SanTaloCruz

Youth Blessings - (Part II)

2010-03-09T16:05:00.016-04:00

This time I want to share with you two more examples of young people that have decided to accept God´s calling to serve Him. I am thrilled to perceive how they are growing and the way in which the have changed and decided now to take a step of faith and follow Him.

David Fernandez – From “Emanuel” Church

David is a young guy who is at his third year of Agronomy at university. However, since last year he has felt God is calling him to full time ministry. After going to CIMA he felt God confirmed him to get prepare for ministry, therefore, he decided to study theology and stop his studies of Agronomy. However, since we will be able to reopen the University studies of Theology with the Evangelical University, he will be studying there at nights (one subject for five weeks) and, at the same time he will continue his Agronomy career. He is a quality young guy with a lot of potential, he is very influential among hi peers and he is a resonsible person.

• Praise God for David and the process He has been working in his life. I am so glad to see him decided to serve God and to be willing to get prepare for it.

• Pray for him, he has a lot to learn on being an example and leader. Pray for his studies both Theology and Agronomy and for his time management.

• Pray for his family, his mom is a wonderful Christian lady who fully supports him and is very happy for his decision. Pray for his finances as he tries to study and pay the bills at the same time.

Danyig Zurita – From “Jesucristo Vive” Church

Danyig is a young woman who has finished her career in Administration and even though she had some good job opportunities she has felt God was leading her into serving Him and trusting Him. She knows she cannot study theology in Bolivia because she cares too much about financially support her family. She works too many hours and handles a lot of family responsibilities. The Grace church in Uruguay invited her to do a one year practical ministry serving at church and studying theology at a Seminar in Montevideo. It was a very hard decision for her to make, but I am very glad she finally trusted God and decided to dedicate this year to the Lord and see what He has in store for her. In March she arrived in Montevideo and she is already studying theology with Alex and Deltha at the seminar. What a wonderful blessing is to see these young fellows taking steps of confidence in God despite what the world can offer them.

• Thank God for Danyig and her decision to serve God and trust Him despite what the world could offer her. There are many in her family and relatives that do not understand what she did, but I am so excited because I know God has great things in store for her.

• Pray for Danyig Pray she will be fine and God will provide everything she needs to be there. Financially, she has saved money to live in Uruguay for some months, her church is supporting her and us as missionaries too, however, she took a huge step of faith since she is not going to work there and she doesn´t know exactly how God is going to work it out for her to be in Uruguay for a year studying theology. It is a period of trying for her.

Four Years in Bolivia!

2010-01-15T10:51:00.001-04:00

Well, the time has gone by so fast I cannot even believe it! I am done with my four-year time in Santa Cruz and I am getting ready to get back to the United States for furlough. However, I won´t get to the States until June or July, 2010. I will have to wrap things up in Santa Cruz and it will be hard to say goodbye to all the people here.

2009 – Activities/Ministries

2010-01-15T10:44:00.006-04:00

After a busy year I am happy to complete the many ministries in which I was involved.

High School Ministries

Last year I was involved with the Henry Prince High School in the counseling area; this was an interesting ministry, although it was complicated getting it done the way I wanted to, because I didn´t really know the students. However, it was great to help out the School staff and to counsel some students, many of them with very complicated problems in their lives.
I also taught at San Simon High School for two semesters, but I ended up quitting before the end of the year to concentrate on CIMA (I explain what it is below).

• Praise God for the great opportunity of being part of many students´ lives.

• Pray for the school, that it can continue to be a light in the Bolivian community, bringing hope, wisdom and good counsel to the students there. It is desperately needed!

Youth Ministries

What a year I had leading the two youth groups! I heard many times that it was hard to lead a youth group. Well, imagine how frustrating it could be “trying” to lead two! I had some help from both youth groups, but it is difficult to get the group where you want it. Imagine, I could only be at each youth group meeting every other week (they meet every Saturday night). The highlight of the year was the many discipleship courses that we finished. I have had around 30 youths from both churches taking the courses, and many of them took more than one course.

• Praise God for His faithfulness in letting me finish another year full of challenges but with lots of blessings and excitement.

• Pray for the youth groups, since they do not have any idea where they will find a leader to take over when I leave.

