News > Latin America

 By M*ateo Arebalo

Thank God for answering prayers to pioneer Cochabamba, the 4th largest city in Bolivia. M*oisés Mamani was ordained to pioneer Cochabamba on July 25, 2021.

His prayer topics are as follows: 1. Establish the altar of God in CBBA, serving the Sunday message each Lord's Day. 2. Love daily bread and prayer in the morning. 3. Establish a career professionally and get "a suitable office to start the business" 4. May the Lord raise up an Abraham of faith in Cochabamba. 5. May God send His harvest workers to serve together in Cochabamba.

Thank God for opening the way for the gospel to spread in Cochabamba.

Below is his testimony:

I was born into a Christian family and somehow my parents instructed me in the ways of the Lord. With the passing of time, in my adolescence I fell prisoner under the immoral desires of pornography and masturbation, I felt very dirty before God. On the other hand, constant nightmares haunted my life, I couldn't rest in peace. Even though I knew the word of God and as much as I tried to keep God's command, I could not be free from sin. My life has no sense. However, my mother made me understand that Jesus is neither a religion nor somebody whom you have to do something to please. What really cares is to have an experience and a personal relationship with Jesus.

So, one Sunday night, when I was in the midst of my physical illness, prostrate in my bed, I begged God's mercy, asking for forgiveness for my sins. Based on the word of Romans 10:9, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” The greatest miracle happened because I found peace and God's forgiveness in my heart. The joy was so great that I jumped from my bed with joy and asked my whole family for forgiveness if I had offended them in anything. The grace of God was so great that I could not contain it in my heart, and I began to share my testimony and the word of God to the people around me, to my friends, coworkers, my boss, etc. Little by little a longing was born inside me to be a pastor of a congregation.

After that, when I was at the university, a classmate invited me to participate in a conference in UBF. So, in one of the conferences, I had the privilege of being part of discipleship, it was a very beautiful time where I learned much more about the word of God.

Thus, passing the time when I was already an active member in UBF, the Lord little by little began to call me to serve in his work of salvation. One day in the church in the second-floor room, while I was doing the representative prayer, I started writing about Cochabamba (city) without realizing it, I began to cry aloud for the young people of Cochabamba and these words came out of my mouth saying: "I did not think that the church was praying for me". From that moment the Lord began to work very personally in my heart helping me to pray silently. Well, until then, I was a simple university student who depended on his parents, because they gave me money for transportation, etc.

Thinking about my future and living in another city far from my parents, it caused a lot of uncertainty in my heart. So, I didn't have the courage to speak about my calling to the church leaders. As time went by, I graduated from university and as the days passed, I began to work as a warehouse manager. So little by little I began to immerse myself in work so little by little I stopped serving the sheep that the Lord had entrusted to me. I got so immersed in work that I lost my purpose in life, working for a salary of 1800bs. Inside me there was a lot of sadness for this miserable life that I was living. I didn't want to die in these miserable spiritual circumstances.

Anyway, I didn't want my life to end like the people of the world. Their life cycle is that they are born, grow, reproduce, and finally die. That is a miserable and purposeless life. Faced with this, I only begged the Lord constantly, like the blind Bartimaeus saying: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! His mercy was great that one day while I was sweeping the church hall. The Lord gave me his word saying: Gen.12:2: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.’ My heart was captured with his promise that told me: "I will make you into a great nation." This promise filled my heart completely, it was enough for my soul, despite my weaknesses. The Lord promised to mold me and use me in his work of salvation. It was a very happy moment in my life. So as the days went by, I quit my job and came to live together in the church.

Spending time at an Easter conference, I shared the word with the church brothers. The Lord worked very personally in my heart through the three questions that Jesus asked Peter saying: “… Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Peter was saddened that I said to him the third time: Do you love me? and he answered him: Lord, you know everything; You know that I love you. Jesus said to him: Feed my sheep. " (John 21:17). The Lord said to me: Moses, do you love me? ... Feed my sheep. The Lord moved my heart and helped me to get rid of my fear and uncertainty about my future, my economic factor, etc. and he gave me the strength and the necessary courage to publicly confess my calling to serve his work in the city of Cochabamba.

This is how time passed until today, according to his promise "I will make you a great nation" the Lord is working hard and shaping my interior helping me to die to myself. I can fully trust that God will sustain my life in the city of Cochabamba. And he will guide me through the best way to serve the young people of Cochabamba. Amen.