A WELL-WON DAY: Door to door, dogs, a dream, and God does a lot more than we bargain for!

canvass

verb

1 campaign, electioneer, stump, barnstorm.

2 poll, question, ask, survey, interview.

3 seek, try to obtain.

“For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost…” Matthew 18:11

“Teacher, are we going to go canvassing* tomorrow?” Abigail and Yarra eagerly bombarded me with questions as soon as I answered their knock on the door. Why yes, and it seems you are getting a head start on it tonight aren’t you?

 “We heard that the truck is broken down and won’t be going, but we can pay for our bus passage!”

“Don’t worry, I was planning that we would go anyway” Their enthusiasm made me smile. “We will meet briefly in the classroom after breakfast and from there we’ll walk to the entrance.”

As usual, the next morning I had one thing after another to attend to. As often is the case, I felt so unprepared and incapable for the work ahead of me and breathed a plea for some divine aid. I was still finishing breakfast and cramming my lunch, water bottle, and canvassing supplies in my satchel when there was another knock on my door. I opened to see all five of my canvassers in a row, spiffed-up and ready to go. They weren’t about to wait in the classroom for me to show up!

“Well, since you’re all here why don’t you come in and we’ll pray and read something short.” The selection from Colporteur Ministry spoke of the importance of the work before us promised that angels would go ahead of us to arrange appointments and prepare the hearts of the people. We prayed and I asked specifically that God would guide us to the right part of town and that we would be quick to discern the opportunities given to us. At some point that morning I also prayed silently for an opportunity to witness while on the ride to town. I imagined talking to someone on the bus, but if we didn’t catch the bus I figured God would make sure whoever picked us up would be someone we could share with. It was now nearly 8:40 and we needed to hurry if we were going to make the bus.

Wow, it is going to be a scorcher today! I am going to get fried! I realized as I left the house. Should I go back for a hat? No, all of my hats are horrendous eyesores. I would definitely scare any potential clients. I do have the European cabby-style hat that looks decent, but it won’t shade my neck and ears.  Lord, please protect me so I don’t come back like a lobster! I prayed.

En route I had the kids practice their door-approach and presentation. They are still pretty rusty. They prefer to fly by the seat of their pants, a risky and ineffective way to “wing it,” as any child who has survived a “flight” from the barn roof could tell you.  

No sooner did we have the main road in sight than the 9:00 bus whizzed by.

“Well Lord, so much for making the bus.” Not more than ten minutes had passed however, when a dump truck came chugging up the grade from the bridge at Tres Arroyos. We flagged it down, but the cab was already occupied so we clambered up the narrow ladder and over the side. It was dusty and noisy, but we were thankful for the ride anyway, and even more so when we passed the bus, broken down on the shoulder about 20 minutes down the highway! Soon we were pulling into town.

            Well Lord, where do you want us to get off?  As is often the case, I heard no clear answer. Lord, when am I going to learn to distinguish your voice from the clamor of my own thoughts? Am I really so hard of hearing, or am I just too impatient?  We kept chugging along for a couple of blocks, and then the dump truck made a left turn and stopped along the curb. Well, this is where we get off, I guess. Is this where we are supposed to work today too? Is this really the way it works? Shouldn’t I hear a voice, or at least have some distinct impression or something? I mean, how ridiculous to think that wherever the truck stops must be where we are supposed to work!

We climbed down from the dump truck bed, and I approached the cab to pay our fare. To my surprise, the driver only asked for 20 bolivianos for all six of us, a 33% discount from the going rate! Praise the Lord! I handed him the cash along with a couple of GLOW tracts and continued to survey the neighborhood. Two entire blocks in this sector were all inside a gated compound that serves as a base for naval officers. Could this be the place God wanted us to work today? I wondered if we could get permission to go inside. Where could I ask? Not a soul was in sight. I hesitated. Well, first things first. I needed to appoint a meeting place within walking distance for the lunch hour, and I needed to assign territory to the two other teams. I remembered that there was a plaza just a few blocks away, and we headed in that direction. With our rendezvous designated, and the other teams distributed to their respective blocks, I found myself back on the naval base street with my student Gadiel. There was one house between us and the base, and we went there first. It was an in-home carpenter shop, and I admired some of the finer furniture I have ever seen in these parts while I waited for someone to answer our hearty “¡Buenos días!” I could see some young men working in the back part of the workshop adjoined to the house, but they paid us no mind. A young woman soon emerged from inside however, and listened politely to our canvass, expressing interest in one of the health magazines, but finally declined with the typical “no money” rejection. I thanked her for her time and asked if she wouldn’t mind if we spoke to the workers in the back.

            “No problem” she obliged. “I’ll call them.” I repeated the speech to the carpenter, and received the same response. As we turned to go, the young woman called for us to wait.

            “I found some cash!” she exalted. “I’ll take that magazine after all!” As we left the house I couldn’t pass up the lesson without making a comment to my protégé.

            “See what we would have missed if we hadn’t asked to speak to the workers in the back? That’s the blessing of persistence and diligence in taking advantage of every opportunity!” The mini-lecture was as much for me as for anyone as we approached the gated naval base. Just as we were nearing the front gate, I saw a pickup truck with a uniformed officer on it’s way out of the compound.

            “Hurry! Let’s try to talk to this gentleman before he leaves!” We caught him just at the gate and explained what we were doing.

            “Who would I talk with to get permission to canvass inside the compound?” I asked. 

            “Permission?” he smiled. “Don’t worry about it. You are free to go inside. There aren’t many people home today though, and just be careful of the dogs. There are some biters in here. You might want to go around the block and enter at the other gate.” We thanked him and tried a quick canvass on him as well, but he was in a hurry and waved us on. 

            We took his advice and started around the block toward the other gate. On our way, there were two more houses outside the compound and there were people home at each of them so I decided to stop there first. After all, the man had said there weren’t many people at home in the base anyway. You’re just stalling because you don’t want to face the dogs. I reproached myself and again doubted if I were not making the wrong decision. But I remembered my own sermon on opportunities. Here I had people in sight, I better go talk to them. As for the dogs, I would see them soon enough. The first house was a quick stop with no results. We called at the second house, a clap-board shanty with the door left ajar, and a little girl peaked out at us, followed by a heavy feminine voice inviting us inside. The dingy, two-room house had a dirt-floor, two beds and a table in one corner. There were three women in the house, and several children, and I was surprised to recognize a taxi lady who had taken me to town from the bus station and given me a ride on at least one other occasion. She remembered me as well, we exchanged greetings, introduced ourselves, (her name is Jovanah) and I began to explain what we were doing.

            “Junior, come here” she suddenly shouted into the next room. “I want my son to come listen to what you have to say” she flashed us a gold-toothed grin. “Junior, come listen to these young men and take a lesson from them and see that there are young people who are doing something good and useful with their lives!” Poor Junior emerged looking quite sheepish, but he greeted us and sat down on one of the two beds across from his mother. The rest of the children gathered around as well. We began to talk about the books and magazines, and soon all were busily scanning over the materials.

