Esperanza de Bolivia

INTO THE QUECHUAN VILLAGES

2011-04-08T18:24:00.006-04:00

APRIL 2011

INTO THE QUECHUAN VILLAGES During the last days of February through early March, Rhonda and I left for several Quechan villages north of La Paz. We were joined by two other ministries working together to reach these villages with medical and dental aide and the Word of God. Lovely Feet Ministries was leading the evangelism effort with a Bolivian musician and the Helmer Five, five young people from Illinois who had arrived in Bolivia in January to learn Spanish before making this trip. A Cup of Cold Water Ministries, led by Phillip Kittelson arranged the connections and led the way with his Isuzu jeeps, and The Macedonia Project led the medical effort with nurse Julie Dalcheck and her husband Tom. Four Bolivian doctors and two Bolivian dentists gave their time to bring the needed medical and dental aid to the Quechua people.

This was a united effort and the largest that we have undertaken. Our leaving was delayed by two days because the department of health in Bolivia refused to allow the medicines brought by Tom and Julie from the United States into the country and because bus and taxi drivers in La Paz were protesting and blocked the roads of the city preventing anyone from entering or leaving. We used the time to purchase medications here for the trip and we were able to leave on Saturday, February 26th. Our efforts were still slowed by heavy rains that had been falling for more than a month threatening to close roads all around us. Our first day of driving was an indication of what lie ahead of us. High water flowed through muddy mountain roads and put us hours behind. We were surrounded by clouds and rain through the night that limited us to traveling an average of about 8 miles per hour. We arrived at Mollo Grande, a Quechua village with a single evangelical church on the side of the mountain that we hiked up to at about 2:00 a.m. where we were able to sleep in the dirt floor. Sunday, we were well received as I ministered the Word, and Rhonda and the team of young people ministered in drama to the adults and children. Monday we were met early by people of the church and village eager for medical and dental attention.

Almost all of the women of this village spoke only Quechua and so Felix, one of the first adult Christians in this village translated for us. The evangelism team ministered dramas and music in the village school and we were allowed to pray with all the children to receive Jesus. Then, we hiked to a neighboring village where we repeated our ministry and prayers.

The days were a great blessing but we were behind again as we left for the next village only to be met with more rain, more clouds and even snow over a mountain pass at 15,800 feet above sea level. Finally, we were met by a small river washing through our road. After assessing its depth we were able to drive through and into the next village of Huancu. This was not our destination, but it was late, rainy and we were tired so we were able to convince a family to let us stay in their building putting our team of 21 people on the floor. A few of us met the village chief late that night in the ankle deep mud of a storm and he gave us permission to hold a medical clinic in his village.

We met the school director as well and he, too, gave us permission to present our dramas and the Word of God to the entire school, while the medical team administered fluoride for their teeth and medicine to cure parasites. Again, it was a great success, although there was no evangelical church there, many received the word with thanksgiving and prayer. We reached another town named Charizani on our route, the only other town in our plan and experienced success at the schools, even though this town is known for being in the control of three medicine men that practice witchcraft. We were invited to each and every classroom to repeat our presentations and pray with the children and teachers.

We left the following day after staying in a hostel and an actual bed. But again our way was blocked. We dug out the road from a landslide giving us just enough room to pass, and then quickly drove then another as the mud and rocks were sliding off the side of the mountain and into the path but then we were completely stopped. It had taken us an hour and a half to drive 8 miles to where the water was flowing off the mountain so swiftly and in such quantity that it had made a waterfall that washed out the road.

We were forced to return to Charizani and plan another route for the next day. We arrived unexpectedly in the late afternoon at a village called Sayhuani where we asked the leaders to allow us to sleep in the floor of their village school. That night two of the doctors, a nurse and myself were led to the house of a very sick bedridden man to see if we could help. We invited inside the 14 foot by 20 foot mud house that had an open fire inside on the dirt floor. The house consisted of two beds where the family of five slept. By flashlight, the doctors examined the grandfather whose legs were swollen and breathing was shallow. They gave him medications, treating his condition as best as they could and I shared the gospel with him and his family. After praying with me, he accepted the Holy Communion with thanksgiving.

The next day we conducted the medical clinic and our dramas for every classroom in the school, and in the afternoon half of our team left for another village. We were urgently called to return to Sayhuani later that afternoon when some of the doctors found a ten day old baby that was dying. The forty year old mother had no milk and returned to her fields to work leaving the baby to die. But the baby’s sister asked us for help and our doctors believed that the baby could survive if we could get him to La Paz. It was already dark when our team met together to pray and ask God what to do. We were the only transportation available to La Paz. There are no ambulances, no other vehicles.

We all knew that the trip to La Paz through the night could be very dangerous, especially under the conditions that we had. La Paz is twelve hours with good travel and we had continually had rain and clouds. But we know that every life is valuable to God and we believed that God had directed our path to this town for this purpose. So, after asking the mother for the baby, she named him Pedro and gave him to us. Pedro arrived in La Paz on a Saturday morning, malnourished and jaundiced. His heart failed once and he had three convulsions, but he survived. He is still in the hospital, three weeks after his arrival, now with Meningitis. But he is no longer on the ventilator, he has put on weight and he is no longer jaundiced. We believe that God has saved him, that he will survive, and that God’s hand is on him strongly to be a witness to the entire village, to his people, and to this country. Please continue to pray for Pedro. BACK

TO THE VILLAGES Today, we are praying for Sam as he has gone to the Quechan villages for another journey with a team of doctors. He is there as a translator to help this American team of doctors. This is a social mission. Pray for Sam who is due to return April 8th.

THANK YOU Your prayers, your financial support has saved Pedro’s life and given eternal life to many. You are part of this team. We give thanks to God for you and all your prayers, support and encouragement.

Feb 2011 Newsletter

2011-02-21T12:38:00.003-05:00

February 2011

In the U.S.A.
Our return to the US was a complete blessing and success. We flew into Atlanta three days before Thanksgiving, drove to Chicago to be with my mother and brother and then began our “tour” beginning that Saturday in Steelville, Missouri and traveling through Tennessee, Georgia and our final stop in Florida on the 29th of December. We were so blessed to be with friends, relatives, and brothers and sisters in Christ who were interested to hear of how God has been moving in Bolivia. We received many needed donations to help with the ministry including a console, amplifier, and speakers to assist with our presentations in the plazas and a total of $4,700 toward the purchase of a truck to bring supplies to the Aymara villages of the Altiplano. We are currently in the process of looking for that truck but heavy rains have slowed our search. We will keep you updated.
We want to thank all of you who gave and a special thanks to the pastors and churches who opened their doors for this ministry. Because of you, thousands of Aymara will have the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

THANK YOU
Pastor Larry & Lavonna Cockerham and Living Word Fellowship, Cleveland, Tennessee
Pastor Mike &Regina and Straitway Baptist Church, Steelville, Missouri
Pastor Matt & Sharon Cook and Centerpoint Baptist Church, Steelville, Missouri
Pastor Jerry & Shelly Beers and First Assembly of God, Steelville, Missouri
Pastor John Hessel & First Baptist Church of Oakville, St. Louis, Missouri
Pastor Danny & Deborah Lance, and Temple of Praise, Rossville, Georgia
Pastor Andres & Ana Miranda, Light For the Nations, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Pastor John & Leah Horseman, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Coming Home
We returned home to La Paz, Bolivia on the morning of December 31st to protests in the street and government unrest. The toll booths on the way into the city from the airport were destroyed having been burned the night before. The fare for our taxi ride to our home had doubled and people were gathering early in the morning to march against an 85% gas hike by the President, Evo Morales. News reports showed that President Morales announced the hike on the government owned gas without any warning two days before we returned and the people took to the streets turning over government cars and burning them and raiding government buildings. A second day of these kinds of protests were planned when the President appeared at a news conference and “changed his mind.” The prices returned to normal immediately but with a schedule to gradually increase the price.

A second governmental problem occurred a few days later when the government decided to stop the import of sugar from surrounding nations telling the people to use alternative sugar or develop a refiner in Bolivia. Prices went up and shortages abound as we await the outcome of the government’s holding our sugar hostage.
On February 18 the country virtually shut down as bus drivers and tax drivers and teachers took to the streets to protest the gas prices and the lack of government pay. Thousands marched in every city in Bolivia and the people of Cochabamba set a road block to prevent any travel in or out of the city. Today, February 19, things returned to normal in El Alto and La Paz, but more marches are expected Tuesday.
Two week medical missions to remote areas

On February 25 Rhonda and I leave for remote villages on the Altiplano and into the lower tropics with a medical team of four doctors and two dentists and some youth to work with evangelism. This will be, by far, our most difficult trip. We will be gone for two weeks packing only a backpack and a sleeping bag. We will be hiking for two or three hours into some villages as no roads reach them and floating two vehicles across a river on dugout canoes.

This area was at one time, during the 60’s, evangelized by Lutherans but they are no longer in the area. We are unsure what we will find and how much of the area remains Christian. Pray for us to tolerate the temperature extremes, the sleeping on the ground, and hiking and pray for Sam as he remains at home with friends (and Chloe), and of course, pray for the people to receive us and the gospel along with their medical care.

January ministry plans, attacks and weather issues:
And then came the Rains
We hit the rainy season at the beginning of January which brought cold temperatures and frustrations of January ministry plans. We were rained out of our outreach in the plaza in the city and we cancelled a trip to a village of two hundred children because of other interference. An enemy attack caused Rhonda to be too sick to start the trip. She contracted parasites and was ill two out of four weeks in January. Sam and I met our team early that Saturday morning but even before we could begin the bus broke down. We were grateful that it occurred before we started and felt this was a blessing of God, but we were unable to secure any other vehicle and so the trip had to be cancelled.

Four of us were awakened at exactly midnight the night before we were to leave on this trip, each of us hearing voices or having nightmares. We later learned that there are witches in this village and we believe they were working against us. But we look forward to a future trip because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.

We have started other plans in our church including beginning cell group meetings in homes in various zones of La Paz and El Alto. They are in early stages but we are expecting to reap a harvest.

Moving to El Alto
As many of you already know we have moved our family up the mountains to the city of El Alto, a largely Aymara city at 14,000 feet above sea level. Our new home above a tiny store is smaller, but costs us less to rent. We are almost completely moved in and we are very happy to be here. It is, however, much colder and during this rainy season we wake up every day in a cloud. We are looking forward to some sun to shine through our fiberglass roof panels so we can stop wearing gloves and coats in the house.
The move also has caused us to shut down internet as well. Please expect email delays and less communication for a little while as we try and get service here in El Alto.

Upcoming plans
After we return from the medical mission trip we will be looking forward to starting regular visits into the villages. At the end of May we have our annual conference in Patacamaya, the Aymara town in the Altiplano, and after obtaining a vehicle soon (we pray) we will begin weekly treks to the villages to build relationships that will allow us to stay for a week at a time doing special Bible teachings. We are setting dates for plaza outreaches as well in both La Paz and El Alto. Finally, we are trying to partner with a social project here in Bolivia to put greenhouses in some villages. This is slow going but we are looking forward to our first greenhouse this year.

These projects are in addition to our regular preaching in churches in La Paz and El Alto, our cell groups and the possibility of Rhonda starting a new project with the children of the prison of San Pedro. Please, keep us in prayer.

PRAYER AND FINANCIAL REPORT
Through the generous giving of our partners we have $4,700 for our vehicle, but we are asking you to consider giving to this need and keeping it in prayer before the Lord. This will vastly improve our ability to reach the villages on a regular basis. Please pray.

White unto Harvest
Brothers I recently read a newsletter from a ministry that reported that for every $96 of operating cost, one soul was added to the Kingdom of God. WOW, what a great testimony.

Lovely Feet doesn’t keep those kind of statistics but we do see God working every day in so many ways. We are seeing lives changed but sometimes it is not as quickly as we hope. While $96 is so little to invest to see a soul saved, I am certain my brothers in this ministry desire to see more come to Jesus.

Friends and brothers, we are Americans. We can’t help but search for measurable results and yet we know it is the Lord that does the measuring not us. We sometimes get discouraged; we sometimes feel like we should be doing more, we sometimes wish we didn’t have so much to do. We sometimes worry that we have too many to disciple effectively, other times we wonder where are the true seekers…you get the idea.
As you read this, remember Lovely Feet Ministries in your prayers. Think of your other friends and relatives that you know in ministry (pastoral, missions, teaching, music, children, youth, etc) and pray that the Lord would encourage them (and us) in their spirits. Pray that the Lord would wash them in peace and joy in their service of Him. Pray that the Lord would give them FRESHNESS in their personal spiritual journey with Him. Pray that all of us would not grow weary of doing good. Pray that God would refresh us in mind, body and spirit. (No, really, stop right now and pray this out loud. I guarantee that one of us…ok ALL of us need this from our Father!)

Jesus tells us that “the fields are white unto harvest”. He asks us to “pray for God to send workers into the field”. There are many of us in the field….but the fields are so much bigger than we imagine. We join our Lord in His request. Please pray for God to send workers into the field; this is our prayer as well. Your job is a field that is white for harvest, your school is a field that is white for harvest, your neighborhood, your family and even your local church are fields that are white for harvest. Ask God to give you the faith to pray “Here am I Lord, send me”. Pray it, believe it, He will do it!

Lovely Feet Newsletter October 2010

2010-10-29T08:29:00.009-04:00

ON OUR WAY TO THE STATES
That’s right, we are on our way back to the states for a short visit at the end of November through December. We fly into Chicago, drive to St. Louis, then back to Tennessee to visit our churches and Ron’s mother for Christmas.

