Bringing Heaven to Earth 24 Hours A Day

For over a month we’ve been holding prayer/intercession meetings at church, with great results. The regular prayer meetings had been averaging 3-4 people, but the intercession meetings have been averaging 13! I’m leading the meeting with my guitar, using songs interspersed with scripture to lead the congregation in spiritual warfare for our city and the Church here. It’s been a much more dynamic experience than the traditional, “pray while sitting in a circle” meetings, and people at church are getting excited about it. We’re even gonna be moving towards 3 daily prayer meetings in the coming weeks, provided we can get people to head them up.

Wanna join us?

La Escalera Promotional Video

Now that the twins are walking all over, they are proving to be even more of a handful than before (As I write this, Benji is screaming at the top of the stairs). In order to handle all our responsibilities, Aylin and I have worked out a daily schedule for work/childcare. I work from 6:30 to 11:00 am, then take care of the kids from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, while Aylin makes lunch, cleans a little, and then rests briefly. Then it’s back to the office for me from 3-4:30, when Aylin has to get ready for her english classes (which go from 5-6:30 pm). And from 7-9 pm, I will have some sort of meeting at church. Needless, to say, we both get to the end of the day exhausted, and ready for bed!

Being in charge of prayer and worship at church, this morning I took the prayer team out to a recently-built archway that spans the road into town from the south. We went on-site to pray Psalm 24:7-10 and Revelation 3:7-8 over our city. At pretty much every new building or monument, they hold a ceremony during which a sacrifice is made and the place is dedicated to Mother Earth (Pachamama), and we went to this archway to counteract the effects of that dedication.

Each week we will be prayer-walking in different places around town, interceding for the Lord to break through on our behalf. Stay tuned to read about next week’s excursion!

Here in Sucre, we are on the verge of something. Something monumental… revolutionary… something historic. As the political situation continues to spiral towards socialism, God’s Spirit is calling the church to prayer. Making prayer a priority will lead to the transformation of our city, as Jesus establishes His Kingdom here. Now is the time for the church of Sucre to arise as one body, and go to war for our destiny in God!

This past Tuesday morning, I flew to La Paz, where I had to apply for Beth and Benji’s Social Security Numbers at the US Embassy, and also follow up on my paperwork that was at the Bolivian Immigration offices. I was able to get everything done on tuesday afternoon, no small miracle when it comes to paperwork, and wednesday morning was already on my way back home.

The people I talked to in Immigration said that my papers were almost through being processed, and that I could expect them to arrive in Sucre around July 20th! This is completely different from the 8-12 month timeframe that the Immigration officials in Sucre gave me, and is a testament to the power of prayer!

So, if everything goes according to plan, it’s only a matter of days before I become a bonafide Bolivian Citizen!!!

This past March 26th I submitted all the necessary papers to the Bolivian Immigration offices here in Sucre, soliciting Bolivian Citizenship due to the fact that I’m married to a Bolivian and our twins are Bolivian Citizens. At that time, I was told that the papers would take about 2 months to be processed in La Paz, before my citizenship would be official. However, I went back to Immigration last week, and they told me that it could take up to six months before everything comes through. There’s a new person in charge of Foreigners now, who seems to be much less friendly towards Americans than the guy who was there when I presented the papers.

This new guy began asking me about what I’m doing in Bolivia, and if the church I’m working with has some sort of religious affiliation… the line of questioning made me think I was being discriminated against for being an Evangelical Missionary from the United States.

Please join us in praying for this situation, that I would have supernatural favor and that my citizenship would come through QUICKLY. In all this, I will NOT be renouncing my US Citizenship, but will have dual citizenship. Thanks so much for your prayers and support!

Well, I talked with Ed Grant (my “boss” who’s currently in California raising support and getting his wife’s Green Card) last night, and he told me that, in order to get all their paperwork done, they might need to stay an extra month! If that happens, Aylin and I will continue pastoring the church down here, eagerly waiting for the Grants to return.

Aylin and I are making tentative plans to head to the States ourselves, probably in the first part of October, and staying until mid-December. We would use the time between the Grants’ return and our own departure to prepare promotional materials, and are looking at sharing with as many groups, individuals and churches as possible. We will be based in the Chicago area, with planned trips to Dallas and Miami, so if you live close to any of those cities and would like us to meet with you, PLEASE get in touch with us! Even if arrangements can’t be made to meet in person, we would love to get brochures and a DVD into your hands, so that you can share our burden for Bolivia with us.

As you think of us, please keep our whole family in your prayers, as this trip will be pretty hard on our twins. Given the distance, the time away from home, and the change of climate, all four of us will have a lot of adjusting to do!

We had another great day at church yesterday, and, I must say, I really enjoyed my sermon. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it was a lot of fun explaining to people that the Gospel is so much more than just the salvation message. I preached Part II of the “Kingdom of God” message, focusing on Jesus’ desire to fill US with His glory, and then fill the world (Genesis 1:28, Habakkuk 2:14). It was really neat to see the people catch ahold of this message, as most of them had only heard the Gospel of Salvation… where we focus exclusively on the Gospel’s Retirement Plan (heaven), and try to get there as quickly as possible, leaving God’s task for us here on earth undone.

The Praise and Worship time was annointed, though we had to play for the 3rd consecutive week without a drummer–which I don’t like to do! Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit’s presence was very evident. At our saturday practice, we talked about the simplicity of worship and the necessity of a childlike heart as we approach our Heavenly Father.

There were 2 visitors at our service, as well as several people/families who have  started coming just recently. Our prayer is that, when Ed & Sheri get back from the States, they will find many new faces firmly established at church!

Hey Everybody,

This website is a long time coming!!! It’s a work in progress, so be sure to check back regularly for updates to our blog, pictures of Beth and Benji (our twins), and the latest happenings here in Sucre, Bolivia.

Thanks for coming, and please take a look around while you’re here!