Photos From Pastora Bethzeida's Church

Pastora Bethzeida's Church

While Josh and I are here, we'll be spending our weekends preaching at churches in and around the city of Santa Cruz. Last weekend, we worked with Pastora Bethsida's church on the outskirts of the city. The church, pictured on the left, is made out of a metal wall facing the road and a metal roof. Inside is a dirt floor and some benches that are pulled out to seat the members of the congregation. The church is vulnerable to all weather conditions and the dust from the dirt road. But Jesus is glorified here just like He is in our church buildings back home!

In order to get out the word that we were coming to do services at the church, we set out to tell the neighbors about the programs. The members of the church split up into groups of 4 or 5 and took responsibility for a section of the neighborhood. As we went home to home, we would stand at the gate and Pastora Bethzeida's dad (who was with our little group) would call out "Señora!" Then the lady of the house would come to the gate and we would explain our calendar of events for the weekend. Most of the houses in this neighborhood (with the exception of maybe one or two) are one-room dwellings built out of bricks or sheet metal. They all have dirt floors and barely any plumbing. Many of the people we visited were curious about Josh and I just because we stood out, but shied away from making a commitment to come to the services.

Nevertheless, 3 people gave their lives to Jesus in the first service of the weekend. In the following services, several people were healed and rescued from bondage. On Saturday I did I children's service with Pastor Sharon where we talked about Daniel in the lion's den and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun learning about how the Lord is always with us.

The last night of our ministry there, the pastor asked us to stand at the front. Several of the church members lined up and said a few words thanking us for our ministry and sharing testimonies about what the Lord had done for them that weekend. Then they each presented us with a gift, some of them explaining the significance of the item they gave to us. It was hard not to burst out in tears! After the service, we drove to a restaurant where the church treated us to chicken dinners. We had so much fun trying to converse in English and Spanish. I whipped out my dictionaries and the ladies giggled as they tried out new English phrases and taught us how to pronounce them in Spanish.

Please pray for Pastora Bethzeida's church. They need a piece of land and a new building. Also pray that they continue to grow as more people from the neighborhood attend services and come to know more about the love of Jesus!

Sunflower Farm

If my in-laws (Jon and Sue) are reading this, they may remember the day at the Pennsylvania farm show when I got it in my head that I wanted to start a farm that simultaneously grew sunflowers and raised sheep. I even thought maybe we could start our farm somewhere in South America and turn it into a second phase Teen Challenge center where we could teach men how to farm. With a little skip in my step, I wound my arm around Josh's elbow and explained my harebrained idea to him adding, "Wouldn't that be wonderful? A whole farm full of glorious sunflowers and some sheep to keep the place well-rounded!"

Josh, always the incredulous one, replied, "I don't know if sunflowers would grow in South America. And besides, you probably couldn't have both sheep and sunflowers on the same farm."

The other day, while driving through the city of Santa Cruz, Roger was explaining to us a little bit about a town out in the countryside. "A couple hours out of the city you come to an area that has miles and miles of sunflower farms."

"Sunflower Farms?" I immediately perked up in my seat.

"Oh yeah," Roger said "Sunflower oil is a big deal out here. In fact, one time I was about to preach to a church out near that area and I was thinking about preaching a message about the good shepherd and how he tends to his flocks when all of the sudden, out of one of the sunflower fields, pops a sheep! Right out in the middle of the road!"

No way, a sheep, out in the middle of the sunflower fields? This is getting weird. So I explained to Roger the idea I had about the sunflower/sheep farm and he reiterated the fact that Bolivia is a major producer of sunflower oil.

"What a coincidence" I sighed as I settled back into my seat.

"I don't think it's much of a coincidence" Roger said.

And it might not be.

Day 1

This morning at about 4:30 am we finally stepped through the doors of the airport and made our way to the Holland's Speed the Light vehicle in the parking lot. On our way to our hotel Roger (the missionary we're here with) gave us a little tour of the city. Josh and I were surprised to see a few horses grazing though the trash on the street. Then we arrived at our new home, the Hotel Victoria.

