2011 Bolivia Mission Update
LETTER FROM THE GRANERS
November, 2011
Dear friends,We would like to thank you for receiving us into your churches during our U.S. home assign ment; for allowing us to share with you what has been happening in our mission work in Bolivia. Thanks for being so hospitable in sharing your time, for providing meals and housing. It is indeed a privilege to spend some time with you. Please know how much we appreciate your interest and
participation in mission. We have returned to Bolivia encouraged and refreshed by knowing that you are with us.
We returned to Cochabamba on June 1st, took refuge in a Methodist hospitality house, and began looking for a place to live. We found an apartment on the 5th floor of a high rise. The elevator was not yet working so we, together with Luis, Ariel, and Giovani from Thiu Rancho, worked like mules hauling heavy loads up to #5. We are settled in, back to work, and grateful to be here.
In August we hosted a volunteer in mission team from First UMC Sioux Falls, SD. A team of ten hearty, brave, and reverent souls came to Thiu Rancho to share their lives with us and to receive the goodness that Bolivia gives in return. They humbly dug a hole for use as a septic tank located outside of the new dormitory/apartment building. We are very grateful to the Sioux Falls VIM team, for coming to share the Good News in word and action. Thank you for your hard work, your open hearts, your good humor, and your loving support.
Thanks to all of you, our family in faith. May the peace of Christ warm our hearts and the passion of Christ lead us forward into mission.
Together in Christ, Gordon & Ardell
THIU RANCHO
In August we hosted a training course for 25 local Methodist pastors from all regions of Bolivia. The majority of Methodist churches cannot afford a seminary trained pastor so they rely on lay pastors. Over the last ten years we have been providing lay pastor training, that is, we provide the retreat center and pay half of all expenses. The seminary trained pastors share the teaching responsibilities.
In the area of construction we are continuing work on a new dormitory that used to be the stantion barn for the dairy cows. The building is framed up and has a roof but now needs the finish work, plumbing, electrical, sheet rock, windows, doors, etc.
The next phase of construction on our auditorium/gymnasium is to put in all the doors and windows but this will wait until the dormitory is finished. In the meantime we are working on a smaller project, building a snack shop that is part of the auditorium. Luis and I are doing the work to save some expense and because a snack shop is not a cathedral, it will permit less than profession als to build it.
Our daughters, Jenny and Hannah share a room in a small apartment in San Francisco, CA. Jenny continues her work with Operation Access, an organization that provides surgery at no cost to those who need it and are outside the health care system. She would like to go to graduate school and is working her way through the application process. Hannah is back at school in Berkeley, studying hard, and also looking for part-time work. Samuel is living in Bolivia on the outskirts of the small town of Copacabana, located on the shores of Lake Titicaca.
We were able to be all together for a couple of weeks in July. It was great to catch up on news, share special meals, play Scrabble, and take a hair-raising trip down the mountains to the tropics. When all the kids left, we realized that we now live in the empty nest.
There is no official Thanksgiving Day in Bolivia but we recently attended one of our Methodist Churches high in the Andes to celebrate their adopted version of a day of thanksgiving. It is a time of thanking God for the abundant harvest by bringing a portion of produce to the church, an offering of gratitude.
