The Cost of Following Jesus

Have you ever wanted to be a missionary? Have you ever wondered what is it like to a be a missionary? After living here in Bolivia for almost a year, I can tell you that I have and faint idea of what being a missionary is.

When I first heard about missions and that Jesus was coming soon, I really wanted to give my life for the gospel. (I really didn't know what I was getting into) I told my self and maybe prayed that I wanted to die working for the Lord. We worked for 6 years in the Tennessee. There were times where we didn't have money and God provided. There were times when we needed health (for our children) and He showed His power. He was always faithful and He still is. If I were to write all the things God did for us, you probably would get tired and not read this whole post, so I will try to keep it short.

This part in the bible has a new meaning to me.

The Cost of Discipleship
57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Here we see someone who wanted to be one of Jesus’ disciples. In the next verse Jesus warns him that being his disciple was hard. He had nothing (no material possession) to offer him. Perhaps Jesus  was telling him “ I don't even own a pillow”

59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

It seems here that this man wants to follow Jesus but gives first wants finish something in his life.

61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

This last verse is a though one to swallow. We sometimes feel that we are looking back.

When we lived in TN, we lived far from family. If we wanted to see them we had to drive 15 hrs north or 12 hours south. It was more doable. Here we are about 7 hours away by  airplane. I think this has been one of the toughest part of being far away from family. Especially now that all these holidays are getting closers.

Being a missionary overseas its not easy. Being a missionary at home is easier. I know, I was there. Each one of us is called to be a missionary where-ever we are and I truly believe that you can be one in the area where you live. I truly believe that you first have to be a missionary at home in your house, in your neighborhood,  to then be able to be a missionary overseas. I know and have heard people say “why am I going to be a missionary overseas if there is a lot of work here?”. That is true! But not all that say that, are actually doing something where they live. Can you tell me how many people from your church are active missionaries in their area? Probably a few.  We have, as church and as individuals to get active because… The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few…

There is a cost of being a disciple, we are learning that. Like I said before, its not easy but I wouldn't change it because I have seen the hand of God in our lives. We are NOT rich! I would say that we are the opposite. We have left our careers, we have left our families, we have left our possessions. Are we perfect now because we have done all that? Not at all. The Father will ONLY accept  Christ' perfect life reflected in us. I still think that God has to work a lot in changing our character, our weaknesses, our failures.  For the world, for our families and even people from church, we are seeing as losers. Oh Yes! We are losers, and we hope to continue loosing more, more of the world that still lives within us. I don't want you to think that we are better. We are not! I just want you to give Him the opportunity to work in your life in a different way. I  just want you to experience to live a life where you see God working every day in your life. If we don't leave our confort zone we won't see fully the power of God. Yes, there is a cost to be a missionary, but the biggest cost was already payed when He died on the cross. Our salvation is sure! Lets share that with others!

Update on the airplane situation:

Today we got good news. They didn't find anything, something we already knew, but the police sometimes would do anything for a bribe. Thank your so much for your prayers on this situation.
Airplanes will start flying soon again.


Update on the church:

In one of my first post, I mentioned that our church needed helped. Small donations have being made, which have helped to make the church look a little better. The walls inside the church were moldy, they have been painted and now look nice. The church needs pews. All we have are plastic chairs, and when we have visits there are not enough chairs for them or for the members. For Sabbath school, the children have to take their plastic chairs to where they are going to have the lessons. The rooms for the different sabbath school classes are still unfinished. There is not roof on any of the rooms. The little path to go to the bathroom is muddy all the time. It needs cement otherwise everybody that goes to the bathroom or to their sabbath school get their shoes full of mud. There is only one bathroom that the church shares with the people who take care of the church. It would be nice if the church could have its own bathroom.
Any donation of any amount will help to the church. If you feel convicted to help, please do so. Below you will find the information to where and how to do it. We really appreciate your help.
If you can’t donate. Can you please pray for the church and its members?  Thank you so much!

If you want to help this little church you can send your donation specifying "Pedro Lorenzo Church BOLIVIA".

