Home in the States

We have greatly appreciated all of the prayers and support you have provided us over the last two years. We have been thankful every day for your support to us while in Bolivia. Now that we have completed our two year commitment, we would like to share with you where we feel God is leading us.

Kevin worked in construction for two years following college. The first several months that he worked for his company, they had him work as a laborer on one of the sights. The company did this because they knew the value in first allowing the managers to work as laborers before they could manage them. Now that we have finished our term in Bolivia, we see great value in returning to the States in order to receive some more training and experience as an associate pastor. Kevin found it difficult to train pastors without first having been one. So, we are in the process of transitioning back to the Pacific Northwest where Kevin will be assigned as an associate pastor of Harmony Evangelical Church in Oregon. Kevin will also continue his schooling at Wesley Biblical Seminary online for the next two-and-a-half years in order to finish his Masters in Divinity.

Only time and the Lord's leading will allow us to know if we are to return to the mission field some day. However, our hears are open to the possibility and we are certain we will remain in the ministry whether in the pastoral role or missions. We would ask that you be praying for God's guidance and direction for our future. One other favor we would ask is that you continue praying for us as we transition back to the States and get our feet on the ground. It is always difficult to adjust to a different culture, even if it is re-entering into the culture we grew up in.

We have felt so blessed for the time we had in Bolivia and we know you, our supporters, were a big part in allowing us to be missionaries. We would like to share with you some of our favorite memories and learning experiences of our time in Bolivia. For Kevin, it was our time out in Mizque. He especially loved preaching to the youth on Saturday nights and watching as the Bible became fun and relevant to them. Afterwards we always had games and I think Kevin looked just as forward to playing as the kids did.





For Lisa, she loved the class she taught on Christian Education while living in Santa Cruz. She enjoyed the weekly connections she made with her students and the hard work they put in to better understand people and how to be effective teachers. We have made friendships and connections with people in Bolivia that we will never forget.

Over the last two years, we have learned one major life lesson we would like to share. We need to be intentional about missions in our own lives. Wherever we are at, we are on a mission field. We all live in communities that we can get involved in and we need to get creative and be intentional about getting out and working with the people who live around us. That is what we are praying for as we move back to Oregon and settle in to a church. We are praying for God to open up doors that will allow us to be missional where we are at in our community.



Again we want to express our heart felt thanks for the last two years and we pray a blessing on all of our supporters for your faithfulness to us and the ministry on the Bolivian field.

A Busy 24 Hours

Easter here in Bolivia was an amazing and busy twenty-four hours. Jeremy Kochendorfer, our Stateside Ministry Coordinator with Evangelical Church Missions visited Bolivia to provide our field some training and encouragement. While he was here, Jeremy came out to visit Mizque and see what it is we are doing here. After a four hour bus ride, we arrived with a few hours to prepare for Saturday night. Saturday night Kevin preached to the youth and then we led games as we usually do.



This year Bolivia had a different kind of Easter Sunday. It was actually made into an election Sunday for the country of Bolivia which meant that no one was allowed to drive and people had to stay in the towns where they were registered to vote. This caused some confusion for the Baptist Church in Mizque since their pastor had to stay in Cochabamba to vote and could not be at church on Easter. So, Kevin was asked to lead the Sunday morning and evening services. After preaching at the morning service, Kevin and Jeremy set out on an 8 mile round trip to Tukma Baja where Kevin taught our Hermeneutics class. Then they returned with enough time to change clothes, shower and head off to the evening service. While it was an exhausting weekend for everyone, all in all it was a wonderful few days.

Kevin's Toe

It seems like it has been a long time since Kevin’s initial accident with his toe, but we are now very thankful to report that his toe is healing well and he has been allowed to take his bandaging off. Kevin was thrilled to be able to wash and trim his toe nail after a full month without even seeing it. Lisa was very pleased as well. :) The doctor has given him leave to do just about anything but he doesn’t want Kevin wearing a shoe yet without a wrapping. So, Kevin is back to his flip-flops and as long as he stays away from burning objects, he should be fine. We want to thank you all so much for your faithful prayer on behalf of Kevin. It was a long process in the hospital and while he did it, your prayers are what helped push him through. We are so grateful for all of your e-mails of love and support and in return we pray for God’s blessing to be on you all.