            “Oh, these are beautiful books!” Jovanah exclaimed. “I like all of these, but I think for today we can only take this one” she indicated Señales de Esperanza, or Signs of Hope, a book about the signs of Christ’s soon return by pastor Alejandro Bullon. “I want to give this to my older boy” she explained. “He will be going to prison soon and I want him to have something to give him hope. Do you have any Bibles for sale?”

            “I don’t have any with me today, but I can bring you one.”

            “Oh please do!”

            “Do you have any songbooks?” asked one of the little girls. “Sometimes I go to the evangelical church and they sing hymns and I like it a lot. Can you bring us a song book too?”

            I agreed to bring the materials the next time I came to town. We spent nearly an hour talking to these hungry souls.**

            “I am so worried about Junior!” Jovanah explained to us. “I hardly see him. First thing in the morning after breakfast he disappears and goes with his friends and I don’t see him until late at night unless he needs something. He doesn’t help around the house at all. Just this morning I had to cruelly punish him because he got home late again last night. I don’t want him to make decisions like his older brother and end up in jail.”

            “How old is Junior.”

            “Fourteen.”

            At that point someone arrived at the house on a motorcycle and Jovanah excused herself to go speak to him. I took advantage of the opportunity to make conversation with Junior.

            “Don’t you have to go to school today”

            “No.”

            “Why not?”

            “The teacher told me not to come.”

            “Why would he do that?”

            “I don’t have a uniform.”

            “Why don’t you have a uniform.”

            “My mother won’t buy one for me.”

            We didn’t get any further in our conversation, but I began to wonder if there were not more to this situation than what met the eye. In any case, their situation is surely a case for prayer. When Jovanah returned she bought Signs of Hope and we collected the rest of the materials form the children and put them away and offered prayer for the entire family.

            By the time we left Jovanah’s house and proceeded to the naval base I had forgotten about the dogs…

TO BE CONTINUED

*The type of canvassing we are doing here is door to door sales of health-magazines, bibles, and inspired literature on the life of Christ, prophecy, and other topics. But above all it is the work of seeking out the needy and showing them the way to find hope and courage and salvation.

**I was able to stop by the next week and leave a Bible. I still need to get ahold of a hymnal.

We are at war!

Greetings all! Grace and peace to you in the name of our Mighty Captain and Commander, Jesus Christ! His is the victory, and He wants you to partake of His victory too!

When I was a kid and it was time to pick teams for recess the best players always got picked first. And when my teacher came out to play everybody started shouting “We get Mr. Hunt!” You know how it is. It seems to be instinctive: we want to surround ourselves with those who can take us to victory—at least when it comes to games at recess time. But for some reason in the realm of spiritual realities, we become confused. We walk on our heads! We make a science of winning our childish games while we ignore the science of salvation and the battle for our souls. We forget that we are at war. There are only two sides. The great controversy between Christ and Satan is not a spectator sport. There is no middle ground. Neutrality is a trap invented by the enemy to damn the complacent. All benchwarmers wear the Devil’s jersey. If you have not yet taken the field, you are no soldier of the cross! True Christianity counts no fans, no players in its ranks, only servants and soldiers. We must deny self, we must make sacrifices for this cause! Choose you this day who you will serve! Christ has chosen you, but will you choose Him? Will you take the field in his strength? Will you walk in His victory?

“WE ARE AT WAR”

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Eph 6:12

“Many who think that though they are doing no actual work for Christ, they are yet on His side, are enabling the enemy to preoccupy ground and gain advantages. By their failure to be diligent workers for the Master, by leaving duties undone and words unspoken, they have allowed Satan to gain control of souls who might have been won for Christ” (Christ’s Object Lessons, 280).

“We are at war” Those were my words when my friend Oliver and his mom(1) asked me how things are going out here at the school. The reaction on their faces made me smile and I hastened an explanation. It is a war for hearts and minds: a war for loyalty, for character reform.

Recently, all the girls had to wait outside of their dormitory while the dean and a couple of other teachers searched for over 250 bolivianos that had been stolen from several different girls. Part of the money was found tucked in between the rolls of toilet paper in a different room. No one would admit to the wrong.  We all had our suspicions, however. One of the top suspects was a young lady, I’ll call her Shirley, who we have been trying to help overcome habits of lying and stealing for the last two years. The most recent incident was this year when some of her classmates noticed that she arrived this year with a book from the library in her possession. When they asked her about it she claimed that some missionaries had given it to her. To confirm the story she showed a personal message in the front of the book: “To Shirley, from Clint and Helen” Unfortunately for Shirley, her handwriting is unmistakable, as well as the fact that the message was written on page two, and one could clearly see where the first page of the book, (the one that had the library card and seal on it) had been torn out. To top off the botched cover-up, Clint’s wife’s name is Mindy—Helen is another missionary that served here a few years ago! Because of that, and several other reasons, Shirley was a top suspect concerning the missing money. She knew that as well, and, unbeknownst to us, sent a message to her father telling him that she was being falsely accused of theft and that one of the teachers had insulted her and told her she should never have come to school and would he please come get her as soon as possible because she didn’t want to be here anymore! Within the hour her father arrived, letter in hand, wanting to know if it was true. But the director and most of the students, including Shirley were out harvesting rice, and since the father had other engagements to attend, we arranged to have a meeting that evening. In the meantime we met with Shirley. We prayed with her, and reminded her that we love her and want to help, and that we are very worried about the choices she is making. I shared the story of Achan from Joshua chapter 7 as well as a personal story about having to confess for cheating on a test. We confronted her about the letter she had sent to her dad, and asked her, name by name, which teacher had insulted her, or told her she should never have come here. Shirley hung her head and admitted that she had invented the story. We also pointed out that there had been no formal accusations against her, and the only reason she had been questioned more than some was because of her own past choices. At this point Shirley changed her story and said she now wanted to stay until the problem was resolved so that she could be a good influence for whichever girl had stolen the money so that that girl could see that it is possible to change.

“That’s wonderful Shirley that you say you want to be a good example, but if that is truly the case, what you need to do is start by making amends for stealing the book from the library. You should make restitution for the book and you should apologize to your roommates and any other girls who know what you did for the bad example that you gave them.”

I wish I could say that Shirley has truly turned over a new leaf, but she remained unwilling to even apologize for her lies and for the stolen book. The day after our meeting she decided to go home. We continue to pray for her, that God will touch her heart and give her the strength to make amends and break the bad habits that she has already formed at such a young age.

In the search for the stolen money, the dean and teachers discovered that theft was not the only problem in the girls’ dorm. Several of the girls had in their possession occultist drawings, images, and music. One of the girls, we’ll call her Jasmine told us that during the vacation her best friend had given her much of the material.  Jasmine said she wanted to witness to her friend, but whenever she tried, her friend made fun of her and changed the subject. Apparently the witnessing happened the other way around. Several nights ago, Jasmine asked her roommate Karen to pray for her as she felt overwhelmed by a pervading sense of fear. Shortly afterward, both girls felt an evil presence, and Jasmine’s suitcase began to move back and forth across the room, apparently of its own accord.