Click the link below.

Donations


Unwanted People

George, the director for “El albergue” project had invited us to eat after church. As we enter the doors of “el albergue” we started to feel a little uncomfortable. We had people staring at us, like if we were some weird creatures, suddenly the patients started to follow us. They kept looking at us. I won’t lie to you! It was a bit awkward.
George, has two “albergues”, one is for patience that hospitals or their families don't want to care for any longer. Usually these are elderly people, and if George doesn't get these patience they will end up o the streets. The second, the one we were visiting that sabbath is for the mentally disable. Most of the people we saw there were young. Each with their own story. You can only imagen why or how they got to that point. I felt a little scared, specially because I was with my 2 children. People with psychiatric problems can change emotionally in seconds, they can become mad, sad etc.  They had a very strange look in their eyes but in their own way, they were happy to see new people. A few of the female patience got close to us and started to talk to us. As we interacted with them, you start to warm up and feel more comfortable. George and the people that volunteers there (mainly 2 or 3 people) work very hard. They don't have vacations or weekends off. They have to cook for the patiences in the two houses everyday, plus, they have to take care of the patiences physical needs as well, meaning they have to be treated like children, from taking them to the potty to feeding them. George is from Romania, and came to Bolivia to be a temporary missionary but when he saw the big need, he decided to stay. More the 5 years have passed since he started these projects.
Can you please pray for him, his projects and the people he takes care of. He needs more permanent volunteers. He needs better facilities to better take care of the “unwanted” people that Jesus loves and died for.
Last year I when to both “Albergues" to visit  and to make a video so that you can see first hand what is to be a missionary! If you feel inspired for what you just watched, please share it with someone else.

VIDEO of the Unwanted people. Click here to watch!

If you want to Donate to this project just click the link below and write George or AME Bolivia.

Donations

Happy Holidays from the Jaen family!

Thanksgiving

First of all, I wanted to thank each one of you for reading our News Letters and thank you for supporting us with your prayers and fianacially .

I really write not expecting anybody to read it. I actually can see the amount of people that reads this, and let me tell you, its only a few of you (smiles).  I still do it because it is for the glory of God so that he may be glorified. 

In my last News Letter I had shared with you our desired to help people, especially the lady who lives in the hut with her three daughters. One of our readers was impressed by this story and wanted to help this lady. I really was touched to know that there are people willing to help strangers! That-is-Love! Aren't we all supposed to do that by Gods command? To help those in need? Where ever you are, help someone! You will be blessed! 

Going back to the update!  We are still waiting for her to get a few documents stating that the piece of land where her house (hut) is, belongs to her. After that we might be able to get her electricity and if the money stretches even water!

To you who are helping this lady, Thank you so much! May the Lord continue inspiring your heart to give! 

He Judged the cause of the poor and the needy: then it was well. Was not this to know me? Saith Jehovah. Jeremiah 22:16  

Lets get to know God!

The enemy is angry:

So a few weeks ago the military soldiers show up at the tv station, they just wander around and did nothing. Last week they showed up and went straight to the hanger where the  air planes are. They started searching, looking around. They found one of the airplanes that had not been flying for a while so they yellow taped it for investigation and then left. A few days later they came again, this time they brought people from a lab to get samples of the airplane and left again! Finally today we got news from them, and its not a good one. Now the pilots won’t be able to fly for a while. They gave an ordered to not fly any airplane. They will be investigating all of them to see if there is something wrong with them! I really don't know what they can find. We only use them for God’s work. This case is in the Lord’s hands. Can you please help us pray that the organization is cleared to fly again and continue doing the work so much needed? Thank you so much!

The Big Studio:

After a few months of hard work on building the studio we are almost done. At least there are a few details that need to be done but the major work is done. We have started recording already. Isn't that a good news! Please pray for this project as we need people with experience in Tv production to come and help. Of course we also need willing hands, people eager to learn and ready to work hard for the Lord. You are invited to join, or if you know someone wanting to come and help, please share with them this link:
http://gospelministry.org/volunteer/

They can fill out and application by clicking below!

volunteer

Working on the creating the sets

The enemy is eager to stop God’s work. The only thing that can really stop the enemy is your prayers!