Youth Blessings – Our Present and Future

2010-01-15T10:43:00.011-04:00

I want to mention four people who have helped greatly in my ministry in whom I have deposited a lot of hopes that they will continue to grow and turn out to be great leaders. They already are good young leaders, but I know their potential is much greater, and I pray that they will become the instruments God uses to bring about a revolution in our mission.

Darwing Rivero and Nieves Pinto “Lulu” – From “Jesucristo Vive” Church

These two are so in love that I do not remember seeing one without the other one. They have dated for several years and now they are committed to get married. In fact, this will happen in 2010, God willing. They are excellent leaders with much potential. Darwing is the worship leader, he sings well, he is already a deacon and a youth leader in his church. “Lulu” has grown a lot in the past years especially considering she has been a Christian for just 5 years. She is now a deacon at the church, a youth leader, and the Secretary at the National Committee of our Mission in Bolivia.

• Praise God for these two wonderful lives, for their commitment to serve Him and for their love.

• Pray concerning their future marriage.

• Pray for their lives as examples already and pray for their growth in developing their potential and becoming influential leaders in our mission.

Miguel Mendez – From “Emanuel” Church

Miguel is very smart young guy. He is just 22 and is already a doctor! In 2009 he had a very complicated year, since he was doing his internship, which required him to be totally concentrated in it. I have missed him a lot in our youth group! As a spiritual leader he has already been at the National Committee of the MEB and he is a leader in the church (has already been the vice-president) and youth group. After going to Uruguay to participate in Teenstreet a couple of years ago, he got in contact with some Christian doctors there who are part of an international Christian Association of Doctors. Later, he was part of the Association in Bolivia. I am excited for him, since he is already the first president of this Association in Bolivia which is already growing in number and recognition. They are already doing a lot of ministry, helping in schools, teaching on health issues, including sex, from God´s point o view.

• Praise God for Miguel´s life. What an example of a man fully committed to Him and ready to use his gifts and knowledge to help others.

• Pray that Miguel will continue to develop his qualities as a leader. I strongly believe that God has some wonderful things for Him as he develops spiritually.

Lilibeth Ortega - From “Emanuel” Church

Lilibeth is the daughter of Santos Ortega (pastor of Emanuel Church). In 2006 she went to Uruguay to be involved in Teenstreet and there she heard of the OM ships called “Doulos” and “Logos Hope” which are missionary ships that travel all over the world sharing God´s love for people. She was so challenged by this that she decided that this could be her future ministry. She felt this was an impossible dream, but she trusted God could make it real. Therefore, she contacted the OM people to see what she could do to make this dream come true (remember Bolivia is isolated from the sea, and there are no Bolivians on the ships!). In 2009 she came to a decision to look for support to go to Ecuador to do the training necessary. I am pleased to see that her dream is about to come true! She went to Ecuador, did the training, and will probably be on board the ship (not sure yet which one) by September 2010. She plans to make a two-year commitment. However, she needs to work hard to start raising funds to do this.

• Thank God for her life, for her pursuit of a dream, and for trusting God even when everything seemed impossible. It is exciting to see what God is doing in her life, and the example she is setting for others.

• Pray for her, the funds she needs, her visits to churches, the last months with her family, and for her spiritual life.

CIMA 2010

2010-01-15T10:36:00.004-04:00

The greatest highlight of the second semester of 2009 is that there will be around 30 young people from our different churches both in Santa Cruz (about 4 churches) and Cochabamba who will go to this missionary conference in Cordoba, Argentina, which is the South America version of “Urbana” in the States. There will be over 2000 youth from many different countries of South America. The conference will take place from the 16th to the 22nd of January. I am looking forward to seeing God work in the lives of these young people. In addition, there will be a two week practical opportunity for those with time and money to help in missionary activities. Around 10 of our young people will proceed to 6 different countries of South America at the same time (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Paraguay and Bolivia). If you want to know more about CIMA visit their website at www.cima2010.com.

• Thank God for CIMA! Thank Him for raising leaders who organize and put together such a big event. Thank God for the many people who anonymously support the event. I am part of it as a volunteer leader, and I cannot believe the huge amount of work and effort that is put into organizing it.

