Family News
This month we received a visit from Alan’s parents from Texas. Although their visit was only one week, we all enjoyed seeing them again. The first Saturday they were here, we couldn’t even leave the house because the civic leaders had called a one-day-campaign against the mosquito, where all citizens had to stay home and clean out any garbage in their yards that might hold stagnate water. It was unbelievable to see all the junk that people collected on the street corners as a result of the campaign. Of course this is Bolivia and the garbage wasn’t collected for almost two weeks, giving more time for the mosquitoes to breed. Later there appeared an article in a local paper complaining how in previous generations there was never a need to call such a campaign because citizens were more conscientious of keeping their properties maintained.
Our political situation never takes a rest here, and the latest strategy of the Socialist Government has been to remove three members of the Supreme Court, bringing the court down to a minimum number necessary for a forum. Their strategy is to slowly undermine the power of the judicial system in order to have greater control when it comes to prosecuting any opposition- scary!! Ironically this has not been a major focus in the opposition city of Santa Cruz where we live, but instead it has been an incredible tension over a 100% rate hike in the city bus fare (from about 20 cents to 40 cents). To someone from the U.S. this seems incredibly mute, but for many Bolivians who rely on public transportation for getting to school and work, it means life or death.
Amara and Aleyna had their annual “Family Fun Day” at their school. This year the parents played soccer against their kids. After Alan scored against Amara’s team, he gave Amara a pat on the back which she used to take a foul. She ended up getting a penalty kick and scored against the parents. It was a lot of fun.
Another adventure we experienced this month was the theft of our garbage bin, a metal basket that is planted in the ground and serves to hold our garbage out the reach of street dogs. Fortunately a gardener who works in our neighborhood rang our doorbell and let us know the two thieves were carrying our bin down the street. Alan hopped in the car and after 15 minutes of searching found them and asked them nicely to return the bin. The thieves apologized and help load it in the car. Of course there was always a chance they were armed, but in this case he was fortunate to encounter “nice thieves”.
For the Consideration of Our Prayer and Support Team
We want to make our first official communication with our prayer and support team that our family has made the decision to transition back to the U.S. sometime in the next year. Despite experiencing several setbacks in our ministry this year, Alan continues to have enormous opportunities at other training centers and as an integral part of the national mission movement, COMIBAM. There has been, as many at you know, the personal and family issue of Alissa's health for the last two years that is largely due to the tropical climate and pollution of Santa Cruz. Recently we had blood tests done on all our children and found that Aleyna also has predisposition to many of the allergens in Bolivia as well. As you can imagine this has been a constant tension for Alan, between the enormous needs in ministry and the real needs of the family. We have found that in the pursing of God's will, our lists of pro's and con's don't mean much and we dedicated several weeks to prayer and fasting to find a way out of this tension. We are sensing that after almost 8 years with Bethany we will be transitioning into a Hispanic ministry Stateside after the end of the year that will allow us to see some relief from some of the health issues and give us a chance to promote local training centers in Bolivia, the needs of specific national missionaries, and even stimulate interest in the South American Training HUB. We would welcome your input as we pray through the steps we need to take to follow this direction, and we want to express our appreciation again for being a covering to us in this way. Naturally we will notify all of our support team in the event of any change to the way our support is channeled.
Ministry News
This month the CBDI modules were suspended until more students were found (we have 4 students confirmed for April). On Saturday mornings, Alan continues to work with 4 missionary graduates as they prepare to go to the field. These graduates are taking English classes during the week, and Alan is helping them with Bible vocabulary in English.
As part of the leadership of the National Mission Movement, called COMIBAM Bolivia, Alan organized an inter-organizational meeting to continue planning for our National Missions Fair, scheduled for November this year. Also, on the 27th via SKYPE video, Alan participated in the inauguration of the GlobeServe South America Training HUB, held in Curitiba, Brazil. This “HUB” is a networking structure to help missionary training schools in South America share resources and evaluate training programs. During this inauguration, Alan was asked to serve as Interim Coordinator for the HUB for a period of one year until other leadership is trained for this role.
Prayer Needs
- · Our decision to make a transition back to the U.S.
- · Alissa’s health
- · The right person to take many of Alan’s leadership roles
- · All the logistical details of a transition off the field
As always we bless and honor our valued ministry partners who continue to stand with us in prayer and financial support year after year. Thank you all and please keep in contact.
the Holcombes
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