May 2020 Prayer Letter
Hello from Quarantined Bolivia,
We can’t help but rejoice in all that the Lord is doing in these days. It is a humbling thought to realize that He wants to use us as a part of His plan. Imagine, an omnipotent God wants to use you and me in His work. What a blessing!
We continue to be on complete lockdown due to the virus. Bolivia is completely shut down to the world around it. There is no international travel, no inter-departmental travel, and many towns and cities have shut themselves off from others around them. We continue to be quarantined in our homes, being allowed 4 hours on 1 day per week to walk to buy food. So far, supplies have been fairly steady, but prices are increasing. We are starting to hear more and more stories of death and hunger due to the current situation. Our state is the hardest hit in Bolivia. There are talks of lifting parts of the quarantine on the 11th of May but it probably will not happen in our area.
Unfortunately, we have lost someone connected to our second church due to the virus. He was the father of one of our church children. He had been sick for some time but once he contracted the virus he could not recover. This makes the second death in that church since our quarantine started. The first one was a man who passed away from cancer. Thankfully, he had made a profession of faith after the very last service we were able to have.
Thanks to our home church, we have been able to help many families during this time. We have been able to help supply support for 20 pastors around the country. We have also fed about 60+ families every week. For the most part, we are doing this through the local churches by being the conduit through which they reach the family. However, our 2 churches have been very difficult to reach. Their towns are “encapsulated”, meaning no one and nothing is allowed in or out. Thankfully, we were able to get food in before this happened.
Our most exciting opportunity has been one that we didn’t foresee until the Lord opened the door for it. We were made aware of the need the police had for facemasks. I reached out and with help from our supporters, we have been able to reach approximately 1000 police officers with the gospel. Our police project has been an amazing experience! We have gone to multiple police stations and given out care packages which contain a Bible, hand sanitizer, face mask and bottles of water. As we deliver the packages, we are generally given some time to speak to the officers, share the gospel with them and to pray with them. The officers have been very receptive and thankful for the help. In Bolivia, the police are often disrespected. In all honesty, I believe a lot of that is due to the amount of corruption found amongst the officers and the fact that people do not trust them. However, I hope to use this opportunity as a way to unite the officers with the local churches. I am already in discussions with pastors to follow up and do more. Every Bible we have given away has had an invitation to the church closest to them. Whenever possible, the pastor of that closest church has been the one to present the packages. That way the officers already have a connection to the church, they know where the church is and who to see for help. We are planning special days of appreciation at each church once we are allowed to meet again. I am in talks with multiple stateside officers about coming here to conduct training classes with our officers as well developing the idea of starting a chaplain's program. Too much prayer, time and money has been invested into this project for us to squander it as a one-time thing. We must pray more, work more and do more to move forward for the sake of the gospel! If you are interested in helping us reach these officers, please let us know. There is so much more that can be done.
Thank you so very much for everything you do. For the prayers, the support, the encouraging words. We are truly blessed missionaries. Please know, our family also prays for you. We are in this battle together, therefore we not only ask you to pray for us, but we take time each day to pray for you too.
