Five Children Baptized

“To be sure, children are brought to Baptism by the faith and work of others; but when they get there and the pastor or baptizer deals with them in Christ’s stead, it is He who blesses them and grants them faith and the kingdom of heaven. For the word and act of the pastor are the Word and the work of Christ himself.” 

(What Luther Says, Vol. 1, p. 51, 141) 

When LATTE professors first came to Bolivia, the doctrine of infant baptism was not being clearly taught or practiced. When the LATTE professors began to teach this doctrine and show the great importance of putting it into practice, they met with some resistance. A family with five children who regularly attend worship services at Redeemer Lutheran congregation had never had any of their children baptized because they thought that it was not necessary to do so. After much instruction from Scripture with an emphasis on the spiritual benefits that come with baptism, the parents of these five children finally agreed to have their children baptized. 

What a joyful moment it was when five precious children received this precious gift which has granted them the benefits of the forgiveness of their sins, becoming members of the family of God and having the assurance of a home in Heaven once this life is over. 

Go to www.welsinbolivia.blogspot.com for more details.

Trip to Apolo Update

(Update regarding previous post - "Man proposes - God disposes")

There was a strike in the city the day we returned.  The strikers started to block all the roads going in and out of the city at 5:30 a.m. just after we arrived.  If we had arrived a half an hour later, we would not have been able to enter La Paz and would have had to find someplace to stay outside the city until the strike was over.  The Lord is good!

Photo provided by www.netglobers.com.

Man proposes – God disposes

Trip to Apolo

Road to Apolo

One of my duties in Bolivia is to visit the national church congregations that are located in outlying areas of Bolivia in order to strengthen our fellowship ties and also to see if there might be some potential theological education students who could study with us.  The first trip was to Santa Cruz.  This month another trip was planned to the outlying area of Apolo.  There is a saying that man proposes but God disposes.  That clearly turned out to be the case in this instance.  My wife, Kathy and I, Julio, the pastor of Redeemer Congregation in La Paz, Julián and his wife, Ana all headed out for the town of Apolo in the mission car at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 15.  

Julián & Ana

Stop for Lunch

We were told that the total length of the trip would be around 12 hours.  We had traveled for 7 hours when it became evident that the car was losing power.  I stopped the car to check the oil and to see if there was any other evident problem.  Once the car had stopped, I attempted to put the car in Park, but found that the gearshift lever was jammed.  Then I made an inadvertent mistake.  I turned the motor off in order to check the oil.  I found that both the motor oil and the transmission oil levels were ok, so the decision was made to try to keep going to the next town in order to try to find a mechanic who could look the car over.  However, when I tried to start the car, I found that I could not do so since the car, having an automatic transmission, will only start with the gearshift lever in Park.  More efforts were made to get the gearshift lever to move, but to no avail.  A mechanic in La Paz was called and he made some suggestions, but nothing worked. 

Finally the decision was made to call the insurance company and ask that a tow truck be sent.  The insurance company told us that the only two trucks available were in La Paz, 7 hours away.  Since there didn’t seem to be any other alternative, we asked that one be sent.  Meanwhile we began to pray that a car with a mechanic would stop and help us out.  None came.  We were on a very isolated stretch of road.  A vehicle would pass about once every half hour.   

Fog Rolling In

Since a special invitation had been made by the president of the Apolo congregation to attend their yearly voting assembly, it was felt that it was very important that at least some members of the group still try to get to Apolo by hitching a ride or by flagging down a bus that was headed in that direction.  At 5:30 p.m. a bus picked up Julio, Julián and Ana.  Kathy and I stayed in the car to wait for the tow truck from La Paz.  Around 7:00 p.m. a heavy fog moved in and surrounded the car.  It was clear that our trust in the Lord was being tested.  What if another vehicle smashed into us?  What if thieves held us up?  We put the reflector triangle behind the car and also turned on the blinker lights whenever we saw the lights of a car approaching from either direction.  Since the road we were on was high in the mountains, as night fell it began to get very cold, and of course we could not use the heater of the car to warm us up.  Since Apolo is located at a lower and warmer altitude, we had each only brought along a light jacket. 

