Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Betty's Little Wawa and Forbess Family


Grandmom, Auntie Sissy, Juju and Mommy

May Update

May Update

Hello to all out there. This is our May update to let everyone know what is going on here in Cochabamba.

As always we praise God that we are doing well spiritually, emotionally and physically. Thank you to all who continually lift us up in prayer. Katie’s health issues are continuing to improve and currently she is feeling well.

This month was highlighted by two very special visits. Katie’s mother and sister both came to Cochabamba to spend some time with us. Lora Johnson, who is Katie’s sister, visited us for one week. Katie’s mother, Linda Labowski arrived with Lora and is still with us until this coming Sunday. Their visit has been such an encouragement to Katie and I. I think it was also encouraging for Lora and Linda to see Jubilee is living in a nice and comfortable home. I think Linda was also happy to meet Betty who helps us around the house 3 days a week. Betty is truly a tremendous help and she gives us advice on all sorts of things such where to buy things, how to cook things, how to say things in Spanish or Quechua, and countless other useful bits of advice on how to go about daily life in Cochabamba.

Language classes are going well. Katie and I both continue to work hard at learning our third language, improve our second, and not forget our first! Quechua is a beautiful language and visiting some Quechua villages last week with Linda and Lora really gave us a great opportunity to practice. The Quechua speakers in general seem to be very happy, and amused when try out our new skills.

The work is also progressing steadily. This past week our business meeting focused on organizing which roles of service each team member will participate in. There were many great ideas that were tossed about and during the next two weeks we will meet with the other team members who expressed an interest in the same areas. Among my areas of interest were the following: Evangelism Coordination, Contact Center Organization, Benevolence and Community Outreach, Fellowship Coordinator, Family and Child Ministry, and Visitation. Of course all team members will be involved to some extent in all ministry areas, but these are the ones I feel more drawn to. As we begin formally organizing ourselves and our plans we continually look towards our January launch date, when the church will be publicized and our evangelism efforts will truly begin in earnest. Please mark January of 2007 as the ideal time to make a visit to Cochabamba. We would love for as many people as possible to be here for that exciting time.

On a personal note, our team members are also doing well. The last family to move out of their homestay, the Custer’s found a great apartment very close to us, the Sandovals, and the Bulls. We continue having services on Sundays and Wednesday evenings in our homes so our homes are playing a very important role in the work. Since the last update we have had a new addition to our church family. The minister from La Paz was kind enough to visit us last month and when he did he introduced us to a Christian family living in Sacaba just outside of Cochabamba. We found out that at one time there was a small group of the Lord’s body meeting in Cochabamba however due to people moving to the states the group dwindled. The family of our brother Renan was one of the only families that stayed in Cochabamba. We rejoice that Renan, his wife Leticia, and two children are now encouraging us through their presence and collaboration here in Cochabamba.

Pictures will be added later but just wanted to get something posted. We love you all.
p.s. Another wonderful piece of news is that my sister’s husband Chris is home from Iraq on leave for two weeks. It is good to know that he is safe and well. One of my good friends from when my dad was going to Bear Valley was Christy Werhan who is now Christy Payne. Through a letter I learned that her husband, Richie also has recently been deployed for 9 months. Please keep our brothers and sisters in Christ who are serving and risking their lives