This is a much needed trip and we ask you to prayerfully consider partnering financially with us. We are in need of additional funding to continue our work to the Aymara villages and the people of El Alto and La Paz. We have seen great progress watching the hand of God work mightily. Send your tax deductible gift to Lovely Feet, PO Box 21715, Chattanooga, TN 37424

THE CONFERENCE
Rhonda wrote in her diary the plans for an international conference to take place in El Alto, the Aymara city above La Paz, one year ago(2009). She wrote down the classes she wanted and the people that we would ask to come and then she began praying. The first weekend in September 2010 we saw the answers to those prayers as preachers from the United States, Mexico, and Peru arrived. We had two and a half days of teaching, preaching and praying in El Alto with many different denominations, Church of God, Assemblies of God, Pentecostal International, Baptist, Church of the Nazarene, Independent, Lutheran, and Church of God of Prophecy.

We prayed side by side for Bolivia, repented for our divisions, and for the innocent blood shed at the hands of false gods and on Saturday we partook of the Holy Communion together. It was a special time in the Lord, a time of unity, an answer to prayer.

MAN MAKES HIS PLANS BUT GOD ORDERS HIS STEPS
Planning a conference of this size and influence takes weeks, even months of work and the last days beforehand can be exhausting. And so it was right up until Thursday when the conference was to begin. I was to give the opening sermon that night, something I did not think I was going to do until Monday when God told me. I needed time to rest, time to study, time to pray, but there was going to be a delivery at the building where the conference was taking place---400 bottles of Coke and 150 chairs. I arrived at almost the same time as the Coke and the metal building door was open, but the second floor room we rented was not. I had no place to the put the Coke except outside in the rain because there is no room inside the door, there is only a small space and a staircase leading to the second floor and up to the fifth floor where there is a radio station. And the small space inside the door was occupied by a young girl in a wheelchair and her cousin.
I was cold, wet and tired and my plans were frustrated by a locked door and the owner who I could not reach by phone. I sat down and started to talk to the girl in wheelchair, Sonya. She, too, was frustrated. She was to be on the radio on a social program to ask for help to receive an operation to relieve the pain in her back and adjust her spinal column. This was to be the first operation of three operations but she had no money for any operation. And there she was in the cold with no way to get to the radio station on the fifth floor. There are no elevators in this building.
I managed to obtain a garage for my coke and chairs next door and after I finally finished moving everything I saw Sonya still in the doorway waiting for some way to climb the five floors to the radio station. I asked a man on the street for help and together we carried her up the five floors in her wheelchair. Her cousin had to leave her, going to work, so I stayed and listened to her story as she was interviewed on the air. She had been beaten by her husband, thrown down 30 feet and left for dead. Her spine was broken, she was completely paralyzed from the waist down and she was in a coma for 4 days. She was without work and dependent upon her family for help for herself and her daughter. I listened for an hour and the radio announcer, a friend of mine, asked if I wanted to pray for her on the air. I said yes and I talked to her first about Jesus. She was not a Christian. I told her I would pray for her health but that the greatest miracle she could receive was Jesus in her life and there, on the air, she prayed with me to receive Jesus as her Savior.

She came to the conference Friday night and we prayed for her and took up an offering for her to help get her surgery. She calls me her Pastor now and she is going back to the hospital soon. I will be there with her.
This alone makes all of the work of the conference, all of the costs worth it. This was not our plan, and I did not want to be there at this time, but while we make our plans God orders our steps. Glory to God!

THE TEACHINGS CENTERING AROUND UNITY, MANY CHURCHES REPRESENTED
The conference began Thursday night with a message about the great things we can do in God if we put away our differences, come together and pray together. The enemy is not each other but is the devil who continues to try and separate us. The message was met with agreement and at the end of the night we prayed for forgiveness and unity. That set the stage for people from different churches and different nations to join in the teaching.

Pastor Danny Lance of the United States taught on How to be a True Worshiper and on Small Groups, Astrid Lucas, born in Columbia, now from the US taught on Spiritual Warfare, Missionary to Mexico, Elaine Wilburn taught on Women’s Groups and gave another message of Unity on Friday night, Pastors Doris and Gustavo of Bolivia taught on Teaching Children, Pastor Roger Vaca of Santa Cruz, Bolivia taught on The Doctrines of Salvation, Pastor Angel Condori of La Paz, Bolivia taught on Evangelism, Rick Sharp also of the US, taught on the Covenant Relationship and led us all in The Holy Communion, Rhonda taught a Drama Workshop, and Pastor Jose Luis of Peru gave us an understanding of healing and prayed for the sick.

Rhonda closed our conference with a stirring message on repentance for the nation of Bolivia and the past sins of sacrifice to other gods, leading the conference to its knees to pray for the future of this nation.

HOW FAR DOES IT REACH
There is no telling how far these teachings reach or how much influence they hold. In this we walk in faith and trust the word of God that says that his word will not return void. But there was more to the conference than simply the conference. In the days prior to the conference, I appeared on two different radio stations advertising the conference and talking about its influence. Rhonda, Astrid and I all preached on an Aymara radio station, bringing messages of unity in the Christian faith and how Jesus is the only way of salvation. My friend, Richard, spoke in Aymara on a radio station about the conference and Astrid, Pastor Angel Condori and I appeared on television on a day given to Pachamama to talk about the conference devoted to God and His word. In one moment, the host of the television show asked Astrid what she was teaching and when she replied Spiritual Warfare he turned white and was visibly shaken.

MEDICAL MISSION
Later in September Rhonda, Astrid and Elaine accompanied a group of Medical Missionaries from the USA and San Salvador.

They traveled first to Oruro where they saw almost a 1,000 people in two days. Next the group traveled to Cochabamba where in two days they saw another 1,000 people.
Many were helped physically and many were touched spiritually. The whole team operated in unity and prayed together and with the people of Bolivia.
I have never seen such unity in a mission group! It was a wonderful testimony to the working of the Holy Spirit.

OUTREACH IN THE PLAZA
Last Friday night we tried another new outreach plan, an outreach in Plaza San Pedro, a small park next to the prison. We began by playing music that the people would recognize, Beatle music, Stand By Me, and mixed in some Christian worship songs. A small crowd began to gather singing along with some of the songs. Then Sam and his drama team did a skit showing the enemies influence and the power of God. We followed by showing a Christian film.

I was actually surprised by the number of people who stayed and watched and by the number of people who came forward after the film to receive Jesus as their savior. It was a great time in the Lord, his presence was sweet and filled the plaza. We have two more planned for the month of November in El Alto.

August 2010 Newsletter

2010-08-19T13:08:00.013-04:00

The Village of Gagawallu
The month of July found us traveling into the Altiplano again to a village on the other side of Patacamaya known as Gagawallu. This village was the smallest one we have visited thus far and we took our smallest team in order to save on costs. But the night before going, I could not sleep, feeling we did not have enough prayer cover. I was up very early in prayer and Rhonda sent out an urgent prayer request over Facebook, to which many of you responded.

Our first small trial came as our driver forgot his license. The government maintains check points throughout the country where every driver must submit his license before he can pass. Our bus became quiet as all of us began to pray. Not one of us in the bus had a license to drive. But the line at the checkpoint was long and the police began to rush through the traffic. In a matter of seconds we were through and on our way down the highway and then off-road for another five or ten miles until we reached the small village. We were formally greeted by the chief officers of the village and allowed to minister to the group of about 30 children and 10 adults with music, dramas, and even a clown. Then Rhonda preached a short message of salvation and everyone present prayed with her to receive Jesus.

Then, the leader of the village pleaded with us to return in the summer, to stay for a week and teach the village more about Jesus. We have tentatively scheduled this for December (which is summer here), although we are unsure how we can get there at this time.
After a blessed meal of potatoes and Llama jerky and one egg saved exclusively for me, we began our trek back to La Paz, traveling down the very steep mountain. We smelled smoke and suddenly, the brakes on our van caught fire, but we were able to come to a stop at about a 40 degree angle and avoid any mishaps. So many tragedies could have occurred but we believe were clothed in Christ through the power of prayer and instead we had one of the best journeys yet.

Thank you to our churches dedicated to our mission

We want to acknowledge and thank the churches who have given as a church to this mission this quarter. After showing our DVD and/or keeping this mission in the hearts of their congregations Living Word Fellowship of Cleveland, Tennessee, Straightway Baptist of Steelville, Missouri and Good Shepherd Lutheran of Chattanooga, Tennessee made whole church offerings to open the hearts of the Bolivian people to the Word of God. While the months of January and February saw us spending more than we were bringing in, these donations helped us meet and exceed our budgets. Thank you and thank the Lord for you.

Movie night
In an effort to help a new church plant in the neighborhood of Miraflores in La Paz, Lovely Feet held a Friday night movie at the church. We served free Choripan, a sandwhich made of sausage and bread, to those who came to see the movie. The church regularly has about five people coming to its service, but on this Friday night we had more than forty people come to enjoy the showing of a Christian film. Nine of the new people that attended came forward after the film to receive Jesus. It was a great success and a great encouragement for this new pastor. Glory to God.

International Interdenominational Conference
Our second conference begins the first week of September in El Alto. This one is for the people of the cities of El Alto and La Paz and is aimed at encouraging the existing churches. Our Theme “Encourage One Another” from 1 Thessalonians 5:11. We are very excited to have a team of teachers, pastors and leaders join us for this International Interdenominational Conference. Composer and Pastor Danny Lance comes to us from Georgia along with Professor of Hebrew studies, Dr. Rick Sharp; from Precept ministries in Tennessee from San Salvador Pastor Roberto Bautista; Missionary from Mexico and leader of women’s ministries Elaine Wilburn; born in Columbia, now from Tennessee, Teacher of English and Family Counselor, Astrid Lucas; Missionary to La Paz, Bolivia from Santa Cruz, Pastor Roger Vaca; Missionary to children of poverty, from Bolivia Pastors Gustavo and Doris Mercado; and our own Pastor Angel Condori, evangelist to the Aymara. We ask those who can to consider fasting for spiritual guidance and strength for this conference.

Vigil
Friday night the temperature in El Alto dropped and a rainy snow began to fall around the little church known as The Ark of Jesus. It was 9:30 pm and our band was just tuning up to begin the service. That’s right, the service was about to BEGIN at 9:30pm. It was a Friday night vigil which meant this service would last until 6:00a.m. in a building on the far side of El Alto, where the streets are not paved and there is no heat in the building.

In fact, there was no bathroom in the building! Yet, the people were beginning to arrive, Christians AND non-Christians to hear several worship bands and several young preachers. Our band would play first followed by a salvation message by our son, Tim who would begin his alter call near midnight. By that time, the building was full of nearly 100 people during the coldest night of the year. It was a blessed time in the Lord and reminds me of the words of Jesus when he said, “Why do you sleep? Could you not pray one hour with me?” These people could have!

Preaching in the Park to the children of El Alto
The second Sunday of July we traveled into El Alto again to help Pastora Doris and Pastor Gustavo with a special service to be held in a plaza close to their church, Remenete de Israel. This is a special church for the poor children of this El Alto neighborhood. No adults attend, but the children come and receive snacks and sometimes clothes from their Pastors for memorizing scripture. The children love to dance and Pastora Doris choreographs many different dances to Christian music. On this particular Sunday the children were dressed and ready to dance in the plaza while our team invited the children from the streets to come and dance with us, watch our dramas and puppet shows, sing with us, and pray to receive Jesus.

Tim preached the message about sin and service to God. Sam translated the message and we were very proud of them both. Many new children came and the crowd grew to close to fifty people, all who prayed to receive Jesus.

Project – Future of Bolivia
We are beginning a special project for this outreach mission. It barely financially exists but it is the FUTURE OF BOLIVIA. The parents of most of these children are not Christians but they recognize the work of these Christian pastors in the lives of their children. They need financial help! We are asking all the churches reading this newsletter to consider giving the children of your church a mission. Ask the children of your church to support the children of this church. If this church received only $25 dollars a month it would be an amazing help.

This tiny church has four services a week because the children have nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. They are dedicated and know their Bibles and their verses. The children love their pastors who have literally laid their own lives down for these children. Pastors Doris and Gustavo receive no money and in fact, use their own money to pay the rent on this building, buy food for these children and sometimes even provide clothes. Please prayerfully consider this mission. Any donations sent to Lovely Feet marked for Remanente de Israel will go straight to this ministry.

“The Road to Tarija” by Samuel McMeen
I had 2 Weeks notice on a choice to go to the national youth camp of the Church of God. In those two weeks I was thinking I might go, and then I thought I might not. I was undecided until the night before when I decided I would go.

The next day, the day we are supposed to leave, the leader of the youth group I was going with calls me up and says “It is impossible to go. There is no way in the world we would make it there.”
Two of my friends, David and Rocío, were already at my house and ready to go with all their stuff. We were very disappointed. We called David’s brother and he said “Oh, I don’t believe that. I´ll go check it out.” So he went to the bus station at about three o´clock Thursday afternoon. At 4:40 he calls us and tells us that there is a bus leaving at 5:00pm. TWENTY MINTUES!?!?! So in twenty minutes we had to: 1) finish eating, 2) decide if we still wanted to go, and 3) get our things together and get to the bus station.
We decide take the adventure and go to Tarija! We rushed to the bus station…running….running. We were told that the bus should arrive in Tarija at 5pm the next day, Friday. That is a long bus ride but we agreed. We loaded on to the bus a seconds before it departed. In fact, we weren’t even in our seats yet as the bus pulled away from the station.

At about the half way point a man told us that we were going a different route and that we wouldn’t arrive until 1:30am Saturday morning. Long story short, after 32 hours in an uncomfortable bus we arrived at Tarija in all its glory. It’s actually a very small city.

Anyway when we arrived there were about 70 people at the camp. As the day wore on, more people showed up. By Saturday night there was around 150 young adults and even more children of 12 and younger.
Early Saturday afternoon a group of missionaries from Oklahoma arrived. The wife of the leader of the group had met my mom at a women´s conference last November in Santa Cruz. They had one translator that was Bolivian and his English was very good. But because the number of youth increased they wanted to split it up, they asked me to translate. So I shined out among the Bolivian brown skin. When we were introduced, the wife of the leader asked me if I was a “Haynes”. Anyway they asked me to translate for the other missionary. So that was a surprise. After I translated we ate lunch and about thirty more people arrived.