Karen prayed again, and told Jasmine that if there was anything in that suitcase that she shouldn’t have she had better get rid of it.  As the dean told me the story I began to understand why Jasmine had seemed so dark and somber these first few weeks of classes and why she has not wanted to pray or sing.

Providentially, just a few days before, Teacher Min had shared her personal testimony of how Satan had harassed her, untying the curtains in her room and lifting them out perpendicular to the wall and oppressing her with a dark, choking presence. Min recognized that it was because she had been unwilling to give up a bad relationship with a young man who was involved in all kinds of evil stuff that the devil had access to harass her.  When she finally broke off the relationship after resisting the pleadings of her conscience for a whole year, she was tested one more time, and after that the oppressive manifestations ceased. 

Praise God, Jasmine took this experience as a wake-up call and has gotten rid of all of her satanic pictures and music and has begun to pray again. We continue to pray with her and for her and her friends. We as staff took it as a wake-up call as well. We need to come together more in prayer, we need to search our own hearts and be sure that we leave no portal open for the enemy. We must give Christ the whole house, not just one of the back bedrooms.

Please pray for us here. This work is too big for us. Every time I stop to reflect on it I am amazed how God is willing to risk his reputation with me, to let me represent him, to call me to be a co-laborer with Christ for the salvation of souls! He could do this work so much better himself, or with his angelic host. But he chooses to use me!

(1.)         I made friends with Oliver and his family the year before last. Oliver approached me in the market and wanted to practice English. We struck up a conversation and he introduced me to his parents who keep an office-supply store, and they invited me to lunch. We have had many interesting conversations about spiritual things and they have come to visit us several times at the school. They are very kind and giving people, and I pray that God can use our friendship to draw them to a full commitment to Him.

Rainbow over UETIRG. The Sabbath afternoon before classes started

2/27/2013

Saludos from Bolivia! We have been at the school for over a week now, and we are so thankful for God's mercies toward us, they are truly new every morning! Traveling mercies included! (details found below).  Right now we are busy updating our electrical system and getting all the lines underground, thus eliminating a lot of mickey-mouse wiring and dangerous connections that usually produce two or three shorts annually that shut off our entire system and create fire hazards. Providentially, Dr. Spiva is here as the impetus for the upgrade project. He laid out the system and has been running the wire and bending and gluing pipe while the rest of us dig the ditches. My tool of choice has been a long-bladed hoe. Dr. Spiva calls it a "Mexican backhoe." It works the back at any rate. I find myself thanking God for the work I had splitting wood during vacation. The similar motion insured that digging trenches all day has not been such a shock to my system as it would have been otherwise! I am also thankful for the rain which keeps the ground soft. So far we have laid over 1000 feet of line! On Monday Dr. Spiva and Junior took the bus to Familia Feliz in Rurrenabaque to help them with some electrical work over there as well. Meanwhile Jerry has been remodeling for additional staff housing as we have another family of volunteers coming from Puerto Rico. (The same family that visited us for a month last year!) Scott and I helped him put on the roof sheeting yesterday. Classes don't start for another three weeks. Campus is still quiet. Staffing for this year looks pretty good. We have more returning staff than in any previous year that I have been here. We are only short a science teacher and boy's dean. Oh, and we need a farmer to get the agriculture program going… I think I mentioned that last time? If the farmer came on a tractor, that would be even better! ;) As always we solicit your prayers. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us, and our greatest obstacle is our own human nature. Pray for us that we will be converted daily and live in such a way so that the fifty-odd high school students and seventeen primary students this year will see Christ in His purity and loveliness and that their lives will be transformed. I am challenged but also take courage from the following promise.

"Heavenly messengers are sent to minister unto those who shall be heirs of salvation, and these would converse with the teachers if they were not so well satisfied with old customs and maxims, and the well-trodden path of tradition, if they were not so fearful of getting away from a certain line that keeps them under the shadow of the world. .--Manuscript 37, 1899, pp. 5-6. ("The Need for Consecrated Workers," March 21, 1899. emphasis mine)

What are those old customs and maxims and what is the well-trodden path of tradition in education? Where do we see the shadow of the world in our schools? I've been learning a few things about that lately, Lord willing I will be able to share more with you later. For now, let me just say that it is time to put everything on the table. It is time to examine all things in light of the word of God and hold fast only to what is good. It is time to be unafraid, and think and act free from the confines of the box where the world has stuffed education! It is time to move in faith and obedience to the principles in the divine words of revelation. If we do this, we will see the hand of God work for us in ways we never dreamed of. God has not changed. Why do we not see Him work for us in the same way he worked for his people in the scriptures? I believe the fault lies with us. 

Providence on the road

"Angels have far more to do with the human family than many suppose. Speaking of the angels, 'Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth tot minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?'…Holy, ministering agencies of heaven are cooperating with human agencies to lead into safe paths all who love truth and righteousness. It is the greatest joy of the angels of heaven to spread the shield of their tender love over souls who turn to God…" Bible Commentary vol 7 pg 922

Our luggage this year consisted of three plastic boxes, four suitcases, and a couple of handbags and backpacks weighing in at over 350 lb. total: school supplies, books, wood-working tools, food items unavailable to us in Bolivia, and other goods necessary to a missionary teacher in a foreign country. Things, things, things! Oh how they weigh us down. Yet the knowledge of what they're worth made us willing to re-pack twice in order to take the maximum amount possible! I filled my carryon with books and other heavy items so I could keep the checked bags at the 50 lb. limit. So you can imagine my dismay when I noticed an announcement on our airline's webpage prohibiting the use of boxes! It was the day before our departure, and I feared all my careful packing had been in vain. But before going out to buy duffle bags to re-pack in, (our only other viable option since suitcases are just too heavy, cutting 12 to 15 pounds out of the allowed 50!) I resolved to confirm with the airlines. After three attempts and 45 minutes of waiting on hold, I was finally able to speak to a representative who told me that the box rule only applied to excess luggage. As long as the boxes were included in our two-per-person checked-luggage allowance, there would be no problem! Praise the Lord!

But the excitement for the day was not over. My computer decided to create its own miniature ice-age, freezing up so completely that I was forced to manually restart a total of five times. When I looked at the disk utility it told me that my hard drive is on the fritz and that I must back up everything as soon as possible. Great. So while I backed up everything to my external drive I called all the nearest computer repair centers to see if they could give me a one day turn around. No such luck. They were so booked with work orders that the shortest wait-time was a week. So my best option was to buy a new drive and install it myself. I had to drive Lyli to a last minute doctor's appointment that afternoon to have her MRI read, so on the way we would stop for some last minute shopping, and, necessarily, more things to pack that evening when we got home! (By the way, this was another miracle we had since last time I wrote to you. A good friend of ours arranged last-minute appointments just four days before we were to leave. We had x-rays done and were able to see a neurosurgeon who ordered an MRI which we had taken the same day! Best of all, Lyli's MRI looks good! Her spine is nice and straight and the neurosurgeon said whoever did her operation after the accident did a wonderful job and he doesn't recommend doing any further surgery! Wow! God answers prayer, people!)