• Pray for the youth who will be challenged to change not just their lives but their perspective. Pray that they will trust God and decide to walk according to His will. Pray they will be part of a revolution bringing change to the Latin American societies. God can use CIMA to make big things happen. I strongly believe that!

High School Ministry

2009-05-11T17:42:00.001-04:00

This year I have started helping at the Henry Prince High School which is a school run by our mission. I am a counselor having an opportunity to impact some youth especially those with problems in their studies and families. I am enjoying this ministry even though I am getting used to it because I did not know any students at the beginning of the year.
Since I knew I was going to work at Henry Prince I turned down my other ministry as a Christian Education teacher at the other school, named San Simon. However, the principal asked me a number of times to reconsider my decision and to make myself some room to help out with at least some classes. I decided, then, to help teaching just five classes and again this is something I really enjoy but it takes time from me because it is far away.

Pray for the number of students I have the chance to be in contact with, many of them have serious family problems. There are so many that live without their parents because they left to Spain or somewhere else overseas.
Pray that I can be of any help to them. That I can offer positive and especially godly advices to them. That they can see a good example and someone they can trust and be open with.
Pray for my time managment, days go by really fast and many times I find myself with little time to prepare my classes. Pray that I do not perceive this classes as a burden or just a job commitment but as an amazing opportunity to influence these students to turn their lives to God.

Youth Gropus - Discipleship Courses

2009-05-11T17:40:00.000-04:00

I am still leading, or trying to lead, both youth groups (Jesucristo Vive and Emanuel) and we have had some great meetings, we are more organized that in the past and we have year goals in every area of youth ministry. We are hoping, by the end of the year we will be able to perceive how far we were from the goals we had at the beginning of 2009.
There is a third youth group that wants me to lead them, however, that is obviously imposible for me. This church is in great need, therefore, I just committed myself to go some random Sundays to teach the youth some doctrine during Sunday School classes. On top of that, I included them to the two discipleship courses I have started.
The courses are “The Mind of Christ” by Hunt and King, and “Believing God” by Beth Moore. Both are wonderful studies and I have over 10 students in each course. In “The Mind of Christ” I have youth from 3 different churches something that I love because they can share and build relationships. Many of them are leaders in their churches and they will be the leaders of the mission in the very near future, therefore, it is essential they build strong bonds.

Praise God for the authors of both discipleship courses, the materials are amazing and they have everyone of us hooked and committed to continue our studies. We are all learning a lot and it is so neat to perceive the youth enjoy these studies.
Pray for the youth that are studying with me, they are showing already a lot of potential and some of them are leaders in their own churches. I pray they can trust God enough to let Him guide them and lead their lives and future.

Teenstreet 2009

2009-05-11T17:30:00.003-04:00

Last January I spent the entire month at my home, with family, in Uruguay. However, I did not travel by myself since we had 16 youth from three different grace churches going to the international Christian camp called Teenstreet. The name of camp this year was “Contagious” and the Bible character to study was Nehemiah. The idea was that passion is essential. When we are passionate for God we will be contagious to even an entire nation. This camp had people from Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay of course, and our representatives from Bolivia. Every one of our bolivian left the camp being impacted by the speakers and the special times at camp. For most of them, it was the first time they were away from home, and the first time overseas.
After camp they went for a week to a missionary trip to some poor and needed neighborhoods in the outskirts of Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay. They were splitted into groups of eight to ten and were sent to different churches where they spent the week. They had some incredible experiences to the extreme of robbery and witchcraft at the front of the church where they were staying. However, they were protected and guided by our Lord, and nothing bad happened to any of them, and there were testimonies of people that heard the gospel and accepted the Good News.

Praise God for the amazing experiences and the protection He gave us during such a long trip (remember is a two day bus ride each way).
Praise God the youth were challenged to live for God, and they also experienced unique situations, they shared their testimonies, and God´s love to the world. These practical ministries for some of them was the very first time they even talked to others about their Savior!
Pray for the youth that traveled to Uruguay as they came back and now have to face daily life. After experiencing Teenstreet and missions they come back enthusiastic, pray they can build on this so they can pursue the Christian life in spite of the adversities they might have to confront.

