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Sunday, February 23, 2014
Back to the Villages
Click for full newsletter… http://eepurl.com/OWukr
*|MC:SUBJECT|*
Friday, April 8, 2011
INTO THE QUECHUAN VILLAGES
APRIL 2011
INTO THE QUECHUAN VILLAGES During the last days of February through early March, Rhonda and I left for several Quechan villages north of La Paz. We were joined by two other ministries working together to reach these villages with medical and dental aide and the Word of God. Lovely Feet Ministries was leading the evangelism effort with a Bolivian musician and the Helmer Five, five young people from Illinois who had arrived in Bolivia in January to learn Spanish before making this trip. A Cup of Cold Water Ministries, led by Phillip Kittelson arranged the connections and led the way with his Isuzu jeeps, and The Macedonia Project led the medical effort with nurse Julie Dalcheck and her husband Tom. Four Bolivian doctors and two Bolivian dentists gave their time to bring the needed medical and dental aid to the Quechua people.
This was a united effort and the largest that we have undertaken. Our leaving was delayed by two days because the department of health in Bolivia refused to allow the medicines brought by Tom and Julie from the United States into the country and because bus and taxi drivers in La Paz were protesting and blocked the roads of the city preventing anyone from entering or leaving. We used the time to purchase medications here for the trip and we were able to leave on Saturday, February 26th. Our efforts were still slowed by heavy rains that had been falling for more than a month threatening to close roads all around us. Our first day of driving was an indication of what lie ahead of us. High water flowed through muddy mountain roads and put us hours behind. We were surrounded by clouds and rain through the night that limited us to traveling an average of about 8 miles per hour. We arrived at Mollo Grande, a Quechua village with a single evangelical church on the side of the mountain that we hiked up to at about 2:00 a.m. where we were able to sleep in the dirt floor. Sunday, we were well received as I ministered the Word, and Rhonda and the team of young people ministered in drama to the adults and children. Monday we were met early by people of the church and village eager for medical and dental attention.
Almost all of the women of this village spoke only Quechua and so Felix, one of the first adult Christians in this village translated for us. The evangelism team ministered dramas and music in the village school and we were allowed to pray with all the children to receive Jesus. Then, we hiked to a neighboring village where we repeated our ministry and prayers.
The days were a great blessing but we were behind again as we left for the next village only to be met with more rain, more clouds and even snow over a mountain pass at 15,800 feet above sea level. Finally, we were met by a small river washing through our road. After assessing its depth we were able to drive through and into the next village of Huancu. This was not our destination, but it was late, rainy and we were tired so we were able to convince a family to let us stay in their building putting our team of 21 people on the floor. A few of us met the village chief late that night in the ankle deep mud of a storm and he gave us permission to hold a medical clinic in his village.
We met the school director as well and he, too, gave us permission to present our dramas and the Word of God to the entire school, while the medical team administered fluoride for their teeth and medicine to cure parasites. Again, it was a great success, although there was no evangelical church there, many received the word with thanksgiving and prayer. We reached another town named Charizani on our route, the only other town in our plan and experienced success at the schools, even though this town is known for being in the control of three medicine men that practice witchcraft. We were invited to each and every classroom to repeat our presentations and pray with the children and teachers.
We left the following day after staying in a hostel and an actual bed. But again our way was blocked. We dug out the road from a landslide giving us just enough room to pass, and then quickly drove then another as the mud and rocks were sliding off the side of the mountain and into the path but then we were completely stopped. It had taken us an hour and a half to drive 8 miles to where the water was flowing off the mountain so swiftly and in such quantity that it had made a waterfall that washed out the road.
We were forced to return to Charizani and plan another route for the next day. We arrived unexpectedly in the late afternoon at a village called Sayhuani where we asked the leaders to allow us to sleep in the floor of their village school. That night two of the doctors, a nurse and myself were led to the house of a very sick bedridden man to see if we could help. We invited inside the 14 foot by 20 foot mud house that had an open fire inside on the dirt floor. The house consisted of two beds where the family of five slept. By flashlight, the doctors examined the grandfather whose legs were swollen and breathing was shallow. They gave him medications, treating his condition as best as they could and I shared the gospel with him and his family. After praying with me, he accepted the Holy Communion with thanksgiving.
The next day we conducted the medical clinic and our dramas for every classroom in the school, and in the afternoon half of our team left for another village. We were urgently called to return to Sayhuani later that afternoon when some of the doctors found a ten day old baby that was dying. The forty year old mother had no milk and returned to her fields to work leaving the baby to die. But the baby’s sister asked us for help and our doctors believed that the baby could survive if we could get him to La Paz. It was already dark when our team met together to pray and ask God what to do. We were the only transportation available to La Paz. There are no ambulances, no other vehicles.
We all knew that the trip to La Paz through the night could be very dangerous, especially under the conditions that we had. La Paz is twelve hours with good travel and we had continually had rain and clouds. But we know that every life is valuable to God and we believed that God had directed our path to this town for this purpose. So, after asking the mother for the baby, she named him Pedro and gave him to us. Pedro arrived in La Paz on a Saturday morning, malnourished and jaundiced.
His heart failed once and he had three convulsions, but he survived. He is still in the hospital, three weeks after his arrival, now with Meningitis. But he is no longer on the ventilator, he has put on weight and he is no longer jaundiced. We believe that God has saved him, that he will survive, and that God’s hand is on him strongly to be a witness to the entire village, to his people, and to this country. Please continue to pray for Pedro. BACK TO THE VILLAGES Today, we are praying for Sam as he has gone to the Quechan villages for another journey with a team of doctors. He is there as a translator to help this American team of doctors. This is a social mission. Pray for Sam who is due to return April 8th.
THANK YOU Your prayers, your financial support has saved Pedro’s life and given eternal life to many. You are part of this team. We give thanks to God for you and all your prayers, support and encouragement.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Feb 2011 Newsletter
February 2011
In the U.S.A.
Our return to the US was a complete blessing and success. We flew into Atlanta three days before Thanksgiving, drove to Chicago to be with my mother and brother and then began our “tour” beginning that Saturday in Steelville, Missouri and traveling through Tennessee, Georgia and our final stop in Florida on the 29th of December. We were so blessed to be with friends, relatives, and brothers and sisters in Christ who were interested to hear of how God has been moving in Bolivia. We received many needed donations to help with the ministry including a console, amplifier, and speakers to assist with our presentations in the plazas and a total of $4,700 toward the purchase of a truck to bring supplies to the Aymara villages of the Altiplano. We are currently in the process of looking for that truck but heavy rains have slowed our search. We will keep you updated.
We want to thank all of you who gave and a special thanks to the pastors and churches who opened their doors for this ministry. Because of you, thousands of Aymara will have the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.
THANK YOU
Pastor Larry & Lavonna Cockerham and Living Word Fellowship, Cleveland, Tennessee
Pastor Mike &Regina and Straitway Baptist Church, Steelville, Missouri
Pastor Matt & Sharon Cook and Centerpoint Baptist Church, Steelville, Missouri
Pastor Jerry & Shelly Beers and First Assembly of God, Steelville, Missouri
Pastor John Hessel & First Baptist Church of Oakville, St. Louis, Missouri
Pastor Danny & Deborah Lance, and Temple of Praise, Rossville, Georgia
Pastor Andres & Ana Miranda, Light For the Nations, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Pastor John & Leah Horseman, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Coming Home
We returned home to La Paz, Bolivia on the morning of December 31st to protests in the street and government unrest. The toll booths on the way into the city from the airport were destroyed having been burned the night before. The fare for our taxi ride to our home had doubled and people were gathering early in the morning to march against an 85% gas hike by the President, Evo Morales. News reports showed that President Morales announced the hike on the government owned gas without any warning two days before we returned and the people took to the streets turning over government cars and burning them and raiding government buildings. A second day of these kinds of protests were planned when the President appeared at a news conference and “changed his mind.” The prices returned to normal immediately but with a schedule to gradually increase the price.
A second governmental problem occurred a few days later when the government decided to stop the import of sugar from surrounding nations telling the people to use alternative sugar or develop a refiner in Bolivia. Prices went up and shortages abound as we await the outcome of the government’s holding our sugar hostage.
On February 18 the country virtually shut down as bus drivers and tax drivers and teachers took to the streets to protest the gas prices and the lack of government pay. Thousands marched in every city in Bolivia and the people of Cochabamba set a road block to prevent any travel in or out of the city. Today, February 19, things returned to normal in El Alto and La Paz, but more marches are expected Tuesday.
Two week medical missions to remote areas
On February 25 Rhonda and I leave for remote villages on the Altiplano and into the lower tropics with a medical team of four doctors and two dentists and some youth to work with evangelism. This will be, by far, our most difficult trip. We will be gone for two weeks packing only a backpack and a sleeping bag. We will be hiking for two or three hours into some villages as no roads reach them and floating two vehicles across a river on dugout canoes.
This area was at one time, during the 60’s, evangelized by Lutherans but they are no longer in the area. We are unsure what we will find and how much of the area remains Christian. Pray for us to tolerate the temperature extremes, the sleeping on the ground, and hiking and pray for Sam as he remains at home with friends (and Chloe), and of course, pray for the people to receive us and the gospel along with their medical care.
January ministry plans, attacks and weather issues:
And then came the Rains
We hit the rainy season at the beginning of January which brought cold temperatures and frustrations of January ministry plans. We were rained out of our outreach in the plaza in the city and we cancelled a trip to a village of two hundred children because of other interference. An enemy attack caused Rhonda to be too sick to start the trip. She contracted parasites and was ill two out of four weeks in January. Sam and I met our team early that Saturday morning but even before we could begin the bus broke down. We were grateful that it occurred before we started and felt this was a blessing of God, but we were unable to secure any other vehicle and so the trip had to be cancelled.
Four of us were awakened at exactly midnight the night before we were to leave on this trip, each of us hearing voices or having nightmares. We later learned that there are witches in this village and we believe they were working against us. But we look forward to a future trip because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.
We have started other plans in our church including beginning cell group meetings in homes in various zones of La Paz and El Alto. They are in early stages but we are expecting to reap a harvest.
