The K’oa:
It’s the first Friday of the month and almost everywhere you go the air is filled with the sweet smell of the K’oa pronounced Kohwah. This is a tradition that has its roots in the ancient rituals of the Quechua and Aymara Indians and is something that is commonly seen throughout the region of the Andes Mountains, especial in Bolivia and Peru. On this day the people prepare a small package that consists of small figurines made of sugar along with confetti, and certain spices that work as incense. In some cases they will even use a llama fetus that has been dried. They take all the ingredients and rap them up in paper and burn them on a small grill made especially for the K’oa. You may ask why do they do all this. Each package is made for a different purpose and includes different items that the people are hoping to receive. Following the traditions passed down for many years they are offering up incense to the mother earth called the Pachamama. There hope is that by offering this sacrifice the Pachamama will give them the things that they are asking for, whether it be money, health and even rain if it has been dry. While this sounds very interesting, and even primitive it shows the real condition of the people in this area. We are not talking about a small village way out in the middle of nowhere but in major cities like ours where there are close to a million inhabitants. Many times these practices will be mixed with Catholocism where they will pray to the virgin one-day, and offer incense to the mother earth the next. It truly shows how lost and confused the people are. We know that their only hope is to come and know the true and living God that can answer their prayers. There are many people even in our church that where they used to burn the K’oa every first Friday, they now lift up their prayers to the God of heaven and praise Him for the blessings that He gives.
Five Years Old:
This past month was the fifth anniversary of our church here in Bolivia. It was the second week of September 2006 that we started having services in a rented storefront with only my family and a Peruvian couple that was helping at the time. I have said it many times but from that time it is amazing to see what the Lord has done. Many have come to Christ, many lives have been changed and many are serving Him faithfully. This year I really wanted to encourage the people since we were just getting back to Bolivia from our furlough so I preached on “The God of the Impossible”, that we serve a God that is still doing miracles today. We had special singing along with a short video showing the progress of our church from the beginning until now. The church was packed and many decisions were made for the Lord. Afterwards we had a meal for everyone, which was a traditional plate that we have here in Cochabamba called Silpancho. It is a flattened piece of meat that is breaded and fried and served over rice, potatoes, onions and has a fried egg on top. Yeah it is good. Please pray for our young church that we can continue to prepare many people for the ministry for many years to come.
This is Our Generation:
Every generation is known for something. You have the baby boomers, generation x etc, but you also have generations that were known for doing great things for God. You can also have a part in doing something great for the honor and glory of God in our generation. Our desire is to do everything possible to take the gospel to the world in our generation. If you feel the same, I would like to encourage you to be part of the Our Generation Summit this December. For more information visit www.bcwe.org.
Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for our mission’s conference that we will have next month.
2. Pray as we prepare our Bible Institute to train our leaders for the ministry.
3. Pray for the funds needed to buy land and build a church building.
4. Pray for the leaders of our church and for their spiritual growth.