Camp in Beni

2009-05-11T11:31:00.007-04:00

Beni is a state in the north part of Bolivia. It has a lot of vegetation and wildlife since it is in the amazonic region. My brother, Gusty, pastor of the grace church in Uruguay planned a trip to Bolivia with Ricki Anne our missionary there, and three uruguayan teenagers. We had a unique opportunity to minister at a camp in Beni and over 30 youth from our churches joined the team to lead the camp at Beni. Camp was a great experience and we enjoyed ministering to over a hundred teenagers and youth who enjoyed meeting our international group. After camp we were able to experience a bit of the wildlife in Beni, having the awesome opportunity of touching an Anaconda of 31 feet long! (9.5 meters).

Praise God for the awesome trip we had, and the fun we had as we ministered in Beni.

Pray for the youth from Beni, who have very few opportunities to progress and many of them have to leave their houses at a young age to come to Santa Cruz to study. Many of them are very poor but it was so neat to experience their worship times. It was uplifting! We honestly had a wonderful time in Beni!

Camp Ministry:

Pics of the Anaconda:

In Beni Taxis are motorcycles:

September News

2008-09-20T19:46:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

I hope and pray these lines find you full of blessings, enjoying the richness of His unconditional love. I have to admit I have not communicated with you as I should but I am slowly trying to change that. I strongly believe you are essential in my ministry and I very much appreciate your efforts and dedication in supporting me. I realized I haven’t seen you in a long time, but your faithfulness astonishes me. God bless you for that. At this moment I would love to let you know a little of what is happening in my life and ministry as I am serving in Bolivia.

High School Blessings

As you may know by now this year I have had the great privilege and challenge of teaching Christian Education at a school that was not a Christian school until the beginning of 2008. The name of the school (San Simon) clearly demonstrates that it used to be catholic. The school is located very far from my house and in a poor, complicated neighborhood. It is so neat to have ten groups of students ranging from 6th to 12th grade. I have the opportunity to build relationships, show them that being a real Christian is different from what they think, and to help and support them. I see it as an evangelistic field that opens to me every week, in which I can plant the seed of the gospel and then wait for the Lord to do the rest.

· Praise God for this school year, for the magnificent opportunity I have to share God’s word with some many unchurched students.
· Pray for their hearts, that they would be ready to listen to God’s word.
· Pray that I would be sensitive to God’s word and to the students so I can take advantage of every possibility there is to speak the truth of God.

Youth Groups

I hope as you read this letter you will start realizing why I don’t write you more often. I know I could and should do it regularly, but like so many other things I’m not able to do them as I would want. This year on top of the school opportunity which consumes a lot of my time, I am still in charge of two youth groups (Emanuel and Jesucristo Vive churches). As you can imagine I cannot work in either place as I would love to. I have no time to meet with some of them individually, I cannot teach as much as I want to in each church, and even organizing discipleship courses is very hard. I have so many things in my mind I would love to be doing with both groups but there is no time. I am limited to pretty much organizing activities with the core group and preaching one Saturday at each church. That is not what I really would love to do, but it’s all I am able to do as of right now.

Pray for new youth leaders that would be good examples, who the churches would consider as youth pastors. There is a huge need in the leadership area.
Pray that I could manage to organize my time better, and to concentrate in helping potential leaders among the youth groups so they will be challenged to grow spiritually and take more responsibilities in church.
Praise God for both youth groups, for so many wonderful lives that God has brought to Him, for the work many are doing to support my work, and for the privilege I have of working with them and teaching them God’s word.

University Professor

On top of all the work I have this second semester I will teach a modular class at our Theology students. The agreement with the Evangelical University is still running despite some hardships especially because of the lack of commitment of some students. Jerry Olson, our GMI field director will be in the States until June 2009 for deputation. This means I am the only one in charge of this deal with the Evangelical University. We have about 17 students and we need a minimum of 15. Starting on October 14th I will be teaching Homiletics.

Please pray that God will protect this blessing we have to teach our own students at a university level and in our own building. That we can continue this deal so we can have a good number of Bachelors in Theology in few years.
Pray for me that I could do my best to plan my classes and to give the students my best so they could take the best out of this important classes.

