Latcom Mission

Omar and Anna are on their way to the Lomerio with the hardware for the Todos Santos playground. They will meet with the leaders today and tomorrow and hopefully be back in Santa Cruz by noon Friday. Pray for their safe travels.

Today Juan and Rosita Garcia, their youngest child Sem, Pedrito, (Child Evangelism Professor for REDES Lomerio), Miguel Soriocó and a group of the believers from the Todos Santos church took the morning to work on the fencing of the church property. They planted posts and then nailed seven lines of barbed wire in place. There were two more ladies who helped but are not in the picture as they left to cook the noon meal at the time the group picture was taken. Juan concludes the report by saying, "What a privilege it is to serve the LORD!"

This past weekend the community of Todos Santos was finally able to get into the woods to get their sand and Iron Wood lumber out that Juan Garcia had sawed for the playground LATCOM is funding as part of our agreement in exchange for the church property. As you can see it was very labor intensive. First they had to shovel a load of sand and then unload it by hand. Then you can see Juan Garcia splitting fire wood for the lunch we provided for all the community folks who helpe...d, Following that you can see from the pictures that the ground was still too soft to get all the way into where the timbers were. They had to dig out the old Toyota pickup, then place blocks in the deep ruts, push to get it out, and finally hand-carry the immensely heavy Iron Wood beams out to the vehicle. Like me you are probably wondering how on earth that pickup truck's springs ever survived the serious overload they placed on it. The last pictures show the workers enjoying lunch. All these experiences allow Juan and the REDES team to share the good news of Jesus Christ. THANK YOU LATCOM supporters and prayer partners.

Rojas Report for Monday 4-12-2021 Continued... The Kitchen Project We want to thank the Lord for the opportunity to add a kitchen onto the outdoor pavilion we built earlier. This now enables the church to host many different events (such as the Children’s Breakfast Project). We want to thank LATCOM for providing the funds for the building and equipping of this kitchen and pavilion. The believers are immensely grateful for the multiple use this allows. ... Evangelism (Check out the final picture to see this couple) I (Onesimo) am thanking God for the opportunity he gave me to visit a family in the San Andres community. The father of the family had confessed to me that he struggled with an addiction and he wanted to change his life. I presented salvation in Jesus Christ as the beginning of a solution. Both he and his wife asked God for forgiveness and accepted Jesus as Savior. They both promised to read the Bible and to begin praying as a family. For my part, I have committed to discipling Justo and Amalia. Please pray for the spiritual growth of this family.

Rojas Report for Monday 4-12-2021 Today April 12 we visited 5 communities and thrilled the hearts of the children. We handed out 255 personal kits with school materials and sweets. However, the greatest thing was we got to share the Word of God, and to pray over the children and their parents of all who were present the blessings of God. For us it was a morning of great blessings. In La Embocada (due to recent events where the community leaders restricted our involvement) ...the members of the church took the lead on teaching and the giving of the school kits. We thank the Lord! See more

The work on the Todos Santos church property continues. The local church family and some of the REDES leaders planted iron wood posts and nailed in place seven strings of barbed wire to keep out the pigs and goats. Check out the picture of the woman carrying the Iron Wood fence post on her head.

The Rojas celebrated Easter in the church in La Embocada.

Last weekend the Rojas also handed out LATCOM supplied biosecurity materials for Chiquitano elementary and secondary school children in 5 public schools. They are facing a third wave of Covid and the government has required that all children have masks and hand sanitizer in order to attend classes. The problem is the government does not supply those required materials and most of these families are too poor to afford them. When they did this in San Miguelito they invited t...he parents to be present. After handing out the material they asked the professor if they could share the Word of God with the students and she gladdly gave them all the time they needed. The Rojas praise God they were able to do this with the parents and teachers present and in the classroom. AT the conclusion they were given the opportunity to invite the kids to the weekly good news clubs and the teens to the monthly youth retreats. THANK YOU LATCOM supporters and prayer partners for making this possible.

This past week I posted pictures of the the youth conference in the community of La Embocada held by the Rojas and the ICF church from Santa Cruz. Here are a few more.

Here are some more pictures from the events of this past weekend (3/20-21/2021) in La Embocada and the work Onesimo and Elodia Rojas are doing there with the help of Igelsia Cristiana de la Familia. Here are Elodias comments: ... A weekend of victory! "Children, youth and families received words of hope through the presentation of the Gospel." "We began a youth leadership program that united 70 young people from four communities." "We aslo launched the new children's dining room in La Embocada where they served 300 meals to at-risk kids. All this was done in an effort to reach families who are still unreached! Thank you to those individuals families and institutions who were part of this outreach. #MisionChiquitania #AlcancemosFamilias #MisionesICFBolivia

The clearing on the property granted to REDES leaders for the new church in Todos Santos continues. As you can see it is very labor intensive. The posts that Juan Garcia and the group have cut with chaninsaws will be for the fence that will surrond the entire property. They have already cut some of the beans needed for the building of the church.

Onesimo and ELodia Rojas, along with a team for Iglesia Cristiana de la Familia hosted a baptismal for some folks from the La Embocada Church. Thank you to so many in the USA that make this work possible.

Those of you who know the roads in the Lomerio will be able to identify this bridge over the river Zapoco Norte. It has been in bad shape for some years but now is done. This jungle bridge collapse effectively isolates the western part of the Lomerio from the eastern part until the river goes down enough for vehicles to ford the river. The detour is more than an hour and a half just to get from Coloradillo to El Púquio, two villages that are only 5 miles apart. I am told that there is a motorcycle trail that somehow connects the two but I have never seen it. My guess is that they'll throw a few planks across the opening for motorcycle crossing soon. This is rural life during the rainy season. Keep our REDES Motorcycle Missionaries in your prayers as they travel these amazing roads.