Anyway, let me tell you that if excess luggage complicates travel, the right traveling companions can more than compensate! Too often I forget about the angels. (No, I don't refer to my wife this time: she is an angel, but she is not invisible, thank God, hence I forget about her less frequently!) During our entire journey from Oroville to km 30 in the northern jungles of Bolivia this year we seemed to enjoy the special providence of God.

On our way to the airport in the morning we got off a little late and Dad was worried we would not have time to get the bags checked and get through security in time. His anxiety was contagious, but as it turned out we were the first to arrive at the American Airlines check-in counter and were able to check and rearrange our luggage to fit a few more things in the checked bags. Dr. Spiva arrived next and checked our fifth bag as his second bag, helping us avoid more excess luggage fees. Once through security and at our gate, they announced our flight was full, and offered to check our carryon bags all the way to our final destination free of charge. While in Miami I was able to call and arrange for Richard to meet us at the airport in Santa Cruz. We were the last from the flight to go through customs, so they didn't even let us push the button to see if we'd get the red or green light. They just sent us straight to the inspection tables. But again, God was merciful and we had only minor complications. My wife had to tell one of the inspectors to repack the bag nicely, and another inspector wanted to keep my drill bit set because it looked new, but in the end they let me keep it.

In Santa Cruz Lyli and I went to SEGIP, the agency that does the national ID cards to continue the process we began before leaving in November. We were afraid we were going to have to pay out a handsome sum in late fees. Even though we had registered online before we left, they had never contacted us. We knew there was a forty-five day grace-period before the fees started to accumulate, and I calculated that those days had ended sometime in early January. So what was our great joy to find out that the forty-five day period was forty-five business days! With weekends, Christmas, New Years, Carnival, and a scad of other Bolivian holidays (they have a tremendous quantity of non-working days) we were still within the grace-period and didn't have to pay a cent! We arranged to finish the process in Trinidad on our way north, since the office in Santa Cruz had a two-week wait time to get an appointment, whereas in Trinidad there was same-day service for foreigner to process their carnets. (The department of Beni doesn't have much of a foreign presence) So the money I thought I would pay out in late fees was better spent at the conference office where I made a down-payment for a supply of books to use for colportuering this year! I should have a shipment arriving from Argentina in March, Lord willing. 

We spent the weekend in Santa Cruz, and on Sunday Dr. Spiva was able to catch a flight to Guayaramerin with Uncle David and Herman on their way to Brazil to do some important paperwork for the airplane. There was no room on the flight for anyone else, so we decided to go by bus. Junior, Minerva, Alexandra, Scott, Min, and Yaneth were all in Santa Cruz as well, so we decided to travel together. Richard took us to the bus station Sunday night and we embarked for Trinidad along with 22 pieces of checked-luggage! When we were getting on the bus, my wife reminded me that we shouldn't put any of our hand bags up above for security reasons, so we stowed them all down under our feet. There was a foot-rest that folded over everything, and the space under our seats was sealed so the row behind us could not touch anything we stored there. I was carrying a hard-shell case with a  video camera that had been donated to us, and it fit perfectly under my seat. We had just gotten comfortable when a disconcerted shriek sounded directly behind us.
"Me pelaron!* This can't be! It's impossible! My computer is gone! Somebody has robbed me! I put it right here, right above my seat just five minutes ago! And right now I was going to put my son's jacket up there and it is gone!" She continued jabbering, describing the computer, how she had just gotten it and it was still in its box and she couldn't afford another one and how could anyone have done such a thing and who could it be as she was certain nobody had gotten off the bus. There was a young man onboard who was not a passenger. He was carrying a baby and had been making supplication for food, money, or anything to help him and his child. There was no way he could be hiding the computer, but perhaps he had been able to pass it out a window quickly to an accomplice. The police came and the women insisted that everyone be searched. They never did find anything. The poor women breathed threats and curses on her robbers for a full half-hour as we began our journey. Eventually Scott decided to go try to console her. He, Yaneth, and my wife said a prayer with her and she seemed to calm down some. When we arrived in Trinidad, there was another officer who check everyone's bag while they got off the bus. I got off without my stuff to help Junior watch while they took the checked bags out from the storage space below the passenger deck. Once we had secured that, I boarded to retrieve my stuff, but Lyli and Yaneth were just getting off and they had grabbed my stuff. I momentary thought I should double-check to make sure they got everything, but I dismissed the thought. Lyli and Yaneth and I needed to get over to the SEGIP office pronto because Junior found out that the only bus out of Trinidad for Guayara that day would leave in two hours. Our plan was for Junior, Scott and I to take the bus with all the luggage while the ladies flew commercial to Guayara because we heard the roads were in bad shape so the bus ride promised to be long and miserable. I bought a bus ticket with the assurance that I could change it for another day free of charge in the event that I didn't get done at SEGIP in time to catch the bus.

At SEGIP the computer system was having problems and going was SLOW, despite the fact we were the only people in line, I began to fear that we wouldn't get done in time. I called Minerva who had gone to check on plane tickets for the ladies, and discovered that they had been able to buy the last three seats available. They would leave around 11:00 am, but Yaneth and Lyli would have to try to get a flight for the next day. At least they wouldn't have to rush now! It was now about 9:40 and Yaneth was finally done and the SEGIP lady was helping Lyli. Suddenly a thought snapped in my mind with such force that it gasped out audibly: "The camera!"
I hadn't seen it when we took all the stuff off the bus. I visioned it there, tucked away under the seat on the bus. Maybe it wouldn't be too late yet, maybe it would still be there. I breathed a prayer and called Junior right away. He and Scott had stayed with the stuff at the bus station. But when Junior looked for the bus, they had already driven it away from the station. He asked around and they told him to look at a parking place a couple of blocks away. He asked for the driver's phone number, but the company told him they didn't have that information. Weird. More likely they just couldn't/wouldn't give it out. When Junior found the parking lot, he spotted the bus, but nobody was around and everything was locked up. By this time it was about 10:10 and he called me to let me know what was going on.
"You may have to just come down here when your done and hang out until somebody shows up."  At this point Yaneth and Lyli and I all had a prayer together and I surrendered the camera to the Lord. "God, I'm sorry for my negligence with the camera you gave to me. It's your camera. Please help us to recover it if it be your will."

It was my turn to get my fingerprints taken. Suddenly the computer system seemed to be working much faster and I was almost done when Junior called again. "I have your camera. Are you coming? The bus leaves in ten minutes."
"Praise God! Yes, I just have to sign and I'm on my way."
"Okay, I'll see if they can wait a few minutes for you."