Costa Rica Mission Team from Bolivia

It is with great joy that I share the news about three youth from Santa Cruz that went on a missions trip with me to Costa Rica. The four of us visited the Grace Church in San Antonio de Belen, Costa Rica, and helped out for a week in construction of their building. We had an amazing time with our brothers and sisters there. What a blessing it was for me to see these Bolivians stepping out in front of the entire church to sing some specials, share their testimonies, and work very hard every day and always with a smile on their faces. I thank God for the hearts of Eloy, Darwin, and Patricia who have a desire to seek God in everything they do, and who are considering missions as an option in their lives. Darwin openly says he wants to be a missionary! I loved being part of this great group, sharing some incredible talks with them, getting to know them on a different level, and building stronger relationship with them.

· Praise God for the opportunity we had to take this trip. Praise Him for the people that had a desire to support youth missions from Bolivia without even being asked. There are so many wonderful people of God that support His ministries all over the world; they are moved by the same things that move God. I admire them because they have hearts that seek after God.
· Pray for Eloy, Darwin, and Patricia, that they will allow the Holy Spirit to grow in their lives. That they will continue to mature as leaders of their local churches and that they will realize that God can use them in mighty ways if they are just willing.
· Praise God for the beautiful church in Costa Rica, praise God for the many wonderful people He let us met. For the fellowship and especially for seeing the great work they are doing in Costa Rica. The church people as well as the missionaries (Befuses and Clarks) were so friendly and hospitable.

Political and social turmoil in Bolivia

Bolivia is in a state of uncertainty right now. It could be said that this country has been waffling politically since its birth, but what we're seeing now is probably the most instability in decades. This week, thousands upon thousands of Santa Cruz people are having a fabulous time at their infamous ExpoCruz! As they party and cheer, thousands upon thousands of indigenous, country people (supporters of the president, Evo Morales) are marching this way and prepared to enter the city to confront and provoke it’s citizens. It is this potential crisis that is causing some missions to send some of their people home. Bolivia is not immune to such unrest. More often than not, it's like a match that lights up and extinguishes itself quickly. The messages are mixed and it's hard to determine what will happen. It could end in a temporary peace or it could be the beginning of a civil war.

Please pray for this country and for its leaders, that God will give them wisdom as they try to bring peace and understanding to Bolivia.
Pray that the church will rise up in prayer and action during these difficult times.
Pray that God’s power and love will be clearly shown to the millions that live in this country.
Prayer is Power, blessings to all of you (1 Thess. 5:16-23),

Talo Vergara

January Newsletter!

2008-02-01T14:31:00.000-04:00

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

October News!

2007-10-25T23:32:00.000-04:00

Dear Family in Christ:

I know, I always start my reports the same way, apologizing for not writing in a long time. I would like to be in touch with you more often, however, one gets busy with life and ministry here and before I noticed it a couple of months have passed without communicating with you. You have to know, though, that I love you, I greatly appreciate your support, and I pray for you to our heavenly father. I hope you can be encouraged by this news and praise God for His goodness.

My dear friends, I want to thank you so much for your time, for always being there for me and for lifting up your sweet prayers to our heavenly father. I just hope He will reward you greatly for your faithfulness.

Colossians 1:13 “Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.”

In His service,

Talo Vergara

Theology Degrees for our people!

2007-10-25T23:25:00.000-04:00

One of the main struggles the mission has had in Bolivia is to develop a theology program where people would be well prepared to serve. Most people here want a degree approved by the government; therefore, they are hesitant about studying at Seminaries. Some local seminaries are struggling to survive and are making efforts to get approved by the government (something very hard to get by the way).

The wonderful blessing is that the MEB (Grace Mission Organization) has come to an agreement with the UEB (Evangelical University of Bolivia) to start a new program in which we have great benefits. In first place our students would only have one class every six weeks. Classes will be held at our “MEB center” so the university will bring the teacher to our classroom. The price is very reasonable and the commitment is to have at least 15 students each class. Another great blessing is that they asked the missionaries (Jerry Olson, Daniel Reed and me) to teach some of the classes. They are open and they want to respect our doctrine, so they let us teach many of the classes.
We have started classes in July and we are glad to know we have a group of 18 students, many of them are youth who are studying some secular career but they want to get ready to serve the lord and to get more theological knowledge.

