Gracias a todos por sus oraciones que me han sostenido en el curso del mes pasado. Agradezco a Dios por el proceso de apoyo porque me ha llevado a una relación con más miembros del cuerpo de Cristo y me ha enseñado a orar con más urgencia y especificidad. También he llegado a apreciar más profundamente como el cuerpo de Cristo actúa en unidad.

Me acuerdo del muchacho con el espíritu inmundo en el libro de Marcos que los discípulos no pudieron sanar. Después de que Jesús expulsa al demonio, sus discípulos le preguntan por qué no pudieron hacerlo. Él respondió: “Esta clase de demonios solo puede ser expulsada a fuerza de oración” (Marcos 9:29). Igualmente, creo que la oración es esencial para todos los aspectos de mi ministerio. Por favor sigan orando para que el Señor prepare mi corazón para servir con toda humildad y sabiduría y que Él siga preparando los corazones de aquellos a quienes Él quisiera que yo alcanzara con el evangelio de Cristo.

En términos de mis metas financieras, estoy emocionado de compartir con ustedes que he juntado el 48% de mi presupuesto para el primer año. Es mi deseo y mi oración constante que pueda juntar todos mis fondos en junio.

En dos semanas empezaré a tomar clases ofrecidas por International TEFL Institute. Este curso que dura dos meses y medio me ayudará a enseñar inglés de manera más efectiva en Bolivia. Las técnicas aprendidas de este programa, en combinación con las oraciones, devociones e historias bíblicas que serán incorporadas en mi currículo, harán clases de inglés que cumplan con las aspiraciones educativas de mis estudiantes mientras compartiendo con ellos el evangelio.

Dios les bendiga!

Derek

Greetings!

Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers that have sustained me over the course of the past month. I am thankful to God for the support raising process because it has brought me into a relationship with more members of the body of Christ and it has taught me to pray with greater urgency and specificity. I have also come to appreciate more profoundly just how indispensable and effective prayer is when the body of Christ acts in unity.

I am reminded of the boy with the unclean spirit in the book of Mark who the disciples were unable to heal. After Jesus casts out the demon, his disciples ask him why they were unable to do so. He replied: “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29). Likewise, I believe that prayer is essential for every aspect of my ministry from my time of preparation in the U.S. to the time I spend in Bolivia. Please continue to pray for the LORD to ready my heart to serve with all humility and wisdom and that He would continue to prepare the hearts of those He would like me to reach with the gospel of Christ.

In terms of my financial goals, I am excited to share with you that I have raised 48% of my budget for year one. I had not expected to be this far along after three months of the support raising process. It is my fervent desire and my constant prayer that I can be at 100% by June. Please pray for me as I already have a number of opportunities scheduled for April.

In about two weeks I will start taking classes offered by the International TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Academy. This two and a half month course will help me to teach English more effectively in Bolivia. The teaching tools and techniques learned from this program, in combination with the prayers, devotions, and Bible stories that will be built into my curriculum, will make for English classes that meet the educational aspirations of my future students while introducing them to the gospel.

If you would like to donate to my ministry, please visit: MissionStream.org.

Have a blessed April!

Grace be with you,

Derek

Bolivia is one of two landlocked countries in South America (the other is Paraguay), but this was not always the case. In 1879 Bolivia lost territory that connected it to the Pacific Ocean in a war with Chile. Día del Mar (Day of the Sea), which falls on March 23, is when Bolivians commemorate the loss of this territory with somber ceremonies throughout the country.

BoliviaBella offers a concise and interesting write up of the war:

What initially detonated the conflict was Bolivia’s intention to charge a 10-cent tax per 100-pounds of potassium nitrate (saltpeter) harvested by Chilean companies in the Atacama Desert. The Chilean government did not accept this Bolivian decision and ordered its troops to invade the Bolivian regions of Antofagasta and Calama, where Bolivia had no military presence and most of the population was of Chilean descent.

