Day of the Dead offerings
San Pedro Prison, La Paz Bolivia. People wait in line to visit loved ones in the prison.
Vida Abundante, El Alto BoliviaEL ALTO
High above the city of La Paz where we are living is another larger city on the edge of the Altiplano called El Alto. El Alto is a dusty rundown city inhabited almost entirely of displaced Aymara people driven from the villages of the Altiplano by drought. The city is full of drugs and alcohol without a main center, characterized by large street markets. There is a very small remnant of Christians struggling to survive. Here, a small church named Vida Abundante (Abundant Life) has carved out a stronghold. Vida Abundante has about fifty members, many of them youth currently led by Pastora Claudia Murillo, a twenty-nine year old single woman. Last year Vida Abundante celebrated its 30 year anniversary.
We traveled up to Vida Abundante on November 1 where we were received with hugs and kisses and snaps of cameras. They remembered us from last year when Rhonda and I had the opportunity to play and sing with some other musicians from the states. The service on Sunday was wonderful and the young people didn’t want to leave. We were asked to return to play and sing again with their small worship group. Finally, we left to return to La Paz and Pastora Claudia came with us as did another friend and some children. We spent the rest of that day at our house eating, praying and singing. Later that afternoon another Pastor from El Alto joined us and we talked and strategized about what the needs were in El Alto. They stayed until ten that night before taking a two hour bus ride back home.
It is our hope to return to Vida Abundante in El Alto one Sunday a month and at other times as possible to encourage and participate in their service. We are praying about training the youth in drama, both short skits and longer presentations that we can perform in the streets and at churches. We also want to have a movie night once a month showing encouraging films in Spanish and feeding the people Choripan (sausage on a roll). The people here are poor and the food will attract many. Please consider this in prayer. The enemy has risen like a flood but God will raise up a standard against him. Our feet have walked in El Alto---God has given it to us…for Christ!
PRAYER NEED: The enemy will not continue to hold this city captive! The church will be encouraged and strengthened and the neighborhood would be open to see the films and their eyes would be open to the truth of Jesus.
THE LA PAZ PRISON
(San Pedro Prison)
Sunday morning is visiting time at the prison in La Paz and people line up early waiting to see their loved ones. Women line up on one side of the gate, men on the other. This past Sunday, November 8, a small group of us walked through Plaza San Pedro, across from the prison, handing out a Christian newsletter about the Peace of God, witnessing and inviting the people to church. Sam and I went to the lines at the prison. Most of the women were Aymara but they wanted to read the newsletter. We didn’t really hand it out, instead the women reached for it. We talked and joked with them as they waited for the prison gates to open. They wanted more newsletters than I had and many asked me to go in. I said that I was going to apply for entry when my Spanish was better and then they told me that there were English speaking people inside that couldn’t speak Spanish and needed a visit. They encouraged me in my Spanish as well and said it was good enough. I could feel their desire for help, for something, for someone to save them and their families. I told them that I was praying for them and their families and I could hear them say thank you throughout the line.
We will return to the prison line next Sunday to share with them what we believe God is saying and to tell them that God loves them and has a plan for them, a plan to prosper them and not to harm them, to give them hope and a future!
We left the prison to return to our church and Sam uttered his final words: Diosampiki which is Aymara for God be with you. The women laughed and smiled and some repeated Diosampiki! They were pleased and surprised to hear a young white blond man speak Aymara.
A special note about the prison: In Bolivia when a man commits a crime and is sent to prison, his entire family goes with him, wife and children. There in the prison they are subject to abuse. During the school year the children leave the prison early in the morning to go to school and return to the prison by 1 p.m. every day. Next week begins summer vacation here. The children will not be able to leave the prison for school until it begins again in February.
PRAY NEED: Pray that I (Ron) will get approval to enter the prison, to proclaim the word of God to those who speak Spanish and to those who speak English. Pray for the children, and the families for their safety and for the binding of the enemy! The gates of hell will not prevail against the church! Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.
THE VILLAGE
As you know our trip into the Altiplano to a remote Aymaran village in the month of October was postponed, but we have another plan. We will be traveling a little more than 2 hours into the remote areas of the Altiplano November 20 or 21 to different village that has not heard the gospel. Pastor Angel secured this visit and we are ironing out details. We will take our small drama team with us to present the story of Creation, the Fall and our victory over the enemy through Jesus, our Savior, for all who believe. We will also present three other dramas, music and proclaim the Word.
It is our hope to present the Jesus film in Aymara. We will be purchasing a projector before we go since we received a generous donation for half of the price of the projector. LovelyFeet has also purchased children’s Bible stories in Spanish to be given as gifts to the village. Currently, the Aymara offer sacrifices to Pachamama, mother earth, serving her in fear.
PRAYER NEED: Pray that the village would be open to see the Jesus film and that chains will be broken and captives set free
CULTURAL UPDATE: THE DAY OF THE DEAD
The Day of the Dead is a national holiday in Bolivia on November 1. It coincides with the Catholic day of All Saints Day but that is as far as the resemblance goes. It is a pagan holiday, characterized by families visiting cemeteries to honor their dead relatives. They bring food offerings, alcohol and toys for those who died as children. They may also make arbors of sugar cane over the grave. They believe that the dead spirits will take the “spirit” of the offerings leaving the food for the families to eat and drink and participate in a celebration of their kinship. Here, in La Paz, everything was closed. Days before the 1st, even the post office was selling bread in the shape and size of people for the offerings.
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