END NOTES 2015

          Greetings all, and happy holidays to you! I apologize for the lack of communication the last few months, but I certainly appreciate those who have not forgotten us and have lifted us up continually before the throne of grace. Lord knows how we need it! We give Him all the glory for bringing us safely to the end of another school year. We finished with a flurry of activity and are so thankful for the change of routine and scenery over the next couple of months.

            This has been a year of unprecedented blessings, including a good number that have presented themselves in the form of trials. I can’t tell you about all of them yet, but I know they are all recorded in heavenly high definition, and will no doubt be open for review sooner than we imagine. In the meantime I’ll share a few blessings in summary.  

Right now Lyli and I are visiting her parents in Mexico. We had expected to spend this vacation at the school in Bolivia, but we received an invitation and flight to a mission summit at the MOVE (Missionary Outreach Volunteer Evangelism) Bible school in Belize, only a few hours away from the folks in Mexico. Lyli was ecstatic. She hadn’t seen her parents in nearly two years, and it was about time! God is so good, much more than we deserve!

We spent 10 days this month at MOVE, attending seminars on topics ranging from accounting and education to welding and small engine repair. What encouragement it was to hear the testimonies of other volunteers, including our good friend Warren McDaniels who is starting a new Bible missionary college in northeastern Argentina called BEAM (Blueprint Education to Advance Missions), to our knowledge the first school of its kind in that country!

A SKETCH OF WHERE WE’VE BEEN AND WHERE WE’RE HEADED

The Toyota Tundra that God gave us at the beginning of the year is running like a champ and has been quite the missionary truck. With it we were able to open the colporteur work in a number of communities as well as the city of Riberalta.  On Sabbath afternoons during the second semester, Lyli and I took a group and drove to the prison in Guayaramerin, where by God’s grace we formed three separate Bible study groups in different cellblocks, all with a very positive response. On our way to the prison we dropped off another group at a cattle ranch to give Bible studies to Maribel, the mother of two girls in our primary school. On November 21 she and her oldest daughter were baptized along with seven of our boarding students on the same day that we dedicated our new school chapel!

Next year we intend to extend our outreach to serve the communities around us, and God certainly seems to concur. Within the next couple months, Steve Wilson, a pilot friend of ours with his family will move to the school to open the aviation program. During the last few months they have already made several medical evacuation flights, including a six-year-old boy who spilled a kettle of boiling water on himself while his mom was distracted in the other room. 

We have cleared a good portion of the old runway that was dozed out several years ago, and Lord willing, the airstrip will be finished and authorized for use some time during this next school year. In addition to the med-evac flights, the plan is to organize students and staff into flying missionary squadrons to do medical work in the villages over the weekends. Please join us in prayer for missionary volunteers and funds to continue the work.

I also dream that God will send someone to open a small lifestyle clinic close by to work independently but in connection with the school. A house with a few guestrooms and equipped to do hydrotherapy and message would be sufficient to open many doors in the community and also provide our students with invaluable learning opportunities in medical missionary lines. Our frontage property with the main highway is one possible location.  

The agriculture program is another area that needs a lot of help, but we have reason for encouragement. This year our rice harvest fed us the entire year and planted next years’ fields with surplus to spare. A brand new Massey-Ferguson tractor, brush hog, and disc-plow is taming the jungle down nicely.  The Lord sent us an agriculture enthusiast from South Africa, and although he was only with us for about six weeks, the garden showed a marked improvement with his patient attention. His name is Clinton Herman and he is currently working on residency papers in Santa Cruz, and plans to be with us this next school year.

Work while there’s daylight

“I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” John 9:4 KJV

A number of weeks ago, the radiator on our diesel generator sprung a leak, and by the time we realized what was happening the motor seized. The diagnosis was $1000 worth of damage. God provided the needed funds almost immediately, as well as wisdom and understanding to Cornelio and Edwin to be able to take apart and put the machine back together. While we waited for the parts to arrive, Mr. Antonio, our carpentry shop teacher, kindly lent his personal generator, and it was enough to give us light and pump water. Unfortunately, Antonio’s generator broke down as well, and we would have been left in the dark, were it not for a third generator that arrived this school year with Edwin, a graduate of the MOVE mission program in Belize. The third generator is smaller still, however, and barely keeps the lights lit. The frozen bananas and mangos went bad, and the water pump has been limited to operation during hours of direct sunlight when our solar panels are working at maximum efficiency. Miraculously, however, rainy season seemed to be on hold. The rain and overcast skies disappeared during the two weeks that the generator was down. Without this gracious intervention, we would have been hauling all our water from the creek. As it is, we have been hauling some water for washing and for the construction site.

