In the Air/On the Road Again - South America This Time

BOLIVIA TRIP

Map from Worldatlas.com

Well, I am almost on my way. I leave Saturday morning (tomorrow) to fly to Chicago, Miami, Lima, Peru, then finally Santa Cruz, Bolivia! For those of you who are curious of such things, the flights/airport times on this trip are close to 20 hours on the way down! I will return home on the 24th of March...

I am in the throes of final preparations for the meeting. There will be roughly 45 leaders (from Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Panama, and USA) attending these meetings. We hope and pray that God will release a new Spirit among the leaders and they, too will leave refreshed, challenged, and ready to make disciples. I am once again in awe that God uses the weak to share His message of hope and life. I am also once again in awe that He is using me!

Please pray for these meetings. We will have two full days of Executive Team meetings before the Annual Meetings begin. I will be in those meetings taking minutes, which will be interesting. This group makes decisions on behalf of the organization. Taking minutes is my least favorite thing to do, but is a necessary part of my job :( or :) depending on how I choose to look at it. I'll go with :)

The Annual Meeting begins next Wednesday (the 14th of March) and will run through the 21st of March. My responsibilities at the meetings will be the same as in India and Kenya, but I will be leading two workshops. Almost everything we say will be translated into Spanish, so please pray that we will get the message across clearly and that those translating will be able to portray our hearts (there we go with the need for unity again).

I just received good news! The one visa issue we were having for a staff member and teacher for the meetings from India was having a hard time getting his Bolivian visa. He was just promised the visa when he arrives in a larger city in India than where he lives! Praise God!!!

This meeting has been easier to plan for in some ways and more difficult to plan for in others. I am working with a very administratively gifted Facilitator in Latin America who has had extensive experience planning these meetings, so is very easy to work with. I am so grateful for him. It has been more challenging as I learn to juggle follow-up from the meetings that took place in the past two months, continuing to process grants, send prayer requests, communicate with leaders, etc. Please pray for patience and wisdom for me as I try to figure out how to my job effectively in an ever-growing and changing alliance. There is much to do (which I am so grateful for, because that means there are more hearing the Good News!)

Alright, that is enough for now. If you would like to learn more about Bolivia, here is a link for you: https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bl.html

And for those who don't have time to explore the site, here is a bit of info about the country as you pray:

• Andean state that is landlocked (one of only two countries in South America with no ocean border)


• Santa Cruz has roughly 1.2 million people, while Bolivia has roughly 9 million people.


• Bolivia was once the richest area in South America, but is now one of the poorest.


• 60% of the population has been baptized Catholic, but still practices animism or Christo-pagan religions.