Some news from Sucre

I'm sorry I'm unable to post pictures at this time, but I will as soon as possible of the inauguration and the work this month. We were happy to have 120-130 visitors at the inauguration.. (abolut 100 were from Sucre). God is moving and doing great things. We also rejoiced with 5 that gave their lives to Jesus this month.. Their names are Ernesto, Jhaqueline, Cynthia, Ines, and Miguel. I will post pictures as soon as possible.

I'm sure that many of you have been praying and have been watching news or checking online the crisis Sucre, Bolivia encountered this past weekend. Things have seemed to calm down instead of escalate and we are thankful to God for that and to you for your prayers.. I know that many of you are part of our prayer chain that we began Tuesday at midnight... it has continued for three days now.. totalling 65 hours of constant prayer for the souls of Sucre, the church, the crisis at hand, and the leaders, especially David Sanchez who is the governer of the state of Chuquisaca. Thank you so much for your love and willingness to join with us in this prayer time.. We know the best thing we can do, is place it in God's hands. I have copied a news article below in English so you can read a little about the crisis that escalated this past weekend.. and be familiar with what is at hand. Please pray for this country,and that many hearts will open up to the Gospel because of this.

Citizens on patrol as police desert Sucre's streets
From correspondents in Sucre, Bolivia

WORLD powers urged Bolivia to maintain calm as citizens patrolled the city of Sucre deserted by police, inmates took over running their prison, and the death toll from a weekend of political violence rose to four.
Calls for calm came from the United Nations, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United States, as residents removed barricades erected during the clashes that sent the regional governor and the police force fleeing Sucre, a colonial city of 350,000.
Violent protests broke out here at the weekend over leftist President Evo Morales' planned constitutional reforms, which were being reviewed by pro-government delegates inside a military academy in this southern-central city.
In the absence of police, citizen groups patrolled the streets, and 70 of 120 prisoners who had fled from a Sucre prison returned voluntarily, according to prison services director Daysy Aguilar.
With officers out of town, inmates were running the prison, Ms Aguilar said.
The protests took a violent turn late Saturday when a 29-year-old protester died of a gunshot wound. Another demonstrator and a police officer also were killed in the violence.
A fourth person, a protestor, died early Monday after being injured in clashes with police, local officials said.
UN urges calm
In New York, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged all sides to refrain from violence.
"In order to strengthen democracy and respect for human rights in Bolivia, the secretary general urges all political and social actors to remain calm, to abstain from using violence and to seek a consensus on the pressing issues affecting the Bolivian people," his press office said in a statement.
OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza stressed the need end the violence and the confrontations and that "the parties, given the democratic legitimacy of the Bolivian government, reinstate talks to reach a constitutional decision that harmonizes the interests of all".
"The confrontations reveal a worrying division of Bolivian society which seriously affects the environment that should reign during the drafting of a Constitutional Charter," Mr Insulza said in a statement.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the US government deplored the violence and urged the Morales' administration and the opposition "to show restraint and tolerance during this critical period".
"An environment that encourages inclusion and open debate is vital to the success of any democratic reform process," McCormack said.
Also from Washington, Brazil's foreign minister Celso Amorim urged opposing sides to cool off.
"The likely problem is the lack of dialogue," he said.
Boycotts
Opposition lawmakers have boycotted the assembly reviewing the new proposed constitution, accusing Morales of trying to grab more power.
The reforms would allow the president to seek reelection as often as he wishes.
The protesters also want the government's legislative and executive branches to be moved from La Paz to Sucre, the country's capital in the 19th century.
Morales has said he would put the draft constitution to a referendum, but did not set a date for the vote.
The Chuquisaca department Governor David Sanchez said protesters had looted his house and set fire to his belongings on Sunday.

A little of everything

Zion celebrated his first birthday on the 24th of Sept. and had monkeys painted on his bedroom wall .

God has blessed us with a place to worship on Sundays that is big enough so that we can continue to grow. The week before our first Sunday there we had a cleaning day.

A group of the university students come to my (Angela's) house every Saturday to hang out. One picture shows them all in the kitchen cooking and the other is when we made smores over a very small grill on my patio.

Baptisms

There have been four new baptisms in the last months. Jenny goes to the university and works at an internet café below the Torres’ apartment. Juan Sandoval is ex-military and is now a handy man (Top picture). Luis is one of our faithful university students that come to everything and is studying medicine (2nd picture). And Nelsi is also studying medicine (3rd picture).