On Saturday night a guest speaker from Paraguay preached. After he preached several churches gave specials such as: dramas, musical numbers, mimes, and one church even had two clowns do a routine. After all this we started worshiping the Lord with a live band. Kids of all ages, from 6-100, worshiped their Creator. As the night moved in the pastor from Paraguay started praying for the people and stopped the music several times to tell prophesies over the people he prayed for. As he prayed I popped out to him and he asked me to come forward and asked questions like: why I was here, what was I doing, why Bolivia, etc. after answering his questions he prophesied over me that he saw me with “little Africans”. He saw me in Africa and several other countries that God showed to him.

After the message on Sunday morning, we ate lunch everyone came together for final prayer and fellowship with the other people that were at the conference.
We climbed on the bus for another 30 hour uneventful trip. I arrived home safe and sound Tuesday evening. I was glad I went and blessed beyond what I thought possible.

Teaching English
This past week I (Rhonda) began teaching English at Fuego Celestial (Heavenly Fire) to 9 young people. This Sunday I will begin teaching the same program to a group of 20 at Jehovah es mi Guerrero (Jehovah is my Warrior). This program uses the Bible to teach English. The result is two-fold, I am able to teach about Jesus and his love for us and I am able to equip the people with basic English skills that help them in their jobs and in their future. It is a great blessing to me to have this opportunity. We are hoping that this program will bring in people who don’t know Jesus but want to learn English. I am teaching the class for free. The cost to Lovely Feet is not much…just the photo copies for the materials.
Please pray for this ongoing outreach project.

June 2010 Lovely Feet Newsletter

2010-06-03T13:01:00.007-04:00

MINISTRY AT THE WITCHES MARKET
Many of you may recall that God spoke to me in 2008 about going to the witches market here in La Paz. This market sells potions, gods and llama fetuses to bring blessings. God told me to bring one bible, highlighted in yellow over verses of salvation and verses of deliverance. Four of us prayed and sought the person God wanted me to give that bible to. God told me that she would then preach the gospel to others. We found this woman in a witches booth and prayed with her about salvation, leaving her the bible. While Sofia and Astrid were here we returned to the sight of the booth where I found that person. She was not there…in fact, the entire booth…the entire building, is no longer there as well as some other booths. I am convinced that this is a victory of God and that she and others have closed their stands to serve God, the true giver of blessings! Praise God!

SPECIAL THANK YOU
We wanted to give a special thanks to Living Word Church, Cleveland, Tennessee and Straightway Baptist Church, Steelville, Missouri for you special giving as a church to this ministry. The mission is before your eyes and we are grateful and you are in our hearts.
Also special thanks to all of those who have given special gifts for the projector and generator which enables us to bring the Jesus film to the villages. And for those who gave for the Proclaimers that bring the Word of God in the language of the Aymara to the people. We are continuing to distribute these blessings!

MISSIONARY TEAMS FROM THE U.S.
In March and April we were blessed to have two teams of missionaries visit us. Astrid Lucas, a board member from Lovely Feet, and Sofia Miranda, the daughter of Pastor Andres Miranda, blessed us in the churches and streets of La Paz and El Alto, and took a trip with us to the village of Sicsilla where they ministered with us and presented a Proclaimer, an Aymara Bible and a Strong’s Concordance to the village leader. This village was so blessed they sent representatives to the Conference through the mountains on dirt roads for three hours to see us again and hear more of the Word of God.
Early in April, Steve Reed’s team of twelve came from Florida to minister to the churches in El Alto by working side by side with them to build a church building for the people. Steve and his team has been working on one such building over a period of years and now that building is holding regular services and looking forward to the day when a radio station will begin broadcasting the Word and orphans can also find shelter in the rooms still being constructed on the first floor. Additionally, our church, Rey de Reyes, has founded a church inside the prison and Steve’s team bought beams to repair the structure inside the prison being used as a meeting house.
Thank you both teams. You have no idea how far your influence is going. Praise God.

BACK TO HEALTH
Thank you all for praying for me. Most of you know that I began getting sick in April after a long period of exhaustion. I had a fever that went away but left me with weeks of diarrhea, weight loss and fatigue. Then the fever returned with a vengeance of 104 degrees. I was hospitalized for a week and nearly met the Lord before my time. Our prayers were answered and I was delivered from dysentery. We are convinced this was an attack of the enemy before the Conference, but by conference time, my strength returned and I was blessed to preach and teach the Word. Glory to God.

FUTURE PLANS AND PRAYER REQUESTS
• We are planning a much larger conference here in the city of La Paz in September. Please be in prayer for this and give generously. We will again be offering Bibles at a discount.

• This is a typical road to a village in the Altiplano. We believe that in order to reach the people in the villages in the Altiplano that we need a vehicle. Currently we have to rent a microbus that costs us about $100 for the day. This restricts our visits to a village to once a month. In addition the further villages we are not able to reach as a micro driver is not willing to spend the night. We are praying for a used pickup truck with an extended cab for supplies and other ministers

To give for specific purpose send donations to: Lovely Feet Ministries, PO Box 21715, Chattanooga TN 37424 and designate “TRUCK”,”CONFERENCE”,”BIBLES”. Or you can donate through our website at www.lovelyfeet.org and send an email to info@lovelyfeet.org to designate your offering.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR FAITHFUL GIVING!

VILLAGE CONFERENCE FOR PASTORS AND LEADERS
The Village Conference in Patacamaya was a great success and blessing of God. Last weekend we were able to bring together leaders and pastors of more than twelve different villages in the middle of the frozen dessert of the Altiplano. We were about 3 hours away from La Paz, 14,000 feet above sea level, in a place that looks like the New Mexico dessert. The ground is rocky, the soil terrible, the weather, always cold warmed by a bright sun in a brilliant blue sky. Sun burn can occur in 10 minutes for this white boy! We were in a town called Tolar, which means bitter water...and unless you want to die you do not drink the water! This spot is smaller than Benton, TN but it does have a hotel...the Gran Poder which means Great Power....don't ask me why.
70 people came, all Aymara. One village was more than 3 hours away by a good bus...which I'm not sure how the people were able to come. I do know that several villages pitched together for a bus, but there is no telling how far they had to walk first.
At first, the people were nervous, not knowing what to expect and many never experienced anything like this before, never stayed in a hotel before. But as the day began with a DVD of culturally relevant music except that it was Christian and the teachings started they warmed up more and more. Friday night we hired a music group to come, again Christian music but culturally familiar. You could see the smiles on their faces as some of the people began to dance. Rhonda got swept away by the music group to dance with them in a circle holding hands! The people smiled and clapped.

Some of the younger people went outside and played volleyball together. It was wonderful to watch them enjoying themselves...villages that rarely can get together because of the great distance. And they were excited to get their rooms...3 people to a room. I have been to some of their houses which don't have a bathroom in the house...some villages don't have a bathroom period, they just go in the field and their houses are simply one room adobe blocks with a bed and a chair, some having only dirt floors. Here in the hotel they had floors and an indoor bathroom with a shower (although the water doesn't get exactly hot) yet the hotel did not have heat, although we had 5 blankets...Sam shivered his way through the night!

Some of the villages were only able to send one person, one leader but other villages sent 3 or 6 people. The people were engaged in every class and we sold Spanish bibles for $1.50 or 10 Bolivianos while they cost us 27 (about $4). We gave each person a coupon for this discounted rate. Most of these people never could afford a Bible and didn't have one. One man thanked us for the opportunity saying he and his wife shared one Bible and now they would be able to have two...an answer to prayer. We sold 55 Bibles to 70 people and then at the end we said if you want another you can have it for 10 Bs as well and in 5 minutes the rest were gone...all 100 Bibles, many of the people taking a Bible back to the village for someone else.

NOT A SINGLE PERSON LEFT THE CONFERENCE EARLY even though they had a long way to go back and would have to travel through pitch black darkness. All remained and we gave them a certificate of completion which they held up in victory. They do not have cameras but they wanted us to have a picture of them and many held their certificates up to have a picture taken with us...for us. This is culturally normal, they will never see the picture but they wanted us to have one of them for us to remember.

The blessing and the influence that this conference will have on their lives can never be measured, and I am not sure who received the greatest blessing, them or us. God was there, real and tangible, and the whole event became easy.

The list of classes was Old Testament, New Testament, How to Study The Bible, How to be a Leader (like Jesus), the Doctrines of Salvation *almost the whole place came forward for prayer*, Evangelism, The Gifts of the Spirit, and Spiritual Warfare.

Thank you for praying, they were answered. Most of the cost of this conference, including meals and rooms was paid by you, Lovely Feet partners. It is impossible for the Aymara to pay these costs. The gospel was preached because of your prayers, your giving, your sacrifices. Thank you! We thank God for all of you.

2010-04-01T21:19:00.004-04:00

(sorry about not having any pictures this time. Internet connection is very slow. Check out facebook for more photos... Rhonda Garrison Haynes)

Welcome Good Shepherd Lutheran Church http://www.gslcflock.org/
We are thrilled to announce that Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee has voted to sponsor Lovely Feet Ministries and our work in Bolivia on a monthly basis. We have had many churches help us along the way but this is our first church to vote to include us in their budget every month. We thank you for your help and for your dedication to this ministry to reach the Aymara people of Bolivia with the word of God. We praise God for you. Diosampiki (God be with you in Aymara).

On the Radio
At the end of February I was invited as a guest to the radio station of Majestad, 105.7 F.M. in El Alto, Bolivia. El Alto is a city of about a million people, mostly Aymara, more than two miles above sea level and the radio station broadcasts to more than 2 million people including the city of La Paz and the world through the internet. The interview was successful and I was invited to return as a weekly guest preaching the parables of Jesus for about 20 minutes every Thursday between 9:30 and 10:30a.m. for the next six months. This is a great opportunity as the cities of La Paz and El Alto are full of cab drivers that listen to the radio all day. I preach in Spanish, although my Spanish is still rough, so I write the sermons out and have them corrected by a friend. We are also recording the messages and offering them on a CD for free.

While we were in the States, prior to leaving for Bolivia I felt that God was speaking to me about being on the radio. I told this to Rhonda but at the time we had no idea how this would happen or when and so we shrugged our shoulders and said, “hmph, good idea,” and that was the end of it. This invitation came as a complete surprise to me. My pastor approached me and said, you have an opportunity to be interviewed on the radio in two days…do you want to go? I told him yes and we were on our way. The rest is simply God. Keep us in prayer.
You can listen on the internet at http://www.megalink.biz/radio/majestad/wmp.php

The Villages of Ayohuayco and Siqsilla
In February and March we mounted up the bus for a trip to the villages of Ayohuayco and Siqsilla (we really have no idea if this is truly how you spell the names of these villages), four hours to 5 hours from La Paz. We loaded our Bible story books in Aymara, food, toys, and clothes and took our team of about fifteen people, including Pastor Gustavo from El Alto, dressed as a clown to entertain the children. This was our furthest journey yet, traveling off road through the dessert and then through great mountains and canyons that take your breath away. The road was narrow, hanging on the edge of the mountains and we prayed that no vehicle would come from the other direction because there would be no room to pass. We could see the tiny village of AY set in between mountains thirty minutes before we arrived.

Stepping off the bus in Ayohuayco, Ron was greeted by a woman who removed his hat and poured flower petals over his head as a traditional welcome. After many smiles and curious stares at the white people we were shown a boy of three years with a broken leg. There is no medical care in AY and all they could do was to wrap his leg in a cloth. We wanted to pray for him but he was taken away and we did not see him again. We were taken to the area used as a school and introduced to about 200 hundred children, some who had walked many miles to see and hear us and receive gifts from us. We presented dramas about Adam and Eve, the enemy and our savior Jesus, as well as entertained with our clown and through music and then all the children prayed with Rhonda to receive Jesus in their lives. Our Pastor Angel ministered to the adults in Aymara and many prayed with him, too.

Naturally, the children were anxious to receive their gifts, but the most touching thing to us was when asked what was their favorite thing, they unanimously answered the materials, not the toys. The materials are the Bible story books in their own language, Aymara. They didn’t have anything to read in their own language until they received these stories.

In March we hit the trail again, only this time we had our visiting missionaries Sophia Miranda and Astrid Lucas with us. After the five hour trip we were again greeted warmly and many prayed with us to receive Jesus. Sophia and Astrid delivered to us some Proclaimers and we were able to make a presentation to the local leader. His smile grew and grew as we first presented the Proclaimer speaking the New Testament in his own language of Aymara and gave him his first Bible in Aymara. We also gave him a Spanish Bible and a Spanish Concordance that would help him study and lead his village in lessons from the Bible. He and the village leaders were thrilled and we prayed together.

The villagers had one request. Like the people of Ayohuayco, Siqsilla has no medications, no help for sickness, not even bandages and they asked for help. While we cannot afford to build buildings at this time or donate paint for villages, but this is a project that we wanted to get involved in. We cannot obtain medications or even vitamins through the mail, but if you want to give to this project, give your donations to our website and send a special message for Medicine Project to help these villages and we will purchase the medications here in La Paz. We will also be visiting pharmacy companies here in Bolivia to see if they can help.

Watch a short video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r5N-mFQPzA or

Mission Trip from the States
Sophia Miranda and Astrid Lucas, both from the United States, came this month on a whirlwind tour of the churches we help and the Altiplano village of SC. Arriving late March 13 after plane trouble they immediately began encouraging the churches here. Astrid preached Sunday morning, Sofia preached Sunday afternoon, and they continued visiting five different churches in ten days. Both appeared on our radio show as well being interviewed about their lives in God.

