Billy and Trish

Billy Gill has come from Brownwood to live in Cocha for one year. She has previously served teaching English in Monterrey where the Monterrey School of Preaching is located. She has also been a lifelong public school and Bible school teacher. Here in Cocha she is planning on developing a womens prison ministry as well as a ministry for the children of the women who are in prison. She is living in our building on the 7th floor. We are so happy she is here. And of course that is the lovely Trish on the right.

Daddy, Juju and Daniel

This is us at Butch and Trish's house with Daniel. Daniel is engaged to Butch and Trish's daughter Denise. Denise and Daniel visited Cocha in June.

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

Baby Brianna and More Ladies Conference Pics.

On the top left is a picture of Brianna who is the newest addition to our church family here in Cochabamba, she is the daughter of John and Cecilia Pap. Cecilia worships with us in Cochabamba and John is currently working in the states. On the bottom left is Katie with Sister Norah from the Plann 3000 congregation in La Paz. On the right is a group of children from La Paz who sang at the end of the ladies conference.

Conferencia de Damas en La Paz

Ladies Conference in La Paz

Hello to all our faithful readers! So much has happened since the last post I believe it will be necessary just to post several times over the next few days so be checking often. First of all, God as always has been good to us. We feel very blessed to be serving here in Cochabamba.

Since the last post one of the most encouraging events for both Katie and I was a trip we made to La Paz at the end of May. We traveled because Katie and the other ladies of our team had been invited to participate in a national Ladies' Retreat for ladies from congregations in Santa Cruz, La Paz and Cuzco, Peru. What sacrifice and love these ladies showed by riding up to 20 hours plus on buses to come into La Paz. The ladies in La Paz were also very kind and had done a great job of organizing a wonderful 4 day event for the Christian women of Bolivia and southern Peru. Each night the ladies from a different city spoke. Saturday night was Katie's night and she did a great job at presenting a lesson prepared by all the Cochabamba ladies on encouraging each other with the five senses. While the ladies were enjoying their time studying from the Word together in the evenings the men from the La Paz congregation would get refreshments ready for the ladies. This time gave me great opportunities to get to know some of the La Paz brethren. On Sunday the whole church packed up in 3 buses and rode 3 hours to a town on the shores of Lake Titicaca which is one of the highest lakes in the world and forms part of the border between Peru and Bolivia. It was a little chilly but it was an incredible experience to worship in such a breathtaking place. The brethren in Bolivia and southern Peru treated with true humility, generosity and hospitality and Katie and I will carry the example of their Christ-like spirit with us always. After visiting we are even more excited to work with our brethren in La Paz and Santa Cruz and perhaps even in Cuzco. This is the post for today, soon I will post information on our new rental property which will be home to our Contact Center where Cochabambinos can begin to visit us. Thank you all so much for your prayers.

Jeff

Betty's Little Wawa and Forbess Family