This week our city and country will be celebrating Carnavale. It is a holiday that has its roots in pagan beliefs and our present-day customs reflect those roots.

One of those customs is the “dousing with water”, representing the insemination of the populace to ensure fertility in the coming year. I really don’t think that this origin is in the uppermost of the minds of the young people throwing water balloons and reloading their automated water cannons. Yet, the water fights still reign.

Often you will see a few “gangs”, across busy streets, lobbing balloons heavy with water. Those balloons are remarkably accurate in their trajectory! However, if a few balloons miss their mark, striking the unsuspecting driver or passenger who were foolish enough to drive with their windows open, then so much the better (from the water attacker’s perspective).

Generally, when you get hit by a water balloon, especially when tossed FROM a moving vehicle, you have no recourse but to just “take it”. However… Read the rest of this entry »

We have been in Bolivia for almost 4 years. That is so amazing to me, and yet in many ways I feel as if I have lived here all (or at least most) of my life.

[permanent post in Essays]

We haven’t had a hard time with the culture. My parents and ancestors are  from small-town Texas (after they debarked from the Mayflower, they headed straight for Texas!) and I spent my early years and many summers in those same small towns. I also experienced life in the high-powered business world of the ’80s oil rush in Dallas. And we have dealt with the breadth of human nature in a variety of corporate and church environments.

I give you this brief bio in order to show that we have experienced life in its richness… the sublime to the ridiculous, as they say.

We never made the mistake of isolating human nature within geographical boundaries. People are “people”, all over the world! Yes, in Bolivia I got my purse stolen from my side at a charity bake sale… but in Bible College in Missouri, my graduation ring was stolen from my bedside as I napped (and that same year, my purse and then my Bible were stolen as well).

We thought that our biggest challenge would be to get people to realize their need for a saving Christ to be their Lord and Savior. Read the rest of this entry »

Opening the Wii from Steven Johnson on Vimeo.

With the rainy season flooding the crawl space beneath the house, we have had trouble with rodents. It has been driving me batty and we finally got to the point where we agreed that we would have to get poison — they kept eating the bait and totally disdaining the traps available in Cochabamba.

Then Tuesday night one of our cats killed a big one. We thought that was the end of it.

We thought wrong.

Late Wednesday night my hubby, Steven, felt something around his feet. Then something bit his toe! It didn’t break the skin on the bottom of his toe, but it did on the top. Then he saw the rodent running. It was about 7-8″ from nose to rump, with a longer tail. He chased it into my office, which is next to the kitchen. Then we didn’t see it again and so we thought it was gone.

We thought wrong.

Last night, Kiki (our huntress kitty) kept a perch near one of my bookcases. hmmm…. Then later my daughter, Staton, tells me that there is a rodent under that bookcase! We removed anything from the floor that could potentially hide a rodent, moving all chairs to the center of the room.

Kiki chased the rodent around the room and caught it a few times. I thought she would get it.

I thought wrong.

At that point she was more interested in toying with it. I wanted it GONE. All I had for “weapons” was a broomstick and a pair of Staton’s flip-flops. Kiki “treed” the rodent under one of the sections of my bookcase, which consists of two vertical boards, which made good barriers.

I “whocked” that rat back-and-forth and back-and-forth with the broomstick several times until I was sure he was dead. I really thought that was all I had to do.

I thought wrong.

I “swooshed” it out with the broomstick. It still tried to run!

So with my gloved hand, I “whomped” that rat with the flip-flop. It still tried to run.

So I WHOMPED and I WHOMPED and I WHOMPED and I WHOMPED and I breathed and then I WHOMPED and I WHOMPED and I WHOMPED some more… and its tail was still twitching!

I “whomped” and “whocked” it a few more times, resting now and then to try to come to terms with how HORRID I was feeling about killing a [formerly] living creature, until I saw blood on the floor. I was shocked at how dark it was.

It was really hard on me. … I guess that’s one reason why I am not a hunter. All I could think about was how glad I am that someone else kills my food and dresses it for me.

Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to kill something with a flip-flop?

devastated,
Cyn

p.s. trying to throw the body out of the yard was another adventure! I thought “how hard can it be to sling a dead rat up and over the 7 ‘ fence”, right? Yup! I thought wrong! But it finally hit the street, bounced once with a “splunk” and landed in the median in the middle of the street. I am sure that some street dog dined well this morning.

Since I am blogging at the moment, I thought it would be a great time to share the blessing God has visited upon us concerning the English classes we give.

