South American Missionaries

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

Leah and I recently had a wonderful time of encouragement and edification with our church here in Sucre. When some were discouraged, others were able to lift them up either by their actions or by their words. It was just a beautiful reminder of what the church is all about: Being the body of Christ!

Prayer Necessities:

1. Please be in prayer for Leah and for me as we begin our vacation time in the States. Pray that it would be a time of refreshment and rejuvenation for us both as we begin our final year in Bolivia. Pray that we would be able to encourage and be encouraged by our churches at home. And please pray that I would get my passport back from immigration officials in La Paz in time to make the trip!

2. Lift up the church in Ayuma, asking that they would be sensitive to the Spirit's leading and would be transformed by Him into the church He wants them to be. Pray that they would be light in the darkness to those around them who do not know Christ and would care for the needs of their brothers and sisters around them.

3. Please pray for our upcoming women's evangelism conference in Ayuma beginning in late July. Ask that the Father would send the women He has prepared and that their lives would be changed by His Word. Please pray that the results would be far-reaching and that His Word would spread like wildfire through this region.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

One of the goals of the Xtreme Team (or Equipo Xtremo, as it's known in Spanish) is to find and equip Latin believers to be missionaries taking the Gospel to the farthest corners of South America. And I am proud to say this is one are in which our team has been highly successful.

See, American missionaries are not the most effective people at reaching South America - or any other continent besides our own - for Christ. We speak a different language and so have to learn one or more new languages, a process that takes months to begin and a lifetime to complete. We have different cultural beliefs and have to spend significant periods of time - and make many mistakes - to learn the worldview of the people with whom we work. And all of that doesn't even take into account the possible difficulties - or even impossibility - of gaining access to another country and/or people group.

Now contrast that with a South American national who already speaks at least the trade language (Spanish), who looks and thinks more like the people with whom they work, and who potentially has less government bureaucracy to plow through in order to minister. Don't you think they'd be more effective at the work than we can be?

Don't think I'm saying that God can't work through United States missionaries in South America. Of course He does. I'm living proof. But I think we often try to do the work ourselves, rather than equipping others for the task. And that's not a very efficient way to spread the Gospel. We need all the workers we can get, especially those who don't have to go through quite as much preparation as I do.

So, that being said, I wanted to introduce you to the South American members of our team. Each of these people is someone I consider a hero, an example to be followed, and I hope that you'll remember to pray for them.

1) Javier and Roberto. Along with North American journeyman Landon Ginn, these guys make up the Bolivia men's Xtreme Team. Javier (on the right in the picture below) is a 23-year-old Peruvian who was been with the team since he was 18. Roberto (pictured on the left), from Argentina, is a whopping 26 years old and has been with the team for three years now. Javier has struggled with receiving a steady source of financial support since he joined the team, yet he remains. He has been robbed multiple times on community trips, but he never thinks about leaving. Roberto battled salmonella poisoning a couple of years ago yet, as soon as he could hold food down, was raring to return to the village where they were working at the time.

Currently, these guys are working in a little jungle town on the eastern side of Bolivia. They are faithful and tireless in their efforts, and it always encourages me to be around them, not to mention it spurs me to be more faithful to the Lord as well.

2) Eliseo. At 22 and fresh from Xtreme Team training, this young Peruvian is one of our newest members but also one of the most passionate ones. He recently made a trip that required 18 days of boat travel just to reach the target community! Once there, he and his teammate spent about a month with the people before returning to their home city. Eliseo is raring to go out on another trip, and this time he wants to go for six months! The only thing missing is a partner, as his previous teammate has since left the team. Please that God would send the right young man to accompany him.

3) Caleb. This young Quechua man from Peru was previously part of the men's team in Bolivia, but lack of financial support forced him to return home. However, rather than giving up on his missionary calling, he is in the process of starting his own team of young missionaries to be sent out to Quechua villages near his home in the Andes of southern Peru. Recently married, he and his wife Deborah raise animals to sell in order to support their ministry.

4) Jose and Zarai. Pictured to the left, this young man from Ecuador and his new Peruvian wife now live in the northern jungles of Peru and are beginning a team of young men to go out and plant churches among the many indigenous tribes around them. Jose is a boisterous guy who makes friends easily and has a passion for Jesus Christ, and Zarai, though much quieter, has the same passion. Please be in prayer for their young marriage and their young ministry.

5) Uzias and Sabina. Pictured to the right, they are a middle-aged couple from the Huitoto tribe in the Peruvian jungle, but they have lived for the last two years among another tribe, the Esse Eja, on the border between Peru and Bolivia. The government limits outside access to this tribe, but Uzias and Sabina, being indigenous peoples themselves, are welcome there. They have been sharing stories from God's Word with the people and living life with them, and they now have a few who seem ready to follow Christ. A few months after moving to the area, Sabina's mother died but, because of limited communication, she did not find out about until several months later. But, instead of harboring bitterness over that, Sabina remains eager to serve her Lord among the Esse Eja people. She makes and sells jewelry in order to help support their work.

Please be in prayer for all of these heroes of the faith and for the peoples among whom they work.