And so it was that God helped us get done at SEGIP and recover the camera and catch the last bus to Guayara all in an incredibly short amount of time.
Junior told me later that right after he called me the first time the bus driver showed up. As it turned out, the police officer that was inspecting the bus had found my camera and wanted to take it to the station. The bus driver refused, insisting that whoever had left it would soon come back to look for it. Amazingly, the police officer acquiesced. But most amazing of all to me was that the driver hadn't just sold the camera off quickly to somebody. He easily could have told Junior that there was nothing on the bus and we would have had no recourse. For someone to return a lost item of that value in this country is practically unheard of! But God had put it in his mind to be an honest man. Or just maybe, the bus driver Junior saw wasn't really from around. Who knows? I plan to ask my angel some day. :)

To finish the miracle, Lyli and Yaneth got a flight to Guayara the next day and beat us there by about 12 hours. We had a bumpy road, but the bus never got stuck and we arrived with all the luggage in tact a total of nearly 48 hours after leaving Santa Cruz. And we praised God for his traveling mercies. They were new every morning. :)


*Literally, "They've pealed me!" it means the same thing as saying "Somebody's ripped me off!"

Having Nothing, Having it All

Taking Care of Business

I do like to write... you may or may not concur, depending on whether you judge by the scarcity of my updates, or by their often-manuscript length! I try to be interesting and creative... so I draft and edit and revert to old habits of taking months trying to say things to my satisfaction until I wear myself out and in the end just send it to you half-polished... In the process life gets ahead of me and I neglect to keep you current on our whereabouts, future plans, and other perhaps important information. (If you are interested in staying current on those things, you may have better luck following us on facebook!) But, to take advantage of the current missive, we are right now enjoying a couple more weeks here at my parents house near Oroville, California before flying back on Feb 12 for another school year in Bolivia! We were so blessed to get the tickets we did, they come with a return flight to Mexico so we can visit Lyli's family next December, Lord willing! God's timing was impeccable as always! Classes will start in mid March this year. We are praying God will send the right people to fill the openings for boys and girls deans, math teacher, an additional primary school teacher, and somebody to help us get the agriculture really going... so if you know anyone... or perhaps hear the call... we should talk! We are pleased that Dr. Neal Spiva, a retired physician and skilled construction worker/ equipment operator/ electrician etc. will be accompanying us and will stay for about a month to help us improve our electrical system!

Lyli and I have been so blessed to have a few days of work and also opportunities to visit a couple of elementary schools, hang out with the kids, show pictures and share stories. This year I didn't pursue any speaking engagements, in part because I don't have my car anymore and in part because I just wanted a break. Well, just last week I was thinking that perhaps that was selfish on my part and feeling the need to repent of my reticence to speak. So I prayed about it and told God I am willing now, and if He gave me an opportunity I wouldn't turn it down. Well, just a piece of advice: don't ever pray something like that if you don't mean it!  The next day was Friday and Dad came down with the flu and asked me to preach for him Sabbath! Not only that, but I'm scheduled to share again for the next two weekends! (If any of you are interested, I am happy to send you the PowerPoints). Andy Landis, one of our church brothers agreed to teach me the basics of welding... I have zero experience with welding, but I am excited to have a chance to learn a little. Especially after seeing all the gizmos and tractor attachments and different things that Mr. Darren Greenfield has manufacture for the farm over at Wiemar College! I also have a job pruning grapes and roses and splitting and stacking wood for the physical therapist who is helping my wife. God opened that door this break for Lyli to get some help for her chronic back and leg pain. She was in an airplane accident back in 2008* and suffered fractures to the L5, S1, and S2 and the nerve that runs through that region down to the sole of her left food was nearly severed. Well, a kind physical therapist donated some time to work with Lyli and show her some exercises to do and also gave us a TENS unit (Trans-electric neural stimulator). It is an external device with electrodes that mask the pain signals from the damaged nerve with mild electric stimulus. A dear friend also introduced us to an herbal blend (largely white willow bark) and the combination of these various simple methods has given Lyli a surprising amount of relief. She is still not pain-free, but it has been a great help and blessing. We are still pursuing the possibility of finding a neurosurgeon who can order some scans and see exactly what is going on with her back now so we can be sure there is nothing else that needs to be done.

As always, we appreciate all of you who support us in your thoughts and prayers and with your donations and words of encouragement! May you all be so blessed!

 *If you're interested in hearing the story of the plane crash you can watch it at http://boliviamissions.org

A little bit of last year's garden...

Green beans

Lettuce

 One of the junior girls on my garden crew took charge of these lettuce rows. They were her special project and she did a great job!

Add caption

squash

Plantain and banana

We are so thankful for the produce we had from the garden last year, but we definitely need to improve our agriculture program. We could really use someone with knowledge and experience in agriculture to come join our staff and help us get the program going. The goal is to eventually grow enough food for most of our needs and be able to sell surplus to offset operating expenses and become a self-sustaining project. In the process we want students to learn the art of farming and develop character traits such as patience, perseverance, responsibility, and teamwork.

Another old story...

    I used to think I was a patient person until I became a missionary in Bolivia. One of the most frustrating trials has consistently been doing the paperwork for our residency visas. The following story some of you have already heard, but I wrote it up for those who didn’t get a chance to hear me tell it while I was home last year.

11-17-2011. Passport problems: a precious lesson.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my ways your ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8, 9.    
“Those who exercise but little faith now, are in the greatest danger of falling under the power of satanic delusions and the decree to compel the conscience. And even if they endure the test they will be plunged into deeper distress and anguish in the time of trouble, because they have never made it a habit to trust in God. The lessons of faith which they have neglected they will be forced to learn under a terrible pressure of discouragement.  {GC 622.1} 
   
