November 2018

Good Day From Bolivia,

We hope this letter finds you doing well. We have been doing well and are excited about what God has done in the past couple of months. There is so much to tell, I am not sure how to fit it all into one letter but I will do my best.

We have officially started Iglesia Bautista Monte Carmelo as of the 21st of October. With help from many of our supporters, we have been able to do a lot of work on the building and have finished the work we set out to do.

We started immediately to knock doors and invite people to church and have been able to pass out 5,000 invitations. This was with help from another local church and some missionary families. The Ellzey family helped us for about 1-2 weeks straight. We couldn’t have done so much without fellow laborers.

On our first service, we had people waiting outside our church gate as we arrived an hour early. It was incredible! In all, we had around 200 souls show up for our very first service! It was quite overwhelming and we were not fully prepared for it. We only had 70 adult chairs and a few children’s chairs. Over half of those people stood or sat on the floor for the whole service. We couldn’t fit them into one room so we split the children into their own class. It was great and they just kept coming! We ended up with 80 children in that one small class. It was actually dangerous because we don’t have air conditioning and it was a 90* day outside. It was way too hot in that room for that many children. We will have to find something safer to do before we can try having another big day.

Another problem we had was that we ran out of bibles. We had saved up 40 bibles for giving to our first time families. We ended up with 56 different families. We had several people ask us for bibles that didn’t have one.

The next week, we began calling and trying to visit the families that had come. We had many people commit to coming back the next Sunday.

On our second Sunday, we had around 50 souls present. We were excited to have that many returning visitors especially on a rainy day. In this area, everyone walks and so for that many to come out was a great blessing. We still had an issue with bibles. We had more people asking us for bibles that we didn’t have.

In these two Sundays, we have had several make professions of faith. However, we are not really comfortable to give “numbers”. There are a couple of reasons. One, is that we have had so many people that we cannot work with them in the alter one on one so we are working with them in groups. The other reason is that many come from religious backgrounds, mostly Catholic. We are afraid some are just adding another “failsafe” to their other religious beliefs. That is very common here. We need more one on one time with them to get a better idea of who actually understands. Please help us pray for wisdom in working with these people as we disciple them and lead them toward truth and understanding. 

As a result of our email prayer letters, we have had some churches get involved with some of the needs for more chairs and bibles. We are very grateful for this. It is a great blessing to see God’s people coming together to meet these needs. As of now, it looks like the immediate needs have been met for both bibles and for chairs.

We would like to ask you to help us pray over one more thing. The great news is that we have finished the work that needed to be done on the church building and we had a successful first couple of services. Unfortunately, we had to borrow about $3,000 to finish the construction and to get ready for our first day. We understand this is not much at all when you look back at what all has been done. However, I would like to pay back these finances as soon as I can so that it isn’t hanging over us personally. Would you please make this a matter of prayer?

We would also like to once again thank each and every one that has helped us thus far. There is no way our little family could have done this alone. There have been many that have prayed, sent messages of encouragement, helped physically and given financially. Without those people, the work that has been done would not have been possible. What a blessing it is that we can all work together for God’s glory. We are thankful to have been allowed to be a part in what God is doing and is going to do here in Bolivia.

On top of our normal prayer letter, we are sending an additional letter.  This letter is from Brother Francisco Lopez.  Francisco is a Bolivian national that has been serving the Lord for several years.  I have worked with Francisco and his family in another work and also helped teach him in his bible college classes.  The community for the new church has been a burden of his for about 5 years.  He is the one that originally showed us the area and gave us a burden for the same.  Because of this, his family and ours have been working side by side in this new work.  We worked to find the exact community and property.  He spent hours helping build the wall, paint and work on the remodel.  He and his family have spent days helping knock doors, and visiting people.  He is also our intended pastor for this work.  He actually is already preaching in the services.

As we have had needs, he has seen God and His people help supply those needs. Time and time again, we have had needs and I have had to say, “I dont have the ability to do that, we will have to pray that the Lord will supply it,” and He has through our supporters.  The other day, Francisco asked me, “Is there a way that I could thank them for their help? They have done so much for us.”  When he asked, I thought it was a great idea and I agreed to add his letter when I sent my next prayer letter.  His letter is following.

Would you please help pray for Francisco and his family?  His wife’s name is Carina and his two son’s names are Agustin and Lucas.  

“Beloved Brothers And Sisters In The Faith,

On this occasion, I want to thank our great God and Savior Jesus Christ for giving us so many blessings through each one of you. I also thank each church that supports the ministry that the Murray family does here in Bolivia. 

2 Corinthians 8: 3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; 

At this time, I would like to thank you for your help in the new church here in Bolivia. it was very wonderful to see your participation and the love in your support of each need we had.  We are working with the conviction that God will continue to bless, using the means he chooses to do this work. We feel privileged to be God's servants and have a small part in seeing this work start and grow. Please know that you will be rewarded for your efforts. Pray for my family and ministry here in the church we need it. Thank you very much for all your help. God bless you. 

Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

In Christ,

Francisco Lopez

Santa Cruz, Bolivia”