Francisca will be baptized this Saturday. She wanted to do it today but everything is closed. She has been studying with Mary, cleans El Camino and baby sits Zion sometimes. The last two weeks have been a rough time for her and her family. She got together with Jenny Reyes and Carla (our first sister in Christ) yesterday to pray and Carla shared her testimony and the Gospel and Francisca was convicted and made the decision. Carla was on cloud nine when she left and what an encouragement to the rest of us.

And Heaven Celebrated

Sunday the 26th was a great day here in Sucre. We had lots of visitors for seveces and nine kids in the kid's class. But besides having a full house, Lety and Jamil wanted to dedicated their daughter to God and Carla was baptized!!! We all have a new sister in Christ and as Ivan said, "If we celebrate this much, how much more does God and His angels celebrate".

Please pray for Carla and her husband and family. This time is very exciting for a new Christian, but Satan will try everything to attack and take her back. Monday the team, Carla and her husband, Javier, got together to have dinner and to encourage Carla in her new walk with God. Also continue to pray for Lety and Jamil as they continue to move closer to God and changing their lives to honor Him.

As I mentioned, the Contact Center was pretty packed Sunday. We have been searching for another place to rent for a church building, but have had no luck so far. We really need a bigger place to worship on Sundays, so please really pray that we find one soon.

Poor Zion had a pretty rough week. First he had a head first fall and got a goose egg on his head and a bloody nose which later swelled a little and had a bruise across. Then about four days later scratched his face. All in all he's doing good, but walking does have it's drawbacks.

Happy Birthday Erik

On Saturday the 18th Erik celebrated his birthday. We had a party at the contact center and a lot of people the the Reyes' have meet here in Sucre came. Being a Mexican, we served tacos and even rented a special... barbecue, I guess would be the closest word, to cook the meet on. Jenny had found a group of Mariachi singers to come and sing as a surprise.

Sunday, August 5th

We had about 15 visiters on Sunday the 5th. One Bolivian family who works at the children's home in Ecuador, a member from the Santa Cruz church and the rest from Sucre. After church we all went out to eat to get to know each other better.

The kid's table during lunch on Sunday.

Contact Center

Open house/ inauguration of the contact center.

About 15 people showed up to see the contact center and to hear what we have planned as far as the purpose of the place and what types of studies will be offered in the next few months.

Everyone worked really hard to get it the way it is now and ready for the open house. We'll try to put some "before" and "in progress" pictures on later to give you a better idea of the past few weeks.

Continuing in His plan

Where to begin..?? Everything has been so wonderful, just being here has continued to be a dream come true.. Yes there are difficult days.. and frustrating times, but overall we are consumed with thankfulness. We continue to work on visas and wait for paperwork from Mexico and Ecuador (an everyday headache due to the local bureaucracy). We hope to be done with it by the end of the month, (especially since Erik and I are paying a daily fine because our second visa for 30 days has expired again.)
The Contact Center
Other than visa work, the work here is progressing. We have found a place to set up our contact center, and we were able to start fixing it up this week. We have been praying about the Contact Center for a long time now, and to actually have it is so exciting. The location is great.. the conditions are bad, but we are fixing it up. We've beeen putting in cabinets and a sink in the kitchen, changing broken windows from all the dinamite blasts from the protests, scraping the walls down from the humidity in the paint, and changing out the bathroom also. As for the location we are a block down from one of the major universities, a block from the main drive through town and two blocks from the black market. We are so excited about opening it as soon as possible. Already so many people stop and ask us what we're going to do with the place and many are interested in studying the Bible.
Seekers of Christ
We've started with groups and studies in our home. It has been very exciting to see that there are so many seeking to know Christ and His word. There is no greater joy than sharing with someone who is just ready and desiring with all their heart to know Christ and make Him Lord of their lives. This Wednesday in my time with Carla (a woman that sweeps the street in front of my house) she said, "I understand now that Baptism is really important to God... but how do I prepare myself for baptism?" She is so in love with God, I look forward to my times with her, she comes in for coffee 2 or 3 times a week. I really enjoy my times with her because of the evident hunger she has to change and know Christ. Hopefully soon we'll be writing with news of her decision to give her life to Christ.
Swimming upstream
I am a very bad swimmer.. at the most, I know how to doggy paddle. Lately I have felt that I have been doggy-paddleing up a stream. I have never seen as much Public Pornography as I have seen here in Sucre. It's all over Bolivia, in every store you walk in, in public offices, banks, immigration, and police and government offices. Posters and Calenders of naked women are plastered all over the place. I've started my "sorry swimming" against the current. I make an effort to say something to the owners of the stores, or the managers. They usually think I'm a crazy gringa and usually say something like, "That's not pornography..." or "That's what you see all over Bolivia." And I usually say something like, "If a poster of a naked woman isn't pornography, than what is?" or "I have bigger dreams for Bolivia, than for my son to grow up immune towards pornography." So Zion and I have cut out paper clothes and we carry them in his diaper bag with a glue stick, and I am now on a mission to dress the women in the posters. People usually get a pretty good kick out of it, when I tell them that I would like to dress the women on their posters.. but they haven't said "no." Usually they won't look at me in the eye after I've glued cothes to their posters. I'm thinking of getting the Christian women in Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, and La Paz started on the same mission. At least I will have some company as I doggy-paddle up stream.
Thank you for your love, your prayers, and your support. If you want to know how you can get involved in the work here, or help with some of the unexpected one-time costs for the Contact Center please drop us a note. God is faithful.
jenny_laguera@yahoo.com ~ my e'mail
all_i_can@hotmail.com ~ Erik's e'mail

