Syndication

Here's a tip that will save you some time . . .guaranteed. Most of you that blog or read blogs may be oblivious to this concept of syndication (or RSS) and for awhile I was too. . .until now. As it turns out, there are things called "feeds" that you can subscribe too from all over the internet. If you go to a website and see this icon:

This icon means this page has a feed. It is generally at the end of the http://www.address.com line and if you click on it you can subscribe to it. When you subscribe, you can use your RSS reader (RSS is the most common syndication format) to check if the page has a new post. The cool thing is that you can load a bunch of pages in your RSS reader and it will check all of them at once and tell you if they have new posts. Most of you that have blogs on Blogger already have RSS setup, but I bet you don't know how to use it. If you want to get an RSS reader, a really good one for Mozilla Firefox is called Sage (go to Tools-> Add-ons and then search for it on the Firefox homepage. This is really good for staying on top of blog updates without having to go to each one regularly.

For those of you with Microsoft Internet Explorer, I believe as of IE 7.0 it already accepts feeds, you just click on the feed button (with the icon above) and it will save it in your feeds list with your favorites (you should really use Firefox though, it's a much better browser and absolutely free).

I'm such a nerd.

Renewed Vision

After a few frustrating weeks of support raising, this weekend I got the cure I needed: The Men's Retreat. It was a great weekend up in Estes Park and it was good recharge from the spiritual exhaustion I realized I had. I also have to thank one of my Bible study friends who pointed this out to me and I feel more excited again about raising support.

I also wanted to let you all know about a new blog I have started for prayer requests, located at: http://jimmyprayer.blogspot.com

Where He Wants Me

Over the weekend I've been doing some more thinking. I'm still committed to going to Bolivia and serving at La Palmera for a two year term, but it's got me to thinking, "Where is the best place for my skill set?" Certainly at I-Teams training I was given some affirmation about my passion for Hispanics, for computers, for education and for missions. But it got me to thinking, "is being a missionary the most effective use of my skills?" For quite some time, I've realized the shortage of computer people in the church/missions realm, and it's not surprising really. Many computer people are non-Christians and like to pursue an affluent lifestyle working for a reputable company. Some Christians do that too and give their time and money to Christian causes generously and certainly that has its place too. But neither of those really appeal to me.

I believe every Christian should focus on "missions" first and foremost. It is the most important thing we can engage in next to growing our own faith. It's what we're called to do and in all areas of the world. It is because of this I want to devote my life to missions. But would I best be used as a missionary in the field, supporting a single project, or at an administrative level supporting multiple projects? Where can I do the greatest good? These are things I'm pondering and may not be able to answer for some time. Some people clearly have a gift for relating to people and working with people. Others have specific talents that are better used in a non relational environment such as computers, music, administrative, etc. And some people like me try to walk the line between the two refusing to let go of one completely for the other. Is that Godly, or should I be focusing on my "best" skills for the benefit of everyone? If that's the case, I think I'm much better at understanding computers than people. The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful knowledge of the realm of computing and I feel it is my responsibility to share that with the world either through beneficial projects or teaching. This fundamental question I think is the key to me understanding my place in this world and where I truly belong. I'm going to be pondering and praying over this during my time in Bolivia.

Over the line

Last night I had a rather interesting emotional moment. I have been quite frustrated the last couple weeks with my support raising both in getting a hold of people to schedule appointments, but also to follow-up. It made me realize how much pressure I am putting on getting myself out the door by Feb. 21 rather than submitting to God's timing. I was panicking about school starting and me needing to be there, getting there before the new Bolivian visa law becomes active, moving out so my roommate can have his place back to himself and other silly things. I think it was my growing anxiety catching up with me. Fortunately our God is so humbling and He made me realize it doesn't matter when I leave. It really threw me for a loop and I just spent some time in prayer and listening to worship music for about an hour which really calmed me down. I realized this process is hard for me because I have a hard time being vulnerable, so I just need to take baby steps rather than get ahead of myself. I got a great night of sleep and today, I'm happy to report I am much more at peace about everything and have decided to refocus on taking things one week and one day at a time. Whether I get to Bolivia Feb 21, March 6 or some other time I have truly realized it just doesn't matter.

