We (Dennis and I) arrived yesterday evening after a long 24+ hours. The start of our first leg from Oakland to LAX didn’t go so well as our flight was delayed for over 3 hours. Eventually, we arrived at LAX at 12:30am, and napped for 2 hours at the hotel before heading back to the airport for our flight at 6am. The rest of our flights were pretty smooth, and we finally reached Santa Cruz with much relief. The one highlight of our traveling journey was that our hotel room was upgraded to a suite bigger than my 2 bedroom apartment. Too bad we only enjoyed it for 2 hours…

To no one’s surprise, dinner was waiting for us at the Mojica home. Although Dennis and I ate a little on the plane, we couldn’t decline the chicken everyone kept talking about here in Bolivia. Yes, it was everything our hearts desired and more… After dinner, we called it a night and went to sleep… dreaming of suites, airplanes, and juicy chickens…

This morning, we went to church to worship with our fellow brothers and sisters here in Santa Cruz. Seeing the church and the simplicity of it all reminded me that God completes His work all over the world in local churches Sunday after Sunday, day after day. God shows His glory through Gateway, and through the church here in Santa Cruz – no matter the size of the congregation. We had lunch with the church after the service, then some of us played basketball with the kids. They know the concept of basketball, but the kids like to tackle us in order to get the ball back. It’s a hybrid of basketball and football (American) for them. Nevertheless, we enjoyed playing basketball in church attire under the hot Bolivian sun.

Pastor Rod taught the Sunday School class on Jude, and continued his sermon series on Jude for the Sunday morning service. He will conclude the series this evening, so continue to pray that God will strengthen him, and the Word will convict the hearts of the people.

Football (soccer) is huge here if you didn’t know, so Sunday afternoon consisted of watching football, nap time for some of us, and relaxing until the Sunday evening service begins.. which, Matias indicated will start when the game is over ;).

Tomorrow, we travel to Samaipata for an overnight stay. Please pray for safety as we travel once again, and as we prepare for the conference. The Mojica family has welcomed us like one of their own, and we are thankful for what God is doing through their ministry here in Bolivia. Their grace is relentless, and they feed us like no other… It’s “Tea” time now (Which really means ice cream, pie, and coffee… maybe more chicken), therefore, I have to go. We will send our next update as soon as we get back from Samaipata.

-Pastor JD