End of Trip Prayer Update from David Thomas

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thank you to all of you who were praying for me! This was a wonderful and blessed trip! Here are some things I am thankful for and some things to pray for going forward.

I thankful for:

• Stefanie, Cintia, and Anahi studying the ten-month online Discipling for Development course offered by our Atlanta, Georgia D4D team! The call of God into missions on these three (in difficult access countries in Asia and Africa). I want them to have the tools and understanding of planting whole-life discipleship movements as they go out.
• Stefanie Chambi’s excellent Spanish to English translation skills and her willingness to help us translate the D4D material into Spanish
• God’s clear movement towards INELA becoming a missions sending denomination.
• Participating with a great team from the United States, with Roy Lujan, Maria and Edwin Giron, Dan Cammack and Ken Comfort. I am also thankful for Elisabeth and Timoteo Choque hosting us in La Paz.
• High interest coming out of the six- hour foundations vision casting workshop in Santa Cruz. Lots of questions about how to apply this. Stefanie understanding some of D4D and helping me as scribe to capture all the participants ideas was really helpful.
• High participation in this workshop. Appreciation for a very different style of adult learning than they are used to.
• A clear understanding that the gospel really does touch all of life, not just our spiritual lives. And an understanding that we need to disciple and minister accordingly.
• I’ve got the freedom to communicate and facilitate well in Spanish! I’ve also got all these friendships and connections that might lead to the Navigators being able to start their own interdenominational D4D ministry in Latin America, starting in Bolivia!
• A clear connection with David Tintaya, his family, and his CCA church which might become our first D4D team.
• CCA already has a clear mission “Communion, Community, Commission” and all happens in the context of creation (the environment around us). CCA already has participated in some great community outreach activities and is even recognized by the Santa Cruz mayor for this work.
• They are beginning to understand the value of empowerment, not just doing things for the poor, or giving them things, but instead walking with them and working through the barriers they face together.
• I am thankful for family friends like Umberto Gutierrez, with whom I have an instant connection and freedom to talk about anything!
• I am thankful for Illimani showing it’s face from Timoteo Choque’s house and also for getting a left-hand side window flying from La Paz to Santa Cruz with another perfect view of Illimani!

• I am thankful for an amptapi Aymara community meal on the floor of Villa Alicia, for avas, chuños, tuntas, various potatoes, sweet cooking bananas, aji and strips of fried, salty, country cheese!
• As far as food I’m also thankful for having my all time favorite meal three times in a row, lunch, supper, and next day lunch. Never can get too much of good Sajta de Pollo! I also enjoyed eating: Papas a la Huancaina, Anticuchos (beef heart skewers), salteñas, chicken foot soup, ‘french-fry soup’ chicken broth with sémola, umintas, and various delicious empanadas, and hot api (sweet purple corn drink).
• I’m thankful for people praying for me when my stomachache, head ache and altitude all left me miserable and unable to focus the day before my talk at the INELA friends church yearly meeting. I’m thankful people’s prayers helped me break through that barrier allowing me to give my talk, which was facilitating the testimonies of Latin Americans involved in mobilizing their churches into missions.

• Opportunity to stand in the place my Dad stood in when he looked over the City of La Paz during the first few weeks he was there in 1972. It was here when he recognized the place of his dream with Jesus, as an eight year old child, walking hand in hand on a road where a great city opened up below him on the right side of the road! Umberto and I prayed from that place connecting the blessings of the past with the blessings of now and on into the future. Agreement in prayer between the generations is powerful!
• Opportunity to celebrate 50-year anniversary of the Hal and Nancy, David and Kristin Thomas family coming to Bolivia on the 20th of January 1972!

 

 

 

 

Pray for: Anahi, Cintia and Stefanie taking the 10-month online D4D course, to learn all they can! To communicate well and improve in English (Anahi and Cintia). Clear ways to apply what they are learning in their contexts. The seeds of gospel truth to germinate and flourish in their lives: God is concerned with all of life, we don’t do things for people, instead we empower them to solve their own problems (giving someone a fish vs teaching them to fish). Wisdom for David, EFM and his navigator partners as they consider the opportunities ahead. Favor in the eyes of leaders, for wisdom, for grace and blessing for Rodiz and Stefanie Chambi as they serve the next two years in the missions sending agency and as they serve ENELA Friends churches seeking to help mobilize them into missions sending.

Bless you!

David Thomas