by Priscilla and Luke Lundstedt
11 February 2011

***Praise God with us!*** As you know, we were scheduled to stop the construction tomorrow, due to lack of funds, thus forcing the redundancy of as many as forty construction workers, as well as the temporary laying off of our Christian architect and engineer. Well, today we have a had a BLESSED DOUBLE WHAMMY. Firstly, news overnight of donations from the UK and the US that would allow us to make a half month's payment, and keep building for a further two weeks. Then, just as we were rejoicing at this provision, and authorising the construction company to keep going, whilst in a meeting on the building site, we received a further phone call informing us that an anonymous foundation had given $100,000 US (£65,000). Wow!

The only thing we could do, with tears in our eyes, was praise God. Amazing. We then proceeded to inform the construction company Director, who is not a Christian, and he was gob-smacked, and then everyone else. The whole team here is rejoicing. We now have enough for two months work---so we can pay up the month we are currently behind, and the following month (March) as well, and keep going till April.

Many thanks for your prayers, and your messages, and for walking with us in this rollercoaster ride of faith. Today has been a GREAT DAY.
-Graham Frith, Friday, February 25

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***Urgent prayer*** Our SIM team in Bolivia recieved a phone call this morning, 24 February: the construction company will stop work after this Saturday, 26 February, unless additional funding comes in over the next 24 hours. We did receive news today of a generous donation. While this is encouraging, it is not enough to prevent the work stopping. We remain about £35,000 short (USD 50,000) for the next payment.

El Alfararo leaders anticipate that 500 students a day will walk through the doors of its new facility under construction in Santa Cruz. Its current centre in Sucre has had great impact on thousands of lives of youth over the past years. This is a strategic ministry led by dozens of qualified staff and volunteers. Please pray with us today. Pray also for the construction company and the workers that will lose their jobs if work stops. Unless God provides a major miracle, we will be halting.

For more information about this ministry and its great impact on students, please visit: El Alfarero Student Centre.
-Thursday, 24 February

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Building a Dream
Denny was fortunate. Moving to Sucre from the lowlands of Bolivia to attend university was an opportunity few of his classmates had, let alone someone from a broken family like his. He was excited. This was his chance to make something of himself, to get a degree and start a career. Shortly after arriving, he met Tita who had also just moved to Sucre and was also alone in this new city. Together they spent as much time as they could hanging out and studying long into the night under the lights of the main plaza. A few months later Tita came to him trembling with news that would shatter his dreams: she was pregnant.

When they first came to El Alfarero their lives were brimming with anger and bitterness. Through counseling and discipleship they slowly unraveled the pain and resentment. They both came to know Jesus Christ and as they submitted to Him, their lives and young marriage began to improve. Denny says, “I came to know Christ through the work of El Alfarero.” Tita adds, “You could say that my life turned around 180 degrees.”

Each year hundreds of students like Denny and Tita walk through the doors of El Alfarero, Sucre, looking for hope, looking for help, looking for someone who cares. Now the vision and impact of El Alfarero will expand to Santa Cruz.

With over 80,000 students swarming the large public university and several smaller private ones, Santa Cruz is a strategic place to reach out. As in Sucre, many students come from the surrounding rural areas to live and study. Like Denny and Tita, they need somewhere to go, relax, talk, meet Jesus, find healing, and let Him turn their lives around.

El Alfarero, Santa Cruz, started as a dream that each day hundreds of students will walk through the door and find a café with nutritious and affordable food, volunteer opportunities where they can earn free food, a counseling center where services are offered free of charge, community, discipleship groups, a crisis pregnancy center and woman’s shelter, training courses, and evangelistic events all under one roof.

We are currently building El Alfarero, Santa Cruz just minutes from several of the largest universities. Each brick laid brings us closer to the day when this dream becomes a reality. However, for the next eight months, we need USD 70,000 each month to finish the construction. Please pray with us about how you can partner with what God is doing in Bolivia.

Visit El Alfarero Student Centre

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