February 2023 Update
The last few months have felt like a whirlwind! One day we are enduring protests and a few days later we are having special activities. We have enjoyed watching God provide for needs and work in the churches at the same time. We hope that as you read our letters, you are encouraged as well.
Our church is still seeing results from the community meals many of you helped us provide during the October protests. We now have a new family going through discipleship classes as a direct result of those meals. It excites me to see what God is doing with this family.
Both of our vacation bible schools went well. Each day we had a great group of children come and hear the gospel, sing, play, make crafts and more. At Vida Eterna, our current church, it was great to watch the pastor and others get involved in this outreach and evangelizing effort. Then at Monte Carmelo, our first church, I was able to see the pastor encouraged in the ministry. He seemed to have a renewed desire and some new goals and ideas for the future. Please help us pray for him and his family and for them to be encouraged in the Lord.
Construction continues at the new church. The main portion was finished by Christmas but there are still many smaller projects that need to be completed. It was the plan that we pay for the construction of the building “shell” with the goal of finishing it little by little with the people’s help. Even though we used the same construction crew from the last church build, we soon realized they took some shortcuts this time that have caused us to have to go back and fix several issues ourselves as we are able. Regardless of that disappointment and setback, we continue to move forward with progress and improvements. We just finished pouring the concrete floor and putting a roof over the Sunday School area. Now we are working on sealing our storage rooms. Our family has committed to paying for material as the church members pay for labor costs. This helps them take ownership because they are invested in the building. I believe this makes them more likely to care for the building in the future.
The political protests have slowed in the last few weeks. There are still rumors of what people want to say or do but I don’t see much really happening. I fear this is not good for the future of Bolivia. As I see it, if nothing changes, Bolivia may have just fallen to socialism. The government is using the same tactics as places like Venezuela in oppressing anyone who are in disagreement with them. Even as far as imprisoning the governor of our state.
We would like to ask you to continue to pray over the Anchor Baptist Mission - Bolivia project. This has been on our minds a lot lately. Since returning we had an opportunity to purchase some property for this project. It is a place Jessica and I really liked and would work great for the future ministry plans. However, we still have not had time to raise enough for what would have been the down payment. Though we would love to see this ministry expansion start coming together, we trust the Lord will work it out in His timing.
Thank you for your continued confidence and prayers for the ministry here in Bolivia. We appreciate all you do on our behalf to make what we do possible.
