The Wilsons' Ministry in Bolivia
MINISTRY NEWS...
New Ministries
"Man may choose his path, but the Lord directs his steps." -Proverbs 16:9
For quite a while we'd been praying for direction. We could see the Lord was moving us out of Youth Ministry, but weren't sure what He had in mind. We'd been praying for a long time about joining Following the Master Carpenter, but we thought the Lord was directing us home to the US. Surprise! He has us here for one or two years more. We continued to pray for His direction in our use of time and He continued to confirm to us that we are done with Youth Ministry for now and that He was confirming His call for Monte to become involved full-time with Following the Master Carpenter. We will however, still be involved in some other ministries as well.
Now Andrea's main ministry is discipling. She is discipling Rebeca her former neighbor who accepted the Lord in the summer of '08, Ingrid, a single-mom and college-student studying English, Maria, a recent high-school graduate from Casa de Alegrķa who is now studying English as well, Christine, a young missionary serving one semester here in Cochabamba, Carla, an MK (missionary kid), and Abbey a short-term MK as well as mentoring Miriam, a Bolivian missionary friend and also some other high school age girls. Another old, yet new ministry is that Andrea has committed to 1 day per week to visiting with the girls at Casa de Alegria Girls Home, where we've visited off and on through these 6yrs. There are around 15 girls there currently and while we have gotten to know the girls on a superficial level, we now have opportunity to really teach the girls and are looking forward to going deeper. Many have a relationship with the Lord, but little growth. Over these past months of working with the girls, they are learning much about the Lord and His faithfulness as well as improving in their English and typing skills and drama ability. You can read more about their special needs on our Wilson Foundation page. Andrea is also praying that some of the teenage girls from youth group will be interested in joining a small group Bible study geared toward discipling (just with 2-4 girls). Apart from that, we have started a new ministry to college/career-age young adults in English called The Gathering in which we sing praise and worship music together and watch a sermon together online. Our numbers are small, but it is going really well and we are glad to do it. So, as you can see, we are busy but are completely content in the direction the Lord has brought us. We have renewed energy and passion and are so excited to see the hand of the Lord at work in us and through us as we reach out to others. We do ask that you please continue to pray for His hand of blessing on our lives and in these ministries!
If you'd like to read more about our ministries,
please click on the following links:
An Average Week-
You may have read about all of our activities and wonder how we do it- if we're spreading ourselves too thin or not spending enough quality time with our family. Praise the Lord, our schedule is flexible, so when we need to, it can vary, but we really work hard to be sure that our time is very well balanced. We feel like not balancing our time wisely does not glorify God and that neglecting our family would be a great sin! We try our hardest to keep things balanced and to be spending quality time with the Lord and with each other and in ministry.
So during a typical week, Monte works mornings and afternoons at the carpentry shop from 9 to noon and 2 to 5. He's home for lunch due to the traditional "siesta" of Latin America. The little ones spend their mornings at an inexpensive Christian daycare which they love. Meanwhile, Andrea spends Monday mornings with the girls at Casa de Alegria. Tuesdays she attends a lady's Bible study, and does some discipling for a couple hours, Wednesday mornings she does more discipling and Thursdays teaches English for one hour with a girl she hopes to disciple. The rest of the time is spent at home working on staying connected with supporters and on writing drama scripts. The afternoons are spent with the girls. Saturday nights are Family Nites. Sunday mornings we attend church and Sunday evenings The Gathering meets for an hour. We spend our evenings together as a family and feel so blessed to have a flexible schedule so we can be involved in each others' lives whenever there are special needs or special events.