In our post-modern society, often the best way to reach a person’s heart with their need of a Savior is to meet their daily physical needs. Being able to earn enough money to support a family is one of the biggest needs of the people God has brought into our lives.

In spite of what the world/U.S. media might have you believe, ENGLISH is STILL the key to financial success and success in the world market! Bolivians know that English skills will gain them a better job here, and if they go to any other country to work, being comfortable or fluent in English gives them an immediate pay raise.

So… we are in our 2nd year of offering high-quality English classes to those who want to learn. I am still re-writing the content to base the teaching more directly from the books of John and Romans. Right now we are memorizing scripture as part of our training.

We did very little advertising or promotion this year, and yet each week we add new students. And the students we have this year are working HARD and attending faithfully, even though their attendance requirements are 4 times that of the course last year. [Last year the requirement was 1 hr/wk. This year, the minimum attendance is 3-4 hrs/wk., and most are attending the extra sessions as well!]

I have had to add a “level up” session just prior to the classes so that the later enrollees can come up to speed with the rest of the class. If we gain any more new students, I will have to convert the level-up time to a class hour of its own.

These are WONDERFUL “challenges” to face!

Because we are only offering Basic English this year, we had some students who worked hard last year, who wanted a bit more of a challenge. So we created an Intensive Basic English class!

Steven teaches this class totally in English. The student are responding well and those who can’t keep up are welcome to come back to my class, where we teach in a hybrid of Spanish and English.

Now… some of you may be wondering “fine… but what does this do for the Kingdom?” Well, I will tell you, from my perspective.

First, we need to realize that not only is the post-modern world skeptical of “traditional evangelism”, Bolivians tend to be more “immune” to those traditional approaches than other cultures we know, particularly because of the betrayal they, as a people, have encountered by leaders over the centuries, and they tend to apply this skepticism to religion as well.

So the first step is to gain the trust of your congregation (those people who are drawn to you). When they trust you, they will listen to you. And then you have a chance to reach them for the Lord.

We started our English ministry with a mostly “Christian” group of people… friends we had made in the various churches with whom we have worked and participated.

But even in THAT group, last year we had 1 salvation and several confirmations of salvations!

But beyond that, out of our investment of last year and this year… we have some seminary students and graduates who want Steven to teach them more about being Servants of God/Christ!

So… we will begin a work of pure direct ministry (that is, apart from our services on Wednesday night and Sunday morning).

And this new ministry is a direct result of the investment of time and love made through the “post-modern outreach” of the English classes, which are a witness in themselves.

But I will leave the details of the GREAT BLESSING of the new class for Steven to share with you!

Thank you for your prayers and for your support. We need your prayers and partnership in order to be able to reach deeper into hearts and the community for the cause of Christ.

In Sunday’s paper (Los Tiempos), there was an article that said Bolivia would be getting a new currency standard starting in 2010. Apparently the “new” constitution gives the president the unchallenged right to change the national currency? I’m going to have to pull out my Spanish dictionary for this one, or better yet I will consult our friend… who happens to be THE best authority on Bolivia’s constitutions… both old and “new”.

The headline read “… Estado Plurinacional”, which translates to “Multi-national State”. I must have missed the dissolution of Bolivia as an independent country [sarcasm].

I can’t help but believe that “they” will take this opportunity to artificially devalue the Dollar’s rate of exchange again. They are already artificially suppressing the dollar to a 7:1 exchange instead of the 8+:1 rate that it probably should be. sigh…

I’m surprised that I haven’t heard anything about this on the streets, but then the article was only published this past Sunday.

Regardless of how the country reacts to this change, we will continue to do the best we can with whatever is left after the exchange and changes. God is so good to provide!

sigh… our “new to us” house is GREAT for ministry and classes! But I had NO idea how significant the lack of hot water was going to be to us.

Right after moving in to the house we started getting sick. It quickly became clear that we were getting sick from the bacteria and amoebas that flourish in the water here. Even though our water in the city is treated, the water in the city is even more “dirty” than outside the city!

So… what to do!?

Even with the local disinfectant, we just couldn’t keep the dishes clean, so we started praying for a dishwasher. The Lord blessed! And a few months later, we were able to get a dishwasher.

NOW we find out that the inexpensive plastic dishware here is NOT dishwasher-proof. We had already found out that it could not go in the microwave (you should SEE what the plastic looks like after heating some tea!).

So we set out to find something we could afford that would go through both the microwave and the dishwasher.

