I love when secular studies confirm what we’ve already known from God’s Word for thousands of years. This is one of those examples. This study (which uses data from 100 countries, including Bolivia) finds that children flourish best when they are raised by a married male-female couple. Consider this quote:

“[C]ohabitation continues to confer a stability disadvantage on individual children even as cohabitation has become more normative,” the report says. “We find no evidence supporting the idea that in societies where cohabiting births are more common, marriage and cohabitation come to resemble each other in terms of stability for children.”

Read more at The Federalist.

An article published yesterday by the BBC caught my attention because it is reporting on a locust problem in Santa Cruz (the Bolivian state where I will be living). Apparently locusts have destroyed thousands of hectares of crops. Bolivia has never seen this kind of damage from locusts before [BBC].

Hola Amigos,

¡Dios les bendiga! Gracias por sus oraciones y su apoyo de ofrendas.

He tenido unas semanas muy ocupadas. Tuve la oportunidad de visitar tres grupos bíblicos para compartir mi visión de mi ministerio en Bolivia y comparté mi visión con más amigos, parientes, colegas y miembros del liderazgo de iglesias. Hablé con un pastor la semana pasada y me parece que es posible que vaya a tener la oportunidad de reunirme con los ancianos de su iglesia. Por favor, oren por mí acerca de esta posibilidad.

También tuve la oportunidad de asistir a una escuela donde se enseña inglés como un lenguaje extranjero. Me proveyó con la oportunidad de aprender más de metodología de enseñar. Espero que pueda volver más en el futuro para aprender más. Ahora busco un programa para tomar clases en inglés como segundo idioma. El Alfarero quiere que tenga una certificación antes de que llegue.

Primero Dios, voy a llegar en Santa Cruz de la Sierra en septiembre. Recientemente hablé con los Frith—los fundadores del Alfarero—y quieren que no regrese en junio-agosto porque van a estar en Inglaterra. Necesitan estar en Santa Cruz cuando vuelva para ayudarme con muchas cosas como mi visado y empezando a mi ministerio. Creo que hay mucha sabiduría del Señor con esta decisión.

Por favor anden orando por mí. Todavía necesito juntar más ofrendas y hay mucha preparación que tengo que hacer.

¡Que abunden en ustedes la gracia y la paz!

The last few weeks have been a productive and growing time for me. I had the opportunity to share my vision for sharing the gospel in Bolivia with three Bible study groups. It was a blessing to be encouraged and prayed over by others. I also had the chance to share my vision with friends, co-workers, family members and various members of church leadership. It’s exciting to meet the team of senders that I believe God set aside beforehand.

Last week I attended a language institute where I observed English taught as a second language. It was a good chance to meet faculty who teach English for a living and take notes on teaching methodologies. I hope to return regularly to learn more. I am also in the process of looking for a program through which I can earn a teaching certification to teach English abroad in Bolivia.

I recently spoke with the founders of the organization I will be serving in Bolivia—El Alfarero (The Potter)—and they requested that I move to Bolivia this September. There are a number of logistical reasons pertaining to this decision and there is great wisdom in it. My goal is to try and raise all of my financial support by June so that I can utilize the summer for additional preparatory work. I am pleased to report that I have raised 1/3 of my finances for year one.

Thank you again for your faithfulness. Here are a few ways that you can continue to help me on my road to Bolivia:

Prayer requests:

1)    That the Lord would continue to grow my group of prayer and financial partners.

2)    That the Lord would prepare the hearts of those I will meet in Bolivia to hear and respond to His word.

Action item:

1)    I still have a lot of work to do to raise the finances necessary to serve in Bolivia. Do you have friends, family members, pastors or a Bible study group that might be interested in meeting with me? Please let me know. Feel free to forward my blog onto others.