November is the month for Thanks giving! What are you thankful for? 

We are very thankful for your prayers and support!

With Love the Jaen Family!

If you would like to make a tax deductible  donation to any of our projects or to us please click the link below.
Donations

Have you ever complained about your situation?

Have you ever complained about your situation?

I know I have. As you know, recently we moved from the United States to here. We had to go through a lot and in the process I can tell you we did a lot of complaining! I wont lie to you. It was hard to leave our home to go to the unknown. Even though we were working in ministry for six years, at some point we had sank into our confort zone, at the beginning had a hard time adjusting to not having our own place. It was hard to be moving to different houses. It was hard having my children sick. It was hard living far from the city and having to depend on people to take us to buy our needs … well, I could go on and on with what was hard. But when you compare your situation with others maybe your situation doesn't seem as bad or hard as you thought. 

I had being praying to God about to show me a way to help my children get involved in ministry. 

I really want them to learn to share, to help, to share the Jesus to those in need.  That weekend God answered to me. One of the sisters from Pedro Lorenzo’s church has a small group of children from her neighborhood. Every Friday night about 20 children go to her house watch bible stories movies and for a snack. Three Fridays ago she sent me a message telling me that  the father of one the children had come and gotten his three little girls out of her house. He was hitting his poor daughter as if they had done something wrong. Sister Yolanda told me that they lived across  the street from her and she could hear the girls and their mom screaming. It sounded as if he was braking up the walls of his house and everything in it. He was drunk. Apparently for a while he was gone. He had leave his wife to go with another woman but had come back because the other woman left him. It broke my heart as she told me all this. We started to pray for them in every prayer we had.

The next Sabbath I went to church and for the first time the lady and the three girls went to church. After church we took them home and got to see where she lives. 

I really felt ungrateful, un deserving of Gods mercies. As I looked to her house I though of my situation and thought that my problems weren't really all that big compared to hers. Her little shack which she shared with her mother and an uncle had not even running water or electricity. 

How miserable I felt. And I had complained to God about our situation. It was eye opening moment. Definitely  God had gotten us out of our confort zone to show us how fortunate we are to have Him about all things and to show us how blessed we are. We plan to continue visiting this family and helping them in whatever they need. We pray for them that they can surrender their hearts to the Lord. The Three girls go to church now. The mother has only gone one time only but we hope and pray that the Lord may work in her heart and the husbands heart as well.

The Shack
The youngest girl from this family

Just like this family living in a shack made of clay and bamboo, there are thousands of families not only here in Bolivia but in the whole world needing a helping hand. Needing to know Jesus. Needing the love of our savior. We are the ones to show them the way to him. Are we going to leave our confort zone to do our job? or are we to sit back and relax while the the earth, the sky, the  sea gives us signs that Jesus is coming soon.

The Enemy is working as never before to destroy this world. Are we working as hard as he is for Jesus. 

Mathew 25:45"Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46"These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

I want to use this opportunity to help this family, to help my children understand the need and what our duty as disciple of Jesus is. Next time I  want complain about something, I will look very closely to my surrounding, I will look at my children and give them the right example of action. I will thank God for what he has given us. Will you do the same?

Needs:

Would you like to help this family get electricity and water? Aren't you glad that you don't have to travel far to get water in a bucket to drink, to wash your cloths, or to wash your hands? Do you have electricity? This family uses candles at night! 

Your prayers are very importan and your monetary help too. If God puts in your heart to help them please let us know by email your donation will go fully to help this family.

You can donate by:

Google Wallet: daya.armijos@gmail.com or Luis.jaen70@gmail.com

Paypal es: daya.d.jaen@gmail.com

Make a note in your donation mentioning Electricity and Water

Sabbath School Lesson:
So who of you studied the last sabbath school lesson? Well,  for last quarter ,the theme was about missions and missionaries! By the way it was very interesting you probably already know it, so I won't go into detail. Someone asked me to do a video about the people groups who have not yet been reached by the gospel. We think Jesus is coming soon, but the statistics and reality shows us that there are still a lot of people waiting to hear who Jesus is! 

