January Newsletter!

Dear Partners in Ministry:


It’s my desire that this email finds you well, enjoying every minute of your lives walking with our awesome and lovely God. After a few months without communicating with you it is time to do so. So, here it is a brief highlight of what God has been doing in my life and ministry in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.


Leading a Church

What a great privilege has been for me, to lead a church and help in a congregation that has gone through a very difficult time after loosing its pastor. They asked me to help for a period in filling the pulpit to make the transition smoother and with God’s help everything has gone well. I preached on Sundays for a period of two months and I have been leading the youth. My idea is now to slowly step back from the pulpit so they remember they need to actively search for a new pastor. However, I want to continue leading the youth group there as well as the youth group of Emanuel Church.

Thank God for His help in taking the big responsibility of leading the Jesucristo Vive Church during a rough time.
Thank God for the privilege of being involved and help in two youth groups. At times I did not know how I was going to do both, but I loved the challenge.
Please pray that the search of a new pastor will be totally led by God. That the new pastor will be a great man of God who will help them and lead them to greater goals.
Please pray that I can organize myself and the youth agendas at both churches so that we can have a great year to His glory.

Back in Uruguay!

Those who know me a little bit, would know I am from Uruguay; a tiny little country in South America (actually the tiniest). Those who know me a bit more would know I love my country. Well, then, it is obvious that for vacation I would go to Uruguay. This last Christmas I had the beautiful blessing of spending Christmas at home with my family. I enjoyed my time with them, with my friends, and my dear brothers and sisters of my home Church. I even met my new nephew, Santiago. He is 8 months old and he is adorable. For those who know my brother, Gustavo (Gusty), Santi is his first child. Santi is my second nephew since I have Renzo (my sister’s first baby) who is two years old.

Praise God for giving me the opportunity to spend such a beautiful time with all my dear people in my home city.

Teaching at a Catholic High School

You are probably thinking, “Talo wrote a wrong title!” “He cannot start teaching at a high school, and a CATHOLIC one! NO WAY!” Well, you probably forgot I am a bit crazy and I like to take big challenges. A few weeks ago, after coming back from Uruguay, a brother from Emanuel Church (Angel Mendez for those that know him) asked me if I would be interested in taking this task. He has a Master in Education and he has an impressive career as school principal of various schools. A month ago one lady had bought a school and begged him to be the principal. The problem is that the school was, up to last year, a Catholic school. Its name is Saint Simon, however, Mr. Mendez wants to turn it into a Christian one and he can do so because it is private. So, he asked me to teach Religion or Christian Education to the students there. I prayed and thought about it and I see so much potential, such a huge opportunity to evangelize and teach the Bible to so many young people, that I love to be part of it! It will be a huge challenge to teach every morning to hundreds of high-schoolers (most of them Catholics) about our great God.

Thank God for another wonderful and difficult challenge to serve Him!
Praise Him for this great change in this school, pray for Mr. Mendez so he can take right decisions to make a great Christian School.
Pray for me as I will be dealing with many unchristian students, pray that I can be a great example for them of what Christ can do in a person that opens up his heart to Him.

Leading the Grace Youth Camp

Every February the Grace Churches in Santa Cruz organize a camp for youth. In my first year in Bolivia I participated as a group leader. Last year I did a workshop about “5 Love languages.” But this year, I was asked to lead the organization of the camp. Therefore, I started making many changes to produce a bigger impact on the youth. Some churches were not participating in this camp, however, this year they will. There is excitement among the youth because they believe there will be positive changes. Two preachers are coming from Uruguay (both pastors from my home church, one of them is Gusty, my brother). Then, the three of us have organized the spiritual aspect of it. There will be so many changes that I would need another letter to describe all of them to you. All of the changes are focus on making a much bigger impact on their spiritual lives and in making the camp more dynamic, entertaining and relaxing!

Pray for good weather! We have had about two weeks of rain and that could be negative to our camp.
Pray for a positive change at the grace camp this year. There is excitement about camp this year and we hope God will make a big impact on the youth.

My dear friends thank you so much for your care, for taking the time to read this newsletter and for your prayers on my behalf. I wish He will reward you greatly for your kindness and faithfulness.

In His service,

Talo Vergara