Malakai & February Updates

Greetings out there. Today we celebrate the first month of life for Malakai!

It has been exactly one month since we last wrote to inform everyone of Malakai coming into this world. The past month has been overwhelming, exhausting and exhilirating at the same time. We are very blessed that Malakai was born very healthy and continues to grow and develop as he needs to. He is a precious little boy who has completely won our hearts. Jubilee has also taken a liking to him, although it has been quite a transition for her. She herself reached a milestone this month when she began going to preschool just last week. Everyday she spends three hours playing, learning, exploring and making new friends. Katie is also doing very well. She is spending the majority of her time as is to be expected with Malakai, but she is feeling very well and enjoying this special time with our new baby. The only thing she is suffering from is sleep deprivation, but that certainly came as no surprise. We are surviving those wee morning hour feedings by watching episodes of Lost and Everybody Loves Raymond to stay awake.

Here are a few updates on the work:

Bulls & Sandovals Return (Hallelujah!!!)

During furlough times we certainly enjoyed growing closer to the Marcum family and spending a lot of time with them. As always Jubilee and Michaela are the best of friends and our days out at the Marcum home I am sure will be one of Jubilee's fondest childhood memories. We had the opportunity to create many special memories with Josh, Julie and their beautifull little girls. That being said, and I am sure the Marcums would agree that we are so happy to have all of our team back together. Now that it has been almost three years that we have served together with our teammates any absence is sorely felt. When the Bulls and Sandovals returned it was as though our "unit" felt complete once again. We are now back in the habit of bugging the Sandovals daily as they are just two floors above, and now we can even drop in on Gary and Laura more often now that they are back downtown. We are thankful both families had time to recharge and refuel for continued service. We are even more thankful they are back in Bolivia!

Newest Brother & Sister in Christ

Also since our last posting we witnessed the spiritual birth of two more precious souls into the Lord's Kingdom. Rene and Vanessa are brother and sister and 12 and 11 respectively. Through their studies with Josh they have shown themselves to be more spiritually mature than many adults. Julie, Katie and now myself have had them for Bible class and can attest to the fact that they are always eager and prepared to learn and grow. Please pray for these two young Christians, Rene and Vanessa, that the Lord may bless them during this crucial time of spiritual infancy.

Visits

Katie's parents were able to come and spend almost a full month here with us awaiting the arrival of young Malakai. Frank and Linda are always an immense help to us and we are so grateful for the time they set aside to be with us during such a special time for our family. Frank helped build many things around the house such as changing table, closet shelves, sewing desk, and more! Linda helped Frank in the building and purchasing of materials and also was there to give Katie a hand basically with any she needed at the moment.

Another visitor, Roland Bowen, of Austin Avenue arrives tomorrow afternoon. Roland will helping with preaching and teaching to help the team out as we have three families with children being born all within a month of eachother. We are very grateful to Austin Avenue for sending Roland and to him for making the time to come down and help out. Please be in prayer that Roland may have a safe and uneventful trip.

Classes

On March 3rd I am starting our 3rd offering of conversational English. This class will structured quite differently from our previous two courses but I am hoping that the changes will lead to an even more rewarding learning experience for our students. I will be taking the students through the life of Christ while also providing the students a chance to practice their conversation and pronunciation of English. As with the previous English classes we are hoping and praying that God sends to us many who are not only interested in learning English but who are also hungering and thirsting to know God's word and His will for our lives. Please pray that God may send the right people through our doors and that He may use me as a instrument of communication.

Another ministry that will be starting on March 3rd is called Oasis. Out of my own frustration in searching for a quiet time and place to study, pray and meditate on God's word, I came to the conclusion that many people share my plight. On Mondays and Wednesdays we will be opening up the Conexion Cristiana so that other stressed out people like me can find an "Oasis". In the early morning between 7:00 and 9:00 we will be providing people with a quiet and interruption-free zone where people can come and commune with God and others before going out into the world to face the wolves. This is a new idea and I am not really sure how it is going to work but I believe there is a need for this and it is my hope that we can somehow rise to the challenge and meet that need. Please pray that the Oasis ministry may fulfill its' intended purpose which is to offer people a place, time and encouragement to grow spiritually.

A third class that I am involved in is not a class or activity that I am leading, however I am taking the role of student. After close to two years of no formal Quechua language study, I have decided to take up my pen and paper and bravely return to the classroom. I say bravely because I find Quechua to be very daunting compared to Spanish and English which both convienently have Latin and Greek roots. Quechua is from a completely different language family and so I have found learning it to be more of a challenge. However, I am hopeful that learning Quechua adds to our ministry as a team. Please pray that I can glorify God by learning this language and grow in my communication skills to be able to teach about the love of Christ to an even greater range of people. Also pray for Katie who is making a huge sacrifice for me to be able to take night classes 4 nights a week.

