In Bermejo

I met a man named Jorge in Bermejo. He was an extremely friendly and lovable man, and this story revolves around him. Jorge was very excited to meet the new missionaries from the US and was constanly making jokes about the different movie stars to which he thought we resembled. His laughter was infectious and so was his loving spirit. His friend named me Chuck Norris which was the moniker by which he called me for the duration of our wonderful stay in the small village. We worked alongside each other in the hot tropical mosquito infested sun, and always Jorge would have a smill and a laugh on his face and a dios te bendiga to be said to each one of us. He invited Matt and I fishing but we were unable to go because of the work we thought that needed to be accomplished. Later in the week he and his soon to be wife invited us over for lunch at their place, with his whole family and we had an absolute blast eating the wonderful kinds of fish he had caught from the river the day before.

I mention Jorge because our time in Bermejo has greatly changed my perspective on God´s work and what it is that our time of service here in Bolivia was meant to be. We didn´t come to dig holes for the bathroom foundation or to do a puppet ministry here. We came to forge friendships with Jorge, Will, Marcelo, and Elli. Being in Bermejo was like coming back home; we ate meals together, laughed, and told sad stories that brought us closer to what I think truly is a feeling of brotherhood and family in Christ. I will always remember the time I spent in Bermejo as a time of learning to love people and places which I would normally consider to be out of my reach. When really Jorge taught me the greatest way to love like Christ. A simple smile shared, a laugh at a common joke, a meal shared between strangers of both language and nationality, and most of all though a unifying love for Jesus and his people here on Earth.

Please continue to pray for our safety here as we are begining to travel back to the states, pray for the ministry that Marcelo and Elli lead within Bermejo, and lastly please pray for our ability to forge new family members across nations through our bond in Jesus as we keep pressing forward looking towards home.

Dios te Bendiga
-greg