            It is incredible what softies we are in this generation, even when we live in the bush. The week after graduation we were in the dark again. Friday afternoon we had a monstrous electrical storm pass directly overhead, and lightening fried the motherboard on one of the inverters on our electrical system. Our solar system is unusable in the meantime. We were right in the middle of end-of-the-year paperwork, and in order to finish we had to move the office to a friend’s house in town where five of us worked all day to finish the necessary documents. Amazing how dependent we are on light and power to work and get things done. So often we take it for granted. How much longer will we have the favorable conditions that we now enjoy for spreading the gospel? As Christ said, we must work while it is day. Day lights a burnin’! Let’s not waste a minute of it!

So what comes next? Only God knows, and we trust him to show us the way. After nearly seven years at the Bolivia Industrial School, we sense a possible change in the wind, but for now our tentative plan is to return to Bolivia in February.

One possible change is to move off-campus to the village of Yata to work more directly with the parents who send their children to our school while continuing to teach half-days. Whatever we do, we sense an urgency to work with greater efficiency, determination, joy and dependence on God then ever before. Jesus will come and it can’t be long now, we can see His shadow on the threshold!   

Whaddy Wycliffe

“It is the nicest work ever assumed by men and women to deal with youthful minds. The greatest care should be taken in the education of youth to so vary the manner of instruction as to call forth the high and noble powers of the mind. Parents and school-teachers are certainly disqualified to properly educate children, if they have not first learned the lesson of self-control, patience, forbearance, gentleness, and love. What an important position for parents, guardians, and teachers!”                                                                                                                                   Fundamentals of Education 15.1

I knew from the time we met his parents that he was going to be trouble. They were people of class, professionals immersed in a number of business ventures and advanced education, and with no time for a problematic teenager. They basically begged us to let him come. Their son was out of control, and they were out of ideas. We were their last hope.

“It was either come here or go to the army,” he later told me.

Usually we don’t take juniors or seniors as new students because they have a harder time adjusting to the program, both academically and spiritually, and often they are negative influences on the younger students. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt we should give him a chance, so I told his parents to bring him out for an interview and a placement exam, and we would make a decision based on the results.

When he unfolded his lanky six-foot frame from his parents’ pickup a few days later, my previous trepidations began to unfold as well! His application said Whaddy Alejandro, but he made it clear that he goes by Alejandro. He was a few months away from 18, and he carried himself as one accustomed to receiving as he wished. His wild and penetrating dark eyes flashed self-confidence, and an overall disdain for authority.

“He talks to us like he thinks he’s our equal” one of the other teacher’s later remarked.

                 The exam we gave him was a long one, with sections from all the major subjects. A couple hours later he finally finished. He failed the test miserably, and I had the excuse I needed not to accept him. But as much as I wished to avoid the problems that I knew awaited us, I still felt strangely compelled to give him a chance. This could be his only chance for something different. My interview with him confirmed my impression. Though quite abrupt in speech and manners, he seemed sincere, and expressed his desire to change for the better. We decided to take him, but with the condition that he would be on probation for the first three months.

                 Alejandro arrived for school a day late in a pickup truck loaded with a full-sized bed just for him and a quantity of other novelty items that the UETIRG dormitory had never seen before. He had a quick mind and an avid appetite for books. He could already understand and speak English moderately well, skills he picked up at home by watching English movies and television. It quickly became apparent that he would be a leader among the boys, and some even began to call him “Teacher Alejandro.”  The first lesson he had to learn was respect for the authorities, and it took him a couple of weeks to change his habit of calling his teachers by their first name only.

              And then the episodes began. First there was the copuazu fruit he stole from the neighbor to use for one of his class assignments. Later there was the stolen bread. That shenanigan, which he confessed was “foolish and completely unnecessary” cost him the school hike and campout. And then I discovered he had loaned his Philosophy homework to classmates for them to copy. Surprisingly, he never tried to hide or lessen his guilt, but confessed freely. I wasn't quite sure if he did so from a sense of honesty, or because he was proud of his actions. In any case, it was nice for a change not to have to listen to the desperate lies and excuses that most students proffer in the vain hope of escaping their consequences.

              “Well,” I told him. “You know what the handbook says about cheating in class or helping other students to cheat. For the first offence I will have to give you a zero on this assignment and we will notify your parents about what happened. Obviously this kind of behavior doesn't help your classmates learn anything, and besides that, it is dishonest.”

