stood and prayed for the cow and for Freddy and his family.

Water pumps and priorities

This morning I got the little jeep back from the shop. I wonder how many times I have heard the words (in Spanish or English), "your water pump is shot"? Well, this is the second time in 2 years on that car.

Later today I got an email from the JESUS Film office in Orlando listing the languages around the world with more than 100,000 speakers that still don't have a version of the JESUS film. There are four languages in South America, with a total of 1,050,000 speakers who don't have access to the film in their mother tongue. They live in the highlands of Peru and Ecuador.

Those two incidents put together help me to re-focus my priorities on getting the Gospel to lost people. We can't lose sight of the goal while we take care of the little details of life!

The simple power of the Gospel

Hi again,
Yesterday I got a thick letter in the mail from Johann Hiebert, an associate JESUS film missionary in Paraguay. They send us periodic reports of how God is using the film in people's lives. I thought you would enjoy a couple of stories.

The first is from Pastor Saturnino Jimenez in San Ignacio:
"San Ignacio is a new area being opened up by peasant farmers. These folks really didn't want us to preach the Word of God in their area or show the JESUS Film. We went instead to the local school where we handed out booklets and were able to show the film. That was our start. Today it is a new work with 8 candidates for baptism and 20 people ready for our discipleship program."

From Luis Gaona Guerrero a teacher:
"My name is Luis and my mother is Maria. We were baptized this year, 2006. I am happy because I was reached with the message of the Gospel through the JESUS Film. I can't put into words how "brand new" I feel inside. When the pastor showing the film asked if anyone felt a need and wanted to invite Jesus into their heart, I was the very first person to raise my hand and my mother followed me, in tears. We went home rejoicing that we had Jesus in our hearts. My mother has been greatly blessed. I am now serving the Lord, whom I thank for sending you to us."

Piano lessons in Bolivia

Hi from Bolivia,

We are in the middle of some pretty serious political turmoil here in the country these days. Day before yesterday the governors of six of the nine Departments (states) broke off all official contact with Evo Morales the socialist president. Please pray for Bolivia in these days.

In the midst of turmoil, life goes on. Last night we went to Andrew's Fall piano recital. If you have been to Bolivia, you know that piano lessons would be a very low priority on most families' budget. In fact, there isn't even a piano store in our city. We found an OK Chinese manufactured piano for Andrew to use.

When we moved to Bolivia 3 years ago, we knew we wanted Andrew to continue with his lessons. We found a teacher, Sarai, originally from Cuba. She has been a real blessing to us. Her students are as good as any anywhere. Her older students are really amazing. This school year Andrew has gotten really serious in his piano study and the effort is paying off. Will you forgive a proud father a personal video?

Blessings from Bolivia,
Ron

Time to Celebrate!

On Friday we finished our first generation of T-Net training with 22 Bolivian pastors and leaders. They had faithfully followed an almost 2 year process including 5 weeklong training seminars. We learned together about real discipleship: leading their churches through a process of change.

My partner in ministry, Hernan Salazar, tells me that starting and finishing a process like this is EXTREMELY UNUSUAL in Bolivia. Seminars come and go. Getting a pastor to stick with a project is very difficult. We started with 40 pastors and of the 18 who were not able to finish the last module this week, several are committed to coming together for a make-up week in the near future.

We had a great time of celebrating together and looking toward the future with the pastors. Please pray with us for the pastors as they work hard to implement the material they have learned.

Blessings,
Ron

P.S. We moved in to the new house! Only broke one plate!

Moving day is almost here

We are in the home stretch with our new house in Bolivia. That's Jeanie in the picture a few weeks ago at the house. We are scheduled to pack tomorrow and move on Friday. I thought I'd give you a few ideas of what the experience has been like. In many ways it's like buying a house and moving in the U.S. Then on the other hand it's very different:

In both the U.S. and Bolivia, you have to pay for the closing costs. In Bolivia you pay in $100 dollar bills.

In both the U.S. and Bolivia, you should get an architect to design the remodel and addition to the house. In Bolivia, the design cost was $70 US.

In the U.S. you need a building permit. In Bolivia, well ... they are really only minor changes.

In the U.S. you call the phone company and arrange for service at the new address. In Bolivia, you go to the phone company's office with the former owner and plead with them to allow you to keep the line that is already in the house.

In the U.S. the contractor will "ding" you for every little change order. In Bolivia, the contractor has been suggesting little improvements. No charge.

In the U.S., you might call a security company to install a system. In Bolivia (at least in the country), you take the german shepherd guard dog to the vet for a checkup.

In the U.S., tropical hardwood details would be extremely expensive. In Bolivia, what other kind of wood is there?

It has been a great experience. I have been so impressed with the hard working crew and their high level of efficiency. The project is coming in on time and on budget. I'm not sure I could count on that in the U.S.

Blessings from Bolivia,
Ron

Hi from Budapest

I am in Budapest, Hungary this week at a global leadership conference for Campus Crusade for Christ. (no, the picture is not from Budapest!) It has been a challenging, but very good week. I think the thing that really hit me was a message from our VP for Africa. He asked, "are you willing to let the Lord continue to change you?" His point was that we can reach a point of competency and comfort and kind of stay put for decades. I know I want God to keep building me into His man.