Fog

The tow truck finally showed up at 10:00 p.m.  The driver was a mechanic and tried to get the gearshift lever to move, but was unable to do so.  The only option was to take the car back to La Paz.  They pulled the car up onto the flatbed of the tow truck.  Since three men had come in the tow truck, there was no room for us to ride in the truck.  So, we sat up in the car for the ride back to La Paz.  The car was comfortable and has reclining front seats, but the downside was the cold.  The ride back to La Paz took another 7 hours and we finally got in at 5:30 a.m.  We thank the Lord that He was with us throughout this ordeal and that He got us back home safely.  Our trust is that His plans are always best.  

Go to www.welsinbolivia.blogspot.com/2011/09/traveling for addtional details.

Registering a Car - Part 2

The following are the steps we had to take to purchase our car here in Bolivia and get it registered:

- Francisco returned to La Paz and gave me his report.  We then went back to the third floor of the Motor Vehicle department, got another order for a telegram to be sent, this time to Santa Cruz.

- Then we went back to the SENATER office, paid another fee and had the second telegram sent to the Santa Cruz Motor Vehicle office.  They said they would call us when they received a reply.

- We waited over a week for the reply which never came.

- Right at that time I had a scheduled trip to Santa Cruz to visit the congregation of FIEL that is located there.  Francisco was designated to accompany us.  We decided that while we were there we would personally visit the Santa Cruz Motor Vehicle office to see what had happened with the telegram that had been sent.

- When we got to Santa Cruz we were able to find the Motor Vehicle building there and first went to the telegram office.  They told us they had not received the telegram that supposedly had been sent. 

- Next we went to the vehicle registration window.  They found a file folder on our car, but it simply had a note about the crime that had taken place in 2007.  There was also a document in that file indicating that the vehicle was actually registered in La Paz!  The lady at the window told us that we would have to go to the Motor Vehicle department in La Paz in order to obtain the document we needed.

- When we got back to La Paz, tired of all the run around we were getting, we hired a lawyer to look into the matter and try to get the document we needed.  The lawyer was successful in getting the document.

- With the final required document in hand, we went back to the Motor Vehicle office in order to submit all the papers.  After waiting four hours in line, when we got up to the window, they told us that the previous person in line was the last one they were going to attend to that day.

- We went back the next day early in the morning.  This time we only had to wait three hours and finally were able to submit all the documents for getting the vehicle registered in my name.

- Now there were only three more steps to take before everything would finally be finalized.  First we had to take the vehicle transfer papers from the Motor Vehicle department to a notary in order to have the signatures both of the former owner and the new owner notarized.

- Next we had to take all the papers back to the Mayor’s office in order to get an ownership card from them.

- The final step was to take a copy of all the papers to the police department in order to get a certificate of ownership from them.

- Finally, after a month and a half of running around, the car is now legally ours.  We thank the Lord that He has granted us success in this endeavor.

Registering a Car - Part 1

The following are the continued steps we had to take to purchase our car here in Bolivia and get it registered:

- Then came the process of registering the transfer of ownership of the car.  The first stop was the mayor’s office.  We had to make a copy of all the ownership papers and the purchase contract that had to be submitted there.  The line there was very long and it took all morning to finally get to a reception window where we submitted the required papers.  We were then given two documents.  One was a bill for the taxes owed for doing the transfer.  The other was a document to turn in to the Motor Vehicle department so that they could legally register the car purchase with the government. 

- We got into another line at the Mayor’s office to pay the taxes owed for the transfer of ownership.

- With the receipt for the tax payment in hand we made another copy of all the documents and then went to the Motor Vehicle department.  When we got there we saw on the wall a long list of requirements for getting the car registered.  We already had most of the required documents, but there were two that we didn’t have.

