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“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

Isaiah 6:8  “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”

Conference Preparation

 Msn. Esteban made a decision to hand over the leadership to the Bolivian shepherds. First, he shared the struggle with Sh. Abraham and Sh. Mateo of serving the message periodically. Then he also designated Sh. Abraham as the Administrative Director of the ministry until December of last year. This year, Sh. Mateo was named the Administrative Director. 

  We began to practically prepare for our Easter Conference in January. Sh. Mateo, as the Administrative Director, gave us the direction to pray for 80 attendants. So each shepherd made it their goal for two new sheep to participate in the conference and each disciple made it their goal for one new sheep to participate. But this year, Easter was at the end of March. Thus time was short. 

  In addition, regular classes were not in session at the university and this filled us with unbelief. But in the midst of this situation, we struggled in prayer morning and night. As the conference approached, new sheep began to confirm their participation in the conference and registered while others said they could not attend. 

  Also, in contrast to previous years, Msn. Esteban put Sh. Abraham in charge of training Sh. Daniel and Javier as messengers and Sh. Mateo in charge of training Shs. Gabriela, Sh. Moises and one disciple, Aldo. The greatest challenge they faced was that the messengers did not receive God's word due to lack of meditating on it. Therefore, they began to meditate on God's word with them and Sh. Abraham and Sh. Mateo grew as good coworkers. 

  Meanwhile, Shs. Sara, Ruty, Pamela and disciples Lizet, Silvia, Silvia Pamela, Sh. Alberto and disciple Ramiro prepared their meditation and life testimony, in some cases trained by Msn. Esteban and Msn. Paulina.  

  On the other hand, there was also a dance group led by Shs. Gabriela. They practiced their afro-bolivian dance originally from the province of La Paz. There was also a drama team formed by Sh. Daniel. They wrote and presented the drama based on the conference title, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

The Conference

  Our Easter Conference was held from March 24-28 at Villa Marista with the title, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” The day of the conference arrived and everything was fine until midday. Then in the afternoon, it started to rain. The time to go the conference came and it rained and poured. The sheep did not arrive because they could not leave their house due to the rain. 

  In the midst of this situation, those who were at the center began to pray led by Msn. Esteban. Finally the rained ceased and we could make it to the conference site. One brother who could not make it to the center on the first day of the conference arrived to the site by bicycle on Friday. Through this, we could see the work of God.

  Upon arrival, Shs. Gabriela served the opening message, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately." That evening, Sh. Moises delivered the message, "Get up, take your mat and go home" and Msn. Corina and Shs. Pamela shared their testimony. 

  The next day, on Friday, we had group Bible study based on the parable of the Prodigal Son. Aldo served the message, “But while he was still a long way off..." Shs. Sara and disciple Mariela shared their testimony. That evening each Bible study group prepared a short drama or skit for Talent Night. Sh. Daniel served the message of the cross, "Father, forgive them." Then Sh. Alberto, Shs. Andreina, Teodora, and Yanet shared their testimony. 

  On Saturday, we studied the Bible passage for the message, "Who will go for us?" Sh. Emanuel served this message. Sh. Ruty shared his testimony. In the afternoon, we prepared our testimony and shared. We saw that the newcomers received much grace. 

  That evening, Sh. Lorenzo gave the message, "Do you love me? Feed my sheep." Then there was a Talent Night where we enjoyed the presentation of each Bible study group. Then Sister Silvia Pamela and disciples Silvia and Ramiro shared their testimony.

  Sunday morning, we had an early morning devotion, "Fix your eyes on Jesus" by Diego. Then we prepared for Sunday Worship Service where Sh. Javier served the message, "Who then is the faithful and wise servant?" We closed the conference with a special dance. 

Prayer Topics

To conclude Msn. Esteban gave the following prayer topics:

1.  To raise 3 house churches to pioneer the Cochabamba campus.

2.  To have a united conference in 2019 with 120 attendants from Santa Cruz I, Santa Cruz II, and Cochabamba.

  We thank God that as Bolivian leaders we could learn the importance of co-working through planning and carrying out the conference. We also learned this practically through training messengers, dance and drama preparation, and all the logistics of the conference.

 In Christ,

 Sp. Mateo Carmelo.