Moving to El Alto
As many of you already know we have moved our family up the mountains to the city of El Alto, a largely Aymara city at 14,000 feet above sea level. Our new home above a tiny store is smaller, but costs us less to rent. We are almost completely moved in and we are very happy to be here. It is, however, much colder and during this rainy season we wake up every day in a cloud. We are looking forward to some sun to shine through our fiberglass roof panels so we can stop wearing gloves and coats in the house.
The move also has caused us to shut down internet as well. Please expect email delays and less communication for a little while as we try and get service here in El Alto.
Upcoming plans
After we return from the medical mission trip we will be looking forward to starting regular visits into the villages. At the end of May we have our annual conference in Patacamaya, the Aymara town in the Altiplano, and after obtaining a vehicle soon (we pray) we will begin weekly treks to the villages to build relationships that will allow us to stay for a week at a time doing special Bible teachings. We are setting dates for plaza outreaches as well in both La Paz and El Alto. Finally, we are trying to partner with a social project here in Bolivia to put greenhouses in some villages. This is slow going but we are looking forward to our first greenhouse this year.
These projects are in addition to our regular preaching in churches in La Paz and El Alto, our cell groups and the possibility of Rhonda starting a new project with the children of the prison of San Pedro. Please, keep us in prayer.
PRAYER AND FINANCIAL REPORT
Through the generous giving of our partners we have $4,700 for our vehicle, but we are asking you to consider giving to this need and keeping it in prayer before the Lord. This will vastly improve our ability to reach the villages on a regular basis. Please pray.
White unto Harvest
Brothers I recently read a newsletter from a ministry that reported that for every $96 of operating cost, one soul was added to the Kingdom of God. WOW, what a great testimony.
Lovely Feet doesn’t keep those kind of statistics but we do see God working every day in so many ways. We are seeing lives changed but sometimes it is not as quickly as we hope. While $96 is so little to invest to see a soul saved, I am certain my brothers in this ministry desire to see more come to Jesus.
Friends and brothers, we are Americans. We can’t help but search for measurable results and yet we know it is the Lord that does the measuring not us. We sometimes get discouraged; we sometimes feel like we should be doing more, we sometimes wish we didn’t have so much to do. We sometimes worry that we have too many to disciple effectively, other times we wonder where are the true seekers…you get the idea.
As you read this, remember Lovely Feet Ministries in your prayers. Think of your other friends and relatives that you know in ministry (pastoral, missions, teaching, music, children, youth, etc) and pray that the Lord would encourage them (and us) in their spirits. Pray that the Lord would wash them in peace and joy in their service of Him. Pray that the Lord would give them FRESHNESS in their personal spiritual journey with Him. Pray that all of us would not grow weary of doing good. Pray that God would refresh us in mind, body and spirit. (No, really, stop right now and pray this out loud. I guarantee that one of us…ok ALL of us need this from our Father!)
Jesus tells us that “the fields are white unto harvest”. He asks us to “pray for God to send workers into the field”. There are many of us in the field….but the fields are so much bigger than we imagine. We join our Lord in His request. Please pray for God to send workers into the field; this is our prayer as well. Your job is a field that is white for harvest, your school is a field that is white for harvest, your neighborhood, your family and even your local church are fields that are white for harvest. Ask God to give you the faith to pray “Here am I Lord, send me”. Pray it, believe it, He will do it!
In the U.S.A.
Our return to the US was a complete blessing and success. We flew into Atlanta three days before Thanksgiving, drove to Chicago to be with my mother and brother and then began our “tour” beginning that Saturday in Steelville, Missouri and traveling through Tennessee, Georgia and our final stop in Florida on the 29th of December. We were so blessed to be with friends, relatives, and brothers and sisters in Christ who were interested to hear of how God has been moving in Bolivia. We received many needed donations to help with the ministry including a console, amplifier, and speakers to assist with our presentations in the plazas and a total of $4,700 toward the purchase of a truck to bring supplies to the Aymara villages of the Altiplano. We are currently in the process of looking for that truck but heavy rains have slowed our search. We will keep you updated.
We want to thank all of you who gave and a special thanks to the pastors and churches who opened their doors for this ministry. Because of you, thousands of Aymara will have the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.
THANK YOU
Pastor Larry & Lavonna Cockerham and Living Word Fellowship, Cleveland, Tennessee
Pastor Mike &Regina and Straitway Baptist Church, Steelville, Missouri
Pastor Matt & Sharon Cook and Centerpoint Baptist Church, Steelville, Missouri
Pastor Jerry & Shelly Beers and First Assembly of God, Steelville, Missouri
Pastor John Hessel & First Baptist Church of Oakville, St. Louis, Missouri
Pastor Danny & Deborah Lance, and Temple of Praise, Rossville, Georgia
Pastor Andres & Ana Miranda, Light For the Nations, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Pastor John & Leah Horseman, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Coming Home
We returned home to La Paz, Bolivia on the morning of December 31st to protests in the street and government unrest. The toll booths on the way into the city from the airport were destroyed having been burned the night before. The fare for our taxi ride to our home had doubled and people were gathering early in the morning to march against an 85% gas hike by the President, Evo Morales. News reports showed that President Morales announced the hike on the government owned gas without any warning two days before we returned and the people took to the streets turning over government cars and burning them and raiding government buildings. A second day of these kinds of protests were planned when the President appeared at a news conference and “changed his mind.” The prices returned to normal immediately but with a schedule to gradually increase the price.
A second governmental problem occurred a few days later when the government decided to stop the import of sugar from surrounding nations telling the people to use alternative sugar or develop a refiner in Bolivia. Prices went up and shortages abound as we await the outcome of the government’s holding our sugar hostage.
On February 18 the country virtually shut down as bus drivers and tax drivers and teachers took to the streets to protest the gas prices and the lack of government pay. Thousands marched in every city in Bolivia and the people of Cochabamba set a road block to prevent any travel in or out of the city. Today, February 19, things returned to normal in El Alto and La Paz, but more marches are expected Tuesday.
Two week medical missions to remote areas
On February 25 Rhonda and I leave for remote villages on the Altiplano and into the lower tropics with a medical team of four doctors and two dentists and some youth to work with evangelism. This will be, by far, our most difficult trip. We will be gone for two weeks packing only a backpack and a sleeping bag. We will be hiking for two or three hours into some villages as no roads reach them and floating two vehicles across a river on dugout canoes.
This area was at one time, during the 60’s, evangelized by Lutherans but they are no longer in the area. We are unsure what we will find and how much of the area remains Christian. Pray for us to tolerate the temperature extremes, the sleeping on the ground, and hiking and pray for Sam as he remains at home with friends (and Chloe), and of course, pray for the people to receive us and the gospel along with their medical care.
January ministry plans, attacks and weather issues:
And then came the Rains
We hit the rainy season at the beginning of January which brought cold temperatures and frustrations of January ministry plans. We were rained out of our outreach in the plaza in the city and we cancelled a trip to a village of two hundred children because of other interference. An enemy attack caused Rhonda to be too sick to start the trip. She contracted parasites and was ill two out of four weeks in January. Sam and I met our team early that Saturday morning but even before we could begin the bus broke down. We were grateful that it occurred before we started and felt this was a blessing of God, but we were unable to secure any other vehicle and so the trip had to be cancelled.
Four of us were awakened at exactly midnight the night before we were to leave on this trip, each of us hearing voices or having nightmares. We later learned that there are witches in this village and we believe they were working against us. But we look forward to a future trip because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.
We have started other plans in our church including beginning cell group meetings in homes in various zones of La Paz and El Alto. They are in early stages but we are expecting to reap a harvest.
Moving to El Alto
As many of you already know we have moved our family up the mountains to the city of El Alto, a largely Aymara city at 14,000 feet above sea level. Our new home above a tiny store is smaller, but costs us less to rent. We are almost completely moved in and we are very happy to be here. It is, however, much colder and during this rainy season we wake up every day in a cloud. We are looking forward to some sun to shine through our fiberglass roof panels so we can stop wearing gloves and coats in the house.
The move also has caused us to shut down internet as well. Please expect email delays and less communication for a little while as we try and get service here in El Alto.
Upcoming plans
After we return from the medical mission trip we will be looking forward to starting regular visits into the villages. At the end of May we have our annual conference in Patacamaya, the Aymara town in the Altiplano, and after obtaining a vehicle soon (we pray) we will begin weekly treks to the villages to build relationships that will allow us to stay for a week at a time doing special Bible teachings. We are setting dates for plaza outreaches as well in both La Paz and El Alto. Finally, we are trying to partner with a social project here in Bolivia to put greenhouses in some villages. This is slow going but we are looking forward to our first greenhouse this year.
These projects are in addition to our regular preaching in churches in La Paz and El Alto, our cell groups and the possibility of Rhonda starting a new project with the children of the prison of San Pedro. Please, keep us in prayer.
PRAYER AND FINANCIAL REPORT
Through the generous giving of our partners we have $4,700 for our vehicle, but we are asking you to consider giving to this need and keeping it in prayer before the Lord. This will vastly improve our ability to reach the villages on a regular basis. Please pray.
White unto Harvest
Brothers I recently read a newsletter from a ministry that reported that for every $96 of operating cost, one soul was added to the Kingdom of God. WOW, what a great testimony.
Lovely Feet doesn’t keep those kind of statistics but we do see God working every day in so many ways. We are seeing lives changed but sometimes it is not as quickly as we hope. While $96 is so little to invest to see a soul saved, I am certain my brothers in this ministry desire to see more come to Jesus.
Friends and brothers, we are Americans. We can’t help but search for measurable results and yet we know it is the Lord that does the measuring not us. We sometimes get discouraged; we sometimes feel like we should be doing more, we sometimes wish we didn’t have so much to do. We sometimes worry that we have too many to disciple effectively, other times we wonder where are the true seekers…you get the idea.
As you read this, remember Lovely Feet Ministries in your prayers. Think of your other friends and relatives that you know in ministry (pastoral, missions, teaching, music, children, youth, etc) and pray that the Lord would encourage them (and us) in their spirits. Pray that the Lord would wash them in peace and joy in their service of Him. Pray that the Lord would give them FRESHNESS in their personal spiritual journey with Him. Pray that all of us would not grow weary of doing good. Pray that God would refresh us in mind, body and spirit. (No, really, stop right now and pray this out loud. I guarantee that one of us…ok ALL of us need this from our Father!)