My trip over from Bolivia included 10 hours in London, so I took the "tube" to downtown and went to the new Churchill Museum. The photo is the mandatory picture for all tourists.

Blessings,
Ron

Random thoughts

The last couple of weeks I have been part-time missionary and part-time home remodeling contractor. Actually the work is moving along well and we should move in early October. There is still a lot to do, though.

Yesterday as I drove into the new neighborhood, I had to laugh at all the sights and sounds that were not only different from the U.S. but different from our present neighborhood in the city. Down the dirt road a few houses, the neighbors were butchering a hog. On the driveway.

There are kids everywhere and very few vehicles. That means the kids walk where the car wants to go. I am taking it very slow.

I met a neighbor lady, Patricia, who was very welcoming. She had known the previous missionary couple who lived in our new house. I hope we will live up to their wonderful reputation!

We got a notice in the gate from the neighborhood association. A couple of items to remember:
1. Don't let your cows wander loose. It is forbidden.
2. Please don't forget to pay the neighborhood association fee. 1 Boliviano per month (12.5 cents U.S.). Maybe I can pay a couple of years in advance and be done with it, I thought. Changed my mind when I went to the association president's house to pay. We had a great chat and the monthly payment is as much an excuse to get together and visit as anything else. If I paid 2 years in advance (US $3.00) I would miss out on 24 opportunities to become better friends with Maximo.

We were a little concerned about security out in the countryside. Our new neighbors say it is very safe. Over the weekend Andrew and a couple of friends were held up by some guys with a gun here in town. They got away with a cell phone. God is reminding me that in town or out of town, there is no guarantee of security. He alone is our strength and shield. We appreciate your prayers for continued safety.

One last note. Our piano tuner died over the weekend. He was quite a character, always on the lookout for an extra buck. He left several children including a six year old daughter. There are no other piano tuners in town.

Remodeling in Bolivia

This has been a crazy 3 weeks. We have bought, financed and started remodeling on a house out in the country! It is about 8 miles out from the city. The pace is slower out there, but closer to the kind of neighborhoods we work with with the JESUS Film. The remodel should be done this month (am I naive?) and we plan to move next month. The house will have room for some good sized meetings. More pictures to come.

What can you deduce from this photo?

Our daughter Patty said that this road sign says a lot about life as a pedestrian in Bolivia.

God and the YouTube Culture

Gosh! All I said was "God is astounding in the variety he put into creation."

About four months ago I posted a 32 second video to YouTube. I allowed it to be "public" which means anyone can look at it and comment.


Since then it has been viewed more than 920,000 times with thousands of comments. Why the uproar? In part because I dared to say in the description, "God is astounding in the variety he put into creation." You should log on and read some of the discussion much of it profane, some of it thoughtful and all of it illustrative.

I am learning a lot about the YouTube and MySpace culture at my advanced age! The kids that inhabit that online world are free from all authority. When the name of God is injected into their space, it creates an immediate controversy.

I encourage you to logon (sensitive souls - watch out!) and see for yourself:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OeNggIGSKH8

Watch the video and then read some of the posts.

Blessings,
Ron Burgin
Campus Crusade for Christ in Bolivia

Video of the Christ Fellowship mission trip

We had a great week with the team from Miami. If you have a DSL or cable connection to the internet, you might enjoy watching this video. Oscar Mario, a college student here who works on our team put it together. Ron

How simple is the Gospel?

We are enjoying a great time of ministry with folks from Christ Fellowship Church in Miami. Today is their last day in Bolivia.

Last night we showed the film, the Story of JESUS for Children in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Santa Cruz. There were about 120 people gathered for the film. Among them was a young man in his 20's named Alfredo. He had been talking with some of our team members for a while after the film when they beckoned me over to join the conversation.

They had already shared the Gospel with Alfredo, but weren't sure where he stood with the Lord. I asked him some simple questions. I asked him if he knew he was a sinner and separated from God (he knew). I asked if he understood that God loved him so much that he sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay for his sins (yes, again). I asked if he would like to pray and receive Christ as his savior and be sure that he would be in heaven for eternity (Yes!).

After Alfredo prayed, we talked about being brothers in Christ and I introduced him to a brother in the Bolivian church we are working with, Fabio. As our group drove away for the evening, Fabio and Alfredo were still talking.

The Gospel is simple, but so profound that Alfredo's life will never be the same.

Ron

It's about the children

We're back in Bolivia! We've had non-stop 14 hour days working with great mission teams from Grace Community Church in Auburn, Washington and now Christ Fellowship in Miami.

Everywhere you see children. When we lived in the U.S. I was pretty ho-hum about children's ministries. I am glad that God has called committed workers in churches there to work with kids. He has gotten ahold of our hearts here in Bolivia. They are so open to the Good News of God's love. They want to be loved.

The folks from Auburn were amazing in the way they reached the children. They performed beautiful music as well, but the kids, well they'll get to you. We're running now to get to another event! I'll write more later...

Ron