- The first requirement that was missing was a vehicle inspection.  When we got to the location of the vehicle inspection with the car, they had their own list of required documents in order for them to be able to make the inspection.

- We went to get the required documents for the vehicle inspection and the next day returned to the vehicle inspection site.  This time we were successful in getting the vehicle inspected.  However, the vehicle inspector told us that we would have to get photos of the small plate located on the inside of the windshield which had the number of the motor on it and also a picture of a sticker located on the door frame of the car. 

- We went back home and I took the pictures of the two items that had been requested and printed them.  The next day we took the printed pictures back to the inspector and showed them to him.  He rejected them and said the pictures had to be done by a professional photographer. 

- We found a photographer who took the pictures, printed them out, signed his name to them and this time they were accepted.

- We had to wait a couple more days for the vehicle inspector’s report to get sent back to the Motor Vehicle department.  When we returned there, we were told to go up to the third floor in order to obtain the other required document that we still did not have.

- At the office on the third floor we were told that in order to get the document that we needed, we would have to go to a different office called SENATER in another part of town.  At this office they would send a telegram to the city where the car had been previously registered in order to get a copy of the former registration papers.  The officer signed a paper giving the order for the telegram to be sent.

- We then drove to the SENATER office where telegrams were sent from and gave them the signed paper that we had received from the officer at the Motor Vehicle building.  We paid their fee and they gave us a receipt and told us they would call us when the answer came.

- Three days later they called us and told us to go back to the Motor Vehicle department in order to get the answer.  So we went back to the Motor Vehicle department, went back up to the third floor and asked the officer there for the answer to the telegram.  He replied that he did not have the answer.  We would have to go back to the SENATER office in order to get the reply.  He signed another paper authorizing SENATER to give us the reply.  Then off we went back to the SENATER office.

- The SENATER office did indeed have the reply to the telegram.  The reply stated that they were not going to send the information by telegraph.  Rather we would have to go personally to the city of Cochabamba in order to get the required registration documents. 

- So that I would not have to interrupt my classes, Francisco and I went to a lawyer’s office and I had a power of attorney document written up for Francisco.  He was then able to make the trip to Cochabamba with out my needing to go along. 

- When Francisco got to Cochabamba, he went to the Motor Vehicle building there and inquired about the registration document that was needed.  He was told that the only officer who could do the search for the required document was not there that day. 

- Since Francisco did not want to wait around possibly for several days until the officer in question would return, he asked around and was able to get the phone number of the officer.  He called the number, but a family member answered.  The family member said she would try to find the officer, which she did.  The officer agreed to go with Francisco to the Cochabamba Motor Vehicle office to search for the required document.

- When they got there, the search began through a whole room full of file folders.  The officer examined the file folders one by one and he allowed Francisco to also examine each folder.  After four hours of searching they both concluded that the required file was not there.  The officer then made some calls and discovered that the former registration documents were actually in Santa Cruz.

Purchasing a Car

The following are the steps we had to take to purchase our car here in Bolivia and get it registered:

- Guillermo, the president of FIEL, took us to a place that sells used cars.  After looking at different cars all morning, we found one we liked that was in our price range and told the owner that we wanted to have Guillermo’s mechanic check it over.

- That afternoon the owner brought the car to the church and Guillermo’s mechanic came to look it over.  After thoroughly checking the car over, the mechanic said that the car had engine problems, so we discarded that option.

- The following Saturday Francisco, who from the time of our arrival in Bolivia has been our trusted helper, took us to the same used car location to look for a different car.  Once again, after looking at cars all morning we found one that seemed to be a good option.  As we had done with the previous car, we asked the owner to bring it to the church so that Guillermo’s mechanic could look it over.