It is because of the Battle of Calama that today we celebrate the Day of the Sea. With just under a hundred soldiers, Commanders Eduardo Abaroa (Bolivian) and Ladislao Cabrera (Peruvian) faced over 500 Chilean soldiers. Abaroa was obstinately defending a small bridge over the Topáter River, when on the 23rd of March 1879 the Chileans ordered him to surrender. His response was “Me, surrender? Tell your grandmother to surrender!” after which he was promptly shot dead.

Learn more about Día del Mar at BoliviaBella.com.

The Bible study I attend is going through a short guide called “Missional Essentials.” Written by Brad Brisco and Lance Ford, it is comprised of 12 sessions or chapters aimed at helping the contemporary Christian learn more about what it means to be missional wherever you are at in life (i.e. you do not have to be a missionary in a foreign country to benefit from this book). Our group has already read, reflected upon, and discussed the first three chapters about: 1) how we worship a “missionary God”; 2) the nature of “incarnational ministry”—that is, being intentionally present in unbelievers’ lives; and 3) how to join God’s missional purposes as the church. Chapter four is titled “Turning His Way: Living a Kingdom of God Agenda.”

In this chapter, I was challenged to reconsider a couple of verses that I have read innumerable times, but have not sufficiently thought about in terms of what it means to be missional. The authors rightly point out that John the Baptist and Jesus both “chose the word repent as the first commandment regarding the arrival of the kingdom of God. Both men issued a stark warning to the entire region of Galilee that its citizens were going in the wrong direction and that they needed to turn around immediately” (32). Here are a few thoughts and open questions about this strategy with regard to missional living, particularly as it applies to the message of repentance:

• John and Jesus’ warning is a blunt one. They might as well have shouted, “There is something wrong with you! Yes, you! Turn away from what you are doing!” Not exactly a charm offensive from a couple of guys you’re hearing from for the first time. How might this strategy change the way that we share the gospel with unbelievers today?

• Ephesians 2:4-5 states: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” If being made alive in Christ is an act of God, so is repentance. How does this change our notions of what is happening spiritually when we share Christ with someone?

• Repentance is a sovereign act of God, but that does not mean that we can cease to be missional: “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8) and “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). So, it is incumbent upon us as Christians to share the word of Christ with others. We cannot just be “nice” Christians and hope that our neighbors will come to Christ. They must hear the word. How might this change the degree to which we share Christ with others?

• In my experience, the command to “repent” is one of the most difficult truths to express to someone who is not a Christian. Unfortunately, we live in a world were most people believe that they are “a good person.” Sure, most people believe that they have done a few wrong things over the course of their life, but none of them think that they need God to forgive them, let alone believe that they will suffer eternally for those sins if they die without Christ. What is the best way to be missional with someone when questions of goodness arise?

Feel free to contact me if you have any insight.

A recent article in The Daily Mail estimated that Jennifer Aniston, the star of numerous movies and the hit comedy show Friends, has spent $1.46 million over the years in an attempt to freeze her youthful looks. In a culture where movie stars are treated as gods and goddesses, and women in particular are expected to attain transcendent notions of beauty at all times, it is no wonder that Ms. Aniston would feel the need to go to such great lengths to preserve her beauty.

The theme of the search for timeless beauty is nothing new—the ancient Roman poet Ovid, who lived shortly before Jesus, wrote a mythology about the sculptor Pygmalion who carved a woman of great beauty out of ivory. He was so charmed by the beauty of the statue that he lost interest in real women and fell in love with it. His greatest desire was to marry a real woman who would embody the ravishing looks of the statue. Upon earning the favor of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, his statue was given the breath of life.

The search for beauty is embedded deep within human nature and, by in large, we desperately rely on our physical eyes to find and possess it. Beyond that, we want to preserve its perfectness and keep it forever; beauty is inextricably intertwined with the desire for eternality. But beauty, we sadly know, fades. Ms. Aniston despite her herculean efforts is ageing and eventually a bevy of young starlets will take her place, and given enough time, the same will happen to them as well. And the idea that one could carve the perfect model and breathe life into it like the myth of Pygmalion is, as we know, just that: a myth. Anyone who tries that path in the figurative sense is entranced and enslaved by a cold, lifeless idol that takes many forms such as marital affairs, pornography, and other sexual perversions.