On March 19 we went to the poverty struck city of El Alto to show the Jesus film at a tiny congregation and to serve free Choripan (this is a popular sausage sandwich). We had more than 125 people at the church that normally has 25 in attendance. Many prayed and received Jesus for the first time. Pastor Emilio said the following Sunday saw many of them return.

April 3rd we see the return of Steven Reed from Florida who will be bringing a team of 12 to work construction on some of the church projects in the area. This, too, will be an extremely busy time. We look forward to working with his team.

Teaching the Bible and English
Ron began teaching a 26 week course in Old Testament in February in our home that grew and moved into our church in La Paz every Thursday. He has been asked to take the class to El Alto beginning in mid April. We hope to record it and make it available on DVD or CD soon.

Rhonda began teaching English to Bolivians this second week of March. She is already in demand and we are hoping to use these classes as an outreach event to speak to people about the love of Jesus who ordinarily would not listen.

We are gearing up for a seminar in a small town two hours away from La Paz, called Patacamaya. There is a small Christian population there that has need of teaching. We are attempting to organize this with the people from our church during the first week of May before the cold hits El Alto. Once the cold starts there is no doing anything except surviving until the thaw in September.

INSIDE THE PRISON WALLS
Finally, I was able to traverse the prison walls and enter into San Pedro prison. As we mentioned before this prison houses men, women and children. If a man commits a crime, his entire family must go to prison with him. It is estimated that 300-500 children are housed in this prison that sits on one city block.

I was greeted by guards in a concrete room with peeling paint and dirt everywhere. I emptied my pockets and was frisked by two guards who checked even the pages of my Bible and then I was escorted to the gate of the courtyard where men inside were hanging on the bars asking for money, shoes, and toothpaste. The small courtyard had about 100 men milling about in the light rain chaotically shouting to one another, the guards and to me. I was led up some broken concrete steps to a room off the courtyard. There were two men who were expecting me and who had invited some others to come to this meeting. The floor was soft, the beams rotten and they asked if I could raise some money for a beam to secure the floor. They wanted to show me the beam so we went back outside in the rain and I promptly fell down the concrete steps. I was unharmed and went back into our room to preach a short sermon, talk and pray with the men who came.

Three accepted Jesus as their savior and five asked me to pastor a church inside the prison walls. I agreed to return every Wednesday at 3pm to preach and pray with as many men as would like to attend. The men agreed to paint a sign declaring their church for Jesus.

I asked to be taken to see the children the next Wednesday but the guards changed their minds the following week and I was again denied access. I have asked a Bolivian leader of our church to Pastor this tiny congregation and he told me that he was asking God for direction and that he believed this was it. I am teaching him the Bible and sharing sermons with him for him to preach until he feels like he can take it on his own. We wait and pray for favor to return. Please pray for Javier Rivera, the new pastor of Rey de Reyes inside San Pedro prison.

WE love our partners!
None of this is possible without the prayer and financial support of our partners. Please continue to pray for us and write as sometimes we can get lonely. Our web address is http://www.lovelyfeet.org/ email at Ron@lovelyfeet.org or mail us your photo for our prayer wall at
Haynes, Ronald, caja 2576 La Paz, Bolivia.
There is no zip code and it can take 6 weeks to reach us, but we are happy to receive mail. Do not send money to the Bolivia box.
Thank you all, we love you. Ron, Rhonda and Sam

The Harvest is here in Bolivia

2010-01-07T15:23:00.014-05:00

Bringing Jesus to the Villages

Since our last newsletter we have visited three villages in the Altiplano following the leadership of our Pastor Angel Condori and bringing along our newly formed drama team. It is always a challenge to reach the village and our first trip was no exception. We rented a van and driver and loaded it with nineteen people, cookies, toys and bible books bought with donations made to Lovely Feet.

Ron and Rhonda with the kids of Esquillana

Finally a village - Esquillana
With the Children of EsquillanaThe village of Esquillana (es-key-ana) is extremely remote, many miles off the main highway, through dirt roads, rocks and creeks. After more than 30 minutes off-road, our driver worried about weight and so, all the men unloaded and began to walk with a promise that the driver would return for us. The ladies went on to the village and began to minister in song with nearly 200 children, some who had walked for four hours to meet us. The men walked about 6 miles before the van came into sight, but the van would not take us on to the village because it had already blown a tire and would not risk another blowout because he had no more spares. So we traveled back to the highway and ran into a rain storm that was washing out the roads. We found a small store selling used tires but the mud was so thick in front that the van got stuck. We left two of our team with the van to make sure that eventually the bus driver would come to the village for us and then convinced a taxi driver to take four of us on to the village.

After nearly two and a half hours of waiting the women joined hands to pray while the village people watched. At that very moment we arrived. Rhonda narrated the story of creation, the fall and the promise of redemption while our team acted it out. All those present joined in prayer to receive Jesus as their Savior. We were well received; we passed out gifts and children’s bible books and received a meal of chunos, tuntas and papas.

Pastor Angel at the new church being built

A new Christian village
Last year Steven Reed, a missionary from Florida, with Pastor Condori led our team to a remote village where a woman proclaimed that they were the forgotten people and asked why we would come from the other side of the world to visit them. After we told her and the village that it was because we came with the message that God loved them and provided Jesus as their savior, the village prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior. Since that time, Pastor Juan, an Aymara, continued to follow up with them and minister to them. Recently, the village began to construct their own small church to hold service for 17 families who have continued to follow the way of Jesus. After Christmas, Steve Reed returned to La Paz for a short visit and we traveled to the village to pray over the new construction. They have raised up two pastors, neither of which have a Bible in their own language, to lead them. They told us stories of God’s blessings. The village has always been poor, planting only potatoes and quinoa, but within the last year decided to plant onions and lettuce. The onions are huge and the best tasting onions we had ever had. The village has received and attributed this bounty as the blessing of God that is leading them into a more prosperous season.

The people of Sullcavi-Chaquiri praying to know Jesus more

The first village of the New Year- Sullcavi-Chaquiri
We returned again to the road on the 2nd of January with a growing team of 23 people to minister and encourage a small village called Sullcavi-Chaquiri (suy-cavi-cha-ker-ee) that had previously planted a church, Roca de Sion (Rock of Zion). We were armed with some new books for children. This time we had books in Aymara, their primary language. They were sold to us at an extreme discount by the Bible Society of Bolivia who were as thrilled for us to take them to the children as we were. Though Aymara is the primary language of the village, they have almost no material to teach the children to read. Therefore, they are able to use these Bible stories for instruction…in the public schools. Even before leaving the village I found children sitting in the dirt reading their stories.

We did our usual presentations and teachings and afterward had prayer with some of the adults. One woman came for prayer who spoke only Aymara and we understood through our Pastor that she was losing her eyesight. Her husband brought her to us. Several of us anointed her with oil and prayed and she proclaimed that she could see. We began praying for many and many of the people proclaimed their healings.

Deb and Yama - called to the Aymara

THE HARVEST IS HERE
It is clear that there is a great harvest in Bolivia. Every week there are new salvations in our little church in the city of La Paz and we are encouraged with the work in El Alto and the ministry to the villages is growing. We are also meeting other missionaries who are coming and hearing the call of God to the Aymara people. At the same time there are challenges, the government is demanding more of the churches, more taxes and lists of names of people who are going to their churches. They even want names of those who are fasting! The consequences are severe for those churches that do not comply. For example if proper financial records are not kept and the required tax sent to the government, the president of the congregation will be arrested and sent to jail. The regulations are not restricted to evangelical churches but also apply to the Catholic churches as well. The Government expects that these new regulations will cause many churches to close their doors.

Rhonda and I are already finding ourselves in demand. I have been asked to speak at a wedding this Saturday, preach at a Church of the Nazarene Thursday, and we will minister at the church for economic orphans on the 24th. This is in addition to our bible studies every week, obligations at our church, Rey de Reyes (King of Kings), work we are beginning at Vida Abundante (Abundant Life) in El Alto and new ventures at Jehova es Me Guerro (Jehovah is my Warrior) also in El Alto.

Finally, we are also ministering at the Prison every Sunday we are in town. At this prison, when a man commits a crime, the whole family must go to jail. It is said that there are 300 children in this prison. We have been trying to get in, but yet have not been able. So, our ministry is to the nearly 100 people who are outside the prison waiting in line for the opportunity to visit family. They have appreciated our words and the cookies that we bring and have asked us to try and get inside to talk with their family members. It is expected that this month we will go inside and distribute our children’s books to those children inside.

$5 makes a difference!!!
With $5 we could buy 70 children’s Bible story books in the Aymara language for children in the village! With $5 we could buy 11 children’s Bible story books in Spanish! With $5 we can buy 7 entire Bibles in Spanish for new believers. Every time we go to the village it costs about $100 for the bus for an entire day for 20 people…that is extremely cheap! But we cannot go if we cannot make budget. Our bare bones budget is $1,500 per month. That keeps us here surviving and pays for many of the books, gifts and transportation! It does not pay for everything! Our pastor and our church pay what they can as well. Our pastor does not take a salary. We do not have a car, we do not have health insurance, and we do not have heat in our home! This is bare bones! Is there a reason you cannot give $5, $10, or even $25 a month. We count on God using you to keep this ministry going. If you are not giving, please pray about this. $5 makes a difference!

Thanks to all who gave generously to the Christmas in Bolivia project. We were able to purchase Bible books for the children IN AYMARA.

Ron and Rhonda with friends in Rio Bajo

2010 Lovely Feet Ministry Plan

**********************************************************************************
Below is our plan for ministry for 2010. While it is obviously a tentative plan, some of these projects have already begun. This is an abbreviated plan. We would be happy to send you the full plan by request to Rhonda@lovelyfeet.org

The Villages
Going to the remote villages of the Altiplano are a priority of the ministry in Bolivia. The Aymara villages do not know of the salvation of Jesus. While there is much difficulty in getting to the villages, the trip and the expense of the trip is well worth it. The cost is about $250US each trip. We hope to receive invitations to stay for up to week for more extensive discipleship and leadership training. We also hope to provide Proclaimers™ ($100US) and/or Bibles in Aymara ($18US) to each village.
Status: In Progress

El Alto
El Alto is a city about an hour away that is about 1% Christian. The city is almost entirely populated by Aymara who have left their villages for a variety of reasons. It is large, dusty, poor, and filled with drugs, alcohol and paganism. There are small fortresses, tiny churches that are beaten down and need encouragement We plan to develop a youth drama team in one of the churches. Also we hope to show movies once a month starting with the Jesus Film™ and introduce “Partner Churches” with the USA. We will also begin teaching conversational English as a form of service and outreach.
Status: In Development

The Prison
In our blog you will see the ministry we are doing at the San Pedro prison. This is an inexpensive outreach that is already underway. We have been very blessed. We plan to visit the prison each week with encouraging messages as well as start a ministry to the children there.
Status: In Development

Rey de Reyes
Rey de Reyes is our home church. Our pastor is Pastor Angel Condori. He is our sponsor here in Bolivia and our mentor in the villages. The congregation has a regular attendance of about 30 people. We will continue to serve this body with in-reach and out-reach projects and help Pastor Angel and the leadership develop a 1,3 and 5 year plan for the church. We will also begin teaching conversational English as a form of service and outreach.
Status: In Progress

Pastor’s and Leader’s conference
We have begun planning to bring a team into La Paz in September 2010. We have been communicating with those who can minister. Of those, Pastor Larry Cockerham is considering bringing a message on unifying the churches and Pastor Andrés Miranda has agreed to introduce cell groups and teachings for new young pastors.
Status: In Development.

Youth drama workshop
In March or April of we hope to have a youth drama workshop in El Alto, inviting other churches we are connected to as well, in order to help churches work together and train the youth for ministry. We have invited New Life Drama Company in the United States to send a team for this workshop.
Status: In Development

Drama productions
Three productions in development are; Christian adaptation of A Christmas Carol , Jekyll and Hyde (Rom 7:17-25) and Don Quixote in spanish. We have development expenses to consider such as lights, for which we have a homemade design and the need of sound and a generator to present the plays in the streets at plazas. We hope to bring our actors with us to other churches again serving to unify.
Status: In Development

Host home
We are extending invitations to churches and ministers to serve with us in Bolivia. Our home is available to help hold down costs. We are looking for the needs in the villages to see about the possibility of a medical missions team. We were pleased to have two brothers stay with us the first week we moved in.
Status: In Progress

God be with you all. Thanks for your prayers and support in 2009....and your continued prayers and support in 2010.

Love,
Ron, Rhonda and Sam

Lovely Feet Newsletter - November 2009

2009-11-18T16:52:00.008-05:00

Day of the Dead offerings

San Pedro Prison, La Paz Bolivia. People wait in line to visit loved ones in the prison.

Vida Abundante, El Alto Bolivia

EL ALTO
High above the city of La Paz where we are living is another larger city on the edge of the Altiplano called El Alto. El Alto is a dusty rundown city inhabited almost entirely of displaced Aymara people driven from the villages of the Altiplano by drought. The city is full of drugs and alcohol without a main center, characterized by large street markets. There is a very small remnant of Christians struggling to survive. Here, a small church named Vida Abundante (Abundant Life) has carved out a stronghold. Vida Abundante has about fifty members, many of them youth currently led by Pastora Claudia Murillo, a twenty-nine year old single woman. Last year Vida Abundante celebrated its 30 year anniversary.

We traveled up to Vida Abundante on November 1 where we were received with hugs and kisses and snaps of cameras. They remembered us from last year when Rhonda and I had the opportunity to play and sing with some other musicians from the states. The service on Sunday was wonderful and the young people didn’t want to leave. We were asked to return to play and sing again with their small worship group. Finally, we left to return to La Paz and Pastora Claudia came with us as did another friend and some children. We spent the rest of that day at our house eating, praying and singing. Later that afternoon another Pastor from El Alto joined us and we talked and strategized about what the needs were in El Alto. They stayed until ten that night before taking a two hour bus ride back home.