- The owner of the car kept the appointment.  This time the mechanic said that though there were some minor things that would need to be repaired, over all the car was in good shape.  We therefore made the determination to purchase the car and made an appointment with the owner for making the transfer.  In order that he would hold the car for us we made a small down payment of $200.

- That same evening, I did a search on the internet on the license plate of the car and found that it had been involved in a crime committed in 2007.  We therefore told the owner that we would have to first investigate to see if there would be any legal problems with the car if we purchased it.

- On Monday and Tuesday of the following week, our trusted helper, Francisco did a thorough investigation to see if there were any legal problems with the car.  He found that there were none.  We decided to continue with the car purchase.

- Since the owner wanted to be paid in cash, we had to go to the bank in order to withdraw the money.  

- We went to a lawyer and had the purchase contract drawn up.

- On Thursday of that week we met with the owner, paid him the remaining amount that we owed, signed the purchase contract and the owner then turned the car and the ownership papers over to us.

Next step - Registering the car (coming soon)....

Trip to Santa Cruz

When the national church here in Bolivia asked us to come to live in Bolivia and work with them, they had a number of purposes in mind for us.  One was to help them become a truly confessional church body.  Another thing they want me to do is visit some of the outlying areas where there are congregations that are part of the national church.  

During these visits our intention is to see how these congregations are doing doctrinally and also see if there might be some potential students who could be trained for ministry.

Recently we made our first trip to one of these congregations that is located in the city of Santa Cruz.  We found that the congregation has a fairly large property, but the congregation itself is quite small.  

It is made up of women and children and is led by a woman named Margarita.  Margarita welcomed us warmly and was very appreciative of the doctrine we had come to share with her.

She told us that she wishes the national church could send a pastor who could work full time at evangelism and teaching the Word to those whom the Holy Spirit gathers.  That is something the national church will be considering in the near future.

Preparing Leaders

"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true".

The classes with the congregational leaders have begun with prayers that the Holy Spirit will work in these leaders the desire to study the Word and to teach these truths to others. There exists a great deal of confusion about "biblical" truth since the people have been exposed to many different, false teachings. 

Many hearts are still burdened with trying to fulfill the works of the law: fasting, tithing, working for their salvation. After hearing a presentation of basic law and gospel, some have commented that the "scales were falling off their eyes". The Holy Spirit is leading them to see that Jesus has already completed all the law for us. 

We pray that these leaders continue to grow in their faith in the Savior and that they would be motivated to teach these truths to others.

Visas Approved

This month, we were able to pick up our one year resident visas after being in Bolivia for about two months. This visa will be valid for one year. After we had received the visa the agent informed us that we now need to apply for our carnet - a national ID card. This card must be obtained within 25 days. We submitted the papers the next day and should have the carnet by the end of this week.

We are very thankful for all the help we had from Dra. Zulema, the lawyer. With her guidance and Francisco's help, we were able to fulfill all the government's requirements to receive the visa. The Lord has been very gracious in providing kind and willing helpers.

LATTE in Bolivia

What does is mean to be "confessional"? Do I understand what my church teaches? Do I believe the same teachings that other confessional Lutherans profess and proclaim? How can I know when someone is teaching false doctrine? 

These are all questions that people in La Paz, Bolivia  have about their faith. Our focus here is to teach the truth but also to help the people discern false doctrines they have been taught in the past. The LATTE classes have a double focus: teaching the truths of the Scriptures and at the same time helping the people identify where they have gotten off the path onto false teachings. Our prayer is that with the Lord's help the students will believe the clear teachings of the Bible.

For now, most of the work has been focused on the pastor of the congregation. He has a deep desire to be confessional and to teach true biblical doctrines to the people. Missionary Philip has spent many hours talking with Pastor Julio, learning the history of the congregation, sharing doctrinally sound materials, clearing up doubts that Pastor Julio has and teaching him biblically sound teachings.