I hope you like it and share it with other people! Make them aware of the need for people to give their lives to spreading the gospel in these remote areas! 

Click below to watch it. 

The unreached or Los NO Alcanzados

Let me know what you think!

Jaén personal family needs: Thank you for your prayers, they are what help us move forward in this battle.

If you would like to help us with our personal expenses, you can send your tax-deductible gift giving or going to click the page below.
http://gospelministry.org/donations/

or by mail to:

Gospel Ministries International
PO Box 506
Collegedale, TN 37315

By Internet
http://gospelministry.org/donations/

Or by phone: 423-473-1841

Please include a separate note specifying your donation to Jaen Family!
You can also send your donation directly to us through
Google Wallet: daya.armijos@gmail.com or Luis.jaen70@gmail.com
Our paypal is: daya.d.jaen@gmail.com

Maranatha Jesus is coming soon!

The Jaen Family

New Refrigerator fell off the truck!

The road to our home

God’s mercy!

Last month was a very tiring month. After living for 5 month in someone else's house, we were finally moving to our little nest, at least for another 6 months. It was hard, we got to this house in “Barrio Lindo”, the neighborhood next to the TV station. This place if full of sandy roads, you can feel the sand covering your feet every time you give a step, you can feel the hard wind covering your face with sand and dust. On the weekends people play music very loud, so loud it can be heard to the TV Station. We are surrendered by people who don't know God, but all the previous things are not very important, the most important thing is that God put us here to be a light in the middle of darkest!

As we first stepped into the house the only things we had with us were our luggages. A missionary family who had lived here in the house before us left two beds for us to use until we bought our own. We started from zero, we had no money to buy all the things we needed to function as humans. There was no stove, no refrigerator, no even a laundry sink where we could wash our cloths. When you rent a house in the US, the apartments usually have appliances. Here in Bolivia and I guess in South America, the houses don't have more then just the walls, electricity and water (I know at least having those basic things are still blessings).
So the next day we went to La Ramada ( the “cheapest" market for appliances, furniture, cloths you name it). Someone local that works for the TV station took us there to help us so we wouldn't be ripped off. Once we had the stove and refrigerator on the truck we hopped on. My wife and children were with us and she said looking back, "the fridge is going to fall". Our helper who was also driving the truck said “no, its not, I am going to drive very slow” . Maybe ten minutes after we are already on the road heading home, the next thing I heard was, “THE FRIDGE!” We all looked back and it had fallen in the middle of a very busy road. We stopped the truck on the street shoulder and run to where it was. Thank God just at that moment when it fell there where no cars coming. The helper and I got there just in time when a lot of cars where coming and I made a  hand signal for them to move to the next lane. Can you imagine how we felt at that moment? My wife and children were just watching from across the street in awe as we gather the pieces of box,  pieces of white foam flying every where. The Fridge had fallen and rolled on the street ending up close to the island that divides the streets. Cars passing by were looking at us.
All of us just replayed that moment when my wife  had said that it was going to fall. The strong wind and the lack of a rope to tide it had made it fall. We didn't have any more money to buy another one, so we really needed this one to work. We removed every part from the inside of the fridge. Only one glass shelf was broken, the rest was in almost perfect condition. The back top corner was smashed. We didn't know if it was going to work because also the bottom back corner where the motor was, was affected. We put the fridge on the back again and I was holding it until we got to a place where we could buy rope. Once on the road again we just thanked God that this didn't cause any accident. I could just imagined the Angels of God protecting everybody on the road that could have been hurt. During two days, we prayed to God that the refrigerator would work. Unfortunately (or fortunately is hould say) when we got home we couldn't plug it because we were missing a special adaptor to connected. Finally after getting the adapter, we pulled the cable to connect it.  we were praying as I inserted  the plug into the outlet. We opened our eyes and it didn't work. Can you pictures our faces? At first we were disappointed but a though crossed my mind, “switch outlets”. We did, and just as the fridge lit up our faces too. I don't think I can explain the feeling of joy, excitement, relief  we had at that moment. It truly was a test and a miracle. Later one person told us that if we would have plug it right away when we got home, the fridge probably wouldn't have worked because the gas in the motor needs to settle down for a couple of hours before conecting it. Something we didn't know and the seller never told us. We truly believe it all was a miracle. 

