Three Years Later

Almost 3 years ago our family was packing to return to the U.S. after almost a decade of ministry in Bolivia, South America. As we had imagined, the transition has been incredibly painful and difficult. The reverse culture-shock, the different landscape of the U.S. economy, the anti-Christian agenda of the left-wing media, and many other realities hit us squarely in the face without much of an idea of how to handle them. Today, we are settled into many of these American realities- among them, the high cost of food, fuel, education- but it still doesn't make it any easier to confront them.  There is a traditional stream of the American middle-class that can't imagine why our family has "wasted" 10 years of our lives in a 3rd world country, while we should have been building our careers and assuring a solid foothold in our children's future.  On the outside this opinion has merit, but we have developed a unique skill set that would only be learned in a strange, cross-culture environment and may in one way or another help develop our advancement in the American work world. Fortunately, success is not measured by how comfortable a life one is able to afford and we feel very blessed to be among those who have employment, a roof over our head and for all practical purposes are surviving just fine.  Surviving in America, however, is not the same as surviving in a third world country.  Here it means time, lots of time- time away from family-time away from ministry- time away from everything that is important to us.  If this is indeed where we are supposed to be, then we will adapt ourselves to find balance in every area of our life- but the process is extremely challenging.  Thank you to all who have supported us through the years in Bolivia, and we now understand the sacrifices that many of you made to help us continue serving there.

Dare to start another year!

Howdy, from North Texas! We're officially past the year and a half mark for being back in the good ole USA and approaching the one-year mark in our new home in Fort Worth. Alissa has actually passed her one-year anniversary as a nurse at Green Valley, and feels blessed to have a great job in this waning economy but also has experienced the stress of working in an often stressful environment.

As for me (Alan), I've had several ventures in 2009 and 2010 that didn't pan out, a part-time night-shift job that put enormous stress on the family, and in these last couple months a contract-based job as a tutor for high school students. Despite all the inconsistencies, we're surviving and thriving, all things considered. We must admit that, things look pretty grim for our beloved country, but as members of Christ's Body, we are upheld by the fellowship and communion of His People. Although we can make no guarantees as to what or how our government's decisions will affect our children, we confidently subject our future in the hands of the One who holds everyone's future.

Ministry and missions continue to be close to our heart, and opportunities abound to serve according to the gifts God has given us.

Many blessings!

The task of moving a missionary

This morning we unloaded a U-Haul truck from New York that contained household items from our home in NY from 10 years ago, books and paperwork from Singapore 6 years ago, and all this to add to our things from Bolivia from 1 year ago. Also, there are a few items from Alan's single days back in Missouri that are left to take out of storage. Oh the joys of traveling the globe in the last decade while establishing a family, serving in ministry, studying in far away places and coming home to roost. Please, please, Lord, can we stay a while and not move again? Thanks.

New Beginnings

We got the call today from our real estate agent that our offer to buy one of the many houses we've looked at in the last few months has been accepted. All we lack now is the contract process and the final stages of the financing. Although we wouldn't have imagined ourselves living in "neighborhood America" even a year ago, God has been faithful to lead us through this difficult time of transition by providing a way to make a new beginning, while keeping us conscious of all that our mission experience has done in our hearts.

Thanks to all our friends and ministry partners who have supported us and prayed for us during this time. Our new house will certainly be a blessing to us as long as God has us here. We continue to rely on the Spirit's direction to promote the mission movement started in Bolivia, and to use us to be a blessing wherever we are.

New adjustments

Hi friends,

Since my last post, we've been through several new changes. The most traumatic has been Alissa's acquisition of a job as a 'charge nurse' at the Green Valley Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center. The Center currently has her working in an orientation/PRN position until they feel confident that Alissa can handle her supervision role over LPNs and CNAs. Since she started working on Dec. 31, she has actually worked full-time hours. Now that she has her temporary license for the State of Texas, she can continue working while she waits for the all the processing for her permanent license.

Because of this opportunity, we were left with the decision about how the kids' home school would continue. We decided that I would continue to market our internet business, as best I could from home, and teach the home school curriculum as well. Well, so far so good. It has been a big switch from our life in Bolivia, but we see how God is providing in spite of a "down" economy. We're also confident that God has brought us here for a purpose, one that may not be easy for us to understand.

We appreciate your prayers as we find our way through these transitions, and we know that we share many of the same struggles that many families are facing these days. Let's draw near to God, unload our cares upon him and let Him fill us with contentment.

About our new business

As many of you know, Alissa struggled with allergy-induced asthma in Bolivia and this gave us enough reason to think about moving to seek better health for her. Thankfully, that has happened from being in a cleaner environment- away from the smoke and dust that common in any Third World country. This experience became an inspiration for us as we began considering ideas for an online business. We finally decided to offer air purification products that might help others with similar symptoms to experience relief by dealing with the root of the problem, airborne particles and VOCs (Volitile Organic Compounds). On October 1st, we officially launched "Air Purifier Central" which distributes home air purifiers and filters from five major manufacturers. Now comes the hard part- getting the word out about what we're doing- not just to those we know, but also to everyone around the country. Competition is very stiff when it comes to online business, but we're praying that God will give us wisdom for reaching the right people who might be interested in improving their health. We welcome you to help us out by informing those that you know with allergy and asthma conditions that could benefit from cleaner air.