Thank God for the incredible blessing of reaching to this agreement with the Evangelical University of Bolivia. It is such a great opportunity and a big answer to prayers that we have had for many years.
Pray for the Students, that they continue strong, that we could make the group even bigger and that we do not get short in number risking the cancellation of the agreement (remember we must have 15 to go on).
Pray for Jerry Olson as he is teaching Theology I.

First Time Teaching at University

2007-10-25T23:05:00.000-04:00

Who would imagine that I would be teaching theology at university level? Definitely not me! But our God does amazing things through those willing to be used by Him. He made himself strong in my weakness because to be honest with you, I didn’t feel to ready to face this big challenge. In September I taught Introduction to the Bible and it was such a magnificent experience for me. First, I learned so much, since I had to run against time preparing the material, getting all the knowledge possible to answer any potential question, and, by doing this, I found myself spending many hours studying new bible events and it’s history, geography and background. The students seemed to enjoyed the class (at least they didn’t complain) as they learned about the Bible. It was an incredible blessing for me. I must say, I’m very sorry I couldn’t share this with you before so you could pray for me, however, thank God for the great experience and pray for the classes that I will teach next year.

New Challenge – Leading a Grace Church (Jesucristo Vive) & youth at Emanuel

2007-10-25T22:59:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago, the “Jesucristo Vive” church had the unpleasant news that its pastor decided to leave his position at church. This came as a shock to most of the congregation, which is evidently suffering the loss. The church board decided to ask the missionaries (especially me) to help out in a special way during this hard time. Therefore, I have accepted the challenge of leading the youth for a while. I will also be preaching every Sunday morning and helping with the many events they are planning in the months ahead.

The challenge is even bigger since the Emanuel church leaders had asked me to help them leading their youth. I was entertaining the idea especially since I was needing a new challenge because the youth here are not use to working outside of their churches and it was complicated to make them get together and work as a team. Right when everyone at Emanuel was looking at me as the new youth leader for the church and youth, Jesucristo Vive needed my help and leadership even more at this crisis time. Therefore, I have started my work at Jesucristo Vive, however, I will do my best to help at Emanuel as well. I believe this opportunity to work as a leader at these two churches can bring a lot of potential to give more unity at least to these two churches.

Please pray for me, for the big challenge ahead, working with two youth groups and preaching every Saturday and Sunday.
Thanks to God for expanding my work and responsibilities. Right at the time I was feeling a bit depressed because of the lack of response from the youth, I was asking God for new ideas to work, right then, two churches to be lead!

T.N.T visits an orphanage

2007-10-25T18:30:00.000-04:00

In September T.N.T got together about 15 youth to visit a girls’ orphanage in town. We prepared a program with a drama, an evangelistic trick, testimonies and some worship songs to share the love of God with these needy girls. We went on a Sunday afternoon and we had a beautiful time, sharing about our glorious Lord with about 20 girls form the orphanage (some of them were gone for the weekend). We took some food, clothes and school materials for them and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing soccer and chatting with the girls. We really enjoyed our time with them as our Master was exalted during this precious time.

T.N.T. (trabajamos nosotros por ti) "We Work For You"

2007-05-24T19:57:00.001-04:00

This newly created bomb has nothing to do with explosives or terrorist attacks. T.N.T. is a new ministry that involves any youth from the different Grace churches who are willing to be a part of it. During our trip to Uruguay and our time at Teenstreet, the youth took part in social services to our community with an emphasis on evangelism. They loved this ministry so much that they asked me to create something like it here in Santa Cruz so they could continue serving. With this in mind, we created a new idea (kind of a new bomb) called T.N.T. which stands for “Trabajamos Nosotros por Ti” (We Work for You). We help the different Grace churches in whatever they need – painting, cleaning, etc. Then once a month we either pick a church or we are asked to go and serve one in whatever they need. In March we went to one of our small countryside churches in San Jose and painted it. About 30 youth from 6 different churches helped. It was a great atmosphere as we worked together to get the job done. The church seriously needed painting and they appreciated the work our youth did for them.

In April we helped at Emmanuel Church with cleaning and we painted the kitchen. This time youth from three different churches helped. The church was grateful for the work and we have a dream of also doing this kind of ministry to people in the community.

