when & where

U-TURN Sun., 9:45a.m. CLUB JV Tues., 7p.m.

Country of the (Every Other) Week: Bolivia!

At the suggestion of Erock and Chrissy, this week’s country is one where Parkside has a couple of missionaries serving, Bolivia. Currently, Parkside has 3 missionaries there: Kep & Debbie James (you might know their daughter Heather, who helped out at Club for a while) and Kathy Maenner (who came to talk to us at Club last fall). For those of us who are geographically-challenged, Bolivia is in South America, right in between Chile and Brazil. (You can check it out on Google Maps.) Since I’ve never been there, I asked a few of my friends who visited last summer to tell me about the country, along with how we could best be praying. Here’s what they said:

About Bolivia: Did you know?

• La Paz, the city where the James’ and Kathy live, is 14,000 feet high (almost 2x as high as Denver, CO)! The professional soccer teams are no longer allowed to play games there because their opponents get sick from the altitude!
• Bolivia is home to the “world’s most dangerous highway”. It is a one-lane road on the side of a mountain, and when you’re driving on it, you look down at the clouds. Can you imagine that?

How can we pray?

• In Bolivia, there is a place called “Calvary Hill” which is a large hill about 2000 feet high. Some Bolivians in the area believe that if you carry rocks up the hill and place them at certain locations, God will be pleased and make it easier for you to get into heaven. People can actually be seen walking up the hill on their knees while carrying rocks. The thought of someone going to this place, which is supposed to represent Christ bearing the burden of sin for us, but still literally carrying their own burdens is incredible. Pray that God would show people that they don’t need to DO anything to receive God’s forgiveness (like carry rocks up a hill), except to trust in what Jesus has already DONE on the cross.
• Pray for Kathy Maenner as she hangs out with 13-16 year old girls in Bolivia. Pray that she’d be able to develop deep relationships with them and talk to them about Jesus!
• Pray for the James’ as they train Bolivians to be pastors and leaders in the Bolivian church!

(Note on the title: I discovered it was rather difficult to learn all about a new country in a week, so from now on, it’ll be the country of the every-other week…creative name, huh?)

One Response to “Country of the (Every Other) Week: Bolivia!”

1. Alisha Says:
   April 15th, 2008 at 6:43 pm

   Hey….its awesome what the missionaries are doing in Bolivia. I will pray for the few things listed above, well got to go!!!
   BYE<3

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