December, 2008

I myself will search for my sheep and look after them and will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries. - Ez. 34: 11, 13

The trip to Molle Pampa is a six hour drive through the Andes Mountains on rugged roads. Upon arriving at Pampa Huasi we parked and unpacked the Land Cruiser, loaded three burros, put on our backpacks and headed up the mountain. It would be a 3 hour hike over a mountaintop and then down into the canyon, the last hour and a half in the dark with flashlights. What a marvelous sight – the milky white sky lit up by millions of stars! What an awesome Designer/Creator we have! Eighteen Quechua men and women came from villages from the surrounding mountains for three days of leadership training, the main focus on evangelism. They studied diligently and were able to put into practice what they had learned by the end of the third day. What a blessing it was to see them digging into their Bibles and formulating ways to put it into daily life. We came to help our national coworkers, pastor Basilio and his wife Nila. Susan and Nila taught the children, showed Christian videos and played games with the children who soaked up the attention that they received. Jamie helped with the Quechua leadership training and with the children’s songs. The last night we showed the Jesus film in Quechua. What a blessing to have electricity provided by the generator that was hauled on the backs of our valiant brothers in Christ.

The same month we traveled to the village of Yurac Cancha which lies in a lower desert area to help put on a youth and children’s camp. We had three flat tires on the way, five hours from the nearest town big enough to have a mechanic. Thank God for big hammers, a crowbar, patch materials and a church leader from Yawisla… all went well. It was about eleven o’clock at night when we had the first flat. After changing it, we heard a hiss and noticed that another tire was almost completely flat. We pumped up the tire to capacity and hightailed it an hours drive back to the village of Yawisla where we spent the night on the floor of the church. Thanks to the Land Cruiser that the Lord provided for us just before coming on this trip, we were able to take three seminary students, a pastor, and another national co-worker with us. God richly blessed the 75 youth and 70 children who came in the back of trucks or walked long distances to get to the camp. Pastor Freddy did a wonderful job teaching on how “world and culture” will dictate how we live if we are not biblically prepared to live God’s way. Jamie taught on evangelism and baptism. The youth were enlightened and many now have the desire and tools to stand strong. The children learned chronological Bible stories from flannel graph teaching, songs and videos.

God continues to bless the ministries of church planting, leadership development and discipling that He has graciously allowed us to be involved in. Three youth in the Llinfi church are ready to be baptized as well as Juan Pablo – an 18 year old that Jamie has been working with. Juan’s mother and niece have recently accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Praise God!

Thank you for your partnership, prayers and support! We appreciate and are grateful for you.

We both wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

 May God richly bless you and keep you,

Jamie and Susan Ramge                                                                                                                                                                 Serving among the Quechua in Bolivia

Isaiah 28:11 — With foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people . . .

When our team is not traveling to far reaching places in the Andes Mountains distributing radios, we work alongside the local church, with the seminary, with Quechua leaders and in our neighborhoods.

After an Evangecube campaign with a U.S. Evangecube Ministry team (evangelizing with the picture cube that shows the salvation message), we have been following up in the areas of Villa Alegría/Tokyo to disciple and teach. The majority of the people that come are children and teenagers who are eager to learn. We work with a Quechua pastor (Basilio Sanchez) and his family in this village. One of the pictures is of a little girl praying to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

The ministry in the village of Llinfi is with this same family.  Together we are trying to reestablish a fallen church that once had 60 baptized members.  Now there are 4 adults and about 30 children and teenagers.

In our home church, Buenas Nuevas (Good News), the Lord has allowed us to lead and train new leaders for a marriage class called “Matrimonio Para Toda La Vida”, (Marriage For a Lifetime: Biblical principles for a permanent marriage).  It is an international ministry designed to strengthen and heal marriages. The new leaders will lead the next group.  In May, we will lead another group and train new leaders in another church called “Nueva Vida” (New Life).

The neighborhood children are eager to come to our house for Bible lessons and also for help with their homework.

In His service,                                                                                                                                                                           Jamie&Susan

Prayer Requests

• For interpersonal relationships

• Discipling and mentoring

• That God will use the life-giving message of Mosoj Chaski to touch the lives of those who have received the short wave, solar paneled radios.

September, 2007

 Radio Distribution - One Form of Evangelism in an Oral Society

On May 27, a group of fifteen people from Canada led by Alex Muir (a leader in the PIONEERS organization) arrived to Sucre. The purpose of the trip was to bring 1000 shortwave, solar paneled radios to Bolivia to be distributed in various Quechua villages/areas. These radios, made by Galcom, are distributed all over the world and are pre-tuned to one radio station. Here in Bolivia, the radios are tuned to Radio Mosoj Chaski – our only Christian Quechua station. They broadcast for four hours in the early morning and four hours at night.

During this time, the Gospel is preached, Bible studies are taught, music is sung and news is broadcast. Because these radios are shortwave, the broadcast can be received in the entire country of Bolivia, throughout the Andes Mountains.