Moises

There is a man, Moises, who walks two hours to the Baptist church in Mizque every Sunday. He is actually a pastor himself and he has a passion to learn more about the Bible. Moises lives in a small village called Tukma Baja and every week he comes to church in the morning and then returns to his village where he preaches to his small congregation in the evening. Moises has such a desire to learn that we began teaching him one of our Bible Institute Classes we use for our pastors. Moises was so excited that he began sharing with the congregation in Mizque and when two of the members asked if they could travel with us to Tukma Baja for class, we were thrilled. What we didn’t expect was that twelve members of the church in Mizque showed up at our doorstep when it was time to go. So, we piled in to two vehicles and drove out to Tukma Baja. We decided this many people couldn’t travel to Tukma Baja every week so we decided to start the same class in Mizque at the church. We currently have three students officially enrolled in the class in Tukma Baja and six enrolled in Mizque. We are thrilled for the opportunity and pray the students will continue to have the passion they possess now to learn more about the Bible.

Leading the Youth

When we first arrived in Mizque, we began attending the Baptist church in town. This church seemed like a good way of getting involved in the community. One Sunday morning they invited us to youth nights which occur every Saturday night. Of course when the games started up no one could keep Kevin away from playing. After a few weeks of playing and getting to know the youth in the church, the Pastor asked us if we would be willing to take over the youth. Now once a week Kevin preaches to the youth for 10 to 15 minutes and then we go outside and play games for the remainder of the time. We feel it has been a positive experience for us to take part in the church and meet other believers here in Mizque. One thing we would ask you to pray for is that the pastor would allow us to do some day events with the youth. While we are in charge, the pastor feels that the youth are too busy in their daily lives and the only time we get is Saturday night. It is difficult for us to get to know the youth or their culture when we are not permitted more time with them.

Worse Than It Looked

It started when Kevin was burning garbage in our yard. The previous owner had left a lot of junk and we were trying to clean up. Kevin accidently got burning plastic on his large toe and in the few minutes it took to remove the plastic, his toe got a good burn.
After the initial pain, Kevin really didn’t feel anything. So we waited a few days and finally he decided to check out the local midwife, the only person who had any medical knowledge in Mizque. So after having a concoction of capers put on his toe, he waited the four days directed and returned back to the midwife. There she did the process again, but we knew something was wrong due to the fact that his toe looked worse.
When we arrived in Cochabamba to submit paperwork for our next visa, we went to a doctor on our way out of town. We were expecting to leave directly from the doctors and head back out to Mizque, we were already packed and ready to go. Then we heard the shocking news. Kevin had a third degree burn which went all the way to the bone. He needed surgery in order to remove the dead skin and would remain in the hospital for four to five days. Luckily he was released after only three days and was able to return back to the hospital every two days for more minor surgeries. As long as Lisa administered the shots he needed every 10 hours. He is now finished with the surgeries after being put under anesthesia six times. He has now had a skin graft taken from his thigh and we are currently waiting for another appointment to see if the skin took. If not, he will have to have another skin graft and start the healing process over.
Overall this has been a good experience and a lesson in patience. We have been so excited about all the contacts we have made in Mizque and are anxious to return. We are ready to go, but right now we are waiting for the healing to take place. Please pray as we continue to wait for an ok to return home to Mizque.

24 Hour Confirmation

We have to tell you about our 24 hour confirmation that we had a few weeks back. It started on Saturday night when Kevin was able to preach at the local Mizque Baptist church. It was a great experience to see the youth and church members connect with the message, laugh at the jokes, and be engaged. The next day, Sunday after church, Kevin was asked to go and visit an eighteen year old who is dying of stomach cancer. Here he was asked to share the word of God with the family, all of whom are recent followers of Christ, and also pray over the young man. After praying over the young man, he was taken up to a small village called Tukma Baja, four miles away from Mizque. Here he was asked to visit with a man who is interested in learning more about the Bible. The man has asked us to go back and share more of the Bible with him and his wife. As soon as Kevin’s foot is well enough to hike, we will be heading back up in order to share more of the gospel with this couple. While Kevin was in the village, he was also asked to start a class on how to interpret the Bible accurately. We look forward to starting these classes as we team teach starting in the next few weeks.
This one day span gave us the confirmation that we are exactly where God wants us to be. We are excited to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