Jesus tells us that “the fields are white unto harvest”. He asks us to “pray for God to send workers into the field”. There are many of us in the field….but the fields are so much bigger than we imagine. We join our Lord in His request. Please pray for God to send workers into the field; this is our prayer as well. Your job is a field that is white for harvest, your school is a field that is white for harvest, your neighborhood, your family and even your local church are fields that are white for harvest. Ask God to give you the faith to pray “Here am I Lord, send me”. Pray it, believe it, He will do it!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Lovely Feet Newsletter October 2010
ON OUR WAY TO THE STATES
That’s right, we are on our way back to the states for a short visit at the end of November through December. We fly into Chicago, drive to St. Louis, then back to Tennessee to visit our churches and Ron’s mother for Christmas.
This is a much needed trip and we ask you to prayerfully consider partnering financially with us. We are in need of additional funding to continue our work to the Aymara villages and the people of El Alto and La Paz. We have seen great progress watching the hand of God work mightily. Send your tax deductible gift to Lovely Feet, PO Box 21715, Chattanooga, TN 37424
THE CONFERENCE
Rhonda wrote in her diary the plans for an international conference to take place in El Alto, the Aymara city above La Paz, one year ago(2009). She wrote down the classes she wanted and the people that we would ask to come and then she began praying. The first weekend in September 2010 we saw the answers to those prayers as preachers from the United States, Mexico, and Peru arrived. We had two and a half days of teaching, preaching and praying in El Alto with many different denominations, Church of God, Assemblies of God, Pentecostal International, Baptist, Church of the Nazarene, Independent, Lutheran, and Church of God of Prophecy.
We prayed side by side for Bolivia, repented for our divisions, and for the innocent blood shed at the hands of false gods and on Saturday we partook of the Holy Communion together. It was a special time in the Lord, a time of unity, an answer to prayer.
MAN MAKES HIS PLANS BUT GOD ORDERS HIS STEPS
Planning a conference of this size and influence takes weeks, even months of work and the last days beforehand can be exhausting. And so it was right up until Thursday when the conference was to begin. I was to give the opening sermon that night, something I did not think I was going to do until Monday when God told me. I needed time to rest, time to study, time to pray, but there was going to be a delivery at the building where the conference was taking place---400 bottles of Coke and 150 chairs. I arrived at almost the same time as the Coke and the metal building door was open, but the second floor room we rented was not. I had no place to the put the Coke except outside in the rain because there is no room inside the door, there is only a small space and a staircase leading to the second floor and up to the fifth floor where there is a radio station. And the small space inside the door was occupied by a young girl in a wheelchair and her cousin.
I was cold, wet and tired and my plans were frustrated by a locked door and the owner who I could not reach by phone. I sat down and started to talk to the girl in wheelchair, Sonya. She, too, was frustrated. She was to be on the radio on a social program to ask for help to receive an operation to relieve the pain in her back and adjust her spinal column. This was to be the first operation of three operations but she had no money for any operation. And there she was in the cold with no way to get to the radio station on the fifth floor. There are no elevators in this building.
I managed to obtain a garage for my coke and chairs next door and after I finally finished moving everything I saw Sonya still in the doorway waiting for some way to climb the five floors to the radio station. I asked a man on the street for help and together we carried her up the five floors in her wheelchair. Her cousin had to leave her, going to work, so I stayed and listened to her story as she was interviewed on the air. She had been beaten by her husband, thrown down 30 feet and left for dead. Her spine was broken, she was completely paralyzed from the waist down and she was in a coma for 4 days. She was without work and dependent upon her family for help for herself and her daughter. I listened for an hour and the radio announcer, a friend of mine, asked if I wanted to pray for her on the air. I said yes and I talked to her first about Jesus. She was not a Christian. I told her I would pray for her health but that the greatest miracle she could receive was Jesus in her life and there, on the air, she prayed with me to receive Jesus as her Savior.
She came to the conference Friday night and we prayed for her and took up an offering for her to help get her surgery. She calls me her Pastor now and she is going back to the hospital soon. I will be there with her.
This alone makes all of the work of the conference, all of the costs worth it. This was not our plan, and I did not want to be there at this time, but while we make our plans God orders our steps. Glory to God!
THE TEACHINGS CENTERING AROUND UNITY, MANY CHURCHES REPRESENTED
The conference began Thursday night with a message about the great things we can do in God if we put away our differences, come together and pray together. The enemy is not each other but is the devil who continues to try and separate us. The message was met with agreement and at the end of the night we prayed for forgiveness and unity. That set the stage for people from different churches and different nations to join in the teaching.
Pastor Danny Lance of the United States taught on How to be a True Worshiper and on Small Groups, Astrid Lucas, born in Columbia, now from the US taught on Spiritual Warfare, Missionary to Mexico, Elaine Wilburn taught on Women’s Groups and gave another message of Unity on Friday night, Pastors Doris and Gustavo of Bolivia taught on Teaching Children, Pastor Roger Vaca of Santa Cruz, Bolivia taught on The Doctrines of Salvation, Pastor Angel Condori of La Paz, Bolivia taught on Evangelism, Rick Sharp also of the US, taught on the Covenant Relationship and led us all in The Holy Communion, Rhonda taught a Drama Workshop, and Pastor Jose Luis of Peru gave us an understanding of healing and prayed for the sick.
Rhonda closed our conference with a stirring message on repentance for the nation of Bolivia and the past sins of sacrifice to other gods, leading the conference to its knees to pray for the future of this nation.
HOW FAR DOES IT REACH
There is no telling how far these teachings reach or how much influence they hold. In this we walk in faith and trust the word of God that says that his word will not return void. But there was more to the conference than simply the conference. In the days prior to the conference, I appeared on two different radio stations advertising the conference and talking about its influence. Rhonda, Astrid and I all preached on an Aymara radio station, bringing messages of unity in the Christian faith and how Jesus is the only way of salvation. My friend, Richard, spoke in Aymara on a radio station about the conference and Astrid, Pastor Angel Condori and I appeared on television on a day given to Pachamama to talk about the conference devoted to God and His word. In one moment, the host of the television show asked Astrid what she was teaching and when she replied Spiritual Warfare he turned white and was visibly shaken.
MEDICAL MISSION
Later in September Rhonda, Astrid and Elaine accompanied a group of Medical Missionaries from the USA and San Salvador.
They traveled first to Oruro where they saw almost a 1,000 people in two days. Next the group traveled to Cochabamba where in two days they saw another 1,000 people.
Many were helped physically and many were touched spiritually. The whole team operated in unity and prayed together and with the people of Bolivia.
I have never seen such unity in a mission group! It was a wonderful testimony to the working of the Holy Spirit.
OUTREACH IN THE PLAZA
Last Friday night we tried another new outreach plan, an outreach in Plaza San Pedro, a small park next to the prison. We began by playing music that the people would recognize, Beatle music, Stand By Me, and mixed in some Christian worship songs. A small crowd began to gather singing along with some of the songs. Then Sam and his drama team did a skit showing the enemies influence and the power of God. We followed by showing a Christian film.
I was actually surprised by the number of people who stayed and watched and by the number of people who came forward after the film to receive Jesus as their savior. It was a great time in the Lord, his presence was sweet and filled the plaza. We have two more planned for the month of November in El Alto.
That’s right, we are on our way back to the states for a short visit at the end of November through December. We fly into Chicago, drive to St. Louis, then back to Tennessee to visit our churches and Ron’s mother for Christmas.
This is a much needed trip and we ask you to prayerfully consider partnering financially with us. We are in need of additional funding to continue our work to the Aymara villages and the people of El Alto and La Paz. We have seen great progress watching the hand of God work mightily. Send your tax deductible gift to Lovely Feet, PO Box 21715, Chattanooga, TN 37424
THE CONFERENCE
Rhonda wrote in her diary the plans for an international conference to take place in El Alto, the Aymara city above La Paz, one year ago(2009). She wrote down the classes she wanted and the people that we would ask to come and then she began praying. The first weekend in September 2010 we saw the answers to those prayers as preachers from the United States, Mexico, and Peru arrived. We had two and a half days of teaching, preaching and praying in El Alto with many different denominations, Church of God, Assemblies of God, Pentecostal International, Baptist, Church of the Nazarene, Independent, Lutheran, and Church of God of Prophecy.
We prayed side by side for Bolivia, repented for our divisions, and for the innocent blood shed at the hands of false gods and on Saturday we partook of the Holy Communion together. It was a special time in the Lord, a time of unity, an answer to prayer.
MAN MAKES HIS PLANS BUT GOD ORDERS HIS STEPS
Planning a conference of this size and influence takes weeks, even months of work and the last days beforehand can be exhausting. And so it was right up until Thursday when the conference was to begin. I was to give the opening sermon that night, something I did not think I was going to do until Monday when God told me. I needed time to rest, time to study, time to pray, but there was going to be a delivery at the building where the conference was taking place---400 bottles of Coke and 150 chairs. I arrived at almost the same time as the Coke and the metal building door was open, but the second floor room we rented was not. I had no place to the put the Coke except outside in the rain because there is no room inside the door, there is only a small space and a staircase leading to the second floor and up to the fifth floor where there is a radio station. And the small space inside the door was occupied by a young girl in a wheelchair and her cousin.
I was cold, wet and tired and my plans were frustrated by a locked door and the owner who I could not reach by phone. I sat down and started to talk to the girl in wheelchair, Sonya. She, too, was frustrated. She was to be on the radio on a social program to ask for help to receive an operation to relieve the pain in her back and adjust her spinal column. This was to be the first operation of three operations but she had no money for any operation. And there she was in the cold with no way to get to the radio station on the fifth floor. There are no elevators in this building.
