More Updates

As I said, I would like to post a bit more of information today as I have time. But please scroll down to get the rest of the information on recent baptisms, etc... that I posted earlier today.

HARDING INTERNS

There is so much to say about these wonderful young people and so little space. We were truly blessed this summer with the arrival of Taylor Box, Stephanie Sanderson, and Jason and Rachel Eades. During their time in Bolivia they attended language school for Spanish and Aymara, lived with Bolivian families, lived with us the missionary families, visited congregations in La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cuzco, helped with all kinds of ministries and activities and brought a youthful warmth and joy into our team life and church body. They are still at a stage in life when it is easy not to take yourself or others too seriously and that was a wonderful kind of environment to be around. In addition, we saw each of the four interns grow immensly in their knowledge of Latin America and missions and more importantly we saw each grow a great deal personally and spiritually.

At the end of their stay I received an additional blessing when I was able to accompany them on the last leg of their journey which took them to Cuzco and Machu Pichu both located in Peru. It was a great opportunity for me to get to know each intern even more, share with them more a little about my experiences, and learn from them as well. Probably the most uplifting time during our Peru trip was the time the interns spent with the Christians in La Paz as well as when we all were able to spend time with the Christians in Cuzco. On Saturday night in Cuzco one of the brothers invited us to his house where we were all then accompanied to their neighbors house where the wife is a new Christian who was baptized at the Ladies Conference in Santa Cruz and her husband is not a Christian. Although we had nothing planned, I mentioned to the family that our four interns loved to sing and were quite good at it so we all spent a good two hours singing together and encouraging each other. By the end of the night the interns had experienced one of my favorite aspects of mission work which is spontaneous and genuine fellowship.

Please pray for Stephanie, Rachel, Jason, and Taylor as they all consider how they are being called to work for the Kingdom. They are great servants and will be ablessing to whatever work and church family they find themselves in.

THE TEAM CHANGES

Earlier this month it was announced that the Drew and Jamie Custer will be leaving Cochabamba to return to the states. We are deeply saddened by this news and earnestly ask for your prayers regarding our team, the church family here in Cochabamba and for the Custers' reentry into the states. Please refer to Drew Custer's blog for further information regarding this decision.

FURLOUGH

Many of you are already aware that Katie and I will be leaving on furlough on August 18th to be gone until October 18th. Katie has worked very hard and diligently on our schedule although we are still trying to figure out how to visit a few of you. If any one of you would like to receive a schedule of dates and places for our furlough and did not receive the schedule please let us know and we can send it to you as soon as possible. Basically our journey goes something like this: Dallas --> Brownwood, TX --> Dora, NM --> Santa Fe, NM --> Colorado Springs, CO --> Evergreen, CO --> Denver, CO --> Kearney, NE --> Chillicothe / Hamilton, MO --> Rogers, AR --> Hot Springs Village, AR --> Dallas, TX --> Brownwood, TX --> Dallas. And somewhere in there we are trying to fit in Olive Branch, MS! It sounds a little overwhelming but we must say the Lord has already blessed us with a vehicle to use during our time and we are looking forward to seeing everyone. If we are going to be in your area and you would really like to visit with us please write us by email so we can figure out a time and place. In most places we have a place to stay, but in Denver we do need a place and in Kearney we'll probably just stay in a motel since it is about half way between Denver and Chillicothe. Please pray that we have safe travel, that we have fruitful fellowship, and that we don't get too stressed driving across the country's midsection!

I have asked Katie to help me post pictures from the Ladies Conference as well as from my trip to Peru and from the three recent baptisms, please continue to check the blog as those pictures should be up very shortly.