In other personal news, but related to the theme of classes, is a decision that I would like announce. When Frank and Linda returned to the states I sent with them an application to a Master's program with the University of Massachusetts Boston. It is an online program that will help me to learn more about second language acquistion and the teaching of language as well. After much thought and prayer I finally decided upon this Master's program. I will not find out if I have been accepted until April, but the good news is that gives us plenty of time to pray about it. Please pray first of all, that this program would be something that glorifies God and allows me to minister in a more effective way. Additionally, please pray that I get into the program. I will keep everyone posted.

Thanks so much for reading and for praying. We love you guys.

La Familia Forbess

New Arrival !!!!!!!!!!!

Hello to everyone. Katie, Jubilee and I would like to announce something very special. Today at 1:00 PM our time Frankie Malakai Forbess was born weighing in at 2.89 kilos (6.5 lbs). We don't know how long he is as they don't measure babies apparently. However the doctor says mommy and baby both are doing just great. The delivery went well and we are expecting to have them come home tomorrow afternoon. Jubilee got to see her new baby brother and she was in her own words, "soooooooo excited!". As soon as the cameras come home with the patients we will download the photos.

Love you guys and thanks for praying for the safe delivery of our baby boy. God is great!

Jeff

Bolivian News Update

Hey everyone. Let me run through some church news and prayer requests and then give an update on the political situation as I had promised.

• Gary and Laura are expected back to Cbba tomorrow. Pray for their return.
• I will be traveling to S. Cruz tomorrow to pick up Katie´s parents.
• Little baby Forbess could be born any day now!
• Please pray for new Christian Miguel, he seems to be having some struggles at the moment.
• Bruno is doing a great job with our youth group and it appears that this ministry is really beginning to blossom. Our youth include: Bruno, Freddy, Veronica, Claudia, Roberto, other Bruno (son of one the Institute students), and other off and on visitors. Please pray that our youth group continue to go strong.
• Please pray for this new year of opportunity in the ministry here in Cochabamba.
• Thanks for your prayers!!!

Okay. Now for the political break down. Last night the dialogue between the president, his supporters and the opposition began. We watched quite a bit of it as it was broadcast live from La Paz. It was kind of like a family venting session of the whole nation. Each regional governor or prefecto had a chance to state his feelings and express the results they wanted to see come out of the meeting. After 7 hours, yep 7 hours of talking about what they wanted to talk about in the meeting, it seems that Bolivia is on its way to reconciliation. Perhaps not a complete reconciliation, but it seems that things are definitely looking up from where the nation was a month ago.

The prefectos who have been in strong support of autonomy reiterated that they in no way meant that they wanted to separate from Bolivia and that they wanted unity just as much as the federal government. This sentiment was especially expressed by Santa Cruz prefecto, Ruben Costas. Cochabamba´s prefecto was surprisingly pretty quiet throughout the meeting, but time may prove that was a wise decision on his part. The were was only one prefecto that really got personal. The remaining 8 prefectos did a fairly good job of being professional and mature. We continued to listen to hear the Vice President Linera respond to the statements of the prefectos and basically rebut any of the subtle or not so subtle criticisms they may have raised. During the time we listened, President Morales seemed to do a lot more listening than speaking but he did spend time emphasizing the growth of the economy and asked the prefectos to give ample time to his cabinet members and specialists in attendance who were to present facts and figures indicating the growth of the economy.

Well, we did not listen for the entire 7 hours instead we popped in a new movie with Denzel Washington about a debate team from Marshall, TX. (A very good movie by the way). This morning though on the news and in the paper, the initial meeting between Morales and the Prefectos resulted in three big decisions which they will continue to deliberate on.

First, they will reconsider a proposed change on the administration of regional profits made on the production of hidrocarbons. This change would regarding the use of profits would have been used to fund a pension of sorts for Bolivians over 60 years of age, but it would have dramatically cut the regional budgets by more than half thereby severely limiting the ability of regional governments to continue with services provided to citizens. The prefecto of Tarija, Mario Cossio mentioned that his department was already using the profits of hidrocarbons to fund socialized health programs offering free medical services to the needy. This discussion is a big point of contention however, because some departments produce a great deal more in profits than others and the sentiment of some is that the profits should be spread in a more judicious manner to include departments that do not see big profits from the hidrocarbons. The prefecto of Potosi made an interesting point by paralleling the current events to the history of his own department that saw the creation of some of the greatest wealth the world has ever known with the tin mines. Yet, now Potosi is among the most underdevolped and improvished departments of Bolivia because the profits of the tin mines were not enjoyed by the majority of Potosinos.