There have also been other opportunities to share the basic law and gospel message with other groups that are active within the church. Many of the members are still confused about the basic message of salvation and when questioned frequently mention some type of "works" as necessary to be saved.

Philip has had many opportunities to clear up peoples' doubts and when they hear the clear message they realize how the idea of works righteousness had become a part of their beliefs and they are thankful to hear the message of salvation by grace-without works-by faith in Jesus.

The Lord has already blessed the work here as people begin to appreciate all that Jesus has done for them and we ask the Lord's continued blessing as we begin regular classes with the other leaders of the congregation.

Papers Submitted

Yesterday we were able to submit the completed paperwork for our residence visas at Immigration here in La Paz, Bolivia. 

When we announced at our evening Bible class that we had gotten all the needed documents and that we had succeeded in submitting them at Immigration, the pastor of the congregation was shocked. He told us that the week before both he and the president of the national church had gone to the State department to see if the document that FIEL had to supply was ready. The document needed the signature of a particular government representative. A secretary there showed them a huge stack of papers all needing to be reviewed and signed by that same representative. Some of the documents in the stack had already been waiting for over two months to get the needed signature. Our document was on the bottom of the stack. She indicated that the government representative who was in charge of signing the documents did not want to do so because most of them were from church groups. What’s more, the man had been out of town for several days and she did not know when he would be back. She said that even after he got back we would probably have to wait two to three months to get our document signed. 

Missionary Philip & Francisco

That is why the pastor of the congregation was so surprised when we told him that we had gotten all the documents and had been able to submit them to Immigration that very afternoon. Today we found out how it happened. Francisco, the member of the congregation who has been helping us with our documents, told us that since the former government representative at the State department was not fulfilling his obligations very well, they had appointed a different man to take care of the backlog of paperwork. This new representative had gone through the entire stack of papers and signed all the ones needing signing all in one day! Sometimes the powerful hand of God works in very visible and even spectacular ways for the benefit of His children who are also His servants! We have now been told that our visas should be ready in about a week and a half. 

Thank you Lord, for your undeserved kindness and goodness! 

¡Muchas Gracias!

For the past four years, LATTE member Lorenzo has been making regular trips to La Paz, Bolivia.  He has been teaching doctrine courses to people who are interested in learning about Confessional Lutheranism.

Recently, LATTE member Philip was asked to move to La Paz, to live there and thus be able to work full time at the continued teaching of these leaders with the desire that they will soon be in full fellowship with the WELS.

The students who had attended Lorenzo’s classes for the past four years, gave him a warm farewell, thanking him for his dedication in the preparation and presentation of these classes and his patience in working them as they struggled between what they had learned in the past and the presentation of these truths as they are found in the Bible.

¡Muchas gracias professor!

Many thanks to Lorenzo for all his hard work here in La Paz.

To God be all the glory who gives His gifts and prepares servants to work in His kingdom.

Arrived Safely in Bolivia

Kathy and I have now arrived safely in La Paz, Bolivia.  Guillermo, the president of the church put us up in a small apartment that he owns until we can get a place of our own.  The apartment does not have internet service, however.  So I am writing this from the hotel where Missionary Lorenzo is staying. Guillermo promised that he would get us set up with internet service soon.  The apartment also does not have a phone.  We purchased a cheap cell phone, but still have to get it registered before we can use it.  

Our first day of activities include:

• Installing Wireless USB internet connection -- it is slow, but workable  

• Registering our cell phone

• Finding out that our residence visa paperwork will take at least one month to process

• Receiving a personal guia (guide) from Guillermo to accompany us on all our errands to receive our visa

• Meeting the lawyer who will be helping us get our visa

• Making copies of passports, getting photos taken, etc... for visa paperwork

• Meeting with the lawyer again to get started on obtaining the two required good conduct certificates for our visa

Missionary Philip and Kathy recently moved from Santiago, Dominican Republic. Learn more about our new mission in Bolivia at www.welsinbolivia.blogspot.com.