Praise God for this new ministry and that the young people will have a passion for
serving.
Pray that the young people say strong and that T.N.T. continues to serve with unity.
Pray for new ideas for new projects. We want to help in areas where there have been floods. We tried to go last month but we were not able to reach the area because of flooding.

Discipleship Courses

2007-05-24T19:00:00.000-04:00

My main focus right now is starting discipleship courses. I am leading three different ones right now and plan to start more soon. Each course is made up of about four or five young people so there is more opportunity for interaction which makes the impact of the class stronger. The study material for one of the courses is based on “The Twentyone Laws of Leadership” written by John Maxwell. I believe the four students taking this course are my “inner circle” and some of the most important leaders among the youth at our churches. We are nearly done with this course and then these four young people will teach it to eight other young people who are showing some leadership skills. These four young people (two guys and two girls) will teach in pairs and I will help them as it is the first time for them to teach.

The other two courses I am currently teaching are completely different. One deals with fundamental Bible truths and is designed for those who are new in the faith. The other one, with five students, is on Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven Life”. This month I will begin another study, likely based on “Understanding Your Bible” by Craig MacDonald.

It is great to see young people in the churches who are hungry to be involved in some of these studies. As they hear about them they ask me to count them in for the next study. It takes time to build a personal relationship with these young people so that they are willing to be a part of these studies.

Pray for the students, especially the four who will begin teaching in June that they will enjoy it and experience God’s greatness during that time. Also pray that they will work well together as they teach in pairs.
Pray for the new students who are currently studying the basic Christian living course with me. This class is very enjoyable to me because these truths are new to the young people and they have many questions. Pray for understanding for them.

JEM (youth in mission) URUGUAY - January 2007

2007-05-24T18:35:00.000-04:00

After Teenstreet was over, 12 Bolivians in our team participated in JEM which this year took place in Rocha (a city about 200 miles east of Montevideo). This year approximately 80 people from different countries participated in it. They did a lot of social work around the city and there was a lot of publicity in the city about what they were doing. They did various services to the community (medical service, painting a school, rebuild a public place, children evangelism, night concerts, evangelism on the streets, etc). Many people in Rocha were moved by their love for God. Most could not believe they came from Bolivia to work so hard for free and under such an intense heat (about 100 degrees!). All the JEM participants wore a T-shirt that said “Why do I do this?” which was a great catch to start conversations with locals. The Bolivians are so excited about doing something so productive for God at JEM that they want to form a group here in Santa Cruz to help serving and assisting the churches here and to go out and do evangelism. ISN´T IT INCREDIBLE?

Praise God for what happened during those five days in Rocha. Praise God for the active participation of 12 of our youth who are so pumped to continue the work here! Pray for that as well.
Pray for the lives touched by the ministry of these young people. Many accepted the Lord through it, and many others were really moved by their testimony.

Teenstreet Uruguay - January 2007

2007-05-24T18:14:00.000-04:00

Teenstreet took place in Montevideo, Uruguay, from the 13th to the 19th of January. My goal of having more Bolivians this year was accomplished since we had a team of 18 (including me) going to Uruguay. I especially enjoyed the fact that we had youth from 6 different churches (Emanuel 8, Jesucristo Vive 4, Dios Es Amor 2, La Guardia 1, Fuentes de Vida 1 and La Gracia 1). That was a great blessing since it was in my heart to have this trip to create unity among them. Last year we only had two churches participating in it, so another goal accomplished!
The camp was a total success, it really filled my heart to see the Bolivians loving each second of it, telling me how awesome it was, how much they were needing it, and just to see them actively worshipping God during concert times at night, in a way they had never done it before. They could not even express what they have felt during the time at camp. The communion with God was unique and at camp they have probably had the first real encounter with God. I have heard one of them for instance, expressing that Teenstreet helped him to recover and heal from the lost of his dad. Their testimonies are so amazing that I will put some of them together to send them to you.
· Praise God for such an amazing camp, praise for so many godly people organizing it, for everything that was just perfect during those days.
· Praise God for allowing 17 Bolivians to participate at Teenstreet.
· Pray that the passion they all brought back from Uruguay will not extinguish in the months ahead. Pray that God can use this spark in their lives to really bring light in their lives and their churches.