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.