    Thirty-three more days, Lord willing! My fiancée Lyli and I left the internado the morning of November 15. Graduation ceremonies were over, we had turned in our students’ grades and the end-of-the year paperwork, packed our bags, and were on our way to the Guayaramerin airport where we would fly with the mission plane as far as Santa Cruz where we would catch our commercial flight to Lima, then Miami, and finally Cancun, in route to my soon-to-be in-laws’ house in southern Mexico where the pending wedding was in desperate want of on-site preparation.
    Originally, our plan had been to leave the school by the end of October and have a month and a half to get things ready. But there was a small problem: we didn’t have our passports. Upon returning to Bolivia in February we had surrendered them for the continued processing of our two-year residency visa. During the early part of the year, my application was flagged at least twice on paperwork complications. I fixed the problems as quickly as possible and resubmitted to the local immigration offices in Guayaramerin.
    Unfortunately, when my application was finally ready to be resubmitted, the director of the local immigration office wrote the wrong number on my form and so when she sent it off to Trinidad (1) it was rejected again! In the meantime, she was relieved from her post for overall shoddy performance. The new director, Don (2) Armando, inherited all of the previous director’s problems. He quickly became frustrated with my situation because he didn’t know how to fix the mistake on my form, and also, I am sure, because of my regular visits. (3) In the end he wrote a letter explaining my case and sent it off along with my application and passports, requesting that the department headquarters in Trinidad provide the solution.
    I knew that my passports could sit in Trinidad for months if I simply waited for them, so I began to call Trinidad every couple of days trying to speed along the process. However, the folks in Trinidad didn’t know what to do either, and decided to send my application on to the highest authorities in La Paz. (4). It was now nearly September.
    While all this was going on, we were also concerned about Lyli’s passport, because we hadn’t seen it at all since we had submitted it in February! All our inquiries at the local immigration offices in Guayara were fruitless. They didn’t know anything as usual. I called Trinidad, and they couldn’t tell me anything about it either. I called La Paz and they told me I must provide the application numbers in order for them to check and see if the passport was there. Well, I didn’t have said number, and when I asked for it in Guayara they told me they didn’t have it either! It would seem we had no way of tracking down the passport unless we went to La Paz in person, a two-day trip by bus.
    Providentially around this time Jeff Sutton, the project coordinator for GMI in South Amercia, put me touch with an Adventist lawyer in La Paz and after I provided her with all our of our information and she was able to go to the immigration offices and confirm that our passports were there. Lyli’s had been there all along apparently, simply awaiting the signature of the proper authority. We made a document with the public notary giving our new lawyer friend power of attorney and air-mailed it to her and she was able to expedite the signature on Lyli’s visa and submit a request that my residency application be put on hold until and my passport sent back to me so I could travel.
    October was already well gone by this point, and we were nearly two weeks into November. It was the day before graduation when the lawyer called me with the good news that both of our passports had been sent! About this time, Mr. Deon, a short-term missionary who had been helping out at the school, told us that the mission plane would be making a flight to take him back to Santa Cruz, and there would be room for us onboard. I knew our passports would still take awhile getting to us, so I called Herman the pilot and asked if we could land in Trinidad to pick them up en route to Santa Cruz. Next I called the immigration office in Trinidad.
    “Have the passports arrived?” I asked.
    “Yes, they are here!”
    “Can we pick them up there the day after tomorrow?”
    “Of course.”
    So that is how we found ourselves finally beginning our trip to Mexico on the 15th of November, planning to pick up our passports in Trinidad. As we rode in the truck to the airport I was reading for my morning devotions when one vivid paragraph really got my attention.   
    “Hey Lyli! Listen to this! ‘The Lord does not always make everything plain before His servants. He sometimes tries the confidence of His people by having them move in faith. Often He brings them into straight and trying places, bidding them go forward when their feet seem to be touching the waters of the Red Sea. It is at such times, when the prayers of His servants ascend to Him in earnest faith, that He opens the way before them, and brings them out into a large place.’”  {LLM 271.3} 
    Somehow I felt distinctly impressed that this message had special relevance for me that day. Perhaps things would not go smoothly at the immigration office, and we would have the opportunity to put our trust in the Lord.
    In the airplane we started addressing and stuffing envelopes for our wedding invitations. The plan was to send them with Mr. Deon who would be in the states within a few days and had agreed to mail them for us. That was our only hope that they would arrive at least a week or two before the big day. When we touched down in Trinidad, we shared a taxi to the main plaza with the pilot and the other passenger.
    “How long do we have?” I asked the pilot.
    “We have to leave by 4:00 if we are going to make it to El Trompillo before they close the runway at dark. So if you can be back to the airport by 3:30 at the latest that would be ideal.” 
    “Okay. Perfect.” It was only about 10:30 in the morning. Yet although I felt pretty optimistic about making the deadline, Lyli and I wasted no time but went directly to the immigration office a few blocks down the road.
    When I stepped into the office and introduced Lyli and myself and what we had come for, the lady just stared at us blankly for a few seconds.
    “Oh yes, you called.” It seemed to come back to her. She stood and walked over to a filing cabinet and began to thumb through a drawer of files. “Your passports are here.” She pulled a folder. “But it looks like Lyli’s passport hasn’t arrived.”
    What? I thought
    “I thought you called ahead of time to make sure they were here!” Lyli exclaimed.
    “I did!” Then the realization hit me. “Oh no! I don’t think I asked her specifically if your passport was here. I just asked if our passports had arrived. And since I have two passports after I renewed last year, she probably thought I was just asking about my own!”
    Lyli was crestfallen.
    “Are you sure it is not here?” I asked.
    She looked through the file a moment longer.
    “It isn’t here. You will have to come back tomorrow. The courier has already come with the mail for today, and he only comes once a day.” She sat down again and looked at my folder. “And we have a problem here too. Your residency has not been completed and there is still a problem with the paperwork.”
    “Yes, I know. But I need to travel so I will just be borrowing the passport temporarily and when I return will finish the application.”
    “Well, you cannot do that.”
    “Really? I had to borrow my passport last year and it was in the middle of the one-year residency process and there was no problem!”
    “Well, the law has changed and you cannot just take the passport back whenever you need it anymore. There is a special process.” She informed me. Oh boy. Here we go! I thought. The law would change like that wouldn’t it. Typical. I should have known this wasn’t going to be simple.
    “But my lawyer in La Paz told me there would be no problem, she made all the arrangements and that is why the passport has been sent back from La Paz even though they haven’t concluded the residency.” 
    “Well, I still can’t just give it to you. You have to present the right paperwork.”
    “Everything should be in order” I protested. “I asked my lawyer to get my passport from immigration so that I could travel, and she confirmed that it was taken care of. I can call her if you want.”
    At that the lady opened the folder to look things over.
    “Oh! Here is the document that you need. Everything looks good. I just need you to sign here.” And just like that I had my passport! Thank you Lord. That’s one down, but what about Lyli’s? I wondered. If it’s not here, what will we do?
    “Are you sure Lyli’s passport is not here?” I asked again.
    “I’ve looked through the whole file of applications, it’s not there.”
    “The lawyer told us that our passports were sent out from La Paz the same day, so Lyli’s should be here too. Isn’t there anywhere else it could be?”
    “Well, there is the director’s office. Sometimes there are some folders that get taken in there. But she isn’t here today and her office is locked.”
    “Doesn’t she leave a key with anyone in case of emergencies like this?” I pressed. The lady hesitated.
    “Well, yes. I’ll go check.” She left the office. Another lady at her desk on the other side of the room looked over at us and smiled sympathetically and I realized she had been listening in on the entire conversation. In about ten minutes our immigration officer returned. “There were some folders in there, but Lyli’s isn’t here. Like I said, the courier has already come today too, so it won’t get her today. There’s nothing I can do. You’ll have to check back tomorrow.”
    “Let’s go” Lyli tugged at my arm. “You’ll just have to go to Mexico without me.”
    “Come on, don’t be silly. Just be patient! I think we should wait this out a little bit longer.” I whispered in English. I remembered the quote I had read that morning and the impression that it made on me, and somehow I felt at peace. Maybe everything wouldn’t work out like I thought it should, but right now I felt we just needed to be patient and persevere.
    So we continued to sit there. Lyli got out our wedding invitations and continued labeling the envelopes. The lady, seeing she wasn’t going to get rid of us began to ask us questions about what we were doing and where we were going. When she found out we are volunteer missionaries and were on our way to our wedding she softened a little.
    “I was just really hoping to get those passports today” I said. “We have a flight waiting for us at 3:30 this afternoon to Santa Cruz.”
    “What! You shouldn’t have gotten flights yet until you had your passports in hand!” She shook her head clicked her tongue against her teeth.
    By this time the office was closing up for lunch break and we had no choice but to leave. “Try again tomorrow” the lady told us.
    We went back to the plaza to meet up with Mr. Deon and Herman.
    “Well, we have one passport, we still need the other!” I greeted them. “Keep praying!” After lunch we went straight back to immigration. They weren’t open yet, so we sat on the front steps and kept working on wedding invitation. About two o’clock, someone showed up and opened the offices. The immigration lady wasn’t back from lunch yet, so we sat down inside to wait some more and continued to work on invitations. About two twenty she showed up looking quite surprised to see us again.
    “Look, I just want to be sure that there is no way it the passport could be around here somewhere because if we can we still want to take our flight this afternoon.”
    “You just don’t get it do you?” she asked. “I told you to check back tomorrow.”
She went into her office and we continued to sit on the bench outside. What should we do now? Should we get hotel rooms here in Trinidad until Lyli’s passport gets here and then take the bus to Santa Cruz? How many days would that take? What if her passport was lost for real this time? But again I had the impression that I wasn’t to give up just yet. With a prayer to summon up my nerve, I entered the office.
     “I don’t mean to be a nuisance, but I just want to be certain the passport is not here already. The lawyer told us that both Lyli and my passports were sent from La Paz at the same time, and since mine was here it seems really strange that Lyli’s passport isn’t!”
    “It’s not here! I’m not lying to you!” she seemed quite frustrated with me by this point. “Why would I be lying, I have no reason to hide it from you!”
    “Of course not! I don’t think you’re lying to us,” I responded. “I just know sometimes there can be an honest mistake! Things can get lost or misplaced.” I sat silently for a few more minutes, hoping she would have compassion and at least take another look around the office.
    It was now three o’clock and we only had fifteen minutes before we needed to head to the airport if we were going to catch the flight. Lyli had stowed the invitation in the backpack and was at my elbow. I could tell she was ready to leave. “You need to call Herman and let him know we aren’t going to make it.” 
     I eyed a stack of folder on her desk. “What about all these, could it be in any of these folders?” I lifted the corner of the top folder.
    “Oh no, those are all my local cases from here in Trinidad. It won’t be in there.”
    “Okay. I just want to be sure that there’s no way it could be around here anywhere.” I repeated myself yet again.”
    “Alright, just so you can see that I’m not lying to you, I’ll show you that it’s not here” she said, grabbing the first folder from the stack on her desk. As soon as she opened it, Lyli and I both spotted a familiar name and relief flooded through me. The lady gasped in surprise. “Here it is! I can’t believe it! It shouldn’t be in here, how could have gotten in these folders? I have no idea how it got in here! I’m so sorry!” she blushed and babbled.    
    “Never mind, we don’t blame you at all. I’m sure it just got misplaced by accident” we consoled her as Lyli signed for and received the long-lost document. In that moment God impressed my mind that this was a perfect opportunity to give Him the glory.
     “Actually I believe that God lets us pass through difficult situations like this where it things come down to the last minute just to test us and see if we are going to trust him or if we will become angry and frustrated.” We were able to say a few more words and I left her with a piece of literature before we hurried out to catch a taxi to the airport.
    “Bring me some of the wedding cake!” she called out after us.
    Out on the street there were no taxi’s in sight, so we began to walk toward the plaza while I texted Herman with the good news and to let him know we were on our way. Suddenly I remembered we had forgotten something important.
    “Sweetie, let’s stop for a minute and thank the Lord for what He just did for us back there.”
    “I was about to suggest the same thing” Lyli responded. We prayed and praised the Lord for His goodness to us and for teaching us a lesson in patience and giving us an opportunity to testify of his love and power.
    “You know, there’s just one thing that bothers me” I told Lyli after we prayed. “I just realized that all that time that we were sitting there waiting, all I was thinking about was our problem and what we could do if the passport wasn’t there. I never stopped to consider what God might be trying to accomplish through us, that he wanted to use us to share His love and goodness with that immigration officer. How selfish I have been, and faithless to be worried about what we were going to do instead of looking for a greater purpose in all of this! I feel like I owe God an apology!”
    “Yeah, you and me both.”

