March 2024 Prayer Letter
When we write our monthly prayer letters, a goal that we try to keep in mind is to be an encouragement. We focus on the blessings we have seen and hope to show you how great God is. However, to make everything in the ministry seem upbeat and exciting is unrealistic. This month you will read about both blessings and a specific challenge in our ministry that needs prayer.
February was mostly a month of preparation for future activities. The biggest of these will be the medical clinic we plan to set up in 3 of our churches; our first church plant, the church we are currently helping, and our Guaraní church in Ivitipora. The Guaraní church is proving harder logistically because of the 3-hour distance from us, but it is the one we believe has the most need. Though it has been challenging so far, I am most excited about this clinic location. There is just something about the ministry in this community that is special, and I enjoy working with them.
As of this writing, we are also preparing to receive a young lady who will be staying here for several weeks. Lydia Trask grew up on the mission field of Honduras and already speaks Spanish. She attended Bible College at our home church and continues to serve there in the ministry to this day. However, she is praying about whether God could be calling her as a missionary to Bolivia. Please pray for her over the next couple of months. There is currently a couple on deputation with plans to come here to work with us full-time beginning next year. Maybe God is building a team of laborers to reach Bolivia with the gospel of Christ.
We told you a couple of months ago about a new outreach we have been working with. Even though it was started by another church, we felt God would have us partner with them to raise up another church plant. We have been talking to not only the pastor of the outreach, Edwin, but also to the pastor of the main church about how this would work. Up until this past month, everything seemed to be moving forward. In February, I was asked to present to the main church the goal of helping this outreach become an autonomous church. Even though I have fellowshipped with this church in the past, it surprised me that they have more of a parachurch or mother church mentality. The leaders were unwilling to let go of "their outreach" and allow it to become autonomous. I believe strongly in the biblical principle of the authority of the local church. Edwin and I are convinced that we were in God’s will with considering the partnership. It would be wrong, however, for us to bypass the authority of the local church that started the work. For this reason, our family has stepped back from this outreach. Please pray for Edwin and his wife as this has left them conflicted with their home church. His words were that his "eyes were opened" when he later talked to me about the situation. I would like to help him through this, but I am limited in my ability to do so without going around his pastor in the process. This unexpected turn of events caught our family off-guard as well, and we are very disappointed that it doesn’t seem like it will work out as we thought it would. We will keep this as a matter of prayer for now and would ask that you do the same with us. Meanwhile we have begun making preparation for a brand-new outreach and will give you more details as we can.
Our family was already planning a furlough for May of this year, so this change does not give us time to head up that new outreach before our departure. Instead, we are spending the next few months helping a different struggling church. I am told this church was once thriving, but they are now down to about 4-5 faithful members. Our goal is to guide their new pastor and help him grow the church. We already have 4 different evangelistic outreaches planned with them between now and the middle of April!
I believe letting you know the blessings as well as the adversities in the ministry here is a good thing. We know you rejoice with us in the blessings of God but if we never let you know about some of the difficult decisions, we have done you a disservice because you cannot know how to pray most effectively for us and the ministry. Thank you for your faithfulness to call upon God for our family and ministry.