The Church

The little church in the other neighborhood where we go, has stopped building the sabbath school rooms because of lack of funding. There are four small rooms where children have their lessons but there is not roof on any of the rooms. When there is rain they can't have sabbath school there. When it is hot the sun hits them directly on their little faces. When there is a lot of wind, their papers fly away. There are not enough chairs for them to sit on. Because there are little ones who can not seat on chairs they seat on the floor and the best thing they have to cover the rough cement is a thin blanket. There is nothing more then four walls in each room.

If God places in your heart to help to finish the work in this little church please contact us.

   

Every life Matters

As we drove to church one sabbath morning, we passed by somebody laying next to the road. We stopped. At first my thought was, ‘we are going to be late for church’, then I though of the bible verse we had being memorizing with my son that same week.  “It is lawful to do good on the sabbath” Mathew 12:12 . A sister who was with us in the car told us she had seen him seating by the road, he seem weak and lost, so she had offered him days before oat meal for him to eat and a track for him to read. This sabbath morning he was just laying there. She got off the car and went to see if he was dead. My wife was crying just thinking of the idea that he was dead and people were passing by or the people that lived in that neighborhood  didn't do anything to help this young man. Sister Katy came back to the car and said he was still breathing and had a faint pulse. We called an ambulance, surprisingly it came fast. They checked his vital signs. In this pocket  he had a rubbing alcohol bottle. He probably used that to get drunk. We asked the nurse where they were taking him because we wanted to visit him. The ambulance took him (we thought) and we went to church, at church we prayed for him. We later found out the ambulance never took him to the hospital. No body there knew about him. There was not record of him ever getting there. We were sad to know that no body cared for this young man. The ambulance probably never took him there. We can only pray for him that they Lord may touch  his heart. 

Some times there are these “inconvenient” moments where we are to busy or don't want to stop to help anybody we see o ask us for something. Have we become like the world? just desensitized to the need out there? The world has become insensible. Nobody care for nobody anymore. Do we make excuses to not help people. Do we say, oh, he is an alcoholic and judge him without really knowing why people get to their lowest point in life? Aren't we supposed to be like Jesus. If you see a homeless on the street never judge him for what he looks like. Instead Do what Jesus would have done. Every life matters for Jesus and he wants even those who we feel are less deserving because of the way they chose to live their lives. God Can make Miracles.

It would be sad if this young man died and didn't have the chance to accept Jesus. And like him there are thousands of people around the world, in my neighborhood, in your neighborhood, that had hit their lowest point in their lives and are ready to accept or reject Jesus, but they need to be given that choice. We are those who are suppose to give them the chance. Even if we need to get somewhere fast. We need to stop and help. Jesus did! 

Please Do something nice for a homeless person you see next time, God can use you and you can be the key for that person salvation. 

TV Station 

This past month the station has put the recordings on stand by. That doesn't mean we are not airing anything, we are.  A donation was sent to the TV station to build another studio to make more productions. We are so excited to see how this new studio will be. We will be able to record more programs for the glory of God and for people’s salvation. If you want to be part of this beautiful work, you can either help by coming to help us down here. You can also help by praying for us so that we can finish soon, we know the the signs of the times tell us that our Saviors coming is close so we really need to hurry. If the Holy Spirit inspires you to make a donation, it will also help. There are always needs in the mission field. Your donation will also help to speed up the finishing process.