*******************************************************************      
I found this quote later and thought it gives a good reason for sharing this story with you even though it is already an old one. :)

    “When the Lord has answered our prayers, and proved himself better to us than our fears, we should not fail to express our gratitude for his mercies. Like the Hebrew host, we should praise him for his wonderful works. Here many fail to glorify God. They do not tell of his goodness, making known to all around them that the Lord is to them a present help in every time of need. 
         We should praise God for every blessing we enjoy, and above all else should we express our gratitude for the provisions of his grace. What compassion, what matchless love, hath God shown to us, lost sinners, in connecting us with himself to be to him a peculiar treasure! What an infinite sacrifice has been made by our Redeemer, that we may be called children of God! And what a tribute of love and gratitude should it call forth! 
         If the heart be given to God in earnest, sincere affection, we shall love those for whom Christ died, and thus may we reflect back glory to God. By meditating upon his word and drawing nigh to him in the simplicity of faith we may behold his excellency and his glory, and thus be changed into the same image. We should offer unto God the sacrifice of praise continually, giving thanks unto his name.”  {ST, March 10, 1881 par. 10-12} 


1.    Trinidad is the department capital of Beni. (The equivalent of a state capital in the US)
2.    Synonymous with señor, the Spanish equivalent of Mr.
3.    Here in Bolivia I often find myself reminded of the story of the unjust judge of Luke 18. Persistence to the point of making yourself a nuisance is practically necessary in many cases if you expect any results. Although the majority of the officials couldn’t care less about you, if you are incessantly insistent, they will eventually give you what you need just to get rid of you.
4.    La Paz is the capital of Bolivia

Students and staff build director's house

On with the roof

Armando does work on the walls

Septic tank Bolivia style

Nearly finished product

Front porch

New Dean's house built 2012

Alex and Juan Jose break ground for the new dean's house

Front view

Plumbing

Pouring the floor

Trimming the doors to fit

bedroom

 

 

East View

August-September

8/21/12. God’s creatures measure my character

God put the fear of man into the beasts, and I thank Him for it while out walking this morning.  The jungle cats that prowl these parts make themselves scarce, and though the boys have spotted caiman*  in the creek, no one has ever been bit. But when I think about Christ and how in the field and wood the critters did not fear him I can’t help but compare that with how the birds and hoachies**  scatter at my approach.  Do they sense that in me there are still traces of that spirit of he who was a murderer from the beginning? I must admit to assassin-like thoughts upon spotting most any kind of rodent. At times I even see the birds as worthy of death.  I shudder, but I must admit my character is still a far cry from Christ’s.
Lord do your work in me!