News Travels Fast

We live in a village without a post office, newspaper, or computers in the homes. We do have a radio stations that comes in, but it plays the same station on every channel. What amazes us about this town though, is how quickly news seems to travel. We knew that being the only Americans living in Mizque would cause a great deal of discussion. What wasn’t expected was just how quickly every action we do seems to get around.
There is a lady in Mizque we have run into several times. On one of these occasions she was carrying a watermelon. Kevin offered to help carry her watermelon to her home which at the time he really didn’t think anything of. The next day, we were visited by the landlord who told us she had heard Kevin had carried a watermelon for a lady. When we seemed shocked that she knew, she kindly told us that the entire town knew Kevin carried that watermelon. She went on to say that “everything you do, good or bad, the whole town will know by tomorrow.” This is a blessing as long as we are living as Christ did and would. We are thankful for the fishbowl we live in since it will provide experiences for people to trust us, doors to be opened and so we can share the light that Christ has given us.

A Positive Perspective

Life is always about perspective. We can try to find the meaning of life, happiness, and every good thing, but in the end it always revolves around perspective. We realized just how important perspective can be shortly after arriving here in Mizque, Bolivia. As we were sitting outside eating dinner one night Lisa said to me, “This spot is very romantic.” At that point the reality of Lisa’s comment hit us and we began to laugh. What struck us as comical was the ironic placement of such a comment. We were sitting at a concrete slab located under a tree surrounded by garbage left by the previous renters. There were dirty diapers, chicken parts and feathers, pop bottles, broken wine glasses, knives, rakes and of course several miscellaneous bicycle pieces. Not 20 feet away from our romantic spot sat our only bathroom and shower located 50 ft. away from our home.



On top of all the garbage outside, we remembered the complete disaster on the inside. When we would open a door a few dozen cockroaches would crawl out. Then if we tapped the table in the kitchen, more than fifty cockroaches would fall onto the floor. We had spent the first three days killing and cleaning up thousands of cockroaches and mosquitoes (no exaggeration) as well as paint every soiled wall in our new home. Lisa had amazingly managed to forget her immediate surroundings and think of the potential one spot might have in the future.

A good perspective, like Lisa had, requires an attitude of seeing the possibilities and understanding how to achieve them. Two weeks after moving into our home we had painted the walls, cleaned the yard, and made it feel like home. We still average a dozen cockroaches a day, but these serve as a great distractions for our new puppy. If you were to ask one of us today about the home, we can tell you that God has blessed us with a beautiful place that He is going to use for His purposes. Reality is, without a positive perspective prior to the house being clean, the end result wouldn’t be what it is today.

This principal has Biblical implications. As it says in Romans 5:8 “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While we were still bathed in sin and filth in His eyes, Christ came and died because He knew what the end result would be. As we look at the issues that are rampant in our village here, we realize this same perspective is the only way we will make it here in Mizque. One neighbor is a physically abusive alcoholic who we often hear screaming at his wife and three kids (mud walls do not stop much). Another neighbor is a doctor who calls upon spirits for healing and across the street is a shrine to the local idol, Senor de Burgos. God has a lot of cleaning up to do in Mizque, and we are thrilled He has called both you in prayer and us through being here to roll up our sleeves and believe.

How Bright Are Our Lights?

The first time Kevin ever came to Mizque, it was on his way back from Pucara (the village in the mountains). The bus they were traveling on stopped at a restaurant in Mizque that was owned by a woman named Carolina. Kevin was surprised by Carolina’s kindness and interest in people. When he returned to Santa Cruz, he had decided that Mizque had to have been a beautiful place because the woman he had met was so friendly. Below is Kevin with Carolina:



The second time Kevin returned, he was out walking the street in the rain and an older woman stopped Kevin and made him get out of the rain. He spoke with her for almost an hour before the rain stopped and once again, he was overwhelmed by the kindness of this second woman who we now know is named Juana.
Now that we have moved here, we have had opportunities to see the culture and realize how different we really are. Everywhere we go we are stared at and talked about, we are outsiders to this culture and while there is a high interest in who we are and what we are doing, people are a little bit shy to speak with us. It has been Carolina and Juana who have made us feel accepted and loved here in Mizque in a way that we never expected. You can imagine our surprise when we decided to visit the Baptist church here in town. It is a church without an active pastor. They have a man coming out from Cochabamba once a week to preach but he is not able to work with the church during the week. When we walked in, there sat both Carolina and Juana smiling at us as if we had lit up the room.
After the service, it made us both think about being salt and light. These two women who portrayed the light that Jesus speaks so brilliantly should not have surprised us when we discovered they were active believers. Carolina and Juana are now role models for us and are such an encouragement for us in a new city. We believe that your prayers and God’s provision of these two women will pull us through this transition in a way that only God knew was possible.