We “thought” we found the solution… of course the tienda owner told us that SURE it was microwave and dishwasher proof! But remember that there are NO guarantees in Bolivia.

So I bought a few pieces and brought them home to test. They survived! Or so we thought…

I went back and bought a complete 12 place setting so that we could have guests over for dinner. We want so much to be able to be hospitable the way the folks of Bolivia expect.

Within a week we got proof that the dishes would crack if used in the microwave. Within two weeks we discovered that dishes weakened in the microwave would crack in the dishwasher. Within 3 months we found out that, over time, the dishes will crack through the center of the plate.

O NO!!!!! So now we are back to where we were. I wanted plastic-ware because we have tile and marble everywhere. But there isn’t a plastic in this country that can stand up to the heat of the dishwasher. We can’t go back to being sick with amoebas all the time.

So I have been dreaming on Corelle.com! lol… In the meantime, better put a paper plate under your dinner!

Lovin’ the life in Cochabamba,
Cyn

Dear Friends!

This has been an incredible month, and it isn’t over!

We kicked off our public TEAM classes, and started a new evening worship service. Over one hundred students are signed up. The Tuesday night session was so well attended we had to divide it up into 3 sections, just to keep it manageable!

Twenty-four folks came to our Wednesday service. It was well received, and we expect larger crowds to come.

We still need equipment and materials for the classes: whiteboards, more chairs(!), and sound gear.

Thanks to your special offerings, our vehicle loan is nearly paid off. Just $1,000 to go! In a few months we will be able to redirect those funds into regular ministry!!

We received our 2nd phase visas. This has been a 9 month, tedious and expensive process. In another year, we will finally be eligible for our permanent visas. Special thanks to our facilitator, Rita. This is a tremendous victory!

David celebrated his eleventh birthday this month!

Remember to keep us in prayer for the August 10th election. This is a recall vote on the president and 6 governors. There is great debate as to whether the election is legal or not. The Organization of American States (OAS) already have personnel in the country to oversee the election. No one can guess how the losing side will react. Many expect violence. We rest in the security of our Savior!

Serving Christ in Bolivia
Steve, Cyn, Thomas, Nicholas, Staton and David Johnson

June, 2008
Greetings from the “Land of Eternal Spring”! At least that is what they call Cochabamba in the tourist brochures. However, we are having the coldest Winter anyone remembers. The temperatures are down to the 30’s at night, which means our unheated house is in the 30’s as well! BRRR!!
We are excited to launch two new Bible studies this month, in the Sacaba area, East of the city. These will be held at the HQ of a secular charity (NGO). The head of this group is a Christian, but the majority of employees are not. We will be teaching English, and giving lessons from the Bible! We are specifically requested to reach the employees for Christ! Can you imagine this happening at a company in the States? This contact is a direct result of Cynthia’s serving as president of the Cochabamba Women’s Club, which works with many secular charities here.
We will launch a new church service here in Cochabamba this month. We still need basic equipment like chairs, a sign, and other gear, but we will go with what we have and improvise! Pray with us that this new launch will be effective.
Recently Cynthia, Thomas and Nicholas served as translators for a group of young people on a missions trip to a remote area South of the city. After the Gospel was presented through skits and music, they broke into teams to work with folks who wanted to hear more. Cyn and the boys had their hands full interpreting for the US group. Six young people accepted Christ and the local pastor will follow up with them.
* Please pray for Miguel, a young medical student who knows he needs salvation but just can’t get past his evolution training. As we witnessed to him there on the sidewalk, it was so obvious that his heart was under conviction, but there wasn’t enough time to answer the questions that stood in his way. This man will need a relationship and time to be able to make his way through the thick forest of confusion that the Prince of Lies has grown around him. Please pray that Miguel will open his heart to the Truth!
* Please pray for Juanita, a young lady we encountered who had been robbed and assaulted at the bus terminal. Her boyfriend and his father live in the neighborhood around Moises’ church and we took her there for comfort and encouragement. Please pray that she accepts the Lord so that she can heal from that encounter and live the life that God intends for her.
Continue to pray for Bolivia. Three States will vote on “Autonomia” in June, following the successful vote in Santa Cruz in May. There is already fighting in one area, as the pro-government factions attempt to block the vote. Our State will be scheduling their vote soon, and no one here knows what will happen then. We are grateful to be in hands of a faithful, all powerful God!

Serving Christ in Bolivia
Steve, Cyn, Thomas, Nicholas, Staton and David Johnson