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Taking God's Healing Love to the Nations
Thoughts weÕve been chewing onÉ
March 8, 2010
Dear Friends,
Blessings to you in Christ Jesus!
Meg loved this photo of a vicuña watching us eat our meal at a local restaurant and
thought, ÒWell, we too have been chewing on a lot of things recently.Ó Hence the byline.
So what have we been chewing on?
First of all, gratitude for the many opportunities that are given us to serve here in Bolivia:
from the formal invitations to the spontaneous needs that are around all of us.
There have been non-stop opportunities to provide pastoral ministry to individuals:
• praying with the children of an orphanage for both their present physical ailments
as well as the inner healing that each needs from the abusive beginnings that led to them
being in the orphanage;
• hospital visits at the requests of family members of friends, including the
wonderful restoration of infant twins who were born prematurely and had pneumonia and
heart murmurs;
• reaching out to the many poor in the streets of Cochabamba: providing food
as we walk along. The most poverty we have ever seen was a very old lady, as disheveled
as you can imagine, all alone, scooping water out of a mud puddle. We stopped the car and,
carefully approaching so as not to scare her, Meg gave her the food and drink we had in
the car. Her smile when she saw the food coming toward her was unforgettable.
This next weekend, Bob will go to Santa Cruz on two invitations: one to give some teaching to an
emerging prayer ministry group at the Anglican Church of Cristo Pan de Vida and the other
to launch an interest in the healing ministry with a healing/evangelistic service at the
Anglican church of San Tom‡s Ap—stol.
Recently, weÕve been invited to meet with a home group some distance out of town. They
expressed an interest to learn about the healing ministry. ItÕs wonderful to see their
hunger to learn how to receive healing and pray for others.
During a lull in ministry November and December of 2009, Bob took the opportunity to
finish a book he started writing
at least four years ago. Currently, the nine chapters are being translated into Spanish
and we have a contact with a publishing company. The primary audience will be the
Spanish-speaking Christian world as there are not as many resources here. The title
will be: ÒRestoring your Life to Health/Wholeness — the Healing Ministry of the ChurchÓ.
Then, too, we have been concerned for Bolivia. Recently they have had all foreigners
(here for 2 years) register to vote in the upcoming elections. If we donÕt vote we will
not be able to carry out bank transactions. Elections will be on Easter Sunday and no
public gatherings are allowed for 24 hours. So all of our Easter services will be on
Saturday.
So, what else have we been Òchewing onÓ? For the past two months our ÒchewingÓ: thinking,
talking, praying, dreaming, calculating and decision-making has resulted in our plan to
return to our homeland. More specifically we will be moving to Oregon where we lived
some 22 years ago. We are very excited to be close to MegÕs family and finding new
work/ministry. Everything beyond that is in GodÕs hands. Our ÒboysÓ are in favor of
this move and have promised to come visit us. And of course we plan to return to
Southern California as often as possible to see them. Then, too, Bob has to be near
the ocean and surf the waves or else heÕll need psychiatric care. The beach is much
cheaper therapy. Some of you understand.
Another factor related to this is the sense of fulfillment of our goals, by the grace
of God. Almost every Anglican congregation in Bolivia has received teaching, training,
and equipping for the ministry of healing. Here in Cochabamba we have six very committed
prayer ministers prepared to carry on this ministry. Missionaries are told that our
purpose is to Òwork ourselves out of a jobÓ. Our joy has been to watch these leaders
grow in confidence as well as develop the capability to pray effectively for healing.
In each of the above-mentioned ministry opportunities, we have taken others who have been
trained.
How can we ever say or express the gratitude we have for all of you, friends and family
who have supported us with your prayers, love, cards, emails, etc. WeÕll be happy to be
closer to ÒhomeÓ. O yeah, when are we returning? God permitting, weÕll be flying to the
States the end of April. WeÕll stay a few weeks in the Southern California area before
heading to Oregon.
Please keep us in prayer for this transition and the challenges ahead. Meg is seeking
a job using her educational and administrative skills, and bilingual ability. As in most
places, the job market is very tight. Until the end of the year we have arranged with SAMS,
our missions organization, to keep us on the books as associate missionaries. In this
manner those who wish to continue making contributions may do so. As associates we will
be able to draw on those funds for future short-term ministry, including, we hope, the
large event in 2011 here in Bolivia.
Our love and prayers,
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