I managed to obtain a garage for my coke and chairs next door and after I finally finished moving everything I saw Sonya still in the doorway waiting for some way to climb the five floors to the radio station. I asked a man on the street for help and together we carried her up the five floors in her wheelchair. Her cousin had to leave her, going to work, so I stayed and listened to her story as she was interviewed on the air. She had been beaten by her husband, thrown down 30 feet and left for dead. Her spine was broken, she was completely paralyzed from the waist down and she was in a coma for 4 days. She was without work and dependent upon her family for help for herself and her daughter. I listened for an hour and the radio announcer, a friend of mine, asked if I wanted to pray for her on the air. I said yes and I talked to her first about Jesus. She was not a Christian. I told her I would pray for her health but that the greatest miracle she could receive was Jesus in her life and there, on the air, she prayed with me to receive Jesus as her Savior.
She came to the conference Friday night and we prayed for her and took up an offering for her to help get her surgery. She calls me her Pastor now and she is going back to the hospital soon. I will be there with her.
This alone makes all of the work of the conference, all of the costs worth it. This was not our plan, and I did not want to be there at this time, but while we make our plans God orders our steps. Glory to God!
THE TEACHINGS CENTERING AROUND UNITY, MANY CHURCHES REPRESENTED
The conference began Thursday night with a message about the great things we can do in God if we put away our differences, come together and pray together. The enemy is not each other but is the devil who continues to try and separate us. The message was met with agreement and at the end of the night we prayed for forgiveness and unity. That set the stage for people from different churches and different nations to join in the teaching.
Pastor Danny Lance of the United States taught on How to be a True Worshiper and on Small Groups, Astrid Lucas, born in Columbia, now from the US taught on Spiritual Warfare, Missionary to Mexico, Elaine Wilburn taught on Women’s Groups and gave another message of Unity on Friday night, Pastors Doris and Gustavo of Bolivia taught on Teaching Children, Pastor Roger Vaca of Santa Cruz, Bolivia taught on The Doctrines of Salvation, Pastor Angel Condori of La Paz, Bolivia taught on Evangelism, Rick Sharp also of the US, taught on the Covenant Relationship and led us all in The Holy Communion, Rhonda taught a Drama Workshop, and Pastor Jose Luis of Peru gave us an understanding of healing and prayed for the sick.
Rhonda closed our conference with a stirring message on repentance for the nation of Bolivia and the past sins of sacrifice to other gods, leading the conference to its knees to pray for the future of this nation.
HOW FAR DOES IT REACH
There is no telling how far these teachings reach or how much influence they hold. In this we walk in faith and trust the word of God that says that his word will not return void. But there was more to the conference than simply the conference. In the days prior to the conference, I appeared on two different radio stations advertising the conference and talking about its influence. Rhonda, Astrid and I all preached on an Aymara radio station, bringing messages of unity in the Christian faith and how Jesus is the only way of salvation. My friend, Richard, spoke in Aymara on a radio station about the conference and Astrid, Pastor Angel Condori and I appeared on television on a day given to Pachamama to talk about the conference devoted to God and His word. In one moment, the host of the television show asked Astrid what she was teaching and when she replied Spiritual Warfare he turned white and was visibly shaken.
MEDICAL MISSION
Later in September Rhonda, Astrid and Elaine accompanied a group of Medical Missionaries from the USA and San Salvador.
They traveled first to Oruro where they saw almost a 1,000 people in two days. Next the group traveled to Cochabamba where in two days they saw another 1,000 people.
Many were helped physically and many were touched spiritually. The whole team operated in unity and prayed together and with the people of Bolivia.
I have never seen such unity in a mission group! It was a wonderful testimony to the working of the Holy Spirit.
OUTREACH IN THE PLAZA
Last Friday night we tried another new outreach plan, an outreach in Plaza San Pedro, a small park next to the prison. We began by playing music that the people would recognize, Beatle music, Stand By Me, and mixed in some Christian worship songs. A small crowd began to gather singing along with some of the songs. Then Sam and his drama team did a skit showing the enemies influence and the power of God. We followed by showing a Christian film.
I was actually surprised by the number of people who stayed and watched and by the number of people who came forward after the film to receive Jesus as their savior. It was a great time in the Lord, his presence was sweet and filled the plaza. We have two more planned for the month of November in El Alto.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
August 2010 Newsletter
The Village of Gagawallu
The month of July found us traveling into the Altiplano again to a village on the other side of Patacamaya known as Gagawallu. This village was the smallest one we have visited thus far and we took our smallest team in order to save on costs. But the night before going, I could not sleep, feeling we did not have enough prayer cover. I was up very early in prayer and Rhonda sent out an urgent prayer request over Facebook, to which many of you responded.
Our first small trial came as our driver forgot his license. The government maintains check points throughout the country where every driver must submit his license before he can pass. Our bus became quiet as all of us began to pray. Not one of us in the bus had a license to drive. But the line at the checkpoint was long and the police began to rush through the traffic. In a matter of seconds we were through and on our way down the highway and then off-road for another five or ten miles until we reached the small village. We were formally greeted by the chief officers of the village and allowed to minister to the group of about 30 children and 10 adults with music, dramas, and even a clown. Then Rhonda preached a short message of salvation and everyone present prayed with her to receive Jesus.
Then, the leader of the village pleaded with us to return in the summer, to stay for a week and teach the village more about Jesus. We have tentatively scheduled this for December (which is summer here), although we are unsure how we can get there at this time.
After a blessed meal of potatoes and Llama jerky and one egg saved exclusively for me, we began our trek back to La Paz, traveling down the very steep mountain. We smelled smoke and suddenly, the brakes on our van caught fire, but we were able to come to a stop at about a 40 degree angle and avoid any mishaps. So many tragedies could have occurred but we believe were clothed in Christ through the power of prayer and instead we had one of the best journeys yet.
Thank you to our churches dedicated to our mission
We want to acknowledge and thank the churches who have given as a church to this mission this quarter. After showing our DVD and/or keeping this mission in the hearts of their congregations Living Word Fellowship of Cleveland, Tennessee, Straightway Baptist of Steelville, Missouri and Good Shepherd Lutheran of Chattanooga, Tennessee made whole church offerings to open the hearts of the Bolivian people to the Word of God. While the months of January and February saw us spending more than we were bringing in, these donations helped us meet and exceed our budgets. Thank you and thank the Lord for you.
International Interdenominational Conference
Our second conference begins the first week of September in El Alto. This one is for the people of the cities of El Alto and La Paz and is aimed at encouraging the existing churches. Our Theme “Encourage One Another” from 1 Thessalonians 5:11. We are very excited to have a team of teachers, pastors and leaders join us for this International Interdenominational Conference. Composer and Pastor Danny Lance comes to us from Georgia along with Professor of Hebrew studies, Dr. Rick Sharp; from Precept ministries in Tennessee from San Salvador Pastor Roberto Bautista; Missionary from Mexico and leader of women’s ministries Elaine Wilburn; born in Columbia, now from Tennessee, Teacher of English and Family Counselor, Astrid Lucas; Missionary to La Paz, Bolivia from Santa Cruz, Pastor Roger Vaca; Missionary to children of poverty, from Bolivia Pastors Gustavo and Doris Mercado; and our own Pastor Angel Condori, evangelist to the Aymara. We ask those who can to consider fasting for spiritual guidance and strength for this conference.
Vigil
Friday night the temperature in El Alto dropped and a rainy snow began to fall around the little church known as The Ark of Jesus. It was 9:30 pm and our band was just tuning up to begin the service. That’s right, the service was about to BEGIN at 9:30pm. It was a Friday night vigil which meant this service would last until 6:00a.m. in a building on the far side of El Alto, where the streets are not paved and there is no heat in the building.
In fact, there was no bathroom in the building! Yet, the people were beginning to arrive, Christians AND non-Christians to hear several worship bands and several young preachers. Our band would play first followed by a salvation message by our son, Tim who would begin his alter call near midnight. By that time, the building was full of nearly 100 people during the coldest night of the year. It was a blessed time in the Lord and reminds me of the words of Jesus when he said, “Why do you sleep? Could you not pray one hour with me?” These people could have!
Preaching in the Park to the children of El Alto
The second Sunday of July we traveled into El Alto again to help Pastora Doris and Pastor Gustavo with a special service to be held in a plaza close to their church, Remenete de Israel. This is a special church for the poor children of this El Alto neighborhood. No adults attend, but the children come and receive snacks and sometimes clothes from their Pastors for memorizing scripture. The children love to dance and Pastora Doris choreographs many different dances to Christian music. On this particular Sunday the children were dressed and ready to dance in the plaza while our team invited the children from the streets to come and dance with us, watch our dramas and puppet shows, sing with us, and pray to receive Jesus.
Tim preached the message about sin and service to God. Sam translated the message and we were very proud of them both. Many new children came and the crowd grew to close to fifty people, all who prayed to receive Jesus.
Project – Future of Bolivia
We are beginning a special project for this outreach mission. It barely financially exists but it is the FUTURE OF BOLIVIA. The parents of most of these children are not Christians but they recognize the work of these Christian pastors in the lives of their children. They need financial help! We are asking all the churches reading this newsletter to consider giving the children of your church a mission. Ask the children of your church to support the children of this church. If this church received only $25 dollars a month it would be an amazing help.
This tiny church has four services a week because the children have nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. They are dedicated and know their Bibles and their verses. The children love their pastors who have literally laid their own lives down for these children. Pastors Doris and Gustavo receive no money and in fact, use their own money to pay the rent on this building, buy food for these children and sometimes even provide clothes. Please prayerfully consider this mission. Any donations sent to Lovely Feet marked for Remanente de Israel will go straight to this ministry.
“The Road to Tarija” by Samuel McMeen
I had 2 Weeks notice on a choice to go to the national youth camp of the Church of God. In those two weeks I was thinking I might go, and then I thought I might not. I was undecided until the night before when I decided I would go.
The next day, the day we are supposed to leave, the leader of the youth group I was going with calls me up and says “It is impossible to go. There is no way in the world we would make it there.”
Two of my friends, David and Rocío, were already at my house and ready to go with all their stuff. We were very disappointed. We called David’s brother and he said “Oh, I don’t believe that. I´ll go check it out.” So he went to the bus station at about three o´clock Thursday afternoon. At 4:40 he calls us and tells us that there is a bus leaving at 5:00pm. TWENTY MINTUES!?!?! So in twenty minutes we had to: 1) finish eating, 2) decide if we still wanted to go, and 3) get our things together and get to the bus station.