The next items to be considered go hand in hand and those are the questions of the legitimacy of the new Constitution and the legitimacy of the Autonomic Statutes that were drawn up in the departments of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando. The legality of the constitution has been questioned by many, but especially by the prefectos and inhabitants of those previously mentioned departments. The legality of the Autonomic Statutes logically has been questioned by the Morales administration because the statutes do not conform to the new constitution. Also a part of the conversation is a defense and explanation of the proposed Indigenous and Rural Autonomies that are a part of the new constitution. Understandibly for the people of some departments asking for autonomy, it is hard to understand why indigenous groups will be granted more autonomy while regional departments will not be granted the same kind of autonomy.

A little explanation on the business of autonomy follows. The autonomy being asked for can be somewhat compared to the autonomy that states in the United States enjoy. There are many things that are left up to individual states to decide while the federal government makes decisions that affect the whole country. In the United States as well, there is occasionally disputes as to what should be a federal decision or a state decision. In Bolivia as in much of Latin America there exists a strong tendancy of highly centralized government, that sometimes tends to overlook the specific and distinct needs of isolated regions or people groups. The regional autonomies look to rectify this tendancy to ignore isolated regions as the Indigenous Autonomies wish to rectify the tendancy to ignore or marginalize the indigenous or rural people groups.

Well to any poli sci people out there, please forgive me for any overgeneralizations. I hope that this gives our readers a better understanding of what is happening here. I also hope to illuminate the fact that neither side in this conflict is completely right or wrong. Please pray that our government leaders will continue in this spirit of dialogue and reconciliation. Again I truly believe that your prayers along with those of so many others are being heard. Praise God!

Thanks for Your Prayers

Saludos (greetings) to all of you out there. Several of you have been asking for an update after the last blog update concerning the political situation here in Bolivia. Thanks first of all for your prayers. If you ever doubt that God is listening please know that He is, because the results are all around us.

I will make it short because I am sure that in the next week or so we will have a better idea of where things are headed here. However, let me say that the Christmas and New Year´s season was one of peace and happiness for our family. The city of Cochabamba has experienced no demonstrations of any kind since my last post. Things in the other cities such as La Paz, Sucre, and Santa Cruz have also been much calmer presumably because of the holidays.

This coming 7th of January there is to be a meeting between the president and the opposition leaders of the what is being called the -media luna- which means half moon. The "half moon" represents the departmental leaders of Santa Cruz, el Beni, Pando, Tarija and Cochabamba. Although Cochabamba´s departamental leader is an outspoken member of the president´s opposition that does not mean that all of the Cochabamba Department (like a state) is in support of the opposition. This is one of the main reasons for the conflict. The people in the rural areas and those who have migrated from rural areas to the cities tend to be more in support of the federal government represented by the President Evo Morales and the MAS political party. The opposition tend to more urban and middle to upper class. The opposition also has strong bastions of support in the eastern departments especially in the department of Santa Cruz. Unfortunately throughout the past two years regional, racial and socio-economic divides have deepened dramatically. Please continue to pray for the leaders of Bolivia that they may have the best interest of their fellow Bolivians in mind as they make decisions. Also please continue to pray that the works in La Paz, Viacha, Santa Cruz, Sucre and Cochabamba may not be hampered by the conflicts. Pray for the Christians in Bolivia that they may shine a bright light and bring honor to God our Father.

Another prayer request we have is not concerning Bolivia at all yet it is concerning Kenya. Living overseas has allowed Katie and I to see the world in a whole new light. We now know firsthand what it means to see fellow countrymen fight against each other in the streets. We also know how that affects people in their daily lives. Our hearts go out to the Kenyans, especially to our brethren there. Julie, our teammate, grew up in Kenya and we have been blessed to hear about the work her parents along with other missionaries and Kenyans have done in that nation in service of the Lord´s church. It, much like Bolivia, is a beautiful place with an even more beautiful people. Although we have not met them face to face or shaken their hands we have brothers and sisters in Kenya who are presently living through some very rough times. Let us all pray that peace reigns and that the Lord may protect His children who live in Kenya. Let us pray that the leaders of Kenya may also be blessed with wisdom as Solomon was so that they may lead their nation back into a state of peace. Let us pray that the work of the Kingdom be not hindered in Kenya.

p.s. No baby yet! Of course I would have mentioned it. We are still waiting. Katie´s parents arrive next week to help out. We can´t wait! We have the name picked out, and you will have to just wait and see what it is. Of course it was extremely difficult to find an suitable name to go along with a sibling named Jubilee Song but I think we did it.

