Bolivian Culture

In the month of September, Sucre, the city we live in, had a several day festival. It was to worship the Virgin Guadalupe, whoever that was. A Catholic thing. Of course we do not believe in worshiping any human being when the Bible clearly states that all of us are sinners Romans 3:23 & 6:23 including Mary the mother of Jesus. Jesus told us in His Word , "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6 If it is not through Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross, then the penalty is eternal punishment in Hell, Romans 6:23. The interesting thing during the parades they had was that they had more costumes depicting animistic beliefs. There were many devil costumes and native indian costumes. I find it interesting that they were trying to honor this Catholic saint who is supposed to be a servant of God with costumes of devils. I recently read a banner posted on a public building downtown that said something about El Diablo, the Devil and it said that the Devil is Bolivian. Very interesting. We know by reading the Bible that Satan is the ultimate deceiver. Mat 10:28 says, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." This is speaking of Satan and his power to condemn souls to Hell through his deceit and treachery. These people are truly blinded if they think the Devil is something cool. They have an interesting mix of Catholicism and animism. The Catholic part of them keeps them feeling comfortable where they think they will go to Heaven as long as they are a pretty good person. Sadly that condemns them to Hell as much as devil worship. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, " For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
We attended part of the parade during the day. It was interesting on a cultural level. The girls thought it was fun. We avoided going out at night because Bolivians will use any excuse to have a drunken fest, especially Catholic holidays. Hmmmm.

Cousin Fun

How wonderful that the girls got to spend this extra time with their cousins Cameron, Cassie, and Caedon! They all got along so well. I am thankful that we can utilize Skype in Bolivia and keep the cousins in close contact. I am so thankful for modern technology. Missionaries no longer have to give up family the way they used to years ago.

I have entered the blogging world!!

This summer has been going by entirely too fast! We have been in SC, VA, PA, IN, WI, and IL and we are headed to OH, NY, NH, VT, and CT before the summer is over. It has been so much fun seeing friends and families. This last weekend we were with Pastor and Mrs. Brown at their new church in Green Bay, WI. This picture above was taken by a photographer in their church named Mark Hawkins. He and his wife take beautiful weddings pics for a living. Check out their blog site. http://www.markhawkinsphoto.blogspot.com/ For the 4th of July we went up to Northland Bible College with the Browns and enjoyed great music, a carnival for the kids, and a good fireworks show at the end. It made us sad to leave, but now we are having fun with my sister Jocelyn and her family. Today we took the kids out on a boat to have some fun in the sun!

Mrs. Brown and Keira on top and Keira on bottom.

Hayley and me below in one of those great pics Mark took.

God has blessed us abundantly above and beyond anything we could have ever imagined this summer. We are getting great ideas for our deaf church back in Bolivia and we are stocking up on useful items to take back to South America with us. I praise God and give Him glory for His ever wondrous love He bestows upon us!!

Eph 3:20-21 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.