June 2020 Update
Hello from Quarantined Bolivia,
We stand amazed at what all the Lord has been doing even through this time of quarantine. He has opened some doors that would have probably not been possible without the current Covid-19 situation.
We remain under strict quarantine here in Santa Cruz. Several other departments/states are opening up slowly, however, 70% of our virus cases are within about 1 hour of our house. For this reason, we are in our 3rd month of strict quarantine procedures. Ministry opportunities have not been lacking because of the quarantine, but rather they have been many, and unlike any we would have expected.
Unfortunately, we still have not been able to conduct church services. We have started doing some online services with the people from our new church. I believe it has encouraged them. We have even had some people, who showed little interest in the past, start joining us online.
Through our home church in the states, we have increased our feeding program to 200 families every week. These are families connected to local churches here. We are working with and through the local pastors to help them feed their people. Out of these 200 families, 141 of them are here in Santa Cruz. Due to the number of families, we are buying in bulk in order to get better prices on items. Thankfully, I found a Christian man who has permission to drive because he is supplying food to the markets. We are buying through him and he has used his permission to travel to help us by getting the food closer to the churches at no extra charge. We are very thankful for this connection.
The police project has become a much greater opportunity than we could ever have expected. As you remember, we started by trying to help provide the officers with scripture, facemasks, hand-sanitizer and bottles of water. The project began with reaching 300 officers. To date, we have been able to reach about 1,700 officers, and we are not finished yet! This project has opened doors that would not have been open without the current situation. The officers, who are normally very calloused and closed-off, have become receptive towards us. They are starting to recognize and open up to me to some degree. One example of this gradual change happened just today. I was returning home through an area where officers were manning a roadblock and checking for vehicles that do not have permission to be out during the quarantine. As I drove up, they started to ask me for my pass, but they recognized me and let me go through. As I was driving away, one of the officers chased me down and asked me if I had a Bible I could give him. As I gave him one, he told me, “You gave me one the other day and my wife and I are reading it at home.” He stood there with me for a few minutes just talking with me and thanking me for what we are doing. As you can tell, God has opened some hearts and we praise Him for the opportunities that we have had these last 2-3 months. We also thank all of those who have given to help make this outreach possible. We know we could not have accomplished so much alone.
Please continue to pray for us and this project. Help us pray for wisdom in how to help the local pastors get a vision and a burden for these officers. From the beginning, I have worked through the local churches. I want and need them to start taking charge of the districts closest to their church. Thankfully, some of the local pastors seem to be recognizing this opportunity as they go and witness for themselves the reactions of the officers. We hope all of them will see this opportunity and take advantage it!
When Paul mentioned how the Philippian church had helped him, he said, “Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.” (Philippians 4:17) While I am no Paul, I desire the same. I believe you will have “fruit…to your account” because you are willing to help us reach Bolivia.