“Do you really half to call my mom? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I’m sure you don't, but that is exactly what we are going to do!”

“You don’t understand. Every time she gets a call from my school she freaks out because I either hurt myself or hurt someone else or vandalized school property.”

“Well, I’m sorry you've trained her to respond that way. I guess you will just have to start doing some really good things so we can start calling your mom about something positive!”

Fortunately, Alejandro´s mom did not faint or have a fit, and Alejandro promised there would never be a like incident again, a promise he seems to have kept so far.  

                  Despite all of the headaches, gradually we began to see changes in Alejandro.

One day during free time I was working with another student, Alejandro showed up and started working with us.

“What are you doing? Looking for work?”

“I thought I’d give this missionary service thing a try!” He replied. His voice was sincere enough, so I searched his face for any trace of sarcasm, but found none. Later when we began planning this year’s mission trip for the mid-year vacation, Alejandro signed up to go.

I think it was about a month before the mission trip when Alejandro came to my house and asked if I had any Bibles for sale.

“You don’t have a Bible yet?”

“It’s not for me. There’s a lady that our group visits in km 21 that wants a Bible.”

“Oh, I have a few Bibles left that were donated for evangelism, I can give you one of those.”

 “No, I want to pay for it. I want it to cost me something. You know what I mean?”

“I can charge you, that's not a problem.” I winked.

“Yeah,” he laughed. “There's just one catch. I don’t have money. And I don’t want to ask my parents for money. Do you have any work I could do?”

“Oh sure, that can be arranged!” And so Alejandro worked, and the next Sabbath presented the earned Bible to a surprised señora!

              But we weren't the only ones to notice the changes occurring in Alejandro. At the first parent-teacher conferences of the year, Alejandro’s grandmother was so happy she cried. “It is so good to see him doing well!” she said. “He is so happy here! Thank you so much for what you have done for my grandson.”

                  “Praise God,” I said. “It's not us that have made these changes in Alejandro. God is the only one with the power to work these kind of miracles!” 

Lately, I’ve seen Alejandro during mealtime, or in other spare moments, studiously pouring over The Great Controversy.

“I can’t understand why they don’t teach this stuff in other schools! It’s just straight history!” he enthused when I asked him if he liked what he was learning.  

“I’ll tell you why, it’s because it’s history that the Enemy doesn’t want anyone to think about! So you are enjoying the book? It is a really good read, one of my all-time favorites! ”

“I’ve been talking about it so much that the boys in the dorm gave me the nickname ‘Whaddy Wycliffe’!”

“That’s a nickname to be proud of!”

“I know! The sad thing is, if I introduced myself like that to anyone in town, they would just say ‘Nice to meet you.’ Nobody would have a clue who Wycliffe was!” he shook his head. “Yeah, they even wrote ‘Whaddy Wycliffe’ on my plate. The good thing about that is when someone sees the name it makes them curious and they ask and then whether they like it or not they end up learning about Wycliffe, the morning star of the Reformation!”

Alejandro is clearly proud of his new nickname, as he has written it in big letters accross his three-ringed binder that he uses for class.

When the pastor made a call for potential baptismal candidates to come forward after the baptism we had in the creek on May 2, Whaddy Wycliffe was the first to respond.

A week or two later while we weeded watermelon we had another conversation.

“I’ve been thinking about baptism. I need to have some changes in my life before I take that step though.” He told me. “I don’t want to be like so many people who get baptized and then just keep living the same as before!”

Whaddy Wycliffe is still quite in the rough, but God is clearly doing beautiful things! What a privilege it is to not only watch God transform a life but also be able to collaborate with Him in the process! My life will never be the same for it either!

P.S. Whaddy was baptized November 21. He's the one in the white robe. :)

From left to right, back row: Jhoram, Whaddy. Front row: Claudia, Angel, Abigail, Nicole, Maria Queli

Left to right: Adam and Whaddy Alejandro

Essential, Enduring Education

"The essential, enduring education is that which broadens the sympathies and encourages universal kindliness. That so-called culture which does not make a youth deferential toward his parents, appreciative of their excellences, forbearing toward their defects, and helpful to their necessities; which does not make him considerate and tender, generous and helpful toward the young, the old, and the unfortunate, and courteous toward all, is a failure."  My Life Today - Page 196  

The OGRE gets an OVERHAUL…more yet to come

OUT OF NOWHERE

            Hello everyone! It’s been awhile since I’ve sent you an update! Our first semester is over already, and Lyli and I finally have a moment to take a breath! Well, kind of. If I could describe the last few months in two words, I would chose abundant and accelerated.  We had the biggest rice harvest this year in the history of our school! The banana and plantain grove has produced in splendid fashion as well. Last week we took about 70 bunches to sell in town! Also, since I last wrote about the pickup truck, a Brazilian donor has given us a farm tractor, and we have received funds to repair the dilapidated ogre (now in progress of being renovated). Most recently another donation came in to upgrade the water system! In over six years here in the mission field I have never seen so much support come in such a short period of time!