It is our hope to return to Vida Abundante in El Alto one Sunday a month and at other times as possible to encourage and participate in their service. We are praying about training the youth in drama, both short skits and longer presentations that we can perform in the streets and at churches. We also want to have a movie night once a month showing encouraging films in Spanish and feeding the people Choripan (sausage on a roll). The people here are poor and the food will attract many. Please consider this in prayer. The enemy has risen like a flood but God will raise up a standard against him. Our feet have walked in El Alto---God has given it to us…for Christ!

PRAYER NEED: The enemy will not continue to hold this city captive! The church will be encouraged and strengthened and the neighborhood would be open to see the films and their eyes would be open to the truth of Jesus.

THE LA PAZ PRISON
(San Pedro Prison)
Sunday morning is visiting time at the prison in La Paz and people line up early waiting to see their loved ones. Women line up on one side of the gate, men on the other. This past Sunday, November 8, a small group of us walked through Plaza San Pedro, across from the prison, handing out a Christian newsletter about the Peace of God, witnessing and inviting the people to church. Sam and I went to the lines at the prison. Most of the women were Aymara but they wanted to read the newsletter. We didn’t really hand it out, instead the women reached for it. We talked and joked with them as they waited for the prison gates to open. They wanted more newsletters than I had and many asked me to go in. I said that I was going to apply for entry when my Spanish was better and then they told me that there were English speaking people inside that couldn’t speak Spanish and needed a visit. They encouraged me in my Spanish as well and said it was good enough. I could feel their desire for help, for something, for someone to save them and their families. I told them that I was praying for them and their families and I could hear them say thank you throughout the line.

We will return to the prison line next Sunday to share with them what we believe God is saying and to tell them that God loves them and has a plan for them, a plan to prosper them and not to harm them, to give them hope and a future!

We left the prison to return to our church and Sam uttered his final words: Diosampiki which is Aymara for God be with you. The women laughed and smiled and some repeated Diosampiki! They were pleased and surprised to hear a young white blond man speak Aymara.
A special note about the prison: In Bolivia when a man commits a crime and is sent to prison, his entire family goes with him, wife and children. There in the prison they are subject to abuse. During the school year the children leave the prison early in the morning to go to school and return to the prison by 1 p.m. every day. Next week begins summer vacation here. The children will not be able to leave the prison for school until it begins again in February.

PRAY NEED: Pray that I (Ron) will get approval to enter the prison, to proclaim the word of God to those who speak Spanish and to those who speak English. Pray for the children, and the families for their safety and for the binding of the enemy! The gates of hell will not prevail against the church! Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.

THE VILLAGE
As you know our trip into the Altiplano to a remote Aymaran village in the month of October was postponed, but we have another plan. We will be traveling a little more than 2 hours into the remote areas of the Altiplano November 20 or 21 to different village that has not heard the gospel. Pastor Angel secured this visit and we are ironing out details. We will take our small drama team with us to present the story of Creation, the Fall and our victory over the enemy through Jesus, our Savior, for all who believe. We will also present three other dramas, music and proclaim the Word.

It is our hope to present the Jesus film in Aymara. We will be purchasing a projector before we go since we received a generous donation for half of the price of the projector. LovelyFeet has also purchased children’s Bible stories in Spanish to be given as gifts to the village. Currently, the Aymara offer sacrifices to Pachamama, mother earth, serving her in fear.

PRAYER NEED: Pray that the village would be open to see the Jesus film and that chains will be broken and captives set free

CULTURAL UPDATE: THE DAY OF THE DEAD
The Day of the Dead is a national holiday in Bolivia on November 1. It coincides with the Catholic day of All Saints Day but that is as far as the resemblance goes. It is a pagan holiday, characterized by families visiting cemeteries to honor their dead relatives. They bring food offerings, alcohol and toys for those who died as children. They may also make arbors of sugar cane over the grave. They believe that the dead spirits will take the “spirit” of the offerings leaving the food for the families to eat and drink and participate in a celebration of their kinship. Here, in La Paz, everything was closed. Days before the 1st, even the post office was selling bread in the shape and size of people for the offerings.

Setting Captives Free...

2009-11-16T17:02:00.005-05:00

Friends from Vida Abundante and the Church of the Nazarene share worship time in our home.

Pastora Claudia preaching on Romans chapter 7 in Vida Abundante

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The mist and light rain was falling today as Rhonda and I walked up and down the street outside the prison meeting the women waiting in line to go inside. The lines form every Sunday regardless of rain or sunshine. Most of the women are Aymara, wearing their traditional dress, some carrying meals or breads for their family inside.
Some recognize me from the week before, they smile and utter a word or two in Aymara because they remember me butchering their language last week. They laugh at my attempt and Rhonda passes out a small newspaper entitled, “The Message of Peace.” In the United States, I remember holding out tracts and waiting to find someone who would take it; but not here. The women are reaching for it. They know it is Christian and many of them are not, but they want the paper anyway.

This prison is not like any other that we Americans understand. Here, in Bolivia, when a man commits a crime he goes to prison and so does his wife and children. During the school year the children are released from the prison to attend school and they return to the prison after classes. School ends here next week for summer vacation and I don’t know if they will have the opportunity to leave the prison walls again until February when classes return.
It is said that if a family wants a cell to themselves that they can buy it or their family outside can buy it for them. If they don’t pay for a cell then they sleep in the courtyard, but I don’t know if that is true. It is also said that cocaine is manufactured inside the prison, but again I don’t know if that is true. I know is that God loves the people inside that prison and we are praying for their safety and for revival to overtake the prison.

After we pass out some of the papers I deliver a short message about God’s love for them and how God’s plan is not to harm them but to give them hope and a future. Many of the women listen, some turn their backs (but we know they are listening) and others shout “Amen.” Rhonda finishes our visit by praying for their safety and for God’s love to break into their lives and set them free. More women reach for more papers. They share smiles with us. I think they are happy to know that somebody cares and that we can see their value. And we wave, say good-bye and say to them all, “Oramos para ti y para su familia,” “We are praying for you and your family.” Many of the women have tears in their eyes. Rhonda and I walk away to words of “Gracias,” and I wonder who was blessed more, them or me. My breath is gone and God’s presence covers me and I am the thankful one.

We are writing our own tracts each week to hand out at the prison. They are about the mini sermon that was shared the week before, so that the words are reinforced and they can take the message inside to their family. We are also taking cookies once a month to pass out to the 100 or so people that wait. I want inside the prison but I am not allowed right now. I am waiting for the paperwork to apply. Everything is a process in Bolivia. The ladies tell me that there are some English speaking people inside that don’t speak Spanish and that have no one come to visit them.

I am unable to take any pictures because the guards would frown on it. We will write more as the doors to prison are opened by the grace of God.

God be with you!

Ron, Rhonda and Sam

LOVELY FEET NEWSLETTER

2009-10-06T17:52:00.003-04:00

LOVELY FEET MESSENGER
Newsletter October 5

ON THE ROAD TO A VILLAGE
We are very excited as we are on our way on the 17th of October to a very remote isolated Aymara village on the other side of the Andeans Mountains to bring the gospel of our God to those who have not heard. This is a large village consisting of 300 children. Pastor Angel, an Aymaran man, has opened these doors to this village. We will be teaching the children through drama, stories and puppets about creation and salvation. We have a small team of 4 young people from our church, Rhonda, Sam and myself. Pastor Angel will minister to the adults with his wife, Marisol.
We are bringing with us 300 small illustrated children’s books that we have purchased from the International Bible Society. There are five different illustrated stories that we hope the children will read and pass around to each other. This is an opportunity to change a generation of Aymara children, to set them free from bondage to Satan and Pachamama whom they serve out of fear. While there are regional differences in worship many believe that if they don’t sacrifice to Pachamama that she will exact her own sacrifice in blood.
While we don’t know what we will find in the village and we don’t know how we will be received we are going believing that God will set these people free from bondage and free to understanding that God is good and that he loves them. Please consider fasting for us this day, believing with us that chains will be broken and the love and light of God released and that God’s miraculous hand will move through the village. Watch for our film that we will be posting shortly after we return.

We have many needs for this trip. You can help us by donating on our website www.lovelyfeet.org. If you want to specifically designate your gift, send us an email and let us know. You can send your message directly to me at ron@lovelyfeet.org.

300 illustrated books $150
Toys for children $200
Transportation to/from $150
Snacks/cookies and food $200
300 New testaments $ covered

A great desire is to bring the Jesus film in the Aymara language to the villages. Most of these people have never seen movies let alone seeing it in their own language. This film could be so powerful for all these people. However, we have several obstacles that I am hoping you can help us with. We have a DVD player but the projector will cost us $700. I have found the projector here in La Paz. I have not priced any speakers but I do not expect them to cost more than $100. The biggest problem is a power source. I’m working on that. I can get a small generator but I would prefer a large battery. I found one in the states but they will not ship it here. Please keep this in prayer.

ON THE ROAD EACH MONTH
Our future plans include visiting at least one village each month. Of course there is a significant expense to that. Not every village is as large as the one we are visiting this month, but there will be continuing costs. Please consider partnering with us each month to help us with these costs and the costs of living here. We need you!

VICTORIES
Our house is sold, Praise God. Thank you all for praying for us. We are able to pay off almost all of our debts that we had in the US. Some of you may have thought we were crazy to leave our jobs and the US when we still had debts. But God said to us “the clock is ticking” in January. We heard 7 times that we were not waiting on God but that God was waiting on us and we left in faith. I’m not saying that our faith was not repeatedly challenged but we took our steps. We did not take any salary from this ministry and still have not. God simply supplied our needs and sold the house before we had to make one payment while we were in Bolivia…exactly 4 days before. SET aside all obstacles that so easily beset us! Our debt was the first of our obstacles, but God removed it. To those who are saying to yourselves that you can’t work for the church or take a missionary journey until you have so much money…stop focusing on the obstacle and seek God alone.

FAVOR AND FRIENDS
We have found much favor here in Bolivia. WE live in a boardinghouse where our hosts have basically adopted the three of us. As I am writing this I am recovering from an attack of sickness of fever and flu. Rene, the owner of our home, came into my room through the night checking on me and bringing me medicine and tea. They have become our sincere friends. We also live with three other girls, one from Japan, one from Holland and one from England. The people who live here rotate but all have been genuinely interested in the Lord and what we are doing here. We are praying for them and find it interesting that we would have the opportunity to witness to people from all parts of the world.
Our housekeeper at the boardinghouse is Aymara. Flora is one of three Christians from her village, the Isla del Sol. She never owned a Bible in her own language. I am happy to say that Lovely Feet bought her an Aymara Bible and we gave her copies of the Jesus film in her own language. Aymara people are very unemotional but Flora just about jumped up and down.
I would be lost without my neighbor and friend Abdul. Abdul has spent hours with me each week helping me through immigration. It would literally be impossible to make it without him. This has taken 20 to 40 hours of his time each week. As if that is not enough he has had us over to bar-b-que twice as well. And yet, Abdul is not a Christian. We openly talk about Jesus and about faith but he confesses to be an Atheist. He says that faith is difficult. As I love my new friend, keep him in prayer.
Our church is a small gathering, but each and every week new people appear with testimony of transformations. Rhonda has gotten the chance to play her guitar and lead in worship. Her guitar was purchased through a gift from a friend in the states.

CULTURAL UPDATE
The darkness is thick here in La Paz. We continue to learn about the devil’s strongholds and I want to keep you updated. We recently learned about the “Elephant Cemetery”. Legend has it that in Africa elephants go off to a solitary location to die when they think their life has run its course. Here in La Paz the homeless or down and out go to a secret location (it is illegal) and pay for a bucket of strong drink and a room. They are locked in this room to drink themselves to death. It is said that it can take a day or a week. Their body is then thrown into the foundation of a large building as a blood sacrifice to satisfy Pachamama. It is said that some workers will not work on the building unless there has been a sacrifice because Pachamama will exact her sacrifice on the construction worker if she does not have it another way.

SAVE THE DATE
Prayer and Fasting for October 17 as we go to the village. We will update you with photos and film.

WE LOVE YOU AND ARE PRAYING FOR YOU. Ron, Rhonda and Sam.
Check out our website at www.lovelyfeet.org

Week 3 in the promised land

2009-09-21T16:10:00.007-04:00

"Rhonda and Flora"
"The prison. People line up very early on Sunday mornings to get in for a visit"
"Rhonda playing and singing at church"

We have been here just over two weeks and already it has been an incredible journey with God´s hand on every part of our lives. Ok, so you might not think it is God when twice thieves have attempted to rob me...that´s right, twice in two weeks (don´t tell my mother, she worries enough) but God was with me both times. The first time my bag was cut with a knife from behind...the thieves made off with 6 altitude sickness pills, funny, huh? The second time someone threw dirt on my neck in a crowded market to distract me while three men tried to crowd me and I caught one of their hands in my pocket. I pulled it out and yelled at them and they left...empty handed. Ok, so how is this an opportunity for ministry? I am thinking that I will photocopy money and let it hang out of my pocket...on the backside of the money I will put the gospel starting with The thief comes to kill and destroy but God comes to bring life and that life more abundantly. I am working on it...keep you posted.

There have been so many great connections made. I made very close friends with Abdul, the husband of the woman who runs are language school. He has spent many many days with me taking me back and forth to immigration and the police department and the consularia in order to secure our Visas for a year. A few days ago the consularia turned us down because our sponsoring church is not internationally registered. Abdul was upset, walked out of the consularia, raised his fist in the air and proclaimed, ¨Ok, now its personnel¨ We went back to immigration and found a way to stay as a volunteer instead of a missionary. God is with us! Of course I still have to fill out a million pieces of paper and get approval by the police and a doctor as well. Keep praying.

This weekend, Abdul and Alix had us over for a bbq. I ate meat, more meat, with meat for dessert. It was wonderful! They have taken us under their wings, helping Sam get into an ecological school as well. They are awesome folks, though they do not share our Christian views, it doesn´t matter to them.