We decide take the adventure and go to Tarija! We rushed to the bus station…running….running. We were told that the bus should arrive in Tarija at 5pm the next day, Friday. That is a long bus ride but we agreed. We loaded on to the bus a seconds before it departed. In fact, we weren’t even in our seats yet as the bus pulled away from the station.
At about the half way point a man told us that we were going a different route and that we wouldn’t arrive until 1:30am Saturday morning. Long story short, after 32 hours in an uncomfortable bus we arrived at Tarija in all its glory. It’s actually a very small city.
Anyway when we arrived there were about 70 people at the camp. As the day wore on, more people showed up. By Saturday night there was around 150 young adults and even more children of 12 and younger.
Early Saturday afternoon a group of missionaries from Oklahoma arrived. The wife of the leader of the group had met my mom at a women´s conference last November in Santa Cruz. They had one translator that was Bolivian and his English was very good. But because the number of youth increased they wanted to split it up, they asked me to translate. So I shined out among the Bolivian brown skin. When we were introduced, the wife of the leader asked me if I was a “Haynes”. Anyway they asked me to translate for the other missionary. So that was a surprise. After I translated we ate lunch and about thirty more people arrived.
On Saturday night a guest speaker from Paraguay preached. After he preached several churches gave specials such as: dramas, musical numbers, mimes, and one church even had two clowns do a routine. After all this we started worshiping the Lord with a live band. Kids of all ages, from 6-100, worshiped their Creator. As the night moved in the pastor from Paraguay started praying for the people and stopped the music several times to tell prophesies over the people he prayed for. As he prayed I popped out to him and he asked me to come forward and asked questions like: why I was here, what was I doing, why Bolivia, etc. after answering his questions he prophesied over me that he saw me with “little Africans”. He saw me in Africa and several other countries that God showed to him.
After the message on Sunday morning, we ate lunch everyone came together for final prayer and fellowship with the other people that were at the conference.
We climbed on the bus for another 30 hour uneventful trip. I arrived home safe and sound Tuesday evening. I was glad I went and blessed beyond what I thought possible.
Teaching English
This past week I (Rhonda) began teaching English at Fuego Celestial (Heavenly Fire) to 9 young people. This Sunday I will begin teaching the same program to a group of 20 at Jehovah es mi Guerrero (Jehovah is my Warrior). This program uses the Bible to teach English. The result is two-fold, I am able to teach about Jesus and his love for us and I am able to equip the people with basic English skills that help them in their jobs and in their future. It is a great blessing to me to have this opportunity. We are hoping that this program will bring in people who don’t know Jesus but want to learn English. I am teaching the class for free. The cost to Lovely Feet is not much…just the photo copies for the materials.
Please pray for this ongoing outreach project.
The month of July found us traveling into the Altiplano again to a village on the other side of Patacamaya known as Gagawallu. This village was the smallest one we have visited thus far and we took our smallest team in order to save on costs. But the night before going, I could not sleep, feeling we did not have enough prayer cover. I was up very early in prayer and Rhonda sent out an urgent prayer request over Facebook, to which many of you responded.
Our first small trial came as our driver forgot his license. The government maintains check points throughout the country where every driver must submit his license before he can pass. Our bus became quiet as all of us began to pray. Not one of us in the bus had a license to drive. But the line at the checkpoint was long and the police began to rush through the traffic. In a matter of seconds we were through and on our way down the highway and then off-road for another five or ten miles until we reached the small village. We were formally greeted by the chief officers of the village and allowed to minister to the group of about 30 children and 10 adults with music, dramas, and even a clown. Then Rhonda preached a short message of salvation and everyone present prayed with her to receive Jesus.
Then, the leader of the village pleaded with us to return in the summer, to stay for a week and teach the village more about Jesus. We have tentatively scheduled this for December (which is summer here), although we are unsure how we can get there at this time.
After a blessed meal of potatoes and Llama jerky and one egg saved exclusively for me, we began our trek back to La Paz, traveling down the very steep mountain. We smelled smoke and suddenly, the brakes on our van caught fire, but we were able to come to a stop at about a 40 degree angle and avoid any mishaps. So many tragedies could have occurred but we believe were clothed in Christ through the power of prayer and instead we had one of the best journeys yet.
Thank you to our churches dedicated to our mission
We want to acknowledge and thank the churches who have given as a church to this mission this quarter. After showing our DVD and/or keeping this mission in the hearts of their congregations Living Word Fellowship of Cleveland, Tennessee, Straightway Baptist of Steelville, Missouri and Good Shepherd Lutheran of Chattanooga, Tennessee made whole church offerings to open the hearts of the Bolivian people to the Word of God. While the months of January and February saw us spending more than we were bringing in, these donations helped us meet and exceed our budgets. Thank you and thank the Lord for you.
Movie night
In an effort to help a new church plant in the neighborhood of Miraflores in La Paz, Lovely Feet held a Friday night movie at the church. We served free Choripan, a sandwhich made of sausage and bread, to those who came to see the movie. The church regularly has about five people coming to its service, but on this Friday night we had more than forty people come to enjoy the showing of a Christian film. Nine of the new people that attended came forward after the film to receive Jesus. It was a great success and a great encouragement for this new pastor. Glory to God.
In an effort to help a new church plant in the neighborhood of Miraflores in La Paz, Lovely Feet held a Friday night movie at the church. We served free Choripan, a sandwhich made of sausage and bread, to those who came to see the movie. The church regularly has about five people coming to its service, but on this Friday night we had more than forty people come to enjoy the showing of a Christian film. Nine of the new people that attended came forward after the film to receive Jesus. It was a great success and a great encouragement for this new pastor. Glory to God.
International Interdenominational Conference
Our second conference begins the first week of September in El Alto. This one is for the people of the cities of El Alto and La Paz and is aimed at encouraging the existing churches. Our Theme “Encourage One Another” from 1 Thessalonians 5:11. We are very excited to have a team of teachers, pastors and leaders join us for this International Interdenominational Conference. Composer and Pastor Danny Lance comes to us from Georgia along with Professor of Hebrew studies, Dr. Rick Sharp; from Precept ministries in Tennessee from San Salvador Pastor Roberto Bautista; Missionary from Mexico and leader of women’s ministries Elaine Wilburn; born in Columbia, now from Tennessee, Teacher of English and Family Counselor, Astrid Lucas; Missionary to La Paz, Bolivia from Santa Cruz, Pastor Roger Vaca; Missionary to children of poverty, from Bolivia Pastors Gustavo and Doris Mercado; and our own Pastor Angel Condori, evangelist to the Aymara. We ask those who can to consider fasting for spiritual guidance and strength for this conference.
Vigil
Friday night the temperature in El Alto dropped and a rainy snow began to fall around the little church known as The Ark of Jesus. It was 9:30 pm and our band was just tuning up to begin the service. That’s right, the service was about to BEGIN at 9:30pm. It was a Friday night vigil which meant this service would last until 6:00a.m. in a building on the far side of El Alto, where the streets are not paved and there is no heat in the building.
In fact, there was no bathroom in the building! Yet, the people were beginning to arrive, Christians AND non-Christians to hear several worship bands and several young preachers. Our band would play first followed by a salvation message by our son, Tim who would begin his alter call near midnight. By that time, the building was full of nearly 100 people during the coldest night of the year. It was a blessed time in the Lord and reminds me of the words of Jesus when he said, “Why do you sleep? Could you not pray one hour with me?” These people could have!
Preaching in the Park to the children of El Alto
The second Sunday of July we traveled into El Alto again to help Pastora Doris and Pastor Gustavo with a special service to be held in a plaza close to their church, Remenete de Israel. This is a special church for the poor children of this El Alto neighborhood. No adults attend, but the children come and receive snacks and sometimes clothes from their Pastors for memorizing scripture. The children love to dance and Pastora Doris choreographs many different dances to Christian music. On this particular Sunday the children were dressed and ready to dance in the plaza while our team invited the children from the streets to come and dance with us, watch our dramas and puppet shows, sing with us, and pray to receive Jesus.
Tim preached the message about sin and service to God. Sam translated the message and we were very proud of them both. Many new children came and the crowd grew to close to fifty people, all who prayed to receive Jesus.Project – Future of Bolivia
We are beginning a special project for this outreach mission. It barely financially exists but it is the FUTURE OF BOLIVIA. The parents of most of these children are not Christians but they recognize the work of these Christian pastors in the lives of their children. They need financial help! We are asking all the churches reading this newsletter to consider giving the children of your church a mission. Ask the children of your church to support the children of this church. If this church received only $25 dollars a month it would be an amazing help.
This tiny church has four services a week because the children have nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. They are dedicated and know their Bibles and their verses. The children love their pastors who have literally laid their own lives down for these children. Pastors Doris and Gustavo receive no money and in fact, use their own money to pay the rent on this building, buy food for these children and sometimes even provide clothes. Please prayerfully consider this mission. Any donations sent to Lovely Feet marked for Remanente de Israel will go straight to this ministry.
“The Road to Tarija” by Samuel McMeen
I had 2 Weeks notice on a choice to go to the national youth camp of the Church of God. In those two weeks I was thinking I might go, and then I thought I might not. I was undecided until the night before when I decided I would go.
The next day, the day we are supposed to leave, the leader of the youth group I was going with calls me up and says “It is impossible to go. There is no way in the world we would make it there.”
Two of my friends, David and Rocío, were already at my house and ready to go with all their stuff. We were very disappointed. We called David’s brother and he said “Oh, I don’t believe that. I´ll go check it out.” So he went to the bus station at about three o´clock Thursday afternoon. At 4:40 he calls us and tells us that there is a bus leaving at 5:00pm. TWENTY MINTUES!?!?! So in twenty minutes we had to: 1) finish eating, 2) decide if we still wanted to go, and 3) get our things together and get to the bus station.
We decide take the adventure and go to Tarija! We rushed to the bus station…running….running. We were told that the bus should arrive in Tarija at 5pm the next day, Friday. That is a long bus ride but we agreed. We loaded on to the bus a seconds before it departed. In fact, we weren’t even in our seats yet as the bus pulled away from the station.