I can't say the Hollands didn't prepare us for the cold here, but I do have to say we were a little misled by the weather forecasts. Even now, the weather station on my laptop says it's about 52 degrees, but I can assure you it's more like a balmy 35...Oh, and Bolivian hotels and homes have no heat. When we got settled in for a little bit of rest when we got here this morning, Josh and I both donned layers of pajamas before climbing under the covers. I'm sure glad I used up some prime suitcase real estate for my blanket from home. Then this morning after watching Josh endure a cold shower, it took some time for me to get up the courage to do the same. You know you're going to grow closer to the Lord when you have to pray just so you don't chicken out of your morning shower. But I made it through! And hey, the weather channel is forecasting 80 degree weather on Wednesday. I can dream, can't I?

In Panama

I'm not sure if we're far enough into our journey to warrant a blog post, but we're 5 hours into an 8 hour layover and I've got free Wi-Fi here at the airport, so why not?

We're not even to our final destination yet and I already feel like I'm functioning in a dream world. Some of you more well-traveled readers may chuckle at this, but it's amazing how differently I feel now that I'm surrounded by an unfamiliar language. It's like the rug got pulled out from under me and I don't have any familiar place to land. I can only image what it'll be like when we dive head-first into Bolivian culture, at least here in the airport we still have the luxury of Subway sandwiches.

I can only suspect that the farther removed we get from anything familiar, the further I'll have to rely on the Lord. I think sometimes, living in the comfortable ease of my hometown, I forget that there are other places, other people and other ways of life. I have to admit that sometimes I forget that God exists here in South America just as much as He exists back home in Phoenixville. I know it sounds silly but its an easy thing to forget when you're so far away and your overactive imagination has you imagining all sorts of overseas catastrophes. But the Lord is here with us and I know that the more I need Him, the more He'll be available to be a source of peace and security.

Please pray that our last flight (8 hours long) goes by fast and that we safely arrive in Santa Cruz and make it through customs without much difficulty.

Terrified!

In the past few months leading up to this trip, a lot of people have asked me if I feel excited. My answer to that question has almost always been "No, I'm terrified!"

This morning, while enjoying breakfast with a friend, I described the feeling I have as being akin to what many of us have experienced standing on the edge of the high dive as a kid.

Unsure of what the experience will be like, you teeter on the edge, waiting for courage to kick in. All your friends have told you how much fun ensues after the leap, but from 20 ft. above the water now is looking like a great time to get on your hands and knees, crawl back to the ladder and sheepishly climb back down. Just thinking of all the probable mishaps is enough to give you hot and cold sweats. You could belly flop, or worse, get tripped up on your way over the edge!

But as many of us know, once we conquered our fears and got over that first leap, we returned time and time again to plunge into those cool, deep waters. Some of us even learned how to do it with some finesse.

Welcome!

Dear Friends and Family,

First and foremost, Josh and I would like to thank you for all of your prayers and support. I know that I feel especially safe knowing that so many of you are continuing to pray for us as we take this journey together.

Knowing that communication may be difficult while we are in Bolivia, I wanted to find a way keep those of you back home in the loop about our activities. Writing a blog seemed like the best way to do that. But I have to admit that I have a couple apprehensions about this project.

My first one is that I’m not sure how often I will be able to add updates to this page. I will try to write something every day and upload new posts as often as I have Internet access. Please don’t panic and think we’ve been eaten by llamas if I’m unable to post for a few days. If you don’t want to keep checking back for updates, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking on “Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)” at the bottom of this page.

Secondly, while I’ve always enjoyed writing whenever inspiration hits, I am (a) terrible at keeping journals and (b) not exactly used to people reading what I write. Please bear with me as I flex my writing muscles.

Josh and I are set to leave on July 18^th. Please pray for safe and non-eventful travels. We love you all so much and hope that you will stop by this site often to hear about the things God is teaching us.

With Love,

Amber and Josh