Pray for Bolivia

One of the greatest things Katie and I have learned throughout our time in Bolivia is the power of prayer. You our loved ones, our dear brothers and sisters in Christ have prayed for us during sickness, during the times of transition, times of longing for family, times of confusion and so many other instances that I could not mention them all here.

I come to you once more, though surely not for the last time to request your prayers on behalf of the nation of Bolivia. In 1 Tim. 2:1-4 Paul shares a very special message with Timothy. Paul exhorts Timothy to be in prayer for the rulers of the day, and along with that prayer there is a very special motivation. The reason Timothy was to pray for the rulers and the reason we pray for our rulers is not so that we may be "happy shiny people" to quote the eloquent lyrics of the B52´s and live unhindered in our quest for comfort, security and prosperity. We pray however for our rulers because as Paul says in verses 3 and 4, God wishes for all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

In essence, we should pray not that the economy improves, not that our rulers think as a Christian should, or in our case not that our daily life will halted by street blockades. What I believe Paul encourages us to pray for is that our rulers act in such a way that the sharing of Christ may not be hindered but that it may given an opportunity to grow and grow in reach and depth. Wow! This is a hard one, isn´t it?

In light of the recent political activity in Bolivia, first of all let me assure everyone that so far we have not experienced any threat to our safety and we have taken the necessary precautions by registering with the consulate should they need to get ahold of us for some reason. Additionally, we arrived here by God´s will and for that reason I trust that God is taking care of us in each and every moment and I hope that you may have the same confidence. Having said that, let me please beseech you on behalf of this country. Bolivia if you have never been, is a beautiful place with incredible people. History seems to have dealt Bolivia some raw deals and Bolivian society continues to this day to cope with the earthly consequences of the mistakes of previous generations of Bolivians and those from outside Bolivia as well. In this time of turmoil and transition, Bolivia is having difficulty deciding who they are to become as a nation and for obvious reasons this causes the social and political arenas to become quite heated.

If you are reading this I would like to ask you to get down on your knees right now and lift up a prayer to our Lord. Tommorrow in the state of Santa Cruz, (not close to Cochabamba) there is the potential for a great deal of unrest. Let us pray for the safety of our brethren and all believers in that city. Let us pray that no violence occurs. Let us pray that justice along with the very will of God reigns in the city and region of Santa Cruz. Let us pray as well that the social problems Bolivia is experiencing will open doors for the gospel to reach not only the ears of all Bolivians but to the hearts of all Bolivians as well.

I remember a brother I respect a great deal from the East Denver congregation who many times starts his discourses with the following statement "God is good" and the congregation heartily replies, "all the time". I believe this with all my heart and I hope you do as well. I hope that you do not recieve this post as a frantic message from a paranoical missionary but as passionate plea from a servant who loves Bolivia and who wants to see only the very best for her people. I believe in the very God who parted the red sea and rose men from the clutches of death. My God can do great things, all He asks of us is that we ask Him.

Fuzzy Pictures, Bright New Paths

Okay. Sorry for the fuzzy pictures. But, read on....

Two weeks ago this Sunday we returned from an amazing family encampment. For all of you who got to heard in my furlough presentation about the blessing it is to see Christ uniting all kinds of Bolivians, well, it happened again! The encampment thanks in part to my teammate Josh who organized, Tom Allen from Ontario, CA and the rest of the church family from Cocha. we were able to gather 140 Bolivian Christians for the first annual Bolivian Family Encampment.

By all accounts it was a success. True there were some cold showers and scraped knees, but isn't that part of the fun? We had groups from La Paz, Sucre, Santa Cruz and of course Cochabamba. Josh had found a beautiful campsite about an hour outside of Cochabamba. We were able to spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning there.

The best part, was no not me trying to scale a 40 foot wall with one of those harness things while Jubilee yelled from below, "Daddy why can't you go further?". The best part ocurred when we were back in Cocha for Sunday services. Many people from the other cities had graciously stayed to be able to worship with us on Sunday morning. Katie and I found out that at least 15 people can fit comfortably in our apartment! After a wonderful and uplifting time of worship we listened to a great message by visiting guest speaker Tom Allen, of Ontario, CA (Inland Valley Church of Christ). Following the message there were 7 individuals who choose to become disciples of Christ that day by confessing Jesus as their Saviour and being baptized into Him. One man, Jimmy came from Santa Cruz and another man, Ernesto, came from Sucre. The other 5 new Christians were all native Cochabambinos and all had been studying and worshiping with us for quite a while.