We are making closer friends with everyone in our boardinghouse and we share many conversations including those about the Lord. Flora is the housekeeper of our boarding house. She is Aymara and SHE IS a Christian. She says that she is one of only three from her village. She did not own a bible in her own language so it was our pleasure to give her one from Lovely Feet. She was thrilled and said a most interesting thing when she received it. She said that her children would enjoy it very much along with her. Her children are teenagers. Isn´t that an interesting response? How many americans would say, Oh, my children will be so happy to receive a bible? (Picture of Rhonda and Flora above)

This weekend we visited her village. It is huge. There are hundreds of people, maybe a thousand, but only 3 Christians!

Rhonda blessed our church service this weekend by playing and singing praise songs. Our church of about 30 people does not have live music...or didn´t until now. It was a beautiful service. (picture of Rhonda above)
As far as our own adjustments, there are many. We wash clothes by hand, but what a great view we have while we wash looking over the city. I told Rhonda that I knew what I wanted for Christmas...a wringer...you know the old fashioned clothes wringer, it would really save my hands and my forearms. I think I am developing Popeye arms from all the wringing!

Of course, we don´t have a car here, but taxi´s are cheap. Mostly, we walk up and down streets that have 45 degree angles at times. It is very tiring but we are getting better. I walk nearly 5 miles a day.

God is moving so greatly, so quickly but there is so much to do and so many needs here. We are preparing to go back into a village in the Altiplano in a month or so to minister to the children while Pastor Angel ministers to the adults. This takes alot of preparation and finances. But it is the biggest reason why we are here. We are hoping to be able to take a projector to show the Jesus film to the Aymara, but it won´t be this trip unless God does huge things (which he certainly can). We need a projector and player and an energy source. That´s the tough part. I know of an energy source but we can´t get it to this country at this time. I will update details later.

Another matter for prayer is that by the first of the year or soon after I am hoping to approach the prison about being able to visit. The prison is a very sad sight with people waiting outside in long lines to be allowed to visit. The need is great, but so is the opportunity. (see picture above)

Please keep praying. YOur prayers are making a great difference. WE see the hand of God on things every single day. We love you, Ron and Rhonda.

WE ARE IN BOLIVIA

2009-09-08T11:34:00.002-04:00

It has been a long and winding road but we are in Bolivia. (Ok, its a reference to Beatles song...believe it or not here in La Paz there is a place that has Beatles Karaoke...who would have guessed it). All glory to God. Rhonda and I and many of you have been praying for this for the last 3 to 4 years and now God has brought it to pass. There has been many obstacles thrown in front of us but God has taken us through!

We are living in a boarding house with a woman named Gloria and her husband Rene and their daughter Andrea and also with a young woman from Holland and another from Japan. We have our own room and SAm has his own room. This is home for the next 10 weeks!

When we flew into La Paz at 6am on the 3rd of September all of the mountains surrounding the city were covered in snow. It was a beautiful site through very tired eyes. It does not snow in the city which is a good thing because the streets are very very steep in all directions. We reached our new home and quickly began taking measures to fight the effects of the altitude. WE have been doing well but it is very exhausting to walk to the places we need to be.

As many of you know I was hoping for a shower in our home. Well I am glad to report we have one that we share and it even has hot water....sometimes. The house does not have heat but we sleep under several layers of wool blankets and we do stay warm. The food has been good too with soup twice a day with the meal. So, things are better than we hoped.

We began our classes in Spanish and Aymara and that is taking alot of brain power. Sam is taking off with both languages. The main man we are working with is Pastor Angel. He met us at the airport and has already begun working with us for our VISA extension. This is a lot of work with many steps. PLEASE friends, partners and all readers of this blog, pray that we have favor and that our paperwork goes through.

Unexpectedly, we have already begun sharing the gospel. I say unexpectedly because last night the young lady from Holland and her sister began asking me questions about the Christian life. I didn´t think that I would come to Bolivia to share the love of God with people from Holland. It was a lengthy conversation that ended with them saying that I had given them something to think about. They said they had really never heard the gospel before. It was a blessed hour. Keep them in your prayers, too.

Rhonda is great, leading Sam and I with her knowledge of Spanish. She is just as charming in Spanish as she is in English. Everyone loves to talk to her. WE love all of you and we will continue to update as we can. Pictures to come soon, too.

KEEP READING AND PRAYING Diosampiki (God bless you in Aymara)

To Bolivia and beyond...

2009-08-26T09:55:00.003-04:00

Hello dear friends,

Well the next leg of our adventure begins one week from today. We leave for La Paz from Chicago O’Hare on September 2nd and arrive early the next morning. We are very busy with the final details of getting our VISA’s approved, packing and a host of other last minute things.

First, the VISA’s; we found out last week that we would not be able to stay for a year if we entered the country with a tourist VISA. We thought we could apply for all the paperwork we needed once we got to La Paz but this is not the case. You see, once you enter the country with one type of VISA (i.e. Tourist) it cannot be changed to another kind of VISA (i.e. work, student, specific purpose, etc). So we had to send our Passports and other important documents to Miami to get the Specific Purpose Visa. It took some time to get the stuff back and it made us nervous to send our passports, money orders, invitation letters, shot records etc in the mail. But when we got the paperwork returned we found that we had been denied. This was very discouraging. We called the other Consulate in Washington DC and they spoke much better English so we were able to understand what was needed. So, on Monday this week we sent our paperwork again but this time to DC. Please pray it is returned promptly AND that it is approved. We leave TN on Friday. If we do not have the paperwork back by then we will have to drive to DC before going to Chicago. This would be time consuming AND expensive.

The packing has been very difficult. We each can only bring two bags of 50lbs each. We are not able to bring extra bags and pay a fee, 2 is all we get. It is very difficult to pack a whole years worth of living in 2 suitcases. We have clothes, school books and ministry materials to take. It seems that we are constantly picking away at what we have to reduce it.

It has been getting harder emotionally as we say good-bye to loved ones. I know that we will be back in a year but still, it is hard. One highlight is that we were invited to the home of the Mathis’s. They are the family who now have Cocoa. It was such a blessing to see how happy and healthy and loved she is. They are such a wonderful family and it gives me great joy to see Cocoa become part of their family. Figaro is still with Ma in Chicago so we will be able to say good-bye to him too.
The house has not sold yet but we are trusting in our God. We have prayed and determined that nothing will stand in the way of the calling that God has placed in our hearts and minds. “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”. We have signed over Power of Attorney to a dear friend who will be able to negotiate and sign papers on our behalf.

We have been in contact with our friends in Bolivia and are already planning a trip to the Altiplano to minister to the Aymara. God is truly putting things in position for our travel, our arrival and His ministry to the Aymara.

We love you all and will continue to be in prayer for you. Please pray in agreement with us for open doors to share the freedom in Christ to the people of Bolivia. We will try to update the blog once a week to share with you what God is doing and how He is blessing us.

Please pray for these needs;
3- 1 Year Visa’s $1,050 each year for 2-3years
Truck/Van/Jeep to reach the villages $4,000-$6,000
Transport and house engineer to dig well $300-$500 per trip from Santa Cruz
Supplies to dig well $200 per well
Housing for Haynes family $250 per month
AT&T Prepaid minutes for Bolivian Cell Phone $30 per calling card
Food, gasoline, insurance, licenses, taxes etc Currently unknown
Village gifts, gas, transportation $100-$200 per village
Partners $25 per month

Thank you
“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” Phil 1:3-4

Missionaries:
Mark & Bev Chandler
Elaine Wilburn
Brian & Mary Chamberlin

Churches:
Light for the Nations Church of God
Living Word Church
Centerpoint Baptist Church
Flint Springs Cumberland Presbyterian
Abundant Life Church
Shiloh Baptist Church
The Rock Church
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
Straightway Baptist Church
Steelville 1st Assembly of God
Tennessee Valley Community Church
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Celebration Baptist Church
Immanuel Lutheran Church

The Oregon Trail

2009-06-18T11:38:00.004-04:00

Dear Friends,

We just flew in from Portland Oregon and "boy are our arms tired"...hahahaha.

We had a great time with Ryan, Brad, Chase and the whole gang! We flew out to Oregon on Thursday. Friday was a day of rest and then Saturday was Ryan's graduation. What a great day! We were so proud to see her graduate. She and the other chemistry grads spelled out Chemistry on the top of their hats using the periodic table of elements. It was so cool!

You may be wondering why Chase is singing Indiana Jones...he has the game for his DS and it is his favorite. Chase is ALWAYS humming. I am telling you, he has perfect pitch. He should be in the Vienna Boys Choir! We really enjoyed hearing him hum, listening to him read and watching him play. :::Sigh::: he is growing so fast.

After the graduation we had a party at Ryan and Brad's new house. We loved the house. It is so comfortable and beautiful! On Sunday we went to church and then to downtown Portland. In Portland we went to Powell’s the biggest used bookstore in the state. It was so big you had to have a map to get around. WE LOVED IT!

At Powell’s, I got this great book by Steve Saint called “The Great Omission.” Really, a great book. I already finished it. Steve Saint is the son of Missionary Nate Saint who was martyred in Ecuador in 1956 along with 4 other men (Jim Elliott and others). It is a great book about missions and empowering indigenous people by providing them with opportunity to spread the Gospel to their own people group. Also Saint has started a company that gives access to modern technology to indigenous people groups. He has built a small "electric parachute" that can be flown very simply. This allows the native people to travel around the rain forest of the Amazon to reach others, to take in supplies, to fly people out to medical doctors and clinics. They have also engineered a portable dentist drill and chair that is small enough to wear as a back pack and weighs only 60lbs. Check out his website at http://www.itecusa.org/projects.html The programs that ITEC has are teaching the native people to minister and serve their own people. It is really amazing! In fact that is the whole idea of this business is to put modern technology in a usable way in the hands of native people. This technology has not been thrust upon them, rather they have asked "how can we learn these skills so that we can fix our own teeth? We want to learn to fly so we can easily get to our other tribes to minister to the sick and share the story of God.” This technology allows the native people to keep their autonomy and dignity by being self sufficient and not having to depend on missionaries or the "white-man".

Monday was Ron's birthday. Thank you all for your phone calls and Facebook notes. It really meant a lot that you remembered Ron on this day. This was another great day! :) Ron and Brad laid some trim for the wood floor Brad had put in. It really put the finishing touches on the house. It looks so good! Ryan made a really yummy lasagna for dinner. We all ate too much and laughed a lot.

Tuesday was a sad day...we had to leave. It was such a blessing to be able to travel to Oregon to be with Ryan and her family. Thank you all for your prayers, the trip was well worth it.

Sam was not able to go so he held down the fort in St. Louis finishing his school work for the year and taking care of Cocoa.

We are now in preparation mode. We are preparing to hit the open road for New Mexico. There is a lot of packing, praying and planning to be done.

Please continue to pray for the sale of our house. Please pray that God will use us to share His love everyday...right now, right here.

We will be sending out one more newsletter before we leave for Bolivia. If you would like to receive the newsletter by email, send us an email at info@lovelyfeet.org and type SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

God bless you all!
Ron, Rhonda and Sam

Dog Gone...

2009-06-11T12:30:00.010-04:00

Dear friends...

Sorry we haven’t written for a while, we have not had much access to Internet.

It is a sad day. We have been struggling about what to do with our dog Figaro. At first we thought of course he would come to Bolivia with us...he is part of the family. But as we began our travels we found that he was having a hard time with it. He is a stay-at-home kind of dog. He likes to relax and sit on the couch. He likes lots of hugs and lots of petting and even some kisses. He was a not a very happy dog on the road. Also, he picked up this habit of barking that really was becoming a problem. Everywhere we traveled it seemed that he was in the way of our hosts. So after much prayer and buckets of tears, we took Figaro to Chicago to live with Ron’s mom. As you can see from the picture, Ma and Figaro are pretty happy about this new arrangement. However, we cried all the way back to St. Louis. We know this is best for Figaro, and good for Ma too, she needs the company.

Many of you have commented how hard it must be to give up our house, our stuff, our jobs...nope, not hard. Giving up our doggy...HARD. So please pray for us and for our little Figaro. He is a little depressed and not eating too well but he'll snap out of it. He really loves Ma!

This whole situation has made me consider the words of Jesus ""If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." When I have thought about this verse in the past I wasn’t really seeing the "deny himself" as active, as an action. The writer of Hebrews says that we must "throw off everything that hinders". I love Figaro, but he was becoming an obstacle to the work God has called us too. I want to follow Jesus, I do not always want to deny myself, and it is not pleasant sometimes throwing off things in our lives to walk the Jesus Way. But, this is what we are called to; this is what I am called to do. Figaro is a good little doggy. We will miss him so much. But we know that we have done the right thing, we know that God will bless him and Ma and us too.

Recently we had an awesome opportunity to visit with some college friends that I (Rhonda) haven’t seen in 23 years. It was such a great time catching up and seeing what everyone was doing now…how we have changed and how we haven’t. We had such a great time. I hope it doesn’t take 23 years for me to see them all again. We laughed and joked and ate. It was so fun. I thank God for the opportunity to see them all and share the afternoon.

We spent a great week in Nebraska with Nathan. We visited with him, we relaxed, we prayed, we studied Spanish and we played our guitars. WOW, it was a much needed break for all the rush rush rush. We have been so blessed by our pop-up camper. Ron Moore and the Moore family...YOU ROCK! Thanks for the blessing.

Our next stop is Oregon. Our daughter Ryan is graduating from College so we will be spending about 4 or 5 days with her, Brad and our grandson Chase. YIPEEE! We are so excited! After we return from Oregon we will be traveling to Gallup New Mexico to work with some missionary friends Mark & Bev Chandler.

PLEASE PRAY!!!
>The house needs to be sold!
>God's provision
>Safety as we travel
>for our faith to increase
>the enemy IS defeated in all his attacks against us

Please know we are praying for all of you as well. We miss you and we love you!