Feeling Loved

As it came time to say goodbye to our friends, we were amazed by our friends’ kindness and attitudes. They all seemed sad to see us go, but they also all came to the understanding that we needed to go and help the people in Mizque and Pucara as well as other places surrounding Mizque. Some of our friends speak Quechua and have said that they would love to come and help us with Evangelistic outreach opportunities. As we were getting ready to leave, our church wanted to put on a going away party and we had a wonderful barbecue after our Sunday Service. We had steak, cheese rice, yucca, and salad. It was delicious. Here some of our church members are enjoying the food.



Our final day in Santa Cruz we had also been invited to our neighbor’s house for a last meal. We have learned that Bolivians don’t usually eat a full meal for dinner; it is usually some bread and tea. So, we ate some dinner before we went to our neighbors. To our astonishment, our neighbors served huge portions of spaghetti. It is the first time we have ever had Bolivians serve us an Italian dish. They went to a lot of trouble to make that meal for us. So we walked away feeling very loved and very full. Then we got a call from another pastor who wanted to stop in and say goodbye. He arrived at 9:30 with his family: parents, siblings and nieces. They brought with them a cake, bread and soda. They left at midnight and again we felt very loved and like we didn’t need to eat for a week. 
As we drove away the next morning, we couldn’t help but feel touched by the generosity of our dear friends. They have touched our lives in ways that we can never forget. Thank you so much for helping us to be here and experience such a wonderful culture and people. We truly feel blessed.

One prayer answers another

On our last blog update we told you about our little puppy Riley but what we haven’t had a chance to share is the amazing way God responded to our sorrow. About a week after Riley died, we had an unexpected visit. Another missionary living in Santa Cruz came by with a little yellow lab puppy. She said that she had been praying as she did every morning and she suddenly felt that she was to offer one of her five puppies to us. So, she called us and came right over. We couldn’t believe it when she told us that she wanted to give us one of her puppies for free. We knew this woman was selling the puppies to raise money in order to buy a fridge for handicapped orphaned babies. Of course we paid our missionary friend and we are now proud owners of a yellow lab puppy named Ruby. Below you can see a picture of her.

Wonderful Christmas Blessings

Canby Evangelical Church, one of our Pacific Conference Churches wanted to take on a special project this year. They asked if there was some way they could do something to help some Bolivians for Christmas. We decided it would be a huge encouragement to our pastors and some of the poorest members of our churches if the church raised enough money to provide Christmas packages that included: rice, noodles, potatoes, chicken and a Christmas cake. We, along with Gordon Elliott and Kevin’s Dad took half-a-day to drive all over Santa Cruz delivering Christmas packages. As we delivered the gifts, it was wonderful to see the expressions of the pastors as we told them how much they were appreciated. Here are a few of the photos we took as we went around gathering the food and making deliveries.

A Christmas Visitor

For Christmas Kevin’s dad, Craig, came for a visit. We had a wonderful time running him all over Santa Cruz. We took him on our fantastic bus system where the average height of the ceiling is 5 to 5 and-a-half feet tall. Kevin’s dad is 6.2’ and generally when people hop on micros they have wait for a seat. He was a wonderful sport and we do believe that he started to enjoy our way of traveling in the end. He also helped us deliver Christmas packages to our Santa Cruz pastors which I will talk more about in the next blog. We celebrated Christmas Eve at a nearby orphanage where we all had a wonderful time playing soccer with the kids and enjoy a special dinner. Kevin’s dad was able to meet so many of our new friends and visit the church Kevin’s been preaching at the last few months. We felt very encouraged to be able to show him all that we have been doing the past year.
While we weren’t able to spend Christmas with all of our family members this year, it felt very special to have dad hear to celebrate and encourage us. Thank you dad, we will never forget this Christmas. :)