Sunday night we attended Iglesia Emmanuel and were warmly welcomed with traditional hugs and kisses and hand shaking. With the help of Jon who did a super job leading us in worship (I’m so glad he came, thanks Rachael and girls for letting him go) we sang some favorite hymns. Carl was able to share with the church his struggle and triumphs in his walk with Christ.

Got to bed late!

Monday has been a busy day!! We started with a meeting with the FH staff, a group of dedicated workers who have divided the city and surrounding areas of Sucre to reach out with the Gospel and an organized effort to eradicate poverty and hunger. Blackhawk is helping with the largest area called Lajastambo. German (pronounced Hairmon) the leader of FH in Sucre gave us an extended explanation of these efforts. Our Sara gave a very encouraging talk on working with relationships in ministry.

We asked the staff to share with us prayer requests and we were impressed by the difficult struggles they are dealing with. Our next post will have Carl’s summary of those prayer requests.

After that meeting we had a great time with about 30 Mother Leaders. These are moms who are learning about preparing and cooking nutritious food for their families. They are sharing these skills with other mom’s in their neighborhoods. We were impressed to learn that most of those women lead groups of 20-40 women each!

In the afternoon several team members made home visits to sponsored children (see Steve B’s comment about that below) while the others hunted for project supplies in the markets of Sucre.

Please pray for physical health as some minor illnesses among our team members are occurring. Tonight we were able to meet up with a former Blackhawk Downtown attender, Megan B, who is working in Sucre with the organization called Pioneers for several months. She was very encouraged by her time with us!

It was a great and we are enjoying partnering with FH staff to be a blessing in Bolivia for Jesus sake. – Curt

This afternoon a portion of the group (Steve B, Steve R, Anne R and Sara Z) went out to make home visits with our FH sponsored children. We traveled on side roads that wound through some Bolivian Barrios. This was truly a special experience filled with huge smiles, big hugs, and prayers for each child and family. The amazing assistance of FH field staff continued with their amazing insights into each of these kid’s lives. The first visit included a visit to Steve B and family’s child who happened to have her birthday on this exact day (coincidence…probably not). She was dancing with joy as she received a birthday cake, gifts for her and also gifts from FH for her family. We all sang happy birthday in 2 languages and then we were requested by the child to sing some more. The visit continued with the child, her sister and neighbor girl singing Psalm 23, her brother showing off his acrobatic skills and a hug that brought tears to some member eyes. From there we traveled to two different homes of children sponsored by Sara Z and family. Sara shared family pictures, exchanged gifts and had heartfelt conversations with her “kids” and their families. In each case the children were attached to her as they showed off their heartfelt appreciation that their sponsor came from so far away to see them. In each case Sara Z prayed for the complex and difficult situations that each child and their families were experiencing. We ended the tour with a visit to Tom S’s sponsored child. Steve B. and Steve R. filled in for Tom and presented the child with gifts, received hugs and were offered sacrificial return gifts of bread and eggs. Steve B was even able to treat an abscessed tooth for the child’s mother. We drove home as dusk approached sorting out all the different emotions of having to leave and were greeted by an amazing Bolivian sunset. It really provides motivation to sponsor a whole bunch more of God’s children in Bolivia who have so much potential if given the right support. – Steve B.