Ron, Rhonda and Sam

2009-05-22T14:07:00.004-04:00

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Well it has been a week of warfare for the Lovely Feet team! Sorry for the delay in posting.

Rhonda had great fun playing trumpet with her brother Rich at Brass Ensemble at Immanuel Lutheran church in St. Charles MO. (Picture 1)

While here in St Louis we were blessed to be a part of a small group Bible Study that was a great encouragement to us. This is sweet group of brothers and sisters from Southwest Christian Church (http://www.swccmo.org/ ) (Picture 2)

The week started off with an amazing MIRACLE! We have been praying for the son of some friends of ours. He had a grand mal seizure. He has had many many tests trying to determine the cause. We have all been waiting for the results of these tests for some weeks. The prognosis was extremely grim. However, the family stood in faith praying against this prognosis and believing that God would heal. Our friend called us on the boys birthday with the news that the tests came back completely NORMAL…there was no sign of the two dark spots on his brain that has showed up on prior tests. We praise God our healer for this great miracle!

Then the enemy showed up! The enemy has been working overtime to discourage and depress us. We have different ways that we confront this battle. Ron has determined to rush the gates of the enemy by smacking him over the head with Youtube and Tangle videos. He has posted three of them. One is a take off on the new movie Twilight that all the kids are talking about. Another is Ron turning his face into a puppet and the last is Ron preaching the defeat of Satan in every book of the New Testament.

Rhonda has been spending a lot of time reading her Bible, praying and listening to praise and worship music with a little guitar practice on the side. (and helping Ron get his videos ready for posting).

We have been fasting and praying for direction and next steps. We have contacted over 100 ministries for open doors to minister…but doors have not opened. We were not sure why? We thought we had a plan. We thought that we were doing what God wanted. We thought…we…we? Could it be that “we” were being distracted by plans we had made or tried to make instead of hearing from God? We were becoming discouraged and frustrated until we realized that this discouragement and frustration were obstacles to the next steps that God had for us. We were allowing the enemy to distract us with the “why’s” of “the plan” not working. The Lord opened our eyes and we confessed to Him our short-sightedness. We confessed that these frustrations were not going to be a vehicle to share the Gospel with the Aymara or with anyone else and we laid all those emotions and frustrations down at the feet of Jesus. Whew! What a relief! How freeing!

Later that very night we had the opportunity to talk with some missionaries in New Mexico. Mark & Bev Chandler minister to the Navajo Nation. They contacted us some months ago by email (Lance & Michelle shared with a friend about us who shared with Mark and Bev). We had emailed back and forth a couple of times and finally got on the phone together. They shared their calling with us and guess what…? It was so very similar to ours. Isn’t God cool? We shared on the phone for over and hour. At the end of the conversation we prayed together but not before Mark and Bev invited us to New Mexico to share in the work of the Lord with the Navajo. WOW! How amazing is our God? What a glorious wonderful opportunity.

The Navajo are First Nations people just like the Aymara. I (Rhonda) just finished an AMAZING book that I highly recommend to all. It is by Richard Twiss a brother from the Lakota/Sioux. It is called One Church, Many Tribes. (http://store.fastcommerce.com/WiconiResources/prod-ff808081175e96dc01176560dfb87a2a.html) God has given us such a burden for the First Nations people. While there are many differences from the Navajo to the Lakota/Sioux to the Aymara there are many similarities amongst these First Nations people (“a term denoting original habitation by sovereign people or nations”). We hope and pray that God will continue to lift the veil from our eyes about worshiping Him in Spirit and truth and not following after the traditions of man. It seems that “Form” and “Substance” are reoccurring themes that keep coming up regarding our Worship of our Father God. Anyway, read this book! So it is amazing that here I was reading this book and then “coincidently” we talk with Mark and Bev who invite to come and minister with them to the Navajo.

We are greatly encouraged and excited about this opportunity. Please partner with us in prayer about this.

This weekend we will be spending time with family at Rhonda’s cousin’s daughter’s High School graduation on Friday. Saturday is a time for old High School friends. On Sunday we will be attending the Baptism of Chriss and Tony’s son Will. Later on Sunday we go to Rich’s (Rhonda’s Brother) for a BBQ with Lynda. (Rhonda’s step-mom).

We love you all and pray for you...

“And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ …that [we] may proclaim it clearly, as [we] should.” Col 4:3,4

Diosampiki,
Ron, Rhonda and Sam

Ron and Sam's videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PS2igMFL3k Twilight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttthQKJ360k Ron's puppet face

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd0ZjETb8cw Satan's defeat part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JIPBOZ5b1E Satan's defeat part 2

2009-05-11T12:19:00.005-04:00

Greetings Brothers and Sisters,

And so begins another week on the great adventure God has called us to!

We had a great week! We spent most of the week catching up on rest, reading, studying and spending time with Lord and our friends. Tony and Chriss are such a blessing to us!

Wednesday night we went to an awesome Bible Study. Frankly I (Rhonda) was not having a good day. I needed to get into the Word...I needed me some Jesus, some Word and some fellowship with believers! I was like junkie I needed it so bad! As usual, the Lord blessed beyond measure. My nephew Jake invited us to the adult Bible Study of Southwest Christian Church. Sam and Jake went to youth and Ron and showed up at Pastor Loren's house. Pastor Loren and Julie Copp welcomed us in like they had known us for a hundred years. Brother Eric lead the Bible Study and we just had the best time learning and sharing about the Lord. Brother Eric asked first where/when we remembered experiencing God's presence in a real and tangible way. It was a really interesting opening. Everyone had a different story to share and only one actually shared an experience that happened in Church.

So what about you? Where have you experienced God in your life where you KNOW that you know that you know He was there with you, touching you? Respond to this Blog with your answer. I will compile them anonymously and post them. We need to look for God everyone. God says to us “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” Let’s encourage one another with our word of testimony!

So, we had a GREAT time with the brothers at Southwest Christian Church (http://www.swccmo.org ). We plan to return this Wednesday night and Lord willing, attend this Sunday.

Sam had a tremendous opportunity this past weekend. He was able to attend a youth rally called FM419. This name is based on Matthew 4:19 Jesus said, "Come and Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19. ”Youth [have]…a weekend of high-energy music and life-changing training. [Youth] Get down to the basics of what [they] believe, find power to live what [they] say, and learn how to share [their] faith with others” ( http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1137883230?bctid=18737868001 ) The band “The Afters” were there. They sing “Never going back to Okay”. Sam and his two cousins went and they had a great time. Ron took some video footage after the event asking Kids who Jesus was to them. Look forward to a short U-Tube of this footage. It is pretty cool! Sam was blessed by the event and I believe it gave him a better comfort level in sharing his faith. Of course the enemy has been at him a little. He is a little blue…missing his friends…his life is so different. PLEASE pray for Sam. Call him, email him…encourage him. (sam@lovelyfeet.org)

Saturday afternoon we got a call that someone was interested in seeing the house. We were so happy. I told the girl on the phone that of course they could come and look at the house and that they should invite all their friends to come too. (she thought I was a little crazy…huh…imagine). You may have heard that the sale of the home fell through. We were disappointed but we know God is sovereign and that He has something else in mind. We know that He has a better house suited for the Johnson’s and a buyer who is looking for exactly what our house has to offer. Please partner in prayer with us about this. God will bring the buyer in His time.

Yesterday we had a GREAT day. Of course it was Mothers Day and that was great. Sam got me the most beautiful pair of earrings. They are silver doves. I LOVE THEM! I heard from all of the other 5 kids as well and basically felt like I must be the best Mom ever. Thanks kids! I love you all so much!!! (especially you…you are my favorite…you know who you are…)

The pictures posted above are from Immanuel Lutheran Church in St. Charles MO. My brother Rich was able to work with his Pastor in giving us the opportunity to share about God’s work in Bolivia. We were given 5 minutes to share (you all know Ron…this was HARD…but he was able to say what God had him to say in 6 ½ minutes…a new record for Mr. Haynes!). We had so many people stop at the table and ask questions. Someone wanted to know when they could come to Bolivia and help in God’s work there. We were so blessed! To see the interest and compassion in these dear brothers and sisters was so amazing!!!

For dinner Chriss spear-headed the kids efforts and we had a great time visiting, eating, visiting, eating and visiting.

We leave you with this blessing…

“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
We love you all!

Diosampiki,

Ron, Rhonda and Sam

Meet me in St. Louis...

2009-05-04T13:19:00.006-04:00

Dear Brothers,

Greetings from St. Louis MO! (and surrounding areas)

We arrived in St. Louis late Friday night (May Day). We brought with us the blessing given us by Brother Ron Moore, a pop-up camper. Bullet (our truck) had no problem pulling the pop-up. In fact we got much much better gas mileage! We are very thankful to God for this blessing. You would be surprised how much it holds. We were thinking we would have to leave a lot of our things behind in Chicago but were so grateful to find that almost everything fit! We had to leave two things behind...Rhonda's Bike and Ron's bass guitar. However, one other blessing is that Ron's brother Buddy let him borrow his bass guitar which is much smaller and lighter. Therefore Ron does have a bass, just not "his" bass. So we are thankful. Also we were able to bring Ron and Sam's bikes so if Rhonda wants a bike to ride she does have access.

We had a great day on Saturday. We went to Rhonda's brother's praise band practice; Rhonda even got to sing a long. It was a great time of worship and fun. Rich introduced Rhonda to everyone adding that she was going on a "mission trip" to Bolivia. Rhonda had to point out that her dear brother was still in a little bit of denial about the whole thing. Rhonda pointed out that we are MOVING to South America not taking a short term mission trip. Rich grinned and we all had a bit of a laugh at his expense. It is hard for a big brother.

Sunday we were so blessed to minister in two churches in Steelville MO. Steelville is about an hour and a half from St. Louis. We left early Sunday morning for Center Point Baptist Church. The Pastor, Matt Cook, is married to Rhonda's cousin Sharon. The congregation was so welcoming! They treated us just like family. Well I guess we kind of are...Rhonda's aunt and uncle have been members of this church for about 300 years so, we felt right at home. Ron preached an anointed message and we praised and thanked the Lord. We talked afterward with several people. Rhonda shared with some really cool teens who were very interested to hear more about the mission. One girl Hannah Banana is home-schooled and seemed especially interested. We thank God that He is moving in the hearts of our youth and preparing them for their calling.

After church we had a great lunch and visit with Rhonda's family. We all shared stories of times past. Later Uncle Terry took us over to the Meramac Baptist Assoc Camp Grounds and showed us around. We are hoping to take the pop-up down there and park for a week or so to rest and spend sometime together as a family and with the Lord.

Sunday evening we were invited to Straightway Baptist also in Steelville. How awesome to be invited by Christian brothers and sisters we haven’t even met! God is good all the time! Pastor Mike and the whole congregation invited us in with open arms. We had the best time singing some old time favorites and then Pastor Mike turned the pulpit over to Ron. WOW, Ron was on FIRE! He preached from Mark 2 and shared about the Aymara. The Lord really moved. The congregation was so generous in every respect. One brother spoke up and made a motion to for the church to make a donation to the mission to the Aymara and it was quickly seconded and past. Another brother was ready to sign up to come and minister and work on a short time mission trip. This brother (Brad) wanted to plan a trip and bring his 13 year old daughter. We hope to spend more time with Pastor Mike and his wife as well as Rhonda’s family while there camping.

It was such an encouragement to see these two bodies of believers so on fire for the Gospel! We were greatly blessed! We pray that they were blessed by our sharing as well.

Today we wait to hear if the deal will go through on our home sale. There have been a few hic-ups but we know that God is sovereign and faithful and that He will sell our home at the right time to the right people and the He will greatly bless us and the buyers in the process. We are so thankful for our new friend and Real Estate agent Karen Miller. She and Jessica Smith have worked so hard for us. We feel more like they are friends than agents. We are thankful to God for them and for our new friendship.

Please be in prayer for the final steps of selling our home. Also please continue to pray that God will open doors for us to minister. We are overwhelmed by the church’s desire to hear more about the Aymara. It is amazing how the people want to know more and help more to spread the Gospel. We trust God to open doors that no man can shut and to direct our paths.

Thank you, thank you for all your prayers for us. We feel them and God answers them!

Diosampiki!
Ron, Rhonda and Sam

On the road in Chicago!

2009-04-28T18:11:00.001-04:00

Dear Brothers,

Here we are in Chicago. What an adventure!

After days and hours and hours and days of work on the house (Nate & Kelly’s house now) we departed Chattanooga on Friday at 9pm. That’s right 9 PM! We were pulling a 28’ Camper and it was late and we were running on faith, coffee and excitement! We made it over Mounteagle with MUCH prayer (Rhonda white-knuckled hanging onto the door)! We then made it down Mounteagle with more prayer. We were praising and thanking the Lord for His provision and protection! We were determined to drive further.

At about 2:30 in the morning somewhere in the middle of Kentucky, Sam noticed something flapping on the roof of the camper. We got out to take a look at the roof to see what was flapping and found the "what" was the shredded pieces of the roof that had come off was what was flapping. We drove a little further to Paducah Kentucky and parked in Wal-Mart for the night…or at least for the rest of the night.

By morning (a few hours later) we prayerfully determined that we needed to leave the camper behind and head on to Chicago. Ron was due to preach at Abundant Life Church in Wilmington IL that next morning. We knew that the enemy was trying to keep us from getting there so we were more determined than ever to GET THERE! The devils a liar! We called brother Rob (owner of the camper) and he agreed it was best for us to go on and he graciously agreed to come and pick up the camper in Paducah.

