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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

(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

The Harvest is here in Bolivia

Bringing Jesus to the Villages

Since our last newsletter we have visited three villages in the Altiplano following the leadership of our Pastor Angel Condori and bringing along our newly formed drama team. It is always a challenge to reach the village and our first trip was no exception. We rented a van and driver and loaded it with nineteen people, cookies, toys and bible books bought with donations made to Lovely Feet.

Ron and Rhonda with the kids of Esquillana

Finally a village - Esquillana
With the Children of EsquillanaThe village of Esquillana (es-key-ana) is extremely remote, many miles off the main highway, through dirt roads, rocks and creeks. After more than 30 minutes off-road, our driver worried about weight and so, all the men unloaded and began to walk with a promise that the driver would return for us. The ladies went on to the village and began to minister in song with nearly 200 children, some who had walked for four hours to meet us. The men walked about 6 miles before the van came into sight, but the van would not take us on to the village because it had already blown a tire and would not risk another blowout because he had no more spares. So we traveled back to the highway and ran into a rain storm that was washing out the roads. We found a small store selling used tires but the mud was so thick in front that the van got stuck. We left two of our team with the van to make sure that eventually the bus driver would come to the village for us and then convinced a taxi driver to take four of us on to the village.

After nearly two and a half hours of waiting the women joined hands to pray while the village people watched. At that very moment we arrived. Rhonda narrated the story of creation, the fall and the promise of redemption while our team acted it out. All those present joined in prayer to receive Jesus as their Savior. We were well received; we passed out gifts and children’s bible books and received a meal of chunos, tuntas and papas.

Pastor Angel at the new church being built

A new Christian village
Last year Steven Reed, a missionary from Florida, with Pastor Condori led our team to a remote village where a woman proclaimed that they were the forgotten people and asked why we would come from the other side of the world to visit them. After we told her and the village that it was because we came with the message that God loved them and provided Jesus as their savior, the village prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior. Since that time, Pastor Juan, an Aymara, continued to follow up with them and minister to them. Recently, the village began to construct their own small church to hold service for 17 families who have continued to follow the way of Jesus. After Christmas, Steve Reed returned to La Paz for a short visit and we traveled to the village to pray over the new construction. They have raised up two pastors, neither of which have a Bible in their own language, to lead them. They told us stories of God’s blessings. The village has always been poor, planting only potatoes and quinoa, but within the last year decided to plant onions and lettuce. The onions are huge and the best tasting onions we had ever had. The village has received and attributed this bounty as the blessing of God that is leading them into a more prosperous season.

The people of Sullcavi-Chaquiri praying to know Jesus more

The first village of the New Year- Sullcavi-Chaquiri
We returned again to the road on the 2nd of January with a growing team of 23 people to minister and encourage a small village called Sullcavi-Chaquiri (suy-cavi-cha-ker-ee) that had previously planted a church, Roca de Sion (Rock of Zion). We were armed with some new books for children. This time we had books in Aymara, their primary language. They were sold to us at an extreme discount by the Bible Society of Bolivia who were as thrilled for us to take them to the children as we were. Though Aymara is the primary language of the village, they have almost no material to teach the children to read. Therefore, they are able to use these Bible stories for instruction…in the public schools. Even before leaving the village I found children sitting in the dirt reading their stories.

We did our usual presentations and teachings and afterward had prayer with some of the adults. One woman came for prayer who spoke only Aymara and we understood through our Pastor that she was losing her eyesight. Her husband brought her to us. Several of us anointed her with oil and prayed and she proclaimed that she could see. We began praying for many and many of the people proclaimed their healings.

Deb and Yama - called to the Aymara

THE HARVEST IS HERE
It is clear that there is a great harvest in Bolivia. Every week there are new salvations in our little church in the city of La Paz and we are encouraged with the work in El Alto and the ministry to the villages is growing. We are also meeting other missionaries who are coming and hearing the call of God to the Aymara people. At the same time there are challenges, the government is demanding more of the churches, more taxes and lists of names of people who are going to their churches. They even want names of those who are fasting! The consequences are severe for those churches that do not comply. For example if proper financial records are not kept and the required tax sent to the government, the president of the congregation will be arrested and sent to jail. The regulations are not restricted to evangelical churches but also apply to the Catholic churches as well. The Government expects that these new regulations will cause many churches to close their doors.

