(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