July Happenings and Prayer Requests

Life in Cocha is going well. Katie, Jubilee and I are doing well. Jubilee is just getting over a little cold, it was nothing serious though. We continue to ask for prayers for Katie's health, as you may have remembered she is battling a serious infection. We have been continuing to see the same doctor and he has treated her very well. We do plan on going to the another doctor that Jamie and Julie have been using just to get a second opinion and make sure that everything is being done the way it should. Katie also had a little spill outside our apartment on Tuesday on our way to a 4th of July party and hit her back on the stairs pretty hard. She said that she is feeling better today.

As promised this post will address our contact center, although there are many more things to report. As the time for the public launch of the church in January approaches the team is becoming more and more involved in planning and preparing for that event. One very exciting idea our team came up with was to rent an office space in a highly accessable part of town. The purpose of the space would be multifaceted. Among the uses would be to house a reading center, an area where people can meet on nuetral ground for Bible studies, classroom space for more formal Bible lessons, a meeting area for the congragation as it waits to find a meeting space, and office spaces for the team members. The main idea is to give Cochabambinos a place to walk in and be received and welcomed by the church. We plan to work in shifts so that someone will always be in the contact center during normal business hours. We feel this will really generate alot of contacts leading up to our January launch.

We were fortunate enough to locate a property that is approximately 100 square meters that is right on the Prado which is a very popular strip with restaurants and shops. The Prado also happens to be in walking distance for the Custers, the Sandovals, the Bulls, for Billy Gill and for us. Billy by the way is from the Austin Avenue congregation and she is here to work with the team this year. Billy is living in the same building as us and the Sandovals. Currently, Butch, Gary and I are working on getting the contact center furnished and ready to open by the end of the month. We are meeting today in fact to go over our budget, to talk about what the name of contact center will be and to talk about how to get the word out that the contact center will be opening.

In other news, Josh and Julie were very gracious to have the team in their home for 4th of July celebrations. It is a hard day to be away from family as the 4th is also the birthday of my niece Sage and nephew Cedar, but the Marcum's did an amazing job at making us all feel like we were back home for a little while, complete with hamburgers, Dr. Peppers, potato salad and some good ole' country music. There were also some fellow former Maryknoll students with us as they are still in Bolivia awaiting their visas to go into Venezuela to work as lay missioners with the Catholic church. We had fireworks and some bobbed for apples even though it was quite chilly by the time the sun had gone down.

Also, this past Friday the Sandovals, Marcums, and Bulls as well as us were able to go and play walleyball with a contact named Ramber. For those who may remember Ramber was friends with an elder of the church in Pensacola and when Ramber moved back the elder put us in touch. Gary and I have studied with Ramber off and on and Butch has been able to play raquetball with him a few different times. It was very encouraging for Ramber and his family to receive a visit from the team and I am hoping that it is the beginning of a lasting relationship. Please continue to pray for Ramber and his family that they may continue to grow in their knowledge of the Word and that their knowledge will lead them to decide to follow Christ.

As always thank you to my faithful readers. It means so much that there are people out there who want to know all the details of what is going on and it is very encouraging as well. We wish all of you well in your ministries also.

In Christ,

Jeff