We had to unload all of our personal items from the camper and on to a U-Haul tag-a-long. Finally we were ready to leave Paducah at about 4 in the afternoon. We had to get rid of some of the food we had packed and we had and noticed a couple of homeless kids (16 or 17yrs) near the Interstate. We walked over and offered them the food. Their names are Creeper and Sassy. They are a young couple on their way to Mt Sterling IL. We asked if we could pray for them. Creeper’s only prayer request was for the Sassy and the baby in her tummy. Creeper doesn’t know the Lord but he did allow us to lay hands on him and pray for him, Sassy and the baby. We didn’t have room to offer them a ride and fortunately they had a place to stay for the night. Please join us as we continue to pray for them, their salvation and safety.

We arrived late to Chicago on Saturday night and made it to Abundant Life without too much ado. We had a wonderful time of worship! This body of believers was so sweet and welcoming to us. Ron preached a great message (he is my favorite preacher) and many were moved by the Spirit. One sad thing…we missed the Lord in one area. A woman spoke up asking for prayer for depression. I was greatly moved by her request. I felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit to go and lay hands on her right then and pray for her. I found out later that both Ron and I felt this urging at that moment. Sadly, we did not respond to this prompting. We prayed for her when we got home and with great sorrow repented to God for not responding to His voice. Please pray that we are not only sensitive to the voice of God but also RESPONSIVE!

After the service we had lunch with Pastor Greg when a brother (also named Ron) called to say that he had a pop-up camper that we would be welcome to use and we could come over right then to take a look at it. We drove the short distance to Coal City and found the camper to be really nice and perfect for our needs…in some ways even better than the travel trailer. The pop-up weighs less and will be much better on gas mileage. We thanked Ron and told him we wanted to go home and ask the Lord about it.

We called the members of our board and asked them to pray about it as well. We are so thankful to God that He has provided for us. We all prayed and felt the Lord urging us to accept Brother Ron’s generous offer. Today Ron is working with Brother Ron on the finishing touches to get the camper road-ready. I cannot express our joy. We are so humbled by the love we have been shown and by all the prayers you have all offered up on our behalf.

Today we received an email from a brother Mike and a sister Peggy in Steelville MO sharing that they had been praying for us in Sunday School past. As you can tell, their prayers were heard! WOW, people we do not even know are praying for us. They have invited us to come and share about the Lord’s work in Bolivia next Sunday night. We are so blessed! We of course responded with thanks for the prayers and excitement over the opportunity to share.

For those of you who may doubt how much the enemy hates us and how much our Father loves us…let me tell you this last thing. Today I (Rhonda) went up to Starbucks to check email and update this Blog. When I went to boot up the computer the entire monitor was white with stripes of colors…like a rainbow. I heard Windows boot up but could not see anything on the monitor. I began to pray against this attack of the enemy pleading for God to intervene in this situation. You all know we can do without a laptop but it really is a blessing to have for so many reasons. I laid my hands on the computer as I prayed and I rebooted. After the reboot there was no change. I still saw a white screen with rainbow stripes. As I continued to pray slowly stripe by stripe I began to see fade away and my Windows desktop appear until all was restored. For you computer experts you may tell me something about heat or cold or electrical connections but I know that the enemy was defeated once again in an attempt to steal our peace and rob us of gifts given by our Father. All I can say is “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” and Amen…so say we all!

Love to all,
Ron, Rhonda and Sam

And they're off...

2009-04-21T22:32:00.002-04:00

Dear Friends,

We are amazed at how awesome our God is!! Tomorrow we pack up the computer so this was our last chance to touch base until we are ON THE ROAD!

Praise the Lord we have sold our house. But wait...it gets better! We found out today that the couple buying our house are members at First Lutheran Chattanooga. In fact, Nate is the Director of Christian Education at 1st and he knows many of our Good Shepherd Lutheran friends. Before we ever met, we were praying for Nate and Kelli. We began to pray in January for the family that God would lead to make this their home. We prayed that they would feel the love and comfort here, that they would feel the presence of our Father. Wow, why are we so surprised when God answers our prayers?

So today I (Rhonda) was in the bedroom when the people came to measure for the new carpet for the new owners. We had not met the new owners but we knew their names. So I am in the bedroom making a DVD on the computer when I see Stephanie Henze walk by my room. I was like "Stephanie?" and she was like "Rhonda what are you doing here? Is this your house?" of course I said yes and then she asked if I knew that Nate had bought the house. I told her I knew that a guy named Nathan bought the house but that I did not know him. She introduced us (Ron and I and Sam) to Nate. What a great guy! He has such a passion for the Lord it is wonderful to see!

He asked if we would be interested in sharing about our mission at 1st when we come back to TN in July. Of course...YES! God is so funny. I know He is up there grinning at His handiwork. My friends, He is not slow in keeping His promises. He has answered every prayer!

We have been greatly blessed by our dear friends Rob & LeAnn for the loan of the camper. Ron and Rob have been working and working (with some help from Brian) to make all things ready. The camper is already beginning to feel like home. Sam was sitting in her (I think of our camper as a her...weird? maybe...so what) anyway, so Sam was sitting there and said "Ok, I'm home".

Cocoa and Figaro seem to really like it as well. We have added a special brake for the trailer to the truck that will make things safer. Tomorrow we put the final touches and sanitize the water system and she is ready to go! We have named our truck Bullet but not sure about the Camper girl yet....maybe we will just call her lil' sis cause she is a tag-a-long...get it?

Please continue to be in prayer for us. There are still challenges and obstacles to be overcome. We have an older truck and an older camper…”Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”!

Our first stop on the US Tour is Abundant Life Church in Wilmington IL. We are so blessed to be able to share with Ron’s great friend Pastor Greg Linkous. We will be there for about a week then we are off to Steelville MO. For those of you who don’t know…take Highway “Farty-Far” (44) to Cuba and turn left. That is Steelville. There, we will be sharing at Center Point Baptist with Pastor Matt Cook and his lovely, sweet, wonderful wife (and my cousin) Sharon.

From there we will spend some time with family in St. Louis with hopes of God opening doors there for us to share His great work in Bolivia.

We love you all and feel your prayers. We know God hears as we see His hand moving in our lives.

Pray on Faithful Warrior Friends!

Love,

Ron, Rhonda and Sam

No foolin'!

2009-04-01T14:06:00.003-04:00

Hey everybody! We are making our way to the promised land---Bolivia??? Yes, Bolivia. Step by step God is taking us there as a response to the desire of our hearts and the need of the Bolivian people. So where are we along the route??? Well, we now have the truck to pull the camper! We listed our cars for sale, sold one and traded the other for....you guessed it, a truck. We have been blessed with a wonderful Dodge Ram truck as an even swap for our Pontiac Grand Prix. And we are loving the truck.

It has a towing package on it...which we needed! And another friend of ours put on new brakes including the rotors so that it would be ready to stop as well as pull the camper.

Our house is still for sale! We have had many people come to look at it but we are still waiting for the "ka CHING!!!" money offer! So, to all who are reading this---stop right here and ask God to sell it, then rebuke the enemy from trying to prevent it. You wouldn't believe what the enemy has done---it is laughable! TWICE, that's right TWICE, we have had realtors come to the house to the show the house and then tell us the door know wouldn't open! There is NOTHING wrong with the door now! It's perfect---there is absolutely no reason it would not open. IT's a brand new doorknob! Everytime I get home I take the key and turn it, and the door opens!!! It's never been stuck! So, the night before last I anointed the door knob with oil, prayed over everydoor and then left. This time: no complaints about the door!

WE are also trying to open the doors for the churches to have us come in order to hear the message, learn about the Aymara and support this mission with prayers and finances! Again, pray for open doors! Our scheduling is currently sparse but is picking up steam!

Check back with us soon. WE ARE LEAVING SOMETIME AFTER APRIL 15 AND BEFORE APRIL 25. Send us YOUR prayer requests at ron@lovelyfeet.org or rhonda@lovelyfeet.org.

We Got Wheels...and a bed

2009-02-14T12:55:00.002-05:00

As you know we have been praying for a camper, a truck, the house to sell, and financial supporters and prayer supporters for our ministry to Bolivia. Now, you might ask why we need a camper and truck....are we driving to Bolivia??? No! But we are driving through the United States until the end of September meeting pastors, preaching on the street, and ministering in churches to raise support and partners for the mission in Bolivia. The three of us have to live somewhere while we are driving across the U.S. And about a month ago God dropped it in our spirits to get a camper and a truck. So, I began a search, finding a few trucks here and there and a few campers that seemed the right fit. But, without any finances I simply said to God, "Hey, this looks good, don't you think?" And I also reminded God that the clock is ticking (more about that in a minute).

So, two days ago I get a message from my friends that they have a camper that we could use. I said, wow, how generous but I need it the whole summer until September and he said, "I said you could use it as long as you need it. Come by and look at it." So, we did and its even more than what we had been asking God for. It has a bunk bed for Sam...under my plan Sam was sleeping on the floor (just kidding...no angry letters please). Sam would have slept on the couch that converts to a bed. Now he has a place that is his. God is more than we could even ask or think.

As for the clock ticking....In November I was asked how our ministry development was going and I answered with , "I'm just waiting on God." In December friends started delivering messages to me from the pulpit and in sermons saying God is waiting on YOU! During the first week of January I received a word of prayer from my own Son saying the same thing---the sixth time! Another said that I would hear it again. A few days later, I heard it a seventh and then I heard another word from a friend who said, God wants me to tell you this and it doesn't make sense to me, but he says, "The clock is ticking!" Then she asked if I knew what that meant. ----only too well! So God and I have had this thing since then. He reminds me and I remind Him, "the clock is ticking!" Now we are at work everyday getting everything ready and receiving more and more ideas about the ministry. We are locking in arrangements in Bolivia as well. STAY TUNED GOD FANS, SAME GOD TIME, SAME GOD BLOG! (I'm feeling kinda Batmanish, Supermanish...ummm, God's manish? I hope so) {Ok, for you young people the Batman TV show used to say Stay tuned, Same bat time, same bat channel----sheesh, it loses something when you have to explain it!} - RON-

We love you all and thank you for your prayers and support. We are going to try and keep you posted on what is going on with us via this Blog. God is doing such amazing things so quickly that we have a hard time keeping up. Please please please keep us in your prayers. -RHONDA-

Bolivia Summer 2008 Video

2008-08-21T13:50:00.003-04:00

These are photos of our recent trip to Bolivia Summer 2008.

There and back again

2008-07-25T09:03:00.012-04:00

WOW! God is amazing!

We have just returned from a two week trip to Bolivia. The first week we spent in La Paz. The second week we spent in Santa Cruz.

We were amazed at how large La Paz was. The city was busy all the time. People always seemed to have some where to go at all hours of the day and night. Most women still wear the tradtional dress of the Chola. The women carry huge burdens on their backs, wound up tight in colorful blankets. Often these blankets include small children.

We found the people to be very kind and hard working. At times it was difficult to catch our breath but we adjusted well thanks to all the prayer and fasting going on back home. We never got sick. The Lord is faithful.

We were very exicted to minister to the Amaryan people in the alto-plano. We feasted on several varieties of potatos (papas) and quinoa soup. This amazing soup is made with a grain that is very high in protien and mixed with milk. It was muy rico! I loved it. We were also treated to an Aymara worship song. You can click on the picture below to hear the song.

The man in the blue shirt is Boniface. The church meets in his small home until they can build a church on the back of his property. The home has no running water, no refrigerator, no heat source, no bathroom of any kind.. In fact there is no bathroom on the property at all. The people use the fields as needed.

They have many animals that provide for their needs. There are no trees on the property and no fuel source. The oven is located outside and dung is used to heat it for cooking. The night of our visit the temp got down to 25f degrees. Many of the villages that are further up in elevation get even colder. The people do not have shoes to wear, only sandals made from old tire rubber.

The people are hungry for the word of God and receive with joy the good news of a god that wants a relationship with them. They are very family oriented. A god who wants to be their father is an amazing idea to them.

We became acquainted with a man who works for the Bolivian Bible society who was able to supplies us with some Amaryan Bibles and some Proclaimers. Proclaimers are AMAZING!!! They are like a CD player powered by the sun. Only the CD is built in. The entire Bible is broadcast like a book on tape…IN AYMARA! It does not need batteries or electricity. It is powered by the sun. We ordered 20 to be distributed to surrounding villages. This is not enough. We need more! (for more info on the Proclaimer go to http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/proclaimer ) The people have many needs. Shoes, socks, blankets, food sources, fuel sources, Aymara Bibles and teaching, Proclaimers and more.

In a couple of the villages they had never seen Anglos. In fact a lady spoke up to say that the children had NEVER received a gift of any kind...ever. The children do not have TV or movies. They were amazed by the puppets, dramas and songs that we ministered with. Also, they loved the clowns. The team had hired some clowns for the children. They were so wonderful; the best I had ever seen. We enjoyed them as much as the children.

Many of the Aymara were in awe that we would come so far to share the love of God with them. Many, many gave their hearts to Jesus. ¡Glori a Dios!

There is so much more to tell you about. We will make time to tell a little bit in each posting.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace" Eph 1:3-7

Please continue to pray for a mighty move of the Spirit in Bolivia!

And so IT begins...

2008-06-06T12:20:00.017-04:00

Two years ago God revealed to us (Ron and Rhonda) that His plan was for us to enter the foreign mission field as full time missionaries. As we prayed about where He would have us go our hearts and minds were turned again and again to Bolivia, specifically La Paz and Oruro Bolivia.

We began Spanish classes and entered a time of preparation. In July of 2007 we did children's ministry in Morelia Mexico.

In January of 2008 we began attending Luz para los Naciones. http://lfnchurch.com/home. We praise and thank God for leading us to this congregation of sweet believers. They have blessed our lives beyond measure.

In April of 2008, God opened doors for Rhonda to travel to Zihuatanejo to teach on children's ministry at a church leaders conference.

We had been praying daily for God to reveal His timing and to guide our steps to Bolivia. Over the last two years we have become more and more restless in our jobs and more anxious for God to guide our steps to Bolivia. At the end of May 2008, God began to show us some answers...