At about the half way point a man told us that we were going a different route and that we wouldn’t arrive until 1:30am Saturday morning. Long story short, after 32 hours in an uncomfortable bus we arrived at Tarija in all its glory. It’s actually a very small city.
Anyway when we arrived there were about 70 people at the camp. As the day wore on, more people showed up. By Saturday night there was around 150 young adults and even more children of 12 and younger.
Early Saturday afternoon a group of missionaries from Oklahoma arrived. The wife of the leader of the group had met my mom at a women´s conference last November in Santa Cruz. They had one translator that was Bolivian and his English was very good. But because the number of youth increased they wanted to split it up, they asked me to translate. So I shined out among the Bolivian brown skin. When we were introduced, the wife of the leader asked me if I was a “Haynes”. Anyway they asked me to translate for the other missionary. So that was a surprise. After I translated we ate lunch and about thirty more people arrived.
On Saturday night a guest speaker from Paraguay preached. After he preached several churches gave specials such as: dramas, musical numbers, mimes, and one church even had two clowns do a routine. After all this we started worshiping the Lord with a live band. Kids of all ages, from 6-100, worshiped their Creator. As the night moved in the pastor from Paraguay started praying for the people and stopped the music several times to tell prophesies over the people he prayed for. As he prayed I popped out to him and he asked me to come forward and asked questions like: why I was here, what was I doing, why Bolivia, etc. after answering his questions he prophesied over me that he saw me with “little Africans”. He saw me in Africa and several other countries that God showed to him.
After the message on Sunday morning, we ate lunch everyone came together for final prayer and fellowship with the other people that were at the conference.
We climbed on the bus for another 30 hour uneventful trip. I arrived home safe and sound Tuesday evening. I was glad I went and blessed beyond what I thought possible.
Teaching English
This past week I (Rhonda) began teaching English at Fuego Celestial (Heavenly Fire) to 9 young people. This Sunday I will begin teaching the same program to a group of 20 at Jehovah es mi Guerrero (Jehovah is my Warrior). This program uses the Bible to teach English. The result is two-fold, I am able to teach about Jesus and his love for us and I am able to equip the people with basic English skills that help them in their jobs and in their future. It is a great blessing to me to have this opportunity. We are hoping that this program will bring in people who don’t know Jesus but want to learn English. I am teaching the class for free. The cost to Lovely Feet is not much…just the photo copies for the materials.
Please pray for this ongoing outreach project.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
June 2010 Lovely Feet Newsletter
MINISTRY AT THE WITCHES MARKET
Many of you may recall that God spoke to me in 2008 about going to the witches market here in La Paz. This market sells potions, gods and llama fetuses to bring blessings. God told me to bring one bible, highlighted in yellow over verses of salvation and verses of deliverance. Four of us prayed and sought the person God wanted me to give that bible to. God told me that she would then preach the gospel to others. We found this woman in a witches booth and prayed with her about salvation, leaving her the bible. While Sofia and Astrid were here we returned to the sight of the booth where I found that person. She was not there…in fact, the entire booth…the entire building, is no longer there as well as some other booths. I am convinced that this is a victory of God and that she and others have closed their stands to serve God, the true giver of blessings! Praise God!
Many of you may recall that God spoke to me in 2008 about going to the witches market here in La Paz. This market sells potions, gods and llama fetuses to bring blessings. God told me to bring one bible, highlighted in yellow over verses of salvation and verses of deliverance. Four of us prayed and sought the person God wanted me to give that bible to. God told me that she would then preach the gospel to others. We found this woman in a witches booth and prayed with her about salvation, leaving her the bible. While Sofia and Astrid were here we returned to the sight of the booth where I found that person. She was not there…in fact, the entire booth…the entire building, is no longer there as well as some other booths. I am convinced that this is a victory of God and that she and others have closed their stands to serve God, the true giver of blessings! Praise God!
SPECIAL THANK YOU
We wanted to give a special thanks to Living Word Church, Cleveland, Tennessee and Straightway Baptist Church, Steelville, Missouri for you special giving as a church to this ministry. The mission is before your eyes and we are grateful and you are in our hearts.
Also special thanks to all of those who have given special gifts for the projector and generator which enables us to bring the Jesus film to the villages. And for those who gave for the Proclaimers that bring the Word of God in the language of the Aymara to the people. We are continuing to distribute these blessings!
MISSIONARY TEAMS FROM THE U.S.
In March and April we were blessed to have two teams of missionaries visit us. Astrid Lucas, a board member from Lovely Feet, and Sofia Miranda, the daughter of Pastor Andres Miranda, blessed us in the churches and streets of La Paz and El Alto, and took a trip with us to the village of Sicsilla where they ministered with us and presented a Proclaimer, an Aymara Bible and a Strong’s Concordance to the village leader. This village was so blessed they sent representatives to the Conference through the mountains on dirt roads for three hours to see us again and hear more of the Word of God.
Early in April, Steve Reed’s team of twelve came from Florida to minister to the churches in El Alto by working side by side with them to build a church building for the people. Steve and his team has been working on one such building over a period of years and now that building is holding regular services and looking forward to the day when a radio station will begin broadcasting the Word and orphans can also find shelter in the rooms still being constructed on the first floor. Additionally, our church, Rey de Reyes, has founded a church inside the prison and Steve’s team bought beams to repair the structure inside the prison being used as a meeting house.
Thank you both teams. You have no idea how far your influence is going. Praise God.
BACK TO HEALTH
Thank you all for praying for me. Most of you know that I began getting sick in April after a long period of exhaustion. I had a fever that went away but left me with weeks of diarrhea, weight loss and fatigue. Then the fever returned with a vengeance of 104 degrees. I was hospitalized for a week and nearly met the Lord before my time. Our prayers were answered and I was delivered from dysentery. We are convinced this was an attack of the enemy before the Conference, but by conference time, my strength returned and I was blessed to preach and teach the Word. Glory to God.
FUTURE PLANS AND PRAYER REQUESTS
• We are planning a much larger conference here in the city of La Paz in September. Please be in prayer for this and give generously. We will again be offering Bibles at a discount.
• This is a typical road to a village in the Altiplano. We believe that in order to reach the people in the villages in the Altiplano that we need a vehicle. Currently we have to rent a microbus that costs us about $100 for the day. This restricts our visits to a village to once a month. In addition the further villages we are not able to reach as a micro driver is not willing to spend the night. We are praying for a used pickup truck with an extended cab for supplies and other ministers
To give for specific purpose send donations to: Lovely Feet Ministries, PO Box 21715, Chattanooga TN 37424 and designate “TRUCK”,”CONFERENCE”,”BIBLES”. Or you can donate through our website at www.lovelyfeet.org and send an email to info@lovelyfeet.org to designate your offering.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR FAITHFUL GIVING!
VILLAGE CONFERENCE FOR PASTORS AND LEADERS
The Village Conference in Patacamaya was a great success and blessing of God. Last weekend we were able to bring together leaders and pastors of more than twelve different villages in the middle of the frozen dessert of the Altiplano. We were about 3 hours away from La Paz, 14,000 feet above sea level, in a place that looks like the New Mexico dessert. The ground is rocky, the soil terrible, the weather, always cold warmed by a bright sun in a brilliant blue sky. Sun burn can occur in 10 minutes for this white boy! We were in a town called Tolar, which means bitter water...and unless you want to die you do not drink the water! This spot is smaller than Benton, TN but it does have a hotel...the Gran Poder which means Great Power....don't ask me why.
70 people came, all Aymara. One village was more than 3 hours away by a good bus...which I'm not sure how the people were able to come. I do know that several villages pitched together for a bus, but there is no telling how far they had to walk first.
At first, the people were nervous, not knowing what to expect and many never experienced anything like this before, never stayed in a hotel before. But as the day began with a DVD of culturally relevant music except that it was Christian and the teachings started they warmed up more and more. Friday night we hired a music group to come, again Christian music but culturally familiar. You could see the smiles on their faces as some of the people began to dance. Rhonda got swept away by the music group to dance with them in a circle holding hands! The people smiled and clapped.
We wanted to give a special thanks to Living Word Church, Cleveland, Tennessee and Straightway Baptist Church, Steelville, Missouri for you special giving as a church to this ministry. The mission is before your eyes and we are grateful and you are in our hearts.
Also special thanks to all of those who have given special gifts for the projector and generator which enables us to bring the Jesus film to the villages. And for those who gave for the Proclaimers that bring the Word of God in the language of the Aymara to the people. We are continuing to distribute these blessings!
MISSIONARY TEAMS FROM THE U.S.
In March and April we were blessed to have two teams of missionaries visit us. Astrid Lucas, a board member from Lovely Feet, and Sofia Miranda, the daughter of Pastor Andres Miranda, blessed us in the churches and streets of La Paz and El Alto, and took a trip with us to the village of Sicsilla where they ministered with us and presented a Proclaimer, an Aymara Bible and a Strong’s Concordance to the village leader. This village was so blessed they sent representatives to the Conference through the mountains on dirt roads for three hours to see us again and hear more of the Word of God.
Early in April, Steve Reed’s team of twelve came from Florida to minister to the churches in El Alto by working side by side with them to build a church building for the people. Steve and his team has been working on one such building over a period of years and now that building is holding regular services and looking forward to the day when a radio station will begin broadcasting the Word and orphans can also find shelter in the rooms still being constructed on the first floor. Additionally, our church, Rey de Reyes, has founded a church inside the prison and Steve’s team bought beams to repair the structure inside the prison being used as a meeting house.
Thank you both teams. You have no idea how far your influence is going. Praise God.
BACK TO HEALTH
Thank you all for praying for me. Most of you know that I began getting sick in April after a long period of exhaustion. I had a fever that went away but left me with weeks of diarrhea, weight loss and fatigue. Then the fever returned with a vengeance of 104 degrees. I was hospitalized for a week and nearly met the Lord before my time. Our prayers were answered and I was delivered from dysentery. We are convinced this was an attack of the enemy before the Conference, but by conference time, my strength returned and I was blessed to preach and teach the Word. Glory to God.
FUTURE PLANS AND PRAYER REQUESTS
• We are planning a much larger conference here in the city of La Paz in September. Please be in prayer for this and give generously. We will again be offering Bibles at a discount.