Our first month back in the US

Hello to our friends and ministry partners,

Since we have tied up our activities in Bolivia, our broadcast of news has become less frequent. We did, however, want to keep you posted as to what we've been up to during our first month in Texas.

Originally we had thought that it would take several weeks to penetrate the fog of uncertainty before we finally discovered what we might be here to do. Our first week was certainly a flood of mixed feelings and hightened emotional vulnerability, but after our first week, we began to sense our options narrowing down to a family-business, which involved using the resources we had with the business platforms that Alan's parents had created over the last three years. The umbrella business is a Limited Liability Company with several Partnerships underneath them. For now, Alan has become one of the partners in one of the Partnerships, called Pathway Builders, a Real Estate Investment Company.

As for ministry, we keep in contact with the Mission Movement in Bolivia and have been able to raise funds for one student and a couple to get training in Singapore. We desire to become more involved in Hispanic Ministry in the future, but the church where we attend has not explored this area yet- hopefully we can change that.

We ask that you continue to pray for the close of our house in Bolivia, as we still await the final funds to get wired through to us.

Alan hopes to make a trip to Bolivia early next year, accompanied by Christian Business Leaders, and association of Christian executives and statesmen. He hopes to start a chapter of CBL in Santa Cruz in order to unite Christian Leaders around the common goal of expanding the Kingdom.

Alissa has started home schooling for our three girls, and has found it both challenging and rewarding. Please pray that she will have grace to teach the girls this year and be able to balance her spiritual time with all her activities.

Until next time, God bless you all,

the Holcombes

ENews June 2009

ENews June 2009

Packing, packing and more packing. Early in the month we were very persuaded that it would take at least three months for our house in Santa Cruz to sell, but within one month we already had two buyers interested in our house. As a result, we had to throw things into High Gear and begin paring down our furniture, household stuff and whatever else we have accumulated over the last eight years in Bolivia.This will continue to be a highly stressful time in our lives for the next month and a half, and we appreciate all your prayers that you send our way. As of the 26th we have officially started the paperwork for the sale of our house and are awaiting the final payment to close all the legal documentation. Also, we have purchased our tickets for the July 20. We will leave Bolivia and arrive in the US the same day (daytime flight).

In the meantime, the three girls enjoyed a one-week VBS at the International Church here in

Santa Cruz. Also, we celebrated Abigail's 4th birthday on the 21st, which made it a special Father's Day for Alan as well.

It has been a fairly mild winter so far in Santa Cruz, but not without a few nights down in the 40's. Since our house has no heat, we usually have at least a couple nights during the winter that we all sleep together in one room to keep warm- kind of like camping out, but in your own house.

Ministry News

As we try to taper down our responsibilities, we have realized how hard that is to actually do. One definite praise in this area is the willingness of a local Bible School, CIET, to continue offering the Bivocational Modules that we have been teaching at CBDI for the last three years. This was essentially the first program that was born out Alan's thesis that was elaborated in Singapore five years ago, and we're glad to see it continue. Although we're sad to leave during such growth in missions awareness, we can honestly say that we were privileged to be a major part of the formation of a national missions movement that will continue under God's grace to impact this country as participators in the Great Commission.

Our team in Santa Cruz continues to work in three new church plants throughout the city, and Alan was able to visit and teach at one of them in the neighborhood called Soberania. This church meets at the home of our team member, Richard La Madrid, and has about 25-30 members who are being fed the Word here. We are praying that these new church plants will be examples of organic, missional bodies that can produce many new disciples.

For Prayer

• Our preparation for departure, July 20
• Safety in our travel
• Wisdom and direction upon arrival

Thanks again to all of you who pray for and support our ministry!

God bless you,

the Holcombes

Farewell Snack

ENews May 2009

ENEWS Apr 2009

ENEWS March 2009

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 27^th 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

FEB. 2009 ENews

Dengue hits hard on Bolivia!!
Just recently on the news they have estimated around 30,000 cases in the country and about 20,000 of those are in our Department of Santa Cruz. The deadly hemorrhagic dengue has affected about 80 people, and most of these are unlikely to recover. Alan has had dengue years ago, but we give thanks that none of our family has been affected by this current epidemic. Please pray for mercy on those infected with dengue and for a swift response to take preventative measures to hopefully stem the spread of the disease.
We mentioned just briefly in last month’s newsletter about a co-worker leaving the ministry, specifically involved in the missionary training center. This month was a real grieving time as we witnessed this leader and co-worker make further steps to separate from his wife and distance himself from any kind of ministry. This has been an enormous shock and discouragement to our family and ministry, as we never want to see someone who has been called into God’s service turn their back on His will to follow their own way. We appreciate your prayers for this family and ours as we deal with the loss of a laborer in ministry.
Even as things have become more difficult with the training center in Santa Cruz, other opportunities have presented themselves as a reassurance of God’s vision in our hearts. We know the needs are great here and God can use to do many things, but we want to always be sure what the ONE thing is that He is calling us to do. In light of this, we continue to pursue different solutions for Alissa’s health issues. There are some alternative treatment we are looking into that are homeopathic in nature and are meant to build a resistance over a period of time to the allergies that cause her symptoms. Please pray that we will know if this is the right way to go and that the budget can be met for this treatment.