Pictures of the team

Pancho meeting with the church in Cochabamba

Naomi in her new home.

This past month has truly been a blessing.. We've had the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with Sucre and with Bolivia. We've visited the work in Cochabamba, and the men on the team took a trip to Santa Cruz to meet the church there and receive their blessing. It was so encouraging to see what God is doing to Bolivia and the way His Kingdom is growing. Erik and I started a small group study in our home for friends we've made along the way. It is exciting to see the work getting it's start and seeking God's dream for the church here in Sucre. We are currently still working on visas.. and will be thankful when this process is done. We are looking for a strategic place for a contact center. We would like something close to the Peatonal, the street is called (Junin) Thousands of people walk up and down that street daily.. so if we could find a contact center in that area, it would be great. For this next month our goal is to continue with groups in homes and find a place for the contact center and get the furniture made. As we've said before, Sucre is interesting in that it doesn't have good furniture and you have to go to cities 12-13 hours away to order your furniture and have it made. Erik and I ordered a living room set a month ago and still haven't received them... but we will be extra thankful when we get them. So we know that we need to get going on the furniture for the contact center pretty soon. On Sundays we are meeting in homes and having our celebration and worship times.. It has been a very special month. On Tuesday mornings the women on the team and the men get together separately for some intimate prayer times. These have been very special times, especially since so many things are out of our hands and we know that only God is able. We wouldn't have it any other way.

Thank you for your prayers and your love. Please stay in touch and let us know how you are doing. ~Jenny Reyes~

The team in Sucre

The team together in Sucre!!!

We are here and halfway sane

I have to apologize for the length of time that has passed since our last update.. Things have been pretty crazy.. and finding a wireless network that worked has taken a little bit of time. Here we are though, and I am so excited to let you know how things are going. The whole team is now in Sucre and with homes.. we are running the local rat race now with Visas, and we feel like every two steps we take we take a step and a half backwards.. but we will succeed. This is a great trial for our patience. We just have to laugh sometimes, so that we can keep our sanity. Here is a list of ways you know that you are living in Sucre, Bolivia. Maybe you will get a kick out of these.
1. You have to visit the immigration office at least 5 times a day, and wait in an endless line to ask what is the next crazy thing you need to do in the visa process.
2. To receive needed forms from immigration or the local police office, they always give you the original form and have you walk across the street to make the copies you need and then return their original form.
3. You have to wait in line for 2 hours to pay a 3 dollar fee for the parperwork tat they took too long to fill out.
4. You visit the movies and during the movies you feel something cuddling your feet, you look down and you see a big furry cat sleeping at your feet.
5. On the night bus rides back and forth from La Paz and Santa Cruz, they stop for a midnight bathroom stop. All you can do is try to think "Happy Thoughts" so you can survive the traumatizing experience of using the local restroom.
6. You finally find a house to rent. You move in only to find that the land lord has decided to stay for a couple weeks with you in the house. You kindly have to ask them to leave because you are now paying rent for a supposedly "independent home." This comes as a surprise to them, because they also need a place to live.
7. It takes all afternoon to find someone who sells a can opener. (or other needed specific needs)
8. To buy furniture you have to find someone to make it for you..

Really we are so thankful to be here and that God is truly taking care of us. We all have found homes.. the Torrez family has found a good school for their kids. We are all so excited about God's plans and dreams for Sucre.
This Friday we will be taking the day off from visas and we are going to fast and pray as a team for the city.. We want to prayer walk the city and just ask God to take total control... that he would deliver Sucre and take it as His own. Please join us in prayer for the city of Sucre.
Thank you for your prayers and your love.
We will be in touch more often now that I've found a wireless connection.
~ Jenny Reyes

Are we there yet??

