Mission Volunteer Groups Responding To God's Call

Recently, we had the privilege to have Jim Anderson and Bob Ratliff Area Minister and Pastor respectively from WV. They came to help at the Andean Mountais with school supplies and medications. These experiences inspired them, to engage in a project to help twenty villages to get solar light in their churches so they can participate in a literacy program and praise the Lord at night services. Then, we had the volunteer mission group from Elizabeth Church, WV. It was awesome!!! They were busy building playgrounds for the seminary and for a church outside the city of Cochabamba, but also doing block parties in different places to minister to kids, what fun and blessing moments. It was a blessing for many children and also adults. We are so thankful for our brothers and sisters for their love to the Lord to carry on with the mission given to the church. May the Lord bless their lives and those kids who were touched by them. Now, we are getting ready for the next volunteer group from South Parkersburg, WV. They will be working at the House of Hope painting, building bunk beds and many other chores to improve our infrastructure. In May, Dan Buttry from BIM will come to lecture on Peace and reconciliation and Alicia Luquin and Emma from PSW will do women training. Then, in the middle of the year, we will have a group from FBC S.Charleston WV, Dyan Martin will volunteer for three weeks and we are also praying for an Xtreme team to do Xmissions in Bolivia for a month.

Feeding Kids In His Own Way

Feeding the kids from the streets in Cochabamba,has turned into something more than what originally we had in mind, the Lord made us see in a broader and contextual way and refocus this important service to the community in the name of Jesus Christ. Since our house (now the House of Hope) is not located in downtown, we decided to partner with First Baptist Church of Cochabamba, located in the heart of the city. When we shared our vision of service and love to people, the church opened their doors and said that we could use anything needed to accomplish our goal. We then invited the congregation to participate and a group of volunteers singed up to help. We think that God has a specific plan because this will be the first time that a 100-year-old church will do this kind of ministry. At this time, we are cooking the food at the "House of Hope" and then take it to the church. But this is not all, God also wanted us to continue to broaden our vision. The first day of the program,some of the volunteers from church and myself went to look for kids around down town to invite them to come to church for lunch. What we found was that the kids wouldn't accept the invitation, since their parents didn't let them talk to or go anywhere outside of their view with strangers. So we decided to invite their parents too. The conclusion is that the only way to feed the kids is to invite their whole family too. So now we are feeding more than what we expected!! Praise the Lord!!! This is his plan, not ours because right after they eat, they will hear the message of Hope and eternal life in Jesus Christ!The picture will not be completed without our seminary students who just came back from their church assignments around Bolivia. They are helping in preparing food, and presentingthe gospel to the people, since they speak Quechua, the language of the kids and families who are wondering in the city looking for better opportunities. Thank God for the privilege we have to speak about His grace and love in a very significant way, in a way they understand because it is their own language.

From Wednesday To Friday The Action Is At The House Of Hope

From Wednesday to Friday our house is busy, very busy! Wednesdays and Thursdays we have women coming to work in the Bolivian Hand crafts modules we are teaching in partnership with the Bolivian Baptist Women. We are offering these modules, to Bolivian Baptist Women so they can be productive and we can eventually create a market to pay them fare prices and help in their house income. The first module is on making Bolivian dolls and the second is painting in cloths to make table cloths and other things. These modules will be held for two months each. Then the next modules will be ceramic and woodworking. It is awesome to see the enthusiasm of these ladies, we have 20 women in one and 15 in the other. They really are enjoying it and we are praising the Lord! On Fridays, we have the kids from the neighborhood come to eat lunch, and after lunch, they have an hour to be fed spiritually with bible stories, songs, and crafts. We have two groups. In each group there is about 15 to 20 kids, so we have about 40 for now. Here, we are working in partnership with Betania Baptist church which is within walking distance from the House of Hope. This has been a testimony to the non believer neighbors particularly when they see all these kids coming into our house. The other day our neighbor across the street asked us if she could send her grandchildren even if they were not part of our religion. We said, you do not have to be part of our religion to come, please come and join us, we will be happy to have your kids on Fridays.

A New School Year At The Seminary

We started classes four weeks ago, so we are also working at the seminary, this is were we originally were called to serve. We believe that through the seminary, we will be able to train leaders who can be faithful to the integral mission commanded to us by Jesus Christ. The students are a blessing to us, to see their efforts in the academic demands and their lives transformed by the experiences of being exposed to a ministry that requires loving the people right where they are. Now this integral mission is possible for the students when they work atThe House of Hope. We praise the Lord for a new school year at the Seminary!

Please keep praying for our ministry here in Bolivia, there is so much to do. We need people that can be our partners in prayer and with their financial support for this ministry. Perhaps, the Lord might be calling some of you to come and be short term volunteers and have God transform your lives thru amissionary experience here in Bolivia, where people need to hear and experience the love of Jesus through you!May The Lord our God Bless you all richly.

Life is better because of Jesus!

The Morales Family