Many of you may remember during my furlough presentation hearing about Augustina who is a single mother of two. The church has been blessed to help her in many ways through our benevolence program and in this way we had gotten to know her and her children. Upon being baptized she made it clear that she wanted to be a new creation from here on out.

Some of you may also remember seeing a picture of our small group Bible studies called CAFE groups. In one of the pictures with new brother in Christ Miguel sat a man named Gaston. Gaston is now a new brother in Christ as well.

The other three individuals who were baptized were all members of one family. Some of you may remember that Pedro began taking classes at the Bible Institute after Rebecca his teenage daughter began taking English conversation classes. Pedro's wife Beatriz began coming to church and I think initially it was to check out where her husband and daughter were spending so much time. Praise God that Pedro, Beatriz, and Rebecca are now new Christians.

Before I close let me say this. I had specifically asked and commended each congregation I spoke to, to be in earnest prayer for the "on the verge" people. People who had the good news of Jesus several times and yet were still not quite sure. All five of these people were among the "on the verge" people. In fact I requested prayers for Gaston and Augustina by name. Thank you so much to those of you who asked God to work in the hearts of these people.

Let us praise our Father for these precious souls and let us be evermore in prayer for them as the most difficult part of the Christian journey begins which is that daily crucifiction of the old self and the daily choice to do as Christ would have us to.

We love you guys!

Other important prayer requests:

Katie and baby (she has been asked by the doctor to stay mostly at home until the baby is born)

Julie and baby (everything seems to be going fine)

Laura and baby (think everything is fine, she is on furlough surely enjoying Thanksgiving!)

Sandovals' Visa Process (they plan to go on furlough in two weeks)

Marcums and Forbess' (how are we going to do this without the Bulls and the Sandovals for two months????)

Custers (continue job hunting in the states)

Me (I always need help in the daddy and husband department, you know to be a good one!)

This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through

Okay, so my two girls are sleeping safe and sound in their beds and I thought now may be an opportune time to write. Thanks for your prayers regarding our travels. Our flights occured without any major complications and we arrived actually a little early to Cocha. Praise God!

Upon taking our first nap in our bed after nine weeks on the road I turned to Katie and simply said "words cannot express", and Katie said "I know, you don't even have to finish the sentance". We loved seeing everyone and we loved sharing about the work and getting to witness other great works going on out there. However, how truly sweet it is to be back in Cochabamba. During our last driving trip from Brownwood back to Dallas I asked Katie where she would like to see us ending up when we come back to the United States. We talked a little about all the places that we had visited and we mentioned a few places that we felt would be "doable". Although, I must say that all I along our trip we had been saying how we felt God has truly placed in the right place at the right time for our family. Arriving in Bolivia, and especially once we finally got to Cocha, I immediately felt a sense of coming home and our conviction that God has placed us where He needs us and where we need to be was reinforced tenfold.

Of course, I say that Cochabamba is our home with the understanding that even tomorrow we could for some reason have to leave. If we learned nothing else from the events of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it was that nothing on this earth is guaranteed. Therefore, Katie and I try not to ever feel too at home anywhere, except for when we are in fellowship with our Heavenly Father and His children, for those times are the glimpes of our true homeland that we have awaiting as Christians.

Now that the Forbess family has joined the ranks of the globally mobile we have learned evermore to trust in the truth that our true citizenship is in Heaven. When we are in the United States there are many people and aspects of the culture that we love and there are aspects of the culture that we find hinder us daily in our goal to be Christ-like. The same is true of life in Bolivia, though those hindrences be different. What we have also grown to understand in greater depth and appreciation, is that we don't have define ourselves by the standards of geographic or political boundary. Yes, there is a part of me that is very American and that is part of my identity that will always be there, but as I try to live each day in the footsteps of Jesus, I am drawn to an earnest desire to define myself first and foremost as a disciple, a brother, a mentor, a student, a husband, a father, and a son of the Creator and Master of the Universe. I love the United States and I love Bolivia as well, but it is not because I think one is so wonderful. I love these places because they are inhabited by people who are all precious because they are creations of the Creator, but people who in their majority still live unaware of the peace and joy that is found through the grace and mercy Jesus offers. Wherever God asks Katie and I to be I am sure that His will is that we share with others His love through our words and more importantly through our actions. During this brief moment of our life God has placed our family in Cochabamba to be messengers and ambassadors of a living hope and we are thankful for the awesome privilege and blessing that is.

Our prayer request for this post is one of thanksgiving; thanks for the precious time we had with our family, our church families, and our friends; thanks for safe travel; and thanks for being able to come back. Taking a quote from our teammate Julie's latest blog entry, "God is good all the time". May God bless you on this day.