Ministry News

One of the training centers where Alan teaches, ECAMM, had its first graduation after its first two and a half-year program.  Ten finished the program and are preparing to start their ministry among the unreached in different parts of the world.  Alan will be helping four of them with English training.

Also, we continue to be involved in the preparation for a national missions event, scheduled for November of this year.

Our monthly modules for CBDI have actually been suspended for a while until we can confirm another four students to attend the course.  We are praying that God would help us move the school forward and raise up some new emerging leaders to help with its formation.

Prayer Needs

• ·         Wisdom for dealing with Alissa’s health issues
  
• ·         The Mission Exposition scheduled for Nov. 2009
  
• ·         Wisdom for establishing a solid training program
  
• ·         The dengue epidemic in Bolivia
  
• ·         Addition funds for the national team
  

 

 

God bless each one of you!  Until next month,

 

the Holcombes

Our 2009 Prayer Card

 

Enews JAN 2009

Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,

We have been excited about what God might accomplish through us this next year, and at the same time knowing we are entering a season of great challenge and difficulty.

It seems that nowhere in the world will be immune to the effects of the economic crisis and the only reason a place like Bolivia is not very affected is because a large percentage of the population was already poor and knows how to live without cash much less credit.

We’re grateful for the time we had to “unwind” this month, as we joined South America Mission on their annual Field Conference, this year held at “Los Cedros” about 30 min. from Santa Cruz. The conference consisted of seminars by Bill Ogden and Dr. Jeffrey Olrich, as well as mealtime together and relaxing times with the family to walk, to swim or try the adventurous zip-line through the jungle canopy.

The week after our “family vacation”, Amara and Aleyna started their second semester of school. We’re thankful that all the kids are over their cough that lingered on for three months.

Also, we experienced a vehicle-crisis this month as we had two vehicles in the shop for repairs (one of ours and Alan’s dad’s compact SUV). Actually for the Field Conference we had to borrow another missionary’s jeep while his family is on furlough. Thankfully we are slowly getting our vehicles fixed, but nothing is instant in Bolivia.

We might also note that the socialist constitution was passed by majority vote through national referendum on the 25th. This new constitution has both good and negative aspects. The good part is that it gives the indigenous more of a voice and protection against discrimination. The negative is that the “preamble” states as the origin and sustainer of the country the “Pachamama”, or Mother Earth, instead of the Creator God (this is ironic because only 2 of the 36 indigenous nations recognize the Pachamama as one of their deities). In addition, there is loose interpretation in the rights to private property- only as the government sees that property as completing a “social function”.

Ministry Update

This month Alan began to meet with the board of the National Mission Movement, called COMIBAM, to discuss a national event to be held late this year. They began looking at the possibility of holding an exposition-style event aimed at stimulating the national church towards mission participation. Another objective of the event will be to help coordinate alliances between mission training and sending agencies.

CET (Centro de Entrenamiento Transcultural), a missionary training center in Cochabamba, held their annual meeting on the 17th. Alan was elected for his third term on the board of directors, and will be teaching a course in June.


ECAMM (Escuela de Capacitacion Misionera Mundial), a mobile missionary training center, had their most recent 2-month program in Santa Cruz (you may remember Alan teaching their earlier this year in Tacna, Peru). Alan taught a one-week module on “Contextualization of Theology”. There were a total of 41 students in the class. Ten of these will be graduating from the ECAMM program on Feb. 1. We are hoping at least three will stay on to help with our training school in Santa Cruz.

Our training center in Santa Cruz has had some major setbacks, and was not able to begin the bi-vocational modules on the 3rd. Instead, the module has been postponed while we try to confirm a group of about 5 students (our smallest group ever). We have also lost one of the main leaders of the center (hopefully temporarily) and that has made it more difficult to recruit and keep in communication with our students. One possible solution to these setbacks would be to merge with another training center. Although this solution would be the easiest, we still see that our training center offers aspects that are very distinctive to the Bethany philosophy of training.

Prayer Needs
• Wisdom for dealing with Alissa’s health issues
• The Mission Exposition scheduled for Nov. 2009
• Wisdom for establishing a solid training program
• The transition of Bolivia under the new Constitution
• Addition funds for the national team


God bless each one of you! Until next month,

the Holcombes

Dec 2008 ENews

 

video clip link

Here's the link for the video clip of our annual meeting:

Enews Nov 2008

ENEWS Oct 2008

Sept newsletter