  *A smaller relative of the crocodile
  **Mid-sized rodent that looks like a cross between a rabbit and a wild pig.

How Christians should hide the kingdom of heaven

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” Matt 13:44

Last night Milton came to ask me about the parable of the hidden treasure.
“I just have one question teacher. Why does he hide it? I don’t understand that part”
“You mean the fact that the treasure represents the gospel makes it seem odd that he should hide it after he finds it?” Milton nods. “Well, I think it’s clear that it can’t mean we should hide the good news from everyone else so they can’t get it, that would be a blatant contradiction of many other scriptures. Christ himself said that he who has a light does not put it under a basket but on a candlestick to give light to all those in the house. He also said to preach the gospel in all the world for a witness to all nations. I think the principle that is important here is that the man is not going to lose this treasure. He will do everything necessary to insure that he can claim it as his own. He hides it so that no one can take it away from him!”
It is not until Milton is in front speaking that I think of Ps 119:11. “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.”  Yes, we are to hide that treasure! Not so no one will know it is there, but so that it will do its transforming work within us. As Matthew 13:33 puts it, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”  The yeast transforms the dough, and hidden treasure transforms the life of the man who finds it. II Corinthians 4:6 and  7 explains that the treasure is the knowledge of the glory of God as revealed in Christ, and we are to have it stored or hid inside of us! We, the vessels of clay shaped in such a way by the Master Potter (Jeremiah 18:4) so as to contain the very Word of God, His Spirit and His life (John 6:63) so that Christ can truly say of us, “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21)! How then can I come to hide the kingdom of heaven in such a way? As always, the same Word of God has the answer:
 “Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, [and] liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as [for] hid treasures;  Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.”   (Proverbs 2:3-5, emphasis mine) 
Forty-niners and earthly fortune seekers, you are on the wrong trail! Forget about the physical gold. It’s time to have a God rush: a headlong, pell-mell, risk-everything, winner-take-all pursuit of God! He who seeks like that will never come up empty! (Jeremiah 29:13).

9/3/2012 Abundant rain is on the way.

It is winter here in Bolivia. It has not rained for a month and a half, and the only soft ground goes airborne with the slightest disturbance. That, combined with the smoke from the local campesinos’ slash and burn and the local ranchers’ pasture blazes*  makes the sun and moon rise blood-red and twice their normal size.
Lyli and I are coming back from town after the second seemingly-wasted day this week. We have been trying to get the necessary documents together to petition our permanent Bolivian residency, and as usual, the going is not easy. The immigration officials always have something new to tell us. They know that Lyli and I are married now, and as such we must redo all the documents that we had made for our last residency to reflect our change in social status. Amiably, they want to help us avoid the trouble and offer us an easy way out. All we have to do is get a sworn statement from the public notary stating that our place of residence, occupation, and social status have not changed since the last residency we processed and we will avoid over half of the paperwork load, including the dreaded INTERPOL, or international police report, that delayed our last visa at least 6 months. We will also avoid having to send our marriage certificate to LaPaz to be verified as legitimate with the Mexican consulate and the Bolivian Canciller, which will basically just charge us a small fortune for their stamp of approval. It is very tempting to avoid all that nonsense, but as I think about it, I know we just can’t go that route. Lyli senses my reticence.
“We can’t do it” she confirms.
“I know. I’m just thinking, if we’re willing to be dishonest in something small like this just to avoid the inconvenience, how will we resist the temptation to lie when there is a real crisis?” We must learn to be faithful now. No excuses.
I think of the story I’m currently reading about  Ivan, an Adventist soldier in the soviet army in Moldavia who is faithful to God despite all odds and is bold beyond belief to fight the battles of the Lord. I have so much to learn. (If you want to be inspired and challenged read the book by Bradley Booth, Dare to Stand Alone.)
That afternoon I try to send our marriage certificates to the lawyer in La Paz, but Aerocon (read 3rd-world FedEx ) is closed until 3:00, the same time our bus leaves. So we leave town again without having advanced in our paperwork process. But all is not lost. God works in mysterious ways. While in line to pay for groceries at the Edén market, I have to rearrange the contents of my backpack, and I take out the copy of The Great Controversy and put it on the counter. I´ve forgotten all about my prayer this morning that God would give me an opportunity to share with somebody hungry for truth until the cashier grabs the book and begins to look it over.
“Is this the Bible?” he asks.
“No, but it’s a great book! Probably would have to be my second favorite after the Bible! It tells the history of God’s people starting where Revelation left off with the early Christian church in the days of Rome and continuing on down to today. It explains the role of America in prophecy and has helped thousands of people better understand the book of Revelation”
“How much does it cost?” he cuts to the chaste.
“Well, we usually sell it for 80 B, but I’ll give it to you for 60.”
He buys it on the spot.
We leave town ahead of what appears to be the first good rain in a long while. When we get off the bus at the entrance to the two-kilometer driveway, it looks like we’ve outdistanced the storm, but halfway down the drive the wind starts up out of nowhere.
“Yes Lord! Let it rain and rain hard!” Lyli giggles. “But please, not until we get home!”
The wind is gusting now and the driveway turns into a lane through wonderland as tiny leaves swirl down like golden snowflakes, catching the gleam of the retreating sunlight. We are in those last precious moments before the tempest strikes. The treetops sound like Pentecost and their moving reminds me of when God passed through the mulberry trees to lead King David’s troops to victory (1 Chron 14:15) A deep and solemn joy overtakes me. The Holy Spirit is moving! As I watch the falling leaves I think of how the Bible speaks of us as leaves (Isa 1:30, 64:6, Jer 17:8, Psalms 1:3). When the wind of the Spirit moves right before the tempest, many a spiritually dead, nominal Christian will be shaken. The latter rain will arrive, but for those of us who have no living connection and have fallen to the earth it will bring no growth and no power. Just a plastering pounding that precipitates decomposition.  
Four days ago we started a forty day prayer challenge with the students in our family worship group. Every morning we get up at 4:30 to study what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit and his work and how we can prepare ourselves to receive him in our lives. Oh what a need is ours, and how easily we are distracted from it by the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches! How often Satan picks our brains of the good seed! I feel so destitute, so far removed from God’s ideal!  I can’t even conceive of His plan: only small glimmers reach me. I lack spiritual stamina.  “Oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.” (Habbakuk 3:2)

*Local ranchers burn their pastures to combat the encroaching jungle and burn of the tall dead grass so it will come back fresh and tender with the coming of the spring rains.