Thank you so much for supporting me and our team in prayer!
This has been a very good trip.
Our five facilitators besides myself did a great job in their first experience facilitating these three workshops with our Discipling for Development (D4D) lessons.- Our six hour facilitation in La Paz on Saturday was the best and had excellent participation. Santa Cruz was the second best, and we did well for our first seminar in Cochabamba. We found that people are not able to get to a 6:00pm week-day meeting on time, so we lost an hour of time for our two workshops in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.
It was great to have participants ask us good questions and show lots of interest. We have several church groups interested in our coaching, including Friends churches. They would like us to help coach their missionaries working with the Chimani people in the jungles. There were also some people with the Assemblies of God, and a Friends church in two of the cities who would like to disciple their communities holistically. A YWAM leader in Santa Cruz also showed interest.- A few leaders of large denominations are not as interested as D4D does not offer money or projects for the development branch of their church denomination structure. Also the holistic approach doesn’t fit their spiritual discipleship vs physical development paradigms. This is good, because we need those people who really want our coaching.
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Of special note was the interest of two Christian NGOs, Food for the Hungry – Bolivia, and Compassion International – Bolivia. Both have had successful ministries, and they both feel they have not yet experienced the wholistic, empowering community transformation they have wanted to see. They are encouraged by Discipling for Development’s experience, and want us to train their leaders and staff, and enter a long-term, five-year coaching relationship! We have not worked with these groups in this way before, because they bring in outside money and projects in the communities which often results in dependency. We are being attentive to what God is doing. Back in 2007 God led the Navigator D4D team to begin coaching their first church group (Evangelical Friends Church of Rwanda) because God was clearly leading, and everyone on their team including 
Debby Thomas and Augustin Simparinka were so hungry, ripe, and ready for D4D coaching! That was a worthwhile investment! May the Lord lead us well now!- It was a pleasure for me to be a part of this team. Judy took the finances, Gary did the overall leadership, Merry Lee organized the devotionals, Cintia took care of us in La Paz, Rodiz in Santa Cruz, and Henry Nogales in Cochabamba. Merry Lee coached one facilitation team and Gary in the other. As the main D4D mentor with Spanish I was able to focus on the key parts I had. Stefanie Chambi became my right-hand person as she clearly understands D4D and is able to clearly communicate as well.
- Gary was able to recover from an intestinal problem, and Judy as well from a cold that turned into bronchitis. Thank you for praying for our health!
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“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
Thank you very much for surrounding me and my team with your effective prayer!
David Thomas
Spanish 
English (United States)