If you want to help the TV station or the little Church
Gospel Ministries International
PO Box 506
Collegedale, TN  37315
You can make a note specifying "RedAdvenir" or Pedro Lorenzo Church Rooms

Jaen family Personal Needs:Your prayer are very important for us. They keep us going. The mission field is a hard place, its a battle field, so we need all the prayers we need no to get discouraged with the obstacles the enemy puts in our way!

If you would like to also help us with a personal tax deductible donation you can do it online at

http://gospelministry.org/donations/

or by regular mail at:

Gospel Ministries International

PO Box 506
Collegedale, TN  37315You can also donate online: http://gospelministry.org/donations/Or by phone at: 423-473-1841

Kindly include a separate note specifying your donation to Jaen Family!

You can also send your donation directly to us through 
Google wallet: daya.armijos@gmail.com or Luis.jaen70@gmail.com 
Our paypal is: daya.d.jaen@gmail.com

Blessings from the Jaen family!

Its vbs time! I've been seeing different  friends posting pictures of their children in their vbs and all the nice activities they did! Some more elaborated than others but all very nice! Down here in Bolivia we just finished our vbs! The children down here didn't get to take pictures with posters of animals of some animated movie, or didn't get to wear nice tshirts with the  name of their church! The children down here didn't get to do all the nice things churches in America do! It was all very simple! 

Most of the children are from " Barrio Lindo" a poor neightborhood close the the TV channel! Most of the kids that came are not Christian, and most of them come from dysfunctional families! These Children spend most of the day by themselves in the streets without adult supervision.

They were very excited to come each day! There were four cold and rainy days and they still showed up!
We started the program with songs, prayer and a bibles story! The theme was the armor of faith! It was nice to see them repeating the bible verse! Then we did a very simple water based experiment! They played a games, ate a small snack and did a craft!

I got the change to record all the activities each day, ant Becky had asked me to do a little video of the program!
On Friday I decided I was going to interview them and asked them a few questions! It was nice to hear from the children how much they liked this experience. One of the questions was; who have they told about the vbs? All said something different but 2 children touched my heart. One said "I only told my mom because my dad never pays attention to me" and the other boy said " I don't tell my dad or my mom, they don't care"  

It really broke my heart to see how the enemy is destroying the future of society, they future of this children!
This kind of activities where they can learn about Jesus are very important for this children!
Please I ask you with all my heart to pray for this children! They need to learn about God before the enemy takes them into more suffering and misery!

Every Wednesday and Sabbath afternoon the children come to the clinic (this is were we did vbs and usually do the bible studies) to learn more about our savior, so this vacation bible school is not only where they can learn. These same children are the ones who also come to bible studies. 

The link below will take you to see the small video I made!

If you want to help this children learn more about God you can send your donation to
Gospel Ministries International
PO Box 506
Collegedale, TN  37315
You can make a note specifying "Barrio Lindo" Children

Jaen family Personal Needs:
Your prayer are very important for us. They keep us going. The mission field is a hard place, its a battle field, so we need all the prayers we need no to have discourage with the obstacles the enemy puts in our way!
If you would like to also help us with a personal donation you can do it online at

http://gospelministry.org/donations/

or by regular mail at:

Gospel Ministries International

PO Box 506
Collegedale, TN  37315
You can also donate online: http://gospelministry.org/donations/
Or by phone at: 423-473-1841
Or you can send a tax deductible donation to:
Gospel Ministries International

Kindly include a separate note specifying your donation to Jaen Family!

You can also send your donation directly to us through google wallet at daya.armijos@gmail.com or Luis.jaen70@gmail.com

Thank you!

June Update

Its  June now, a few months since we last wrote about our new journey here in Bolivia and to be honest, we couldn’t really write much without experiencing first life in the mission field!

