NTM

MINISTERING IN BOLIVIA
For 30 years God has privileged us to be used in church planting in the country of Paraguay. Now He has called us to serve in Bolivia. The work we will be doing in Bolivia is the same work we were doing in Paraguay for the last 5 years. This work was surveying the ethnic groups of Paraguay. Now we are helping the leadership of the Bolivian field by surveying the ethnic groups of Bolivia.

Survey of Ethnic groups… What is it?
Survey of ethnic groups involves gathering information about the people groups by traveling to the villages where they live and seeing what needs there are. Do they have a Bible in their own language? If they do, has anyone taught the people how to read the Bible in their own language? Have they been taught from God’s word? Are there believers? Is there a body of believers? These are some of the questions that need to be answered in order for the leadership to make good decisions. Many are the needs of the different ethnic groups and there are so few missionaries to meet those needs. So, we want to send the new workers to where they are needed most. The information gathered doing the survey of the ethnic groups will help our leaders to make these decisions.

There are 36 ethnic groups in Bolivia. Much information about these ethnic groups can be found on the Internet. Although easily available, the information acquired from the Internet needs to be verified with trips to the ethnic villages. Many of these villages are in remote areas. The roads in these areas are often impassable for weeks or even months. We would ask you to pray that God would guide and direct in the travel and visits to these remote villages.

Weenhayek Survey
In August we went to the Weenhayek (when-ha-yeck) villages to see what needs there were for church planters. The area that the Weenhayek live in is very hot and dry most of the year. Anyone living and working in that area would have to adjust to the intense heat. The Weenhayek have lived all their lives in that area and fishing and hunting have been a major part of their livelihood.
Traveling with two other missionaries we visited 5 of the 22 villages, which are home to the Weenhayek. Although a New Testament has been translated into the Weenhayek language there is a great need for Old Testament scriptures. There are few if any that really understand the gospel of grace. Pray for God’s leading in meeting these needs.

Quechua Villages.

  This Quechua man is one of the believers.  When we arrived he was behind a wooden plow.  His wife was leading the oxen that were pulling the wood plow. Hard work is one of the virtues that the Quechua esteem highly.

One of my co-workers needed to go to where he teaches the Quechua people in remote villages in the mountains. His vehicle was in the shop being worked on and so I offered to take him to the villages. The trip to these villages was about an hour and a half. What impressed me was that just a short distance from a (relatively) modern city people were living quite primitively. Their lives are lived very simply and yet they have all they need to live and survive. The people still plow with a wooden plow and cultivate the land with hoes. Potatoes are a major part of their diet. Some cultivate fields that are 13,000 feet above sea level. The Quechua are a hardy people with a strong work ethic.

There are believers in some of the Quechua villages. The sad part is that so many have never known the Savior. Because of the remoteness of the villages there are still so many that have yet to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There are over 1,500,000 Quechua people in Bolivia.  Many of these people only speak the Quechua language. 

This Quechua woman and her children were working alongside of her husband to put in a crop.