Rhonda and I are already finding ourselves in demand. I have been asked to speak at a wedding this Saturday, preach at a Church of the Nazarene Thursday, and we will minister at the church for economic orphans on the 24th. This is in addition to our bible studies every week, obligations at our church, Rey de Reyes (King of Kings), work we are beginning at Vida Abundante (Abundant Life) in El Alto and new ventures at Jehova es Me Guerro (Jehovah is my Warrior) also in El Alto.

Finally, we are also ministering at the Prison every Sunday we are in town. At this prison, when a man commits a crime, the whole family must go to jail. It is said that there are 300 children in this prison. We have been trying to get in, but yet have not been able. So, our ministry is to the nearly 100 people who are outside the prison waiting in line for the opportunity to visit family. They have appreciated our words and the cookies that we bring and have asked us to try and get inside to talk with their family members. It is expected that this month we will go inside and distribute our children’s books to those children inside.




$5 makes a difference!!!
With $5 we could buy 70 children’s Bible story books in the Aymara language for children in the village! With $5 we could buy 11 children’s Bible story books in Spanish! With $5 we can buy 7 entire Bibles in Spanish for new believers. Every time we go to the village it costs about $100 for the bus for an entire day for 20 people…that is extremely cheap! But we cannot go if we cannot make budget. Our bare bones budget is $1,500 per month. That keeps us here surviving and pays for many of the books, gifts and transportation! It does not pay for everything! Our pastor and our church pay what they can as well. Our pastor does not take a salary. We do not have a car, we do not have health insurance, and we do not have heat in our home! This is bare bones! Is there a reason you cannot give $5, $10, or even $25 a month. We count on God using you to keep this ministry going. If you are not giving, please pray about this. $5 makes a difference!

Thanks to all who gave generously to the Christmas in Bolivia project. We were able to purchase Bible books for the children IN AYMARA.

Ron and Rhonda with friends in Rio Bajo

2010 Lovely Feet Ministry Plan

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Below is our plan for ministry for 2010. While it is obviously a tentative plan, some of these projects have already begun. This is an abbreviated plan. We would be happy to send you the full plan by request to Rhonda@lovelyfeet.org



The Villages
Going to the remote villages of the Altiplano are a priority of the ministry in Bolivia. The Aymara villages do not know of the salvation of Jesus. While there is much difficulty in getting to the villages, the trip and the expense of the trip is well worth it. The cost is about $250US each trip. We hope to receive invitations to stay for up to week for more extensive discipleship and leadership training. We also hope to provide Proclaimers™ ($100US) and/or Bibles in Aymara ($18US) to each village.
Status: In Progress

El Alto
El Alto is a city about an hour away that is about 1% Christian. The city is almost entirely populated by Aymara who have left their villages for a variety of reasons. It is large, dusty, poor, and filled with drugs, alcohol and paganism. There are small fortresses, tiny churches that are beaten down and need encouragement We plan to develop a youth drama team in one of the churches. Also we hope to show movies once a month starting with the Jesus Film™ and introduce “Partner Churches” with the USA. We will also begin teaching conversational English as a form of service and outreach.
Status: In Development

The Prison
In our blog you will see the ministry we are doing at the San Pedro prison. This is an inexpensive outreach that is already underway. We have been very blessed. We plan to visit the prison each week with encouraging messages as well as start a ministry to the children there.
Status: In Development

Rey de Reyes
Rey de Reyes is our home church. Our pastor is Pastor Angel Condori. He is our sponsor here in Bolivia and our mentor in the villages. The congregation has a regular attendance of about 30 people. We will continue to serve this body with in-reach and out-reach projects and help Pastor Angel and the leadership develop a 1,3 and 5 year plan for the church. We will also begin teaching conversational English as a form of service and outreach.
Status: In Progress

Pastor’s and Leader’s conference
We have begun planning to bring a team into La Paz in September 2010. We have been communicating with those who can minister. Of those, Pastor Larry Cockerham is considering bringing a message on unifying the churches and Pastor Andrés Miranda has agreed to introduce cell groups and teachings for new young pastors.
Status: In Development.