This year we also have had unprecedented levels of interest in our school. One Sunday a camera crew from one of the local news stations showed up to shoot some footage for a documentary! That was a surprise! Since the director was not on campus they asked me to respond. Praise God He heard my quick plea for help and gave me words and boldness. I said some things that I know would not have occurred to me otherwise. Additionally, unprecedented numbers of students want to enroll, even for this upcoming second semester, and as always, our limiting factors are staff and infrastructure. It is hard to turn anyone down. A new boy’s dorm is on the horizon.

Impressive as it is, all this local acceleration takes on an even much greater significance to me as I consider it in the larger context of the acceleration in current global geological, political, economic and religious events. Have you all been keeping up with the news? Prophecy is being fulfilled in incredible ways right before our eyes! Events of a truly startling nature are right upon us! Why is God pouring out such blessings on us just now? I truly believe that God is preparing and equipping us to participate in the last great offensive in the battle between right and wrong! My hope and prayer is that we will humble ourselves in deep repentance and prepare spiritually to courageously stand in our assigned lot! This everlasting gospel of the kingdom (Revelation 14:6-12) will soon be heard in every corner of the globe, and then the end will come! Are you ready? Are you gaining the little victories today that will prepare you for the more intense conflicts of tomorrow? May the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with you and may you be found in Him! 

            The following is just one of many precious experiences we have had this year in the colporteur work.

“You just showed up out of nowhere!”

May 3, 2015

                  The number of factors that must have combined to make our meeting possible, not to mention successful, left me completely astounded. Yet, at the same time, it was nothing short of what I had asked for.

            It was Sunday morning again, and that meant distributing materials to my colporteur teams and collecting my plastic-bag lunch from the cafeteria. But today the kitchen crew hadn’t made our sack lunches, and that was just the beginning of our troubles.

“The police checkpoint isn’t letting anyone through today because of elections” Damaris was the second person to inform me.

So, Lord, where should we go? I thought. Please send your angels to guide us to people who are hungry for truth today. I heard no voice and saw no vision, but it occurred to me that I should take the road toward Riberalta. Almost in the same instant, however, it occurred to me to go the other direction to km 21! Oh, when will I learn to distinguish the promptings of the Holy Spirit from my own imaginings? But on the other hand, no doubt there were honest truth-seekers to be found in both directions! So I took the pragmatic option and went left, as I needed to drop off some voters and the Health service group in Yata. Since the larger towns were closed to traffic, our territory would be a number of small communities and solitary farmhouses strung out over a span of about 30 kilometers.

            When I stopped to drop off the first team of colporteurs on the outskirts of the village of Alvaroa, a large man approached pushing a motorcycle. I recognized him as Henrry’s[i] dad, Henrry Senior. We greeted one another, and Teacher Gabriela and Hanzel soon had him convinced to be their first customer.

            I dropped off the next team in 12 de Octubre, the official polling station for this portion of the rural sector, and continued on to another wide spot in the road called El Hondo. Only three or four villagers were home. The other half of the population had gone to vote, and those who remained were merely waiting for their friends and family to return with the motorcycles so they could go too.

“These are beautiful books!” they all said. “But right now we have no money!”

I guessed this would not be our best day for sales, but hoping to accomplish at least something useful, I offered them a ride to the polls on my way back through if they still needed it.

            Farther up the road we fared no better. We took a side road with a sign for Los Angeles, but merely found a small number of isolated houses, most of them far from the main road and accessible only by motorcycle track. We parked the truck and walked fifteen minutes to one house, just to find it empty. Apparently everybody had taken their civic obligations very seriously today.  

            It was about quarter ‘till noon when we finally found a house full of people, but although we captured their attention for a few minutes, most of them soon lost interest, and the two women who said they wanted books again had no money. Out of time, we started back to pick up the other groups.  As we approached El Hondo, however, I remembered my promise to give the folks a lift. One lady was waiting near the road, so I stopped and asked if she wanted a ride. She gestured and made some guttural noises in response, and I observed that while she could understand me, she was unable to talk. I asked her if she knew if anyone needed a ride to the voting station, and she shook her head. I told her about what we were doing and asked if she liked to read. When she saw the books she seemed excited, and pointed us to some people sitting on their patio on the other side of the highway, about 70 meters from the road. It was a house that had been empty earlier in the morning.

