Unfortunately, our hotel's internet is a little temperamental so I was not able to update last evening. The past two days have been really interesting. On our first day here, we were sitting around in the hotel (on the 9th floor) when the building started swaying a little and the hangers in the closet started rocking back and forth. Apparently, there was a 4.4 earthquake in a town not far from where we are in Cochabamba. We were a little scared, but there is no structural damage and everyone is great.

Yesterday, we worshiped with the church plant. Instead of constructing a church building, the church plant has invested in sturdy tent-like structures that they can put up in a variety of locations. We got to hear some of their plans and vision for their church. They have such a passion and desire to be involved in their community and make disciples, not converts. They do not want to be tied to a single place and a church building, so by utilitzing tents, they can set up in a variety of places within their community. Instead of investing thousands of dollars in a building, they met under a tent in the central plaza and use discipleship groups at the homes of various members throughout the week.

As the mission team was riding on the bus to go door-to-door sharing the gospel with the neighborhood, I realized what a variety of people we have ministering this week in Cochabamba. I looked around on the bus and we had a Swiss-German, several Cubans, a man from Colombia, several people from Miami, people from Oregon, Bolivians from all over the country - it was really a mixture of people from a variety of backgrounds. I couldn't help but think that this is the way it should be - people of all ages, all ethnicities, and all backgrounds united around the gospel and a desire to declare the glory of God to the nations.

Things are very different from the previous work with WBC's team in Montero. The people appear to be more closed here and the ground is hard and resistant to the gospel. With that in mind, I would ask for you to keep the following items in your prayers:

• Pray for the team as we are growing tired and are open to discouragement as we encounter resistance while sharing the gospel. Pray that we might look to God as the source of our strength and that we might have the boldness of the apostles and believers in the book of Acts.
• Pray for the church plant as they have such a heart for their community. Pray that God will continue to give them wisdom as they seek openings to be active within the area around the church.
  
• Pray for the people who we are sharing with every day. We have seen some people who were initially resistant come to the Jesus film showings. Pray that God might continue to soften their hearts of stone.
  

We just got in from the neighborhood where we are planting the church. The group from Christ Fellowship played some music and then both the US team and Bolivians did some dramas. Things went very well, bt I am exhausted and Patty is not feeling well so I will have to post more tomorrow. But I did want to post a quick picture of Cochabamba as seen from our hotel room. This is just part of the city and the Andes mountains are in the background. It is a beautiful city, but it is definitely a city in need of Jesus!

Cochabamba Here We Come!

We left early this morning for Cochabamba, a city at the base of the Andes (you can see it with Google Earth here). This next week we will be working in Cochabamba with a team from Christ Fellowship in Miami, FL.

While I do not know what specific activities we will be doing (VBS, Jesus Film, Musical Performances, etc.), I do know that we will be working with a local pastor, Jorge, to plant a church. Right now, I think the plan is to do some childrens activites (similar to a VBS) and do large group attractional meetings (musical performances and Jesus Film).

Please pray for the team (both us, the Christ Fellowship team, and our Bolivia believers) as we put together a plan and minister here in Cochabamba.

On another note, we do have another prayer request. Currently Bolivia is starting to see a sharp uptick in the number of Swine Flu cases. Because of the rather haphazard health infrastructure, the authorities are trying to react swiftly to contain the spread of the virus. In Santa Cruz, the government has cancelled school and forbidden public gatherings of more than 30 people. People are required to wear masks in certain situations and places (like on overnight buses). While this does pose some problems to us, we are not overly concerned about our personal health. Furthermore, this will not affect our team here in Cochabamba because they have yet to enact similar restrictions up here in the mountains. However, my brother-in-law is bringing a team in a week to Santa Cruz and they may not be able to come if the current restrictions continue. Please pray for the team, wisdom for the Crusade staff here, and for the government officials so that the team can still come next week and minister.

A Recap

JD, Margo, and Sam Tolbert left this morning to return to the states. We have taken the past several days to recoup and see some of Santa Cruz and the surrounding areas. Now that they are headed back to their home in South Carolina, I thought it would be a great time to recap our work over the past week.

Evangelism
Of all the trips I have participated in, I can honestly say that this trip was one of the most evangelistic. According to our counts, we individually shared Christ with almost 800 people and saw 360 people come to Christ. While I am cautious about numbers as a barometer of success, the Bible does record the number of converts at evangelistic encounters (Acts 2:41, 4:4). In one week, our team of 10 people from WBC, combined with our Bolivian brothers and sisters, were able to reach at least 800 people with the good news of the Gospel. All of these people were pointed to the local church for discipleship and we were able to get their contact information for followup.

I think one of the highlights of the week was when we were told on Wednesday night that we would be going to the nearby University to do evangelism. Personally, I was terrified at the thought of walking up to 20-somethings and asking them if they wanted to hear about Jesus. In my mind, I could hear the sneers and rejection of the students. However, our team prayed for the same boldness of the Apostles and I cannot explain adequately in words how God provided. True there were some rejections, but there are also multitudes of students who responded graciously. I remember a group of five young men who invited us to have a seat and we were able to talk with them for 15 minutes about Christ at which point they all prayed to repent and accept Christ.

