Bolivia

Hello prayer partners, friends and family,

We have been back in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, about 3 weeks now and have been greeted by constant heavy rains, a leaking roof and a colorful blue mold covering much of our apartment including our bed and clothing. We are, however, very thankful for the state of our apartment as the number of people who have lost their homes due to the rain is at 17,000 and growing each day. Mud slides, bridges washing out, and floods have claimed many lives here. Please pray for the rains to stop and for the aid given by other countries to reach those in need.

We plan to spend this first month back reconnecting with friends and neighbors, cleaning up the mold (a thing made more difficult by the constant rain), and getting our various papers in order with the government. We purchased what we feel will be a car that can handle the long haul here. It is the kind used for taxis so parts and knowledge of how to fix it should be abundant. Our residency expired while we were back in the US and so we are in the process of reapplying. We discovered a need for additional paperwork from the US and so the process will be slower than we had hoped. There have been many days spent (and many more to come) in lines awaiting various stamps and seals. Please pray that our application for residency is granted.

As a family we have felt a welcome on our return and a peace in being back that feels like a gift from God. Ella has been a different child. Her pace of development has stunned us as she clearly is feeling better and in the process of catching up in every area. Jorden entered his classroom at school on the day of our 6:00am arrival to Santa Cruz (he insisted on going to school that day) to a spontaneous applause of his classmates who have prayed for him every day since we left and had literally just finished their prayers that morning when he walked in. Our neighbors ran after our taxi to our home to greet us and we have experienced an increase in the depth of some of our relationships. It has been a warm welcome home.

We have enjoyed noticing God working around us and have been able to participate in His plans several times already before we have started a formal outreach. Two taxi drivers in particular responded to our greetings with a desire to hear more about God. One began pouring his heart out so fully that he turned his car off and prayed with Paul and then finally drove away forgetting to collect his fare. We felt horrible about this and unbelievably Paul got into his taxi in the center of the city not 1 ½ weeks later (we have never seen the same taxi driver twice there are so, so many taxis here) and they both had a good laugh, made plans to reconnect and the driver refused to charge Paul the forgotten fare.

We are beginning to move ahead with our goal of planting a church close to our home. Paul has connected with Fernando Mora, a leader in the Vineyard and pastor in Venezuela who will be coaching and mentoring us. We have also made plans to work with a missionary friend of ours one day a week to start home groups in an area where he has many contacts from his street kids’ ministry. We will also finalize an outreach schedule to consistently make contact with the people in our neighborhood and the neighborhoods surrounding us. Please pray that God will grant us favor with the people we meet and that we will truly live in a way that makes the truth of the gospel obvious to those around us.

Thanks for your encouragement and prayers,

Paul and Kristin, Jorden and Ella

PS Thanks to so many of you who wrote back saying you want to continue receiving our updates and praying for us – what an encouragement! If you have not done so, but still wish to receive them, let us know.