In our last news letter we told you we were going to start paper work. We still are in the process of getting our residency here in Bolivia! It wasn’t easy doing the paper work. In the United States everything is very organized and you do everything by mail. Here, a totally different story! While we were gathering all the documents we needed to apply for the residency, the immigration laws changed so I few papers that we had already gotten needed to be replaced and that meant paying more money. So let me tell you how it is once you are submitting your papers. When you are at the window in front of the immigration officer with all the paper work,  you really are at his mercy. If he says you need more papers even if you already have them, and you are following all the rules and laws and what not,  you are out of luck. 

Well, finally after 3 months trying to get all the documentation, we left our paper work and the officer told us to comeback in 3 weeks. After the 3 weeks I went there to find out the status of the our paper work. At the window the officer tells me that my wife’s paper work were still there and weren’t being processed because of a paperwork they had forgotten to make her sign! By this time she was very disappointed because we had gone through a lot get that paperwork in! God definably is working on our patience and trust!

On another more inspiring note, the missionaries from the channel and I have been giving bible studies to the people that live in the neighborhood next to the channel! There are classes for the adult, classes for the children that go with their parents and I direct the study with the teenagers! Its nice to see how every Saturday night people come to the studies because they really want to know about our savior Jesus! 

Every Sabbath we go to a little church that is closed to the channel. The church is located in another poor neighborhood called Pedro Lorenzo! Most of the church if filled with the missionaries from the station and local families that are also working to bring more people to Christ! This little church is not finished yet. The rooms where the children have their Sabbath school are half way up. The walls are not finished and they don’t have roofs so when it rains or the sun is bright and hot the children and teacher don’t have cover!

When we got here, there were a lot of young people volunteering. Some for a few months, others, for a year and others are more long term. Now we have fewer missionaries. Most of the temporary volunteers have gone! It is sad to see people who you meet and become friends with go. After all they become your family. If you are considering missions please consider doing it for a long term. You will be a big blessing to the work of God and you will learn what God wants you to learn.

We are in the process of learning how to trust God. A few weeks ago, my wife and I were talking about how were we going to go to the market and buy food with no money?. Our saving had banished doing all the paperwork for our residency. We didn’t really have money anywhere but we new we had to go to the abasto (market) to buy food! The next day I went to the office as usual and one of the local missionaries comes to my office and hands me a $100 bill. I hadn't told anyone about no having money. So when he gave me the bill he told me it was from somebody else, anonymous. My eyes lit up. I could not believe God had sent us money at the right time! The emotions that you feel when things like that happen are inexplicable! God will never leave his children without bread! This is not the first time God has work in our behalf. He does it daily when we open our eyes every day, but just as the Israelites we tend to forget that our God is bigger then our needs or problems! And we need to experience how to depend on him on a daily basis! 

Please pray for us as we adjust to our new life here! We don’t have a house yet. We are staying on a missionary’s family house that are visit family right now. On July 22nd we will have to be somewhere else. Wherever we move, we will have to buy everything from beds to stove, spoons etc ! We don’t have the money so please pray that God will provide the right house and the money to buy all we need!

Please pray for missionaries. The channel needs volunteers with experience in TV production! We need to produce the best, heavenly programming to bring more people to Jesus, but without people we can’t do much. Do you have experience in this area or know of someone that would be willing to be a used by God? Please let us know!

The Channel needs to pay monthly bills, like electricity, Internet, etc. Pray that the Lord will send funds to help the station continue working!

Please pray for the people who are going to the Bible studies that The Lord may grow the seeds we are planting in the neighborhood! 

Thank you for your prayer and support!

The family on the left made a special dinner for us for our 10 year marriage anniversary!

TV Station Areas of Need:

1. Funds for constructing missionary housing  (There is a lot of need for housing)
2. Car to transport missionaries! (
3. Money to stations needs, like electricity, internet etc. 

Jaen family Personal Needs:

Your prayer are very important for us. They keep us going. The mission field is a hard place, its a battle field, so we need all the prayers we need no to be discourage with the obstacles the enemy puts in our way!

If you would like to also help us with a personal donation you can do it  by regular mail at:

Gospel Ministries International 

PO Box 506
Collegedale, TN  37315

You can also donate online: http://gospelministry.org/donations/

Or by phone at: 423-473-1841

Or you can send a tax deductible donation to:

Gospel Ministries International

Kindly include a separate note specifying your donation to Jaen Family!

