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.