VBS
We were hoping to have 50-100 children everyday for our VBS in the neighborhood that surrounds the church. On our first day, we were surprised to see over 100 children show up. The rest of the week we had between 140 and 160 children every day. This number does not include the parents and other adults in the plaza that were able to hear our songs, bible stories, gospel presentations, and puppet shows. The children were so excited each day that they would come running from all directions when the bus pulled up to the plaza. We were able to clearly present the gospel message to the children every day. By the end of the week, all the children were calling us by name and several of them were upset when they found out that we would not be back on Saturday. Some of the children even asked if we would come back next year. While we may not be back for at least a year, the children are excited about the new church in their neighborhood.

Church Construction
We were able to erect a crude structure for the church that we were planting. The floor is made of brick and concrete with a tin roof. The building does not have sides yet, but they may attach tarps to the side to keep out the elements. While it is not a fancy building, the believers are excited to have a place to meet and a physical location where the community can come to see people worshiping Christ.

This week was a whirlwind of activity. Looking back, there is nothing that we can truly take credit for among all the amazing things that happened. I see again and again how God answered prayers - how he prepared the hearts of the people we would meet, how he gave us boldness and spiritual discernment, and how he provided when we were tired or physically sick. For God be the glory!

Goodbyes

I just wanted to post a quick entry to let you all know that we dropped off half of the team at the airport. Katherine, Josh, Ryan, and Mary Ann are taking the overnight flight back to RDU via MIA and if everything goes according to plan, their plane should take off in 1 hour (around 10:55).

Sam, Margo, and Jonathan Tolbert are staying for another several days with the Burgin family to see Santa Cruz and spend time with their in-laws. Allison will stay another three weeks and help with mission teams and volunteer at a local orphanage.

Patty and I (Luke) will be staying for the rest of July and will not return until August 5th. We will continue to update this blog as we stay for another month doing mission work here in Bolivia.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will be able to update with another blog post that will recap the week. We are also going to upload some more pictures and videos for you to see from our great week!

Thursday Update

Yesterday (Thursday), we were able to go share at the University. For some of us, this was definitely out of our comfort zone as we were walking up to complete strangers and presenting the gospel. Some of the students were quick to turn us away, but we were able to make friends and find some receptive hearts. We were able to get the contact information for around 40 students and told them we would be back on Friday if they wanted to talk. We also had several students accept Christ as their Lord and Savior!

In the afternoon, we went door-to-door in the neighborhood where we would be showing the Jesus Film that evening. Several of us were actually invited into the homes to visit. Luke was able to spent 30 minutes with one family who all accepted Christ. They also came out for the Jesus Film that evening and showed evidence of a true understanding of the decision they made. They really enjoyed the movie and are excited about their new church family.

Some prayer requests for Friday:

• The University Students - Pray for the students that we met yesterday and the students that we will meet today. Pray that they might have receptive hearts that would be open to the Gospel.
• VBS - Pray for the children as this will be our last day working with the children. It will be hard to leave them. Pray that they might decide to live for Christ and truly become His disciples.
• Josh, Katherine, Ryan, and Mary Ann - They will be flying back tonight on a red-eye. Pray for traveling mercies as they will arrive back at RDU around 11:00 in the morning. Also, pray for them as they say goodbye to their new Bolivian friends. It will be an emotional goodbye this evening.
• The Tolbert Family - They will be leaving Tuesday to return to the States. Pray for their traveling mercies as well.

We have uploaded a couple of more pictures to the Picasa Website.

A Recap of Wednesday

Wednesday was very similar to the previous days. We began the day by working on the church building - shoveling dirt, filling in the floor, laying bricks, etc. Everyone was pretty sore from yesterday but we worked really hard to try and complete the project. Unfortunately, we were not able to finish before lunch; however, we have very little left to do.

After lunch, we took some naps to rest up before we did VBS in the neighborhood plaza. On Tuesday, we were hoping for 50 children but ended up with close to 100. On Wednesday, we planned for 100 and ended up with over 144! Some of the kids are becoming quite attached to us - it will be very difficult to leave them on Friday. They are so excited to see us every day, and some of them are even coming to the Jesus Film showings in the evenings as well.

Last night, we showed the Jesus Film. We had a great crowd and many of us were able to share Jesus personally after the film was over.

Today (Thursday) we are going to spend the morning at the nearby University. We will be walking around and sharing Gospel tracts with the students.

We have uploaded several more pictures that can be viewed here.

Please pray for:

• The Team - that we might work hard and finish strong
• The University Students - that they might be receptive to the Gospel and listen to what we have to share
• The Neighborhood - Pray that the children and their parents will be open to the Gospel
• The New Believers - Pray for continued discipleship with the believers and that they might join the local evangelical church