Moving to the Mission Field, January 20015

Family Good Bye

For six years my family and I (Luis) worked at GMI headquarters in TN. My wife and I moved there in January 2009 to work as full-time volunteers for the ministry in the Media department. A year later, my wife got pregnant. Her new job as a mother started when Izhar came into the world. Three years later, we were a full family of four when Abrianna arrived.

Working at GMI was a great blessing! It was exciting to see the Lord always working on our behalf. The Lord not only provided food and housing for us, but also knowledge.  I got there not knowing anything about TV Production. In the six past years I learned everything from cameras, set, directing, lighting etc. It was great experience, but my wife and I always wanted to do something more for the Lord. We prayed to God to show us if he wanted us to go somewhere else. In September of last year we received the call to move to Bolivia. We were nervous and excited at the same time. The Lord had answered our prayer!

TV Station

On January 21 of this year we arrived here in Bolivia, and oh boy, our new journey begins.  Bolivia is a difficult country to do immigration if you are American. We have only a short time to finish our residency applications, and my wife and children have different nationalities than me, so there are different requirements for all of us. 

The first 2 weeks we stayed with Uncle David and Aunt Becky. Aunt Becky had being working on preparing a vacation bible school for the children that live in theneighborhood close to the TV station! We were happy to help. The first day around 20 children arrived. It was a blessing to see them learn about the gifts of the spirit. My son got to play with the children. It was a blessing to start working for the Lord in Bolivia.

Richard, the director of RedAdvenir (our new post in Bolivia), already had in mind what I was going to be doing so as soon as he saw me, he put me to work. There are a lot of productions waiting to be recorded and put on air. The people of Bolivia need the great message of Love. 

My family and I were going to be living in the neighborhood close to the station, but a missionary couple from Denmark offered the house they were staying in so we didn't have to commute. What a blessing this is!  We are living at the network compound for a few months, until the couple that lived here originally comeback from South Africa again! Please pray for the Lord to send funds for housing. There are a couple of houses on campus but all are full and there are more missionaries coming and no room for them to stay. The ministry here urgently needs housing! Without housing we can’t have more missionaries and the station cannot run properly. Transportation is another great need! 
There is only one car here on campus for all the missionaries. To give you an idea of how bad it is- Uncle David had to make 3 trips with a sedan to take missionaries to the church. Each trip, he took anywhere from 8 to 13 people.

                                              

This picture does not include driver

This picture does not include the children sitting in laps.

   

There are other exciting things happening here in Bolivia. The missionaries here are helping to finish building the little church we are all attending to. We are happy to be here, we are happy to help, we are happy for the new experiences and miracles God will do in our lives here in Bolivia. We know that not everything is perfect when you serve the Lord. We are sure to encounter many challenges, but we are sure He will be with us. He has shown us how to depend on and trust in Him.

My first request of prayer is for all the missionaries not only here but all around the world. All have to face different challenges; all left the comfort of their home to serve the Lord. All have their own needs.  My second prayers request would be for the needs here at Red Advenir, Though I mention 2, those are not the only ones.

Thank you for your prayers and support! May God bless you.

The Jaen Family

TV Station Areas of Need:

1. Funds for constructing missionary housing
2. Car to transport missionaries
3. Money to stations needs, like electricity, internet etc. 

Jaen family Personal Needs:

Your prayer are very important for us. They keep us going. The mission field is a hard place, its a battle field, so we need all the prayers we need no to be discourage with the obstacles the enemy puts in our way!

If you would like to also help us with a personal donation you can do it  by regular mail at:

Gospel Ministries International 

PO Box 506
Collegedale, TN  37315

You can also donate online: http://gospelministry.org/donations/

Or by phone at: 423-473-1841

Or you can send a tax deductible donation to:

Gospel Ministries International

Kindly include a separate note specifying your donation to Ecuador Mission or Jaen Family!