Santa Cruz

¡Hola!

As you´ve read below we´re here in Santa Cruz for a short visit. Time is different here in Bolivia. Today becomes mañana before you know it and yesterday fades into the past. We haven´t been able to load pictures up on this blog, but will be able to when we arrive back in Minneapolis. Look for lot´s of details to come forward then.

I´ve been thinking about how the Lord has engineered this teams´s activities from start to finish and have gained a new respect for the Lord. His ways are always right, often surprising and usually not like mine. Rather than letting us board a plane and hurry back to our comfortable homes, we´ve had a wonderful time of getting to know the Bolivian culture better, the Bolivian people better and getting to know our hosts, Lucho & Lorno Velez better. The Lord knew that an extra day or two as a time of refreshment were really needed for this team and so that is exactly what He has provided - in my of my best efforts.

But I´ve been asking myself why Santa Cruz, why have we been placed here in Santa Cruz? Santa Cruz is Spanish for Holy Cross. The Cross is the reason for our time here in Bolivia, it is our purpose, and I suspect that has something to do with it. As I ponder the inexpressible joy we have experienced here I´m reminded of a verse which has been brought up several times on this trip. It speaks of Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith ¨who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God¨. His pain, our reward. The cross is humbling - and joyous at the same time.

As I consider the friends I´ve left behind in Trinidad I´m encouraged, and that encouragement comes from Santa Cruz - the Holy Cross. The joy, the relationships, the real fellowship is meaningless unless it has permanence. So much of what goes on in the world will end in the void of nothingness, but not so with the Holy Cross. The Cross is our entry into eternal and abundant life (and there is no other way of entry), and this cements the joy we have exerienced. I have met, I have be able to know, I have had fellowship with my eternal brothers and sisters. There is no ¨goodbye¨, but instead ¨chau¨. I like that. I like the knowledge and assurance that relationships based upon the Lord Jesus are permanent. The cross changes lives forevermore.

While we´re thankful for this time in Santa Cruz, we do need to return to the US. Please join us in prayer that our LAB flight tomorrow evening will fly as scheduled, that we are able to reschedule our connecting flights and make it to our homes and families safely. Also, please pray that the remaining bins to make it to Trinidad. There are 10 bins that have yet to arrive.

There is much more to write, and that will come in due time. Press on, pray on and be blessed.

Dan