Bolivia is also under some intense spiritual oppression right now with the political changes and everything. My missionary friends in Cochabamba had a rough week last week and you could tell they just were getting so discouraged by everything related to the protests there. I wouldn't be surprised if my difficulties were related to that (after all what happens here on earth is not invisible to the spiritual realm). Please pray for us, as well as for my friends Lucho and Lorna who are returning to Trinidad early next week that they could have safe travels. Pray as well for a strong divine intervention to help Bolivia move forward, I sense a fatigue on all sides of leadership and it's never a good idea to make big decisions in times of weariness.

The Mess in Cochabamba

I've had several people ask me about what's going on in Cochabamba, Bolivia with all the protesting. I thought I'd post this entry to explain the situation as best I understand it to be from reading several news sources.

The Background
As I have eluded to at several times in the last several months, Bolivia is in the process of writing a new constitution. Back in July when the delegates to the Constitutional Assembly (CA) were elected, a national referendum took place in each province to decide whether that province would be given autonomy from the rest of the nation (Bolivia's definition of autonomy is to be decided in the new constitution). At that time, four provinces - Pando, Beni, Santa Cruz and Tarija voted "yes" and five provinces - La Paz, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Oruro and Potosi voted "no".

Now, Cochabamba is a pretty evenly divided "swing province" if you will. It is a mix of indigenous people and rich mestizo businessmen. It is also generally seen as the geographical dividing point between the indigenous peoples of the mountains and the richer mestizos that live in the eastern areas, mainly Santa Cruz. Outside of Cochabamba is a jungle region known as the "Chapare" where Evo Morales, Bolivia's President, is from. It is made up of lots of coca farmers and other agricultural workers. The Chapare is part of the Cochabamba province.

The Issue
The problem arose when Cochabamba's Governor, Manfred Reyes-Villa (MRV), who is part of the opposition to Evo Morales, was attempting to put the autonomy issue back on the ballot for Cochabamba. Apparently he felt there were some voter discrepancies back in July or that voters minds had changed and he wanted to give them the opportunity to have a recall vote. Well, in Bolivia basically autonomy or no autonomy is synonymously seen as anti-Evo or pro-Evo. It's a sensitive subject, much like the Iraq war in the US because Evo is such a controversial leader.

Early last week, many of the folks in the Chapare, basically decided they were fed up with Manfred and marched into Cochabamba to protest. They took over the main plaza in Cochabamba where the government offices are and demanded Manfred resign for his actions. Additonally some people blockaded the main road between Santa Cruz and Cochabamba (a popular protesting tactic). On Thursday, a group of Manfred backers appeared and approached the plaza to protect Manfred. Incidentally, Manfred was not in Cochabamba, he fled to La Paz where he met with other opposition leaders from the eastern provinces. Somehow an instance of violence broke out and a couple people died and about thirty others were injured. The police ordered tear gas to be launched on the crowd to force them to disperse. This worked to clear things out for a bit, but later the Manfred protesters returned Friday. Rumors were flying left and right of more Manfred protesters coming from Potosi and pro-Manfred supporters flying in from Santa Cruz. It looked like it could well be the beginning in a much larger conflict, but thankfully none of this happened.

As all this is happening, Evo isn't even in Bolivia to take action. He was in Nicaragua for the inauguration of Nicaragua's new President, Daniel Ortega. Evo rushed back and gave a television address on Friday night basically slapping both sides on the wrist. He told the protesters to respect the offices of government and go home and told Manfred he should obey the wishes of the people and respect their "no" vote on autonomy. Manfred in the midst of this finds out the recall vote he is pursuing isn't even legal, so he announces that he wishes to respect democracy and gracefully drops his pursuit of this. At this point, Evo and the Church both stepped in and offered to mediate between the two sides. Things got better, some of the angry protesters left, the blockades were lifted and some normalcy was restored. But then the next day, the mob returned and decided they had come to Cochabamba to oust Manfred and weren't leaving until he resigned. So, they have been there for the past few days and still are there. Manfred has stayed in Santa Cruz for his safety, but has agreed to talk with the protesters.

