This month we are living in Uyuni, Bolivia working alongside a pastor and his church. We have quickly fallen in love with this quirky little town, the Hispanic culture, and the overwhelming amount of love from the locals, especially the most adorable abuelas (grandmas), who look as if they have fallen straight out of the pages of National Geographic in their traditional layered skirts and black top hats.
This weekend we have been given an amazing ministry opportunity that has quickly grown into quite an enormous event.
I’m cutting right to the chase.
If you feel led, I’m asking for your help. Here’s the situation:
Uyuni is a well-known tourist town in Bolivia. It’s location adjacent to the world-famous Salt Flats makes tourism its #1 industry. But there’s about 50,000 locals here, including thousands of teens. There are several Christian Churches in the town but many people remain uninvested. Traditional tribal witchcraft is still practiced in these areas of Bolivia and the Gospel still has so many people to reach!
Very, very few of the youth are involved in any kind of church and instead engage in more stereotypical South American small town teenage activities such as drinking and partying in all the local clubs built to entertain tourists.
We already have a schedule for the night in place. There will be music and food and all kinds of things to make it fun for teens, especially ones who have never stepped foot in church before. The pastor of the church, a phenomenal public speaker, has agreed to give the message, both eliminating any potential language gaps and providing a local liaison and someone invested in this community that the teens can come to long after our team leaves.
We we praying for tons of teens to come and hear the Gospel, many for the first time. There will most definitely be an opportunity to accept Christ if they choose, and they will all leave knowing about Jesus and who he is.
Just yesterday and today, we handed out over 1,000 invitations at local schools, along with gospel tracts that were so generously donated to our team! One school even let us in before the bell rang to enter individual classrooms and pass out invites. The principal, who Kayla met, didn’t even ask us any details about the event. He invited us straight in and gladly gave us free reign. We believe that was just one sign that this event is something God is preparing to work through. We have already had some incredible conversations with students and are planning to go to the final 3 high schools tomorrow afternoon to pass out invitations. It has been the coolest experience walking around this tiny town once school is out for the day and seeing every single young adult carrying the gospel in their own hands, or even huddled together on benches reading the pages with their friends.
Here’s the catch: reaction to our invitations was WAYY greater than we expected. While there’s no way to know for sure how many will come, many seemed more than thrilled at the idea of a teen event in small town Uyuni, where nothing like this has ever happened before. Based on the amount of parents we met who said they would send their kids, and the amount of kids we met who said were coming, we are prepping for a minimum of 500, and expecting AT LEAST 200.
The event is in 2 days, and we do not have funds for things like sodas and snacks and decorations and game supplies. We thought we were planning an event for 50 or so kids but the Pastor had bigger plans!! While obviously these are not life essentials, we’re asking for any donations you feel led to give so we can make this event as great as possible. Even if students leave not choosing to accept the message, we want them to know that God cares enough to pull out all the stops for the them.
Because we are so short on time and to make it simple, we are accepting donations through my teammate’s Venmo account @maryclairebrogden
We will be accepting donations until 12pm MST on Saturday, March 17th before we purchase final supplies. Visit https://venmo.com to get started and download the secure app if you do not already have it.
In the event of excess and unused funds, we will donate the remainder to the church’s building fund, as they are currently expanding.
If you have any questions I can answer, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected]
Please, please join me in prayer for these teens and for Saturday night. Even if you don’t feel led to support financially, I will not understate the importance of prayer. It is an equally important way to support, if not moreso.
Even if one student decides to accept Christ on Saturday night, it is all worth it.
I cannot wait to update you next week on the event !! Photos, stories and all, praying for big things in this small town!!!
Xoxo Morg
