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
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!