Thank you for your prayers and e'mails. Erik and I arrived in La Paz, Monday morning. As soon as we stepped off the plane Zion and Erik were sick. They've both been in bed the past two days... We decided we better head on to Sucre so they can fight whatever this is at a lower altitude than 13,000 feet. So we are catching a bus to Sucre tonight and should arrive in the morning around 7 am. The rest of the team are either preparing to leave and some are on their way. Continue to pray for us during this big transition. We are so thankful to be in Bolivia. It was about time I think. Last night I was walking to the farmacy with Zion strapped on my side. The streets were crowded with people on the sidewalks, hurrying home from work or from school. You don't know crowded streets till you walk in La Paz in after work hours. Vendors are lined up along the side of the road and mini-buses crowd the streets taking people here and there. I noticed a lady sitting by her sales stand. She was dressed very simply, with braids and a top hat. I could tell that she was straining to read the Bible in the dim lights of the city, and although the crowds streamed by her sales stand without stopping to buy.. I knew she was content. I stopped to greet her and ask how her day had been. She said that it had been another good day, and that she was blessed among many to have hope. She told me that she was reading Acts and that she always reads when she sits by her sales stand. We talked for a while and she was a perfect example of someone who had made hope the anchor of her soul. Her name was Prima (which means Cousin in English.) Prima reminded me why it was that we had decided to come to Bolivia. I rememeber seeing a woman just like her on the streets of Sucre two years ago, also reading her Bible and hanging on to hope.

Everybody loves Zion

The Reyes in Los Angeles California




Zion wants to be a hunter like his Daddy






Zion and his first girlfriend (Rachel Stanley)

Angela Ward with Zion

The Journey

This month will be a month of many transitions. Already we are experiencing the hardship of saying good-bye, but we know that God is anxious to begin things in Sucre. For that reason we are so excited to begin this journey.

Erik and I had a wonderful time with Southgate during the three months we spent with them.. they made us feel like such a big part of the family. We praise God for blessing our lives with so many there in San Angelo, and with such a great church home. We have such great memories from our time in San Angelo and we've made some great friendships. The picture of Erik is with Steve Stanley on their last day together. Steve took Erik hunting the day before we flew out. It was a great experience for them both. Erik had never been hunting before but he was able to shoot his first turkey. I must admit that I was pretty impressed. The best part was that they had such a great time their last day together.

Erik and I are currently in LA and spending a week with family. His mom and sister also flew up from Mexico to say spend a few days with us before we fly to Bolivia. God has blessed us with such a great family. On the 14th we will leave for Sucre and arrive the morning of the 15th. Thank you for praying for us as a family and also for the team as we are going through these transitions.

Answered Prayers

Family and Friends,
Great news!
Erik and I feel so grateful to God for bringing us to this time in our lives. God has answered our prayers and supplied the support needed for our team and the work in Bolivia. The Center Street Church of Christ has agreed to partner in the Sucre work with the Southgate congregation here in San Angelo, TX. We are now another huge step closer to the dream that God has placed on our hearts. We are so excited to share this news with you because many of you have stuck by our side through this period of waiting.
This time here in San Angelo has been priceless. We have been embraced by such a loving congregation, and sincere friendship. The congregation has been equally excited with us. On the 24th of March forty-six members prayed for 24 hours in a prayer chain, for the country of Bolivia and for our team. We have been blessed by God with their love.
Please stay in touch with us and write often. Thank you for your love and prayers,
the Reyes

A time of waiting

As some of you know, we are experiencing a time of waiting. Erik and I travelled up to Fayatville Arkansas to meet with the Center St. church of Christ. We had waited for this meeting for a couple of months and we were very hopeful that they might partner with Southgate in sending our team. It was great to meet them and present to them the dream that God has placed on our hearts. Erik and I, and the team, now wait anxiously for their answer, and pray that we'll soon be setting foot in Sucre, Bolivia. Please pray that God will show us if the Center St. church is to partner with Southgate in sending us. Thanks for your letters, your love and your encouragement. ~ Jenny

Witnessing the dream come true

We praise God for His plan, His purpose, and His perfect timing. We have been blessed to witness His guiding hand and providence these past few years as He has drawn us to His dream for Bolivia. What a joy to have the honor of serving Him in this way and share in His call. This is the beginning of a blog that will be filled with pages of His working hand in the lives of those in Sucre Bolivia. Thank you for your prayers and the envolvement you have with this work. God has been good and we are witnesses of this dream come true.