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.

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!