            We crossed the road and walked down the path toward the hut, accompanied by the mute woman. As we approached I observed an elderly lady resting in a hammock and several children playing nearby.

Probably not much chance of a sale here, I thought.

“¡Buenos días!” we greeted.

“¡Buenos días! Responded the woman in the hammock. “Come on in and sit down!” she invited with the characteristic hospitality of the rural folks in this province.

“Thank you!” We sat on the 1x10 board that constituted the other half of the deck furniture and began the canvass. Hardly had I begun to explain when a young couple appeared and sat on the bench next to me. I greeted them and handed them books to look at as well. I could see they were interested in Christ’s Object Lessons and Steps to Christ.

The old lady in the hammock was also interested. “Oh, what nice books! They are all so beautiful!” She said.

“Yes, indeed, they are wonderful books, and we want so much for everyone to have a copy that we are offering them for an excellent bargain! You can’t find these books around here, we have brought them from far away, and it really is an opportunity you don’t want to miss! Which ones will you take?” I explained the prices.[ii]

“Oh dear” said the woman in the hammock. “I really do like these, but I don’t have the money right now. Can’t you come back another day?” She looked at the couple next to me. “Are you going to buy?” she asked. They exchanged glances. They must not have money either. I thought. But to my surprise, the young woman reached into her bag and pulled out a 200-boliviano bill![iii]

“I really like these! We’ll take these two.” She picked out Steps to Christ and Christ’s Object Lessons from the stack of books I had shown them. “Do you have change?”

Oh no, what a fool I was to take the money out of my wallet this morning!

“Let me check!” I quickly counted all the cash I had on me: I was twenty bolivianos short.  Now not only would I lose the sale, but this young couple would miss this opportunity to have the truth in their homes! Suddenly I remembered the DVDs.

“I’m 20 b’s short of change, but I have these fabulous videos here. Usually I sell them for 30 b’s, but if you take them with the books I’ll let you have them for 20!”

“Let me see those. Hey, these look good! What are they about?” The young man asked.

“They are dramatized documentaries that explain the prophecies of Revelation.” I explained. “Your whole family will be sure to enjoy them. Some of your neighbors here wanted to buy them this morning.”

“Oh, we don’t live here, we are just stopped to visit my mother-in-law on our way home. We’ll take the DVD’s though!”

I was shocked. Apparently so was grandma, for she piped up: “This is amazing! We never have peddlers come by like this! You just showed up out of nowhere, and exactly at the right time!” She seemed more excited about it all than if she had been buying the books for herself! And why not?

---

[i] Please pray for Henrry. He was baptized his freshman year, but during the vacation he slipped into the attractions of the world, and this year he is really struggling. “It’s like there is this voice telling me, ‘quit wasting your time here, just go out and have fun’” he told me. “But I know God wants me here. I came back because I felt that if I didn’t I would be lost.” Just a few days ago Henrry’s grandpa passed away. They were very close, so this is an especially hard time for him.

[ii] Most of our books go for $6.50, and while that may sound cheap, it can be a daunting price here where most folks make a daily wage of about $14.00!  We also have some materials for about $4.25 and some booklet versions of Steps to Christ and The Great Controversy that are 70 cents each. I always offer customers a discount if they buy more than one book.

[iii] About $29.00

 "It is the nicest work ever assumed by men and women to deal with youthful minds. The greatest care should be taken in the education of youth to so vary the manner of instruction as to call forth the high and noble powers of the mind. Parents and school-teachers are certainly disqualified to properly educate children, if they have not first learned the lesson of self-control, patience, forbearance, gentleness, and love. What an important position for parents, guardians, and teachers! There are very few who realize the most essential wants of the mind, and how to direct the developing intellect, the growing thoughts and feelings of youth."  {Fundamentals of Christian Education 15.1} 

We have some new wheels!

Thank God, we were able to purchase the second school vehicle in the 11 year history of UETIRG! Yes, it is the Toyota Tundra mentioned in the last post! God is good! A big thank you to all of you who played a part, with prayers and/or financial support! The kids named the truck Fiona, so we now have the "princess" to accompany the Ogre! The name seems to fit her well because she is rather fussy, with a double alarm system that shrieks in protest at the slightest change in the established routine of operation! Errant soccer balls also bring forth cries of protest. She did manage to keep her composure when the whole school clambered aboard, however. After all, it was a photo shoot! :)