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A Faithful Pastor and a New Church
by Paul Knudson, SIM Boliva
29 September 2009
Four years ago there were no Quechua believers in the green pasture lands around the small village of Khari Mayu. Then a Bolivian pastor started walking between the isolated communities and sharing the Gospel. For three weeks each month, Teodoro shares the good news of Jesus as he treks from house to house. Years of hard and faithful work has paid off. Many have come to know Christ as their Savior. About two years ago a short-term team from Canada gave away small fixed-frequency radios that broadcast Radio Mosoj Chaski, the Christian Quechua radio station, to all the households in the area. The power of the gospel had broken through and was changing lives. The small group of believers wanted to start a church and put up walls for a building. Ceferino Calle has the distinction of being in the first class I taught at San Juanillo Bible Institute in 2001. It was a course on missions. He is now the pastor of a Bolivian-Argentinean church in Buenos Aires, Argentina. During 2008, he prepared a missions team from his church to come to Khari Mayu. The young people were taught Quechua, Bible studies and evangelism. They raised money to buy a roof, door and window for the bare building. They collected clothing and school supplies to give away to the kids of the community. I traveled out to Khari Mayu with Ceferino, his 45 member mission’s team, and two other missionary families. Our group sort of overwhelmed the small community. They crammed us all into one classroom in the school. The young people played soccer with kids from the region. There were activities for the younger children. More than 100 people squeezed in for singing, a showing of the Jesus film, and an evangelistic message to mark the inauguration of the newly completed church building. About 20 people went forward to accept Christ, most of them children. I was really surprised and joyful at the response. The next morning the kids lined up to receive their gifts of notebooks, pencils, shirts and pants. It was like Christmas morning. The team even gave all the missionaries leather Argentinean-style cowboy hats. One of my motivations for joining the trip was to continue my interviews on Quechua worldview. I was hoping the new group of believers would be eager to help me and be able to explain the belief system they had recently left. It was hard to get my ideas across in Quechua. It was also difficult for some of the believers. The questions touched on themes that were still too sensitive to what they had left behind. During our three days in Khari Mayu, I was not overly involved in the group's activities so I had a chance to observe and evaluate a bit more than normal. I saw some really encouraging things. I marveled at Teodoro and his faithful labor of walking those hills to bring the good news to the Quechua people. People are still eager for the hope found only in Jesus. It was great to see Ceferino leading his church and helping them develop a vision for missions. They already are talking of coming back next year. I also saw the great need that still exists. About 15 kids went forward to accept Christ. I doubt Teodoro will be able to do much to teach and disciple them along with everyone else. I wonder who will lead the church when he isn’t around. How will the Gospel and their animistic background content in their developing faith? Praise the Lord he left his Holy Spirit to work in these new believers and the church. And we are grateful for the opportunity to serve among the Quechua to help in these areas of need. Pray
GiveYou can help bring the Gospel to the Quechuas through giving a gift to Galcom Red Radios for Radio Mosoj Chaski. GoCheck out opportunities to serve in Bolivia 
 
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