Youth drama workshop
In March or April of we hope to have a youth drama workshop in El Alto, inviting other churches we are connected to as well, in order to help churches work together and train the youth for ministry. We have invited New Life Drama Company in the United States to send a team for this workshop.
Status: In Development

Drama productions
Three productions in development are; Christian adaptation of A Christmas Carol , Jekyll and Hyde (Rom 7:17-25) and Don Quixote in spanish. We have development expenses to consider such as lights, for which we have a homemade design and the need of sound and a generator to present the plays in the streets at plazas. We hope to bring our actors with us to other churches again serving to unify.
Status: In Development

Host home
We are extending invitations to churches and ministers to serve with us in Bolivia. Our home is available to help hold down costs. We are looking for the needs in the villages to see about the possibility of a medical missions team. We were pleased to have two brothers stay with us the first week we moved in.
Status: In Progress


God be with you all. Thanks for your prayers and support in 2009....and your continued prayers and support in 2010.


Love,
Ron, Rhonda and Sam

Lovely Feet Newsletter - November 2009

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 Bolivia




EL 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.

Setting Captives Free...

Friends from Vida Abundante and the Church of the Nazarene share worship time in our home.

Pastora Claudia preaching on Romans chapter 7 in Vida Abundante

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The mist and light rain was falling today as Rhonda and I walked up and down the street outside the prison meeting the women waiting in line to go inside. The lines form every Sunday regardless of rain or sunshine. Most of the women are Aymara, wearing their traditional dress, some carrying meals or breads for their family inside.
Some recognize me from the week before, they smile and utter a word or two in Aymara because they remember me butchering their language last week. They laugh at my attempt and Rhonda passes out a small newspaper entitled, “The Message of Peace.” In the United States, I remember holding out tracts and waiting to find someone who would take it; but not here. The women are reaching for it. They know it is Christian and many of them are not, but they want the paper anyway.

This prison is not like any other that we Americans understand. Here, in Bolivia, when a man commits a crime he goes to prison and so does his wife and children. During the school year the children are released from the prison to attend school and they return to the prison after classes. School ends here next week for summer vacation and I don’t know if they will have the opportunity to leave the prison walls again until February when classes return.
It is said that if a family wants a cell to themselves that they can buy it or their family outside can buy it for them. If they don’t pay for a cell then they sleep in the courtyard, but I don’t know if that is true. It is also said that cocaine is manufactured inside the prison, but again I don’t know if that is true. I know is that God loves the people inside that prison and we are praying for their safety and for revival to overtake the prison.

After we pass out some of the papers I deliver a short message about God’s love for them and how God’s plan is not to harm them but to give them hope and a future. Many of the women listen, some turn their backs (but we know they are listening) and others shout “Amen.” Rhonda finishes our visit by praying for their safety and for God’s love to break into their lives and set them free. More women reach for more papers. They share smiles with us. I think they are happy to know that somebody cares and that we can see their value. And we wave, say good-bye and say to them all, “Oramos para ti y para su familia,” “We are praying for you and your family.” Many of the women have tears in their eyes. Rhonda and I walk away to words of “Gracias,” and I wonder who was blessed more, them or me. My breath is gone and God’s presence covers me and I am the thankful one.

We are writing our own tracts each week to hand out at the prison. They are about the mini sermon that was shared the week before, so that the words are reinforced and they can take the message inside to their family. We are also taking cookies once a month to pass out to the 100 or so people that wait. I want inside the prison but I am not allowed right now. I am waiting for the paperwork to apply. Everything is a process in Bolivia. The ladies tell me that there are some English speaking people inside that don’t speak Spanish and that have no one come to visit them.

I am unable to take any pictures because the guards would frown on it. We will write more as the doors to prison are opened by the grace of God.

God be with you!

Ron, Rhonda and Sam

LOVELY FEET NEWSLETTER

LOVELY FEET MESSENGER
Newsletter October 5

ON THE ROAD TO A VILLAGE
We are very excited as we are on our way on the 17th of October to a very remote isolated Aymara village on the other side of the Andeans Mountains to bring the gospel of our God to those who have not heard. This is a large village consisting of 300 children. Pastor Angel, an Aymaran man, has opened these doors to this village. We will be teaching the children through drama, stories and puppets about creation and salvation. We have a small team of 4 young people from our church, Rhonda, Sam and myself. Pastor Angel will minister to the adults with his wife, Marisol.
We are bringing with us 300 small illustrated children’s books that we have purchased from the International Bible Society. There are five different illustrated stories that we hope the children will read and pass around to each other. This is an opportunity to change a generation of Aymara children, to set them free from bondage to Satan and Pachamama whom they serve out of fear. While there are regional differences in worship many believe that if they don’t sacrifice to Pachamama that she will exact her own sacrifice in blood.
While we don’t know what we will find in the village and we don’t know how we will be received we are going believing that God will set these people free from bondage and free to understanding that God is good and that he loves them. Please consider fasting for us this day, believing with us that chains will be broken and the love and light of God released and that God’s miraculous hand will move through the village. Watch for our film that we will be posting shortly after we return.