Decision Made to Move LATTE Professor to Bolivia

As many of the readers of this blog know, trips to Bolivia have been made twice a year by LATTE Professor Lorenzo since November of 2007.  These trips began because a group of Lutherans in Bolivia has expressed its desire to become confessional Lutherans in fellowship with the WELS. 

Significant progress has been made as a result of the trips made by Lorenzo.  However, the desire was expressed to be able to advance more rapidly in conservative theological studies.  For this reason, in a meeting of LATTE professors and the Administrative Committee for Latin American Missions in November of 2010, Professor Philip was asked to move with his wife Kathryn from the Dominican Republic to Bolivia early in 2011 in order to continue these studies with the Lutheran leaders in Bolivia full time.  

Trip to Quibdó, Colombia

An historical event took place this month. For the first time in over 30 years a WELS missionary made a trip to the town of Quibdó, Colombia. A congregation of about 30 members from this town had been received into the fellowship of the Colombian national church a couple of months earlier. On a previous trip to Colombia, the congregation’s pastor, Elkin Alzate, had invited LATTE professor Philip to include a visit to Quibdó during his next trip to Colombia. The trip took place and Professor was able to enjoy the wonderful hospitality of our brothers in the faith who live there. He also took part in workshops and Bible studies during the afternoon and evening hours. In the pictures you can see Professor Philip leading the class, the group that studied with him as well as Pastor Elkin and his wife Eugenia.

(Posted by Prof. Philip)

Philip and Andrew

Two times in two months on two different trips two strangers bump into each other on an airplane.

Two months ago, LATTE professor Philip went on a teaching trip. On the airplane leaving the Dominican Republic he sat next to a man by the name of Andy who was passing through from Europe on a business trip. During the two hour long tip, he had an opportunity to witness to Andy, talking to him about sin and the Savior using Scripture to answer his questions and doubts about spiritual matters.

This week, two months later, Philip was on a different teaching trip. When he boarded the plane, he found surprisingly that he was again seated near to Andy who was also traveling. Once again, he had the opportunity to witness to his new friend. This time he gave him a DVD of a personal presentation of the law/gospel message to take home with him and to share with his family.

We are the Lord's servants and He uses us to spread his message of salvation in Jesus the Savior. Two times he placed the same two strangers together so Andy would hear the beautiful gospel message. We pray that the Holy Spirit use these two witnessing opportunities to create faith in Andy's heart, so he too may enjoy heaven eternally. And we pray that Andy, too, will speak to others of the Savior so the Word may reach others in his home town.

(Posted by Professor Philip)

Special Colombian Treat

At the home of one of our students where the LATTE professors have classes in Colombia, the wife always makes arepas de chócolo as a special treat for us. It is similar to a pancake, but is made of sweet corn meal. This had always been one of our favorite foods when we had lived in Colombia a few years ago. Now we have it as a special treat every time we make a trip there.

(Posted by Professor Philip)

Wives Participate

In one of our recent trips to Colombia, the two missionaries who normally make the trip had the blessed privilege of having their wives accompany them for the first time. However, the wives did not go along just to do some sight seeing. They were also able to renew some acquaintances. The members of the congregations were truly overjoyed to see them. They also did a workshop for the women of the congregation on “The Role of Women in the Church”. It was attended by 20 ladies. They were given gifts of gratitude for their efforts the following Sunday. We thank the Lord for these very special opportunities that He has graciously provided.

(Posted by Professor Philip)

Christmas Puppet Show in Colombia

This past Christmas, the youth group of one of our congregations in Colombia wrote, produced and performed a puppet show about Christ’s birth for their Christmas service. They also made and set up all the props that were needed. The presentation was video-taped. All agreed that it was very well done, all out of love for the Savior who was born to save us. The home congregation of these young people is pastored by two seminary students who are being taught by LATTE professors during bi-monthly trips.

(posted by Professor Philip)