Poor creatures are we—what should we do? How do we satisfy the deep longing of our heart for eternal beauty? I believe that one of Jesus’ parables offers the key to the solution. Jesus said: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:45-46)

The kingdom of heaven, synonymous with the kingdom of God, has a few different, but related, meanings. In one sense, God’s kingdom is a spiritual realm that one must be “born again” in order to enter (John 3:5-7). In this regard, the kingdom of God is related to salvation. Salvation is only through Jesus Christ; therefore, we can think of finding the beautiful pearl of great price as intimately linked to finding and knowing Jesus. The search for eternal beauty, then, ends when we gaze upon Jesus and allow him to rule over our lives. This gaze is not a physical one—though one day believers in Christ will see him face to face—but rather the gaze for now is by means of the eye of the heart in faith, just like David expresses it in one of his psalms:  “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

Therefore, we can live like David, gazing upon the beauty of the Lord in faith for now, and then face to face in paradise. That, I believe, is the ultimate answer for quenching the soul’s desire for eternal beauty.

¡Muchas Gracias!

I cannot stop giving thanks to all of you who are partnering with me in my mission to share Jesus Christ with Bolivian university students. My prayer and financial team continues to grow in a way that makes me marvel more and more at the beauty and truth of Paul’s words when he states: “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). Thank you again to Nueva Vida (my sending church), my friends (old and new), co-workers, and family members who are advancing me closer and closer to Bolivia.

Beyond the support raising process, I am taking steps to shore up more knowledge and training before I head south. I recently enrolled in a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) program. This 11 week course will help prepare me to teach effectively in a foreign culture and in a foreign language. I am also excited to share that I ascertained Christ-centered curriculum from a missionary friend in Bolivia. Whatever we do, whether in word or deed, we are to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:17) and this curriculum will help me achieve that end.

As I continue to prepare to leave for Bolivia, God has placed it upon my heart to work on building up unity in the body of Christ by praying for those who are partnering with me. I will be setting aside time every week to lift you up in prayer. If you have specific prayer requests, please e-mail them to me. I want our partnership to go both ways.

For the month of March please pray for me as I reach out to churches, Bible study groups, and individuals–that I may share my vision with wisdom and clarity, and that the Lord would open hearts and minds to consider a partnership. Please pray also that the Lord would begin to soften the hearts of those He wants me to reach in Bolivia. As I reflect upon Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, I will merely be planting seeds, but it is God who gives the growth.

May you walk in the grace and peace of the Lord.

En Cristo,

Derek

Gracias a todos por su apoyo y oración. Mi equipo de oración y apoyo financiero sigue creciendo en una manera que me recuerda de las palabras de Pablo quien escribe: “Ahora bien, ustedes son el cuerpo de Cristo, y cada uno es miembro de ese cuerpo.” (1 Corintios 12:27) Gracias otraz vez a Pastor Alex Rivero y Nueva Vida (mi iglesia enviadora), mis amigos (viejos y nuevos), colegas, and parientes que me están acercando más a Bolivia.

Ahora estoy haciendo pasos para obtener más conocimiento acerca de como enseñar inglés en un país extranjero. He matriculado en un programa que dura 11 semanas para aprender capacidades docentes. Estoy alegre de que haya obtenido currículo cristiano de una misionera que puedo utilizar en Bolivia. La palabra de Dios dice “Y todo lo que hagan, de palabra o de obra, háganlo en el nombre del Señor Jesús” (Colosenses 3:17) y este currículo me va a ayudar lograr este propósito.

Mientras me preparo para partir, Dios ha puesto en mi corazón la convicción de que debo orar por las personas que me están apoyando. Por lo tanto, un día cada semana voy a orar por ustedes. Mándame sus oraciones si quiere.

Este mes por favor ore por mí mientras hablo con más iglesias e individuos para aumentar mi equipo. Quiero hablar con claridad y sabiduría. También por favor ore por los estudiantes universitarios. Es mi deseo que Dios prepare sus corazones para escuchar y entender su mensaje. Como Pablo dice en 1 Corintios 3:5-9, podemos sembrar y regar, pero solo Dios da el crecimiento.

Que manténganse firmes e inconmovibles en el Señor,

Derek