• This is a typical road to a village in the Altiplano. We believe that in order to reach the people in the villages in the Altiplano that we need a vehicle. Currently we have to rent a microbus that costs us about $100 for the day. This restricts our visits to a village to once a month. In addition the further villages we are not able to reach as a micro driver is not willing to spend the night. We are praying for a used pickup truck with an extended cab for supplies and other ministers
To give for specific purpose send donations to: Lovely Feet Ministries, PO Box 21715, Chattanooga TN 37424 and designate “TRUCK”,”CONFERENCE”,”BIBLES”. Or you can donate through our website at www.lovelyfeet.org and send an email to info@lovelyfeet.org to designate your offering.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR FAITHFUL GIVING!
VILLAGE CONFERENCE FOR PASTORS AND LEADERS
The Village Conference in Patacamaya was a great success and blessing of God. Last weekend we were able to bring together leaders and pastors of more than twelve different villages in the middle of the frozen dessert of the Altiplano. We were about 3 hours away from La Paz, 14,000 feet above sea level, in a place that looks like the New Mexico dessert. The ground is rocky, the soil terrible, the weather, always cold warmed by a bright sun in a brilliant blue sky. Sun burn can occur in 10 minutes for this white boy! We were in a town called Tolar, which means bitter water...and unless you want to die you do not drink the water! This spot is smaller than Benton, TN but it does have a hotel...the Gran Poder which means Great Power....don't ask me why.
70 people came, all Aymara. One village was more than 3 hours away by a good bus...which I'm not sure how the people were able to come. I do know that several villages pitched together for a bus, but there is no telling how far they had to walk first.
At first, the people were nervous, not knowing what to expect and many never experienced anything like this before, never stayed in a hotel before. But as the day began with a DVD of culturally relevant music except that it was Christian and the teachings started they warmed up more and more. Friday night we hired a music group to come, again Christian music but culturally familiar. You could see the smiles on their faces as some of the people began to dance. Rhonda got swept away by the music group to dance with them in a circle holding hands! The people smiled and clapped.
Some of the younger people went outside and played volleyball together. It was wonderful to watch them enjoying themselves...villages that rarely can get together because of the great distance. And they were excited to get their rooms...3 people to a room. I have been to some of their houses which don't have a bathroom in the house...some villages don't have a bathroom period, they just go in the field and their houses are simply one room adobe blocks with a bed and a chair, some having only dirt floors. Here in the hotel they had floors and an indoor bathroom with a shower (although the water doesn't get exactly hot) yet the hotel did not have heat, although we had 5 blankets...Sam shivered his way through the night!
Some of the villages were only able to send one person, one leader but other villages sent 3 or 6 people. The people were engaged in every class and we sold Spanish bibles for $1.50 or 10 Bolivianos while they cost us 27 (about $4). We gave each person a coupon for this discounted rate. Most of these people never could afford a Bible and didn't have one. One man thanked us for the opportunity saying he and his wife shared one Bible and now they would be able to have two...an answer to prayer. We sold 55 Bibles to 70 people and then at the end we said if you want another you can have it for 10 Bs as well and in 5 minutes the rest were gone...all 100 Bibles, many of the people taking a Bible back to the village for someone else.
NOT A SINGLE PERSON LEFT THE CONFERENCE EARLY even though they had a long way to go back and would have to travel through pitch black darkness. All remained and we gave them a certificate of completion which they held up in victory. They do not have cameras but they wanted us to have a picture of them and many held their certificates up to have a picture taken with us...for us. This is culturally normal, they will never see the picture but they wanted us to have one of them for us to remember.
The blessing and the influence that this conference will have on their lives can never be measured, and I am not sure who received the greatest blessing, them or us. God was there, real and tangible, and the whole event became easy.
The list of classes was Old Testament, New Testament, How to Study The Bible, How to be a Leader (like Jesus), the Doctrines of Salvation *almost the whole place came forward for prayer*, Evangelism, The Gifts of the Spirit, and Spiritual Warfare.
Thank you for praying, they were answered. Most of the cost of this conference, including meals and rooms was paid by you, Lovely Feet partners. It is impossible for the Aymara to pay these costs. The gospel was preached because of your prayers, your giving, your sacrifices. Thank you! We thank God for all of you.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
(sorry about not having any pictures this time. Internet connection is very slow. Check out facebook for more photos... Rhonda Garrison Haynes)
Welcome Good Shepherd Lutheran Church http://www.gslcflock.org/
We are thrilled to announce that Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee has voted to sponsor Lovely Feet Ministries and our work in Bolivia on a monthly basis. We have had many churches help us along the way but this is our first church to vote to include us in their budget every month. We thank you for your help and for your dedication to this ministry to reach the Aymara people of Bolivia with the word of God. We praise God for you. Diosampiki (God be with you in Aymara).
On the Radio
At the end of February I was invited as a guest to the radio station of Majestad, 105.7 F.M. in El Alto, Bolivia. El Alto is a city of about a million people, mostly Aymara, more than two miles above sea level and the radio station broadcasts to more than 2 million people including the city of La Paz and the world through the internet. The interview was successful and I was invited to return as a weekly guest preaching the parables of Jesus for about 20 minutes every Thursday between 9:30 and 10:30a.m. for the next six months. This is a great opportunity as the cities of La Paz and El Alto are full of cab drivers that listen to the radio all day. I preach in Spanish, although my Spanish is still rough, so I write the sermons out and have them corrected by a friend. We are also recording the messages and offering them on a CD for free.
While we were in the States, prior to leaving for Bolivia I felt that God was speaking to me about being on the radio. I told this to Rhonda but at the time we had no idea how this would happen or when and so we shrugged our shoulders and said, “hmph, good idea,” and that was the end of it. This invitation came as a complete surprise to me. My pastor approached me and said, you have an opportunity to be interviewed on the radio in two days…do you want to go? I told him yes and we were on our way. The rest is simply God. Keep us in prayer.
You can listen on the internet at http://www.megalink.biz/radio/majestad/wmp.php
The Villages of Ayohuayco and Siqsilla
In February and March we mounted up the bus for a trip to the villages of Ayohuayco and Siqsilla (we really have no idea if this is truly how you spell the names of these villages), four hours to 5 hours from La Paz. We loaded our Bible story books in Aymara, food, toys, and clothes and took our team of about fifteen people, including Pastor Gustavo from El Alto, dressed as a clown to entertain the children. This was our furthest journey yet, traveling off road through the dessert and then through great mountains and canyons that take your breath away. The road was narrow, hanging on the edge of the mountains and we prayed that no vehicle would come from the other direction because there would be no room to pass. We could see the tiny village of AY set in between mountains thirty minutes before we arrived.
Stepping off the bus in Ayohuayco, Ron was greeted by a woman who removed his hat and poured flower petals over his head as a traditional welcome. After many smiles and curious stares at the white people we were shown a boy of three years with a broken leg. There is no medical care in AY and all they could do was to wrap his leg in a cloth. We wanted to pray for him but he was taken away and we did not see him again. We were taken to the area used as a school and introduced to about 200 hundred children, some who had walked many miles to see and hear us and receive gifts from us. We presented dramas about Adam and Eve, the enemy and our savior Jesus, as well as entertained with our clown and through music and then all the children prayed with Rhonda to receive Jesus in their lives. Our Pastor Angel ministered to the adults in Aymara and many prayed with him, too.
Naturally, the children were anxious to receive their gifts, but the most touching thing to us was when asked what was their favorite thing, they unanimously answered the materials, not the toys. The materials are the Bible story books in their own language, Aymara. They didn’t have anything to read in their own language until they received these stories.
In March we hit the trail again, only this time we had our visiting missionaries Sophia Miranda and Astrid Lucas with us. After the five hour trip we were again greeted warmly and many prayed with us to receive Jesus. Sophia and Astrid delivered to us some Proclaimers and we were able to make a presentation to the local leader. His smile grew and grew as we first presented the Proclaimer speaking the New Testament in his own language of Aymara and gave him his first Bible in Aymara. We also gave him a Spanish Bible and a Spanish Concordance that would help him study and lead his village in lessons from the Bible. He and the village leaders were thrilled and we prayed together.
The villagers had one request. Like the people of Ayohuayco, Siqsilla has no medications, no help for sickness, not even bandages and they asked for help. While we cannot afford to build buildings at this time or donate paint for villages, but this is a project that we wanted to get involved in. We cannot obtain medications or even vitamins through the mail, but if you want to give to this project, give your donations to our website and send a special message for Medicine Project to help these villages and we will purchase the medications here in La Paz. We will also be visiting pharmacy companies here in Bolivia to see if they can help.
Watch a short video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r5N-mFQPzA or
Mission Trip from the States
Sophia Miranda and Astrid Lucas, both from the United States, came this month on a whirlwind tour of the churches we help and the Altiplano village of SC. Arriving late March 13 after plane trouble they immediately began encouraging the churches here. Astrid preached Sunday morning, Sofia preached Sunday afternoon, and they continued visiting five different churches in ten days. Both appeared on our radio show as well being interviewed about their lives in God.
On March 19 we went to the poverty struck city of El Alto to show the Jesus film at a tiny congregation and to serve free Choripan (this is a popular sausage sandwich). We had more than 125 people at the church that normally has 25 in attendance. Many prayed and received Jesus for the first time. Pastor Emilio said the following Sunday saw many of them return.
April 3rd we see the return of Steven Reed from Florida who will be bringing a team of 12 to work construction on some of the church projects in the area. This, too, will be an extremely busy time. We look forward to working with his team.
Teaching the Bible and English
Ron began teaching a 26 week course in Old Testament in February in our home that grew and moved into our church in La Paz every Thursday. He has been asked to take the class to El Alto beginning in mid April. We hope to record it and make it available on DVD or CD soon.
Rhonda began teaching English to Bolivians this second week of March. She is already in demand and we are hoping to use these classes as an outreach event to speak to people about the love of Jesus who ordinarily would not listen.
We are gearing up for a seminar in a small town two hours away from La Paz, called Patacamaya. There is a small Christian population there that has need of teaching. We are attempting to organize this with the people from our church during the first week of May before the cold hits El Alto. Once the cold starts there is no doing anything except surviving until the thaw in September.