And that's where we are today . . .this is definitely a local conflict confined to the people of Cochabamba and the Chapare, but it shows just how tense things are in Bolivia. Just a month or so ago, I wrote on this blog about the controversy over the 2/3 majority law for the Constitutional Assembly. Those people are meeting in Sucre this week after a holiday break and are trying to work out some sort of deal to keep the Assembly moving forward.

So there is a lot happening in Bolivia. Pray for wisdom and humility amongst the leaders of the country as they work out all of these differences. Pray for them to not be so stubborn, but to see both sides of the argument and work out something everyone can live with. The key word is COMPROMISE. Up to this point violence has been at a minimum, let's hope it stays that way!

God at work

So I have to share with you all something very cool that just happened to me. At my Bible study just before the holidays, a guy in the study asked our leader if he could talk about something, but he mentioned "kicking me out of the room" for a couple minutes. Of course I was a good sport and said, "ok". I was very suspicious of what was going on, but tried so hard to forget about it and I did. Well, I had Bible study again tonight and the guy who had asked me to leave the room was sharing in front of the group and told me that he had taken up a collection of money for my mission work, they had been praying, and handed me a check for $1500 on behalf of everyone!! This comes in the midst of a fairly frustrating week of calling a bunch of people related to support and leaving messages with most of them on two different nights. This will certainly lift my spirits a bit! I think it's God's way of telling me to "hang in there, your support is coming". So for my fellow trainees that are still raising support, keep the faith, I'm sure your money is on the way too.

Visas for Bolivia Travel

The newest preoccupation in my life is a new law that was passed last week by the Bolivian Government that will require all US Citizens traveling to Bolivia to obtain a tourist visa prior to entering the country. But, I held off on reporting this development because it appears that this measure will not take effect until March sometime at the earliest, so if I leave on my current scheduled departure date (Feb. 21) I will just sneak in and avoid having to comply with it.

In the last post I shared my broad goals for the year, but here are some of the things I am specifically looking forward to in 2007:

• Not moving three times in one year
• Being visited this summer by my parents and sharing with them the project that has been my passion for the last 3 1/2 years!
  
• Argentina!! That's right, I'm tentatively planning a trip in December/Jan '08 to Argentina while the school is closed down for the summer. The itinerary is still up in the air, but I am looking at visiting Mendoza, Bariloche and possibly Tierra del Fuego. If anyone wants to come along, I'd love some company! Hiking, sightseeing, relaxing and indulging on lots of cheap high quality steak will be the main events
  
• Moto rides around Trinidad
• Empanadas, Cuñapes, fresh fruit juice and lots of beef
• Learning guitar! (surprised some of you with this one!)
• Exploring more of Bolivia including hopefully Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt desert in the world!
  
• Fellowship with the students/staff at La Palmera

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!
As this 2007 year commences, I am certainly at a crossroads of life. 2006 was a very up and down year and I hope that 2007 proves to be a bit less emotional. I typically don't do New Year's resolutions, but I thought it would be good to set a few goals for the year to shoot for.

• Finish support raising by ~Jan. 31
• Read more of the Old Testament (I have only read Genesis, Exodus and a little bit of Isaiah and Psalms)
• Apply what I've learned about myself to benefit everyone
• Open my heart/mind to God's will for my life - both to the possibility of staying on the field for a long time, or returning to the US to do God's work here.
  
• Be a more "agape" loving Christian even when circumstances are hard
  
• Set an example for others of what it means to live for Christ, love others and admit to sins/weaknesses