We have many needs for this trip. You can help us by donating on our website www.lovelyfeet.org. If you want to specifically designate your gift, send us an email and let us know. You can send your message directly to me at ron@lovelyfeet.org.

300 illustrated books $150
Toys for children $200
Transportation to/from $150
Snacks/cookies and food $200
300 New testaments $ covered

A great desire is to bring the Jesus film in the Aymara language to the villages. Most of these people have never seen movies let alone seeing it in their own language. This film could be so powerful for all these people. However, we have several obstacles that I am hoping you can help us with. We have a DVD player but the projector will cost us $700. I have found the projector here in La Paz. I have not priced any speakers but I do not expect them to cost more than $100. The biggest problem is a power source. I’m working on that. I can get a small generator but I would prefer a large battery. I found one in the states but they will not ship it here. Please keep this in prayer.

ON THE ROAD EACH MONTH
Our future plans include visiting at least one village each month. Of course there is a significant expense to that. Not every village is as large as the one we are visiting this month, but there will be continuing costs. Please consider partnering with us each month to help us with these costs and the costs of living here. We need you!

VICTORIES
Our house is sold, Praise God. Thank you all for praying for us. We are able to pay off almost all of our debts that we had in the US. Some of you may have thought we were crazy to leave our jobs and the US when we still had debts. But God said to us “the clock is ticking” in January. We heard 7 times that we were not waiting on God but that God was waiting on us and we left in faith. I’m not saying that our faith was not repeatedly challenged but we took our steps. We did not take any salary from this ministry and still have not. God simply supplied our needs and sold the house before we had to make one payment while we were in Bolivia…exactly 4 days before. SET aside all obstacles that so easily beset us! Our debt was the first of our obstacles, but God removed it. To those who are saying to yourselves that you can’t work for the church or take a missionary journey until you have so much money…stop focusing on the obstacle and seek God alone.

FAVOR AND FRIENDS
We have found much favor here in Bolivia. WE live in a boardinghouse where our hosts have basically adopted the three of us. As I am writing this I am recovering from an attack of sickness of fever and flu. Rene, the owner of our home, came into my room through the night checking on me and bringing me medicine and tea. They have become our sincere friends. We also live with three other girls, one from Japan, one from Holland and one from England. The people who live here rotate but all have been genuinely interested in the Lord and what we are doing here. We are praying for them and find it interesting that we would have the opportunity to witness to people from all parts of the world.
Our housekeeper at the boardinghouse is Aymara. Flora is one of three Christians from her village, the Isla del Sol. She never owned a Bible in her own language. I am happy to say that Lovely Feet bought her an Aymara Bible and we gave her copies of the Jesus film in her own language. Aymara people are very unemotional but Flora just about jumped up and down.
I would be lost without my neighbor and friend Abdul. Abdul has spent hours with me each week helping me through immigration. It would literally be impossible to make it without him. This has taken 20 to 40 hours of his time each week. As if that is not enough he has had us over to bar-b-que twice as well. And yet, Abdul is not a Christian. We openly talk about Jesus and about faith but he confesses to be an Atheist. He says that faith is difficult. As I love my new friend, keep him in prayer.
Our church is a small gathering, but each and every week new people appear with testimony of transformations. Rhonda has gotten the chance to play her guitar and lead in worship. Her guitar was purchased through a gift from a friend in the states.

CULTURAL UPDATE
The darkness is thick here in La Paz. We continue to learn about the devil’s strongholds and I want to keep you updated. We recently learned about the “Elephant Cemetery”. Legend has it that in Africa elephants go off to a solitary location to die when they think their life has run its course. Here in La Paz the homeless or down and out go to a secret location (it is illegal) and pay for a bucket of strong drink and a room. They are locked in this room to drink themselves to death. It is said that it can take a day or a week. Their body is then thrown into the foundation of a large building as a blood sacrifice to satisfy Pachamama. It is said that some workers will not work on the building unless there has been a sacrifice because Pachamama will exact her sacrifice on the construction worker if she does not have it another way.

SAVE THE DATE
Prayer and Fasting for October 17 as we go to the village. We will update you with photos and film.

WE LOVE YOU AND ARE PRAYING FOR YOU. Ron, Rhonda and Sam.
Check out our website at www.lovelyfeet.org