INSIDE THE PRISON WALLS
Finally, I was able to traverse the prison walls and enter into San Pedro prison. As we mentioned before this prison houses men, women and children. If a man commits a crime, his entire family must go to prison with him. It is estimated that 300-500 children are housed in this prison that sits on one city block.
I was greeted by guards in a concrete room with peeling paint and dirt everywhere. I emptied my pockets and was frisked by two guards who checked even the pages of my Bible and then I was escorted to the gate of the courtyard where men inside were hanging on the bars asking for money, shoes, and toothpaste. The small courtyard had about 100 men milling about in the light rain chaotically shouting to one another, the guards and to me. I was led up some broken concrete steps to a room off the courtyard. There were two men who were expecting me and who had invited some others to come to this meeting. The floor was soft, the beams rotten and they asked if I could raise some money for a beam to secure the floor. They wanted to show me the beam so we went back outside in the rain and I promptly fell down the concrete steps. I was unharmed and went back into our room to preach a short sermon, talk and pray with the men who came.
Three accepted Jesus as their savior and five asked me to pastor a church inside the prison walls. I agreed to return every Wednesday at 3pm to preach and pray with as many men as would like to attend. The men agreed to paint a sign declaring their church for Jesus.
I asked to be taken to see the children the next Wednesday but the guards changed their minds the following week and I was again denied access. I have asked a Bolivian leader of our church to Pastor this tiny congregation and he told me that he was asking God for direction and that he believed this was it. I am teaching him the Bible and sharing sermons with him for him to preach until he feels like he can take it on his own. We wait and pray for favor to return. Please pray for Javier Rivera, the new pastor of Rey de Reyes inside San Pedro prison.
WE love our partners!
None of this is possible without the prayer and financial support of our partners. Please continue to pray for us and write as sometimes we can get lonely. Our web address is http://www.lovelyfeet.org/ email at Ron@lovelyfeet.org or mail us your photo for our prayer wall at
Haynes, Ronald, caja 2576 La Paz, Bolivia.
There is no zip code and it can take 6 weeks to reach us, but we are happy to receive mail. Do not send money to the Bolivia box.
Thank you all, we love you. Ron, Rhonda and Sam
Welcome Good Shepherd Lutheran Church http://www.gslcflock.org/
We are thrilled to announce that Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee has voted to sponsor Lovely Feet Ministries and our work in Bolivia on a monthly basis. We have had many churches help us along the way but this is our first church to vote to include us in their budget every month. We thank you for your help and for your dedication to this ministry to reach the Aymara people of Bolivia with the word of God. We praise God for you. Diosampiki (God be with you in Aymara).
On the Radio
At the end of February I was invited as a guest to the radio station of Majestad, 105.7 F.M. in El Alto, Bolivia. El Alto is a city of about a million people, mostly Aymara, more than two miles above sea level and the radio station broadcasts to more than 2 million people including the city of La Paz and the world through the internet. The interview was successful and I was invited to return as a weekly guest preaching the parables of Jesus for about 20 minutes every Thursday between 9:30 and 10:30a.m. for the next six months. This is a great opportunity as the cities of La Paz and El Alto are full of cab drivers that listen to the radio all day. I preach in Spanish, although my Spanish is still rough, so I write the sermons out and have them corrected by a friend. We are also recording the messages and offering them on a CD for free.
While we were in the States, prior to leaving for Bolivia I felt that God was speaking to me about being on the radio. I told this to Rhonda but at the time we had no idea how this would happen or when and so we shrugged our shoulders and said, “hmph, good idea,” and that was the end of it. This invitation came as a complete surprise to me. My pastor approached me and said, you have an opportunity to be interviewed on the radio in two days…do you want to go? I told him yes and we were on our way. The rest is simply God. Keep us in prayer.
You can listen on the internet at http://www.megalink.biz/radio/majestad/wmp.php
The Villages of Ayohuayco and Siqsilla
In February and March we mounted up the bus for a trip to the villages of Ayohuayco and Siqsilla (we really have no idea if this is truly how you spell the names of these villages), four hours to 5 hours from La Paz. We loaded our Bible story books in Aymara, food, toys, and clothes and took our team of about fifteen people, including Pastor Gustavo from El Alto, dressed as a clown to entertain the children. This was our furthest journey yet, traveling off road through the dessert and then through great mountains and canyons that take your breath away. The road was narrow, hanging on the edge of the mountains and we prayed that no vehicle would come from the other direction because there would be no room to pass. We could see the tiny village of AY set in between mountains thirty minutes before we arrived.
Stepping off the bus in Ayohuayco, Ron was greeted by a woman who removed his hat and poured flower petals over his head as a traditional welcome. After many smiles and curious stares at the white people we were shown a boy of three years with a broken leg. There is no medical care in AY and all they could do was to wrap his leg in a cloth. We wanted to pray for him but he was taken away and we did not see him again. We were taken to the area used as a school and introduced to about 200 hundred children, some who had walked many miles to see and hear us and receive gifts from us. We presented dramas about Adam and Eve, the enemy and our savior Jesus, as well as entertained with our clown and through music and then all the children prayed with Rhonda to receive Jesus in their lives. Our Pastor Angel ministered to the adults in Aymara and many prayed with him, too.
Naturally, the children were anxious to receive their gifts, but the most touching thing to us was when asked what was their favorite thing, they unanimously answered the materials, not the toys. The materials are the Bible story books in their own language, Aymara. They didn’t have anything to read in their own language until they received these stories.
In March we hit the trail again, only this time we had our visiting missionaries Sophia Miranda and Astrid Lucas with us. After the five hour trip we were again greeted warmly and many prayed with us to receive Jesus. Sophia and Astrid delivered to us some Proclaimers and we were able to make a presentation to the local leader. His smile grew and grew as we first presented the Proclaimer speaking the New Testament in his own language of Aymara and gave him his first Bible in Aymara. We also gave him a Spanish Bible and a Spanish Concordance that would help him study and lead his village in lessons from the Bible. He and the village leaders were thrilled and we prayed together.
The villagers had one request. Like the people of Ayohuayco, Siqsilla has no medications, no help for sickness, not even bandages and they asked for help. While we cannot afford to build buildings at this time or donate paint for villages, but this is a project that we wanted to get involved in. We cannot obtain medications or even vitamins through the mail, but if you want to give to this project, give your donations to our website and send a special message for Medicine Project to help these villages and we will purchase the medications here in La Paz. We will also be visiting pharmacy companies here in Bolivia to see if they can help.
Watch a short video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r5N-mFQPzA or
Mission Trip from the States
Sophia Miranda and Astrid Lucas, both from the United States, came this month on a whirlwind tour of the churches we help and the Altiplano village of SC. Arriving late March 13 after plane trouble they immediately began encouraging the churches here. Astrid preached Sunday morning, Sofia preached Sunday afternoon, and they continued visiting five different churches in ten days. Both appeared on our radio show as well being interviewed about their lives in God.
On March 19 we went to the poverty struck city of El Alto to show the Jesus film at a tiny congregation and to serve free Choripan (this is a popular sausage sandwich). We had more than 125 people at the church that normally has 25 in attendance. Many prayed and received Jesus for the first time. Pastor Emilio said the following Sunday saw many of them return.
April 3rd we see the return of Steven Reed from Florida who will be bringing a team of 12 to work construction on some of the church projects in the area. This, too, will be an extremely busy time. We look forward to working with his team.
Teaching the Bible and English
Ron began teaching a 26 week course in Old Testament in February in our home that grew and moved into our church in La Paz every Thursday. He has been asked to take the class to El Alto beginning in mid April. We hope to record it and make it available on DVD or CD soon.
Rhonda began teaching English to Bolivians this second week of March. She is already in demand and we are hoping to use these classes as an outreach event to speak to people about the love of Jesus who ordinarily would not listen.
We are gearing up for a seminar in a small town two hours away from La Paz, called Patacamaya. There is a small Christian population there that has need of teaching. We are attempting to organize this with the people from our church during the first week of May before the cold hits El Alto. Once the cold starts there is no doing anything except surviving until the thaw in September.
INSIDE THE PRISON WALLS
Finally, I was able to traverse the prison walls and enter into San Pedro prison. As we mentioned before this prison houses men, women and children. If a man commits a crime, his entire family must go to prison with him. It is estimated that 300-500 children are housed in this prison that sits on one city block.
I was greeted by guards in a concrete room with peeling paint and dirt everywhere. I emptied my pockets and was frisked by two guards who checked even the pages of my Bible and then I was escorted to the gate of the courtyard where men inside were hanging on the bars asking for money, shoes, and toothpaste. The small courtyard had about 100 men milling about in the light rain chaotically shouting to one another, the guards and to me. I was led up some broken concrete steps to a room off the courtyard. There were two men who were expecting me and who had invited some others to come to this meeting. The floor was soft, the beams rotten and they asked if I could raise some money for a beam to secure the floor. They wanted to show me the beam so we went back outside in the rain and I promptly fell down the concrete steps. I was unharmed and went back into our room to preach a short sermon, talk and pray with the men who came.
Three accepted Jesus as their savior and five asked me to pastor a church inside the prison walls. I agreed to return every Wednesday at 3pm to preach and pray with as many men as would like to attend. The men agreed to paint a sign declaring their church for Jesus.
I asked to be taken to see the children the next Wednesday but the guards changed their minds the following week and I was again denied access. I have asked a Bolivian leader of our church to Pastor this tiny congregation and he told me that he was asking God for direction and that he believed this was it. I am teaching him the Bible and sharing sermons with him for him to preach until he feels like he can take it on his own. We wait and pray for favor to return. Please pray for Javier Rivera, the new pastor of Rey de Reyes inside San Pedro prison.
WE love our partners!
None of this is possible without the prayer and financial support of our partners. Please continue to pray for us and write as sometimes we can get lonely. Our web address is http://www.lovelyfeet.org/ email at Ron@lovelyfeet.org or mail us your photo for our prayer wall at
Haynes, Ronald, caja 2576 La Paz, Bolivia.
There is no zip code and it can take 6 weeks to reach us, but we are happy to receive mail. Do not send money to the Bolivia box.
Thank you all, we love you. Ron, Rhonda and Sam
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