Our target area for this trip was the area of Tinquipaya and Alcarapi. The area of Tinquipaya is what we would call a “white area” – an area where there are no, or in this case, now six Christians. The people are steeped in an ancient traditional animistic belief system in which the Pachamama, the “Mother” of the earth, is one of the main “gods” worshiped and feared. There are many “gods” in an animistic belief system, gods of the sun, moon and other inanimate objects. These “gods” must be appeased and sacrifices made to them. Teodoro Mamani is one of the only Bolivian Quechua missionaries that we know and he has been living and working in the Tinquipaya area for three years – the fruit of his labor, six Christians. It is a difficult area and one that seems closed to the Gospel. There is some resistance to him being there.

The normal agenda for these radio distribution trips is to drive many hours, sometimes between 7-10 hours on dirt and rocky roads through the Andes Mountains. We cross rivers and at times drive down dry river beds to arrive to secluded villages. We arrive and setup camp, sometimes sleeping in tents and other times on the floor of a school or the floor of an adobe house/hut that someone has allowed us to use. (We normally go to at least 3 or 4 different villages/areas) A generator is used for electricity and lighting during our meetings. People come from long distances by foot to receive these radios, sometimes a two-day walk. We have a time of sharing God’s Word and a time of local music amplified and run through the speakers and equipment that our team takes with us. Some of our co-workers speak and read Quechua well and are able to share God’s love and message in their native tongue. Months before our team’s arrival, lists are made by local Christian workers/pastors who know the areas. Without a list of recipients it would be total chaos, as everyone wants to receive a radio. There are rules such as only one radio for each family.

Now that you have a little background, we can give you some explanation of some of the pictures in the newsletter. When the radios arrive, they are not fully assembled so they need to have the solar panels, plugs and chargeable batteries put on/in. Stickers on how to care for and charge the radios are also applied. Pamphlets, with pictures and text, are given with each radio so that all can care for and charge the radios.  These areas are usually very poor and isolated so people are excited about receiving a radio, even though most are not Christians. (Pictures – people holding radios)

Soup is normally prepared for everyone (pictures). A goat or sheep is slaughtered to make a meat and broth base. It takes most of the morning each day to peel all the potatoes and cut up the vegetables for the soup.  For the first time, a group of 19 people from a church in Potosi came with us to be part of the radio distribution evangelism.  A common form of travel is to ride in the back of a big truck. The people sometimes travel for days like this – standing or sitting on top of the products they are taking to market.

The older couple kneeling with missionary Teodoro Mamani, heard the Gospel message… the Good News of Jesus Christ (His death on the cross for our sins and His resurrection from the dead)… and were saved. God’s plan of salvation is for all who accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. After repenting from their sin and accepting Christ as their Savior, the couple gathered up all of their idols and sacrificial items and potions that they had in their house. They put them in a pile outside to be destroyed and burned – putting that part of their life behind. This is a major step and commitment. God will honor and bless them as they are now part of His family.  A very necessary step in the conversion of a new believer is to follow up and disciple them – study the Bible with them so that they fully understand what God’s Word says. Two follow up trips have been made and Teodoro continues to live and work in this area.

We are very grateful for everyone who is praying and giving financially to this ministry. Thank you for being part of our team!  In closing, we would like to encourage each one of you to apply the Scripture passage enclosed in the newsletter. If we are Christians, we are members of God’s family and as such we need to be reading God’s Word, the Bible, and be putting it into practice in our daily lives.

 May God richly bless you and keep you,

Jamie and Susan Ramge                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Serving among the Quechua in Bolivia

Newsletter Insert  April 2007 

The rainy season (Dec.-March) is not a good time to travel through the Andes Mountains as the roads are dirt and the rivers in which we need to pass and sometimes travel in, are full.  Nevertheless, the end of February we had business to take care of in some of the Quechua villages so away we went.  My friend and co-worker Greg, who speaks Quechua, drove this time.  Along with us was Jorge, a Bolivian Quechua doctor/pastor.  The first day of driving was slippery and slow going.  Getting dark and still raining, we arrived at the pueblo (village) of Belen Urmiri.  We stopped in the middle of a mini-lake that used to be the road in front of the church, got out and spent the night in a room next to the church.  The next day we talked with the church leaders (pastors are almost unheard of in the secluded villages due to lack of training and money to pay them).  By mid-afternoon we headed out for the next village.  The rain had stopped and travel was a bit better. When we were within a mile of the village of Vacuyo, our travels came to a halt.  There was a boulder the size of a car in the middle of the road.  The rain had caused a small avalanche.  Well, you guessed it…it was on foot from here.  Coming down from the mountain into the valley where the village was, it looked like a disaster area.  To give you a picture, this village lies along a small river with their adobe houses along both sides.  There is just room enough for a few very small plots of land for their crops with the mountains shooting up on both sides.  The river had flooded and the crops had been under water.  Farther up the ravine trees were broken down and fish and boulders filled the now receded banks of the riverbed.  Some of the houses had a few feet of water and mud in them.  Once in the center of the village we stopped to talk with the leaders of the church, but they were not there.  The dirigentes – political leaders of the village, invited us into their office to have lunch.  We later walked over to the church and went inside.  You could see that the water had been about two feet high but now was just mud.  We tried to encourage them and had a time of prayer and discussion.  Then it was off to Puituco the third of five villages we were to visit.  The rains began again so travel was slow.  About eleven o’clock Greg slowed down to drive through what seemed like just a little gully where water was running down the mountain to the river.  We all thought that it was passable but to our surprise the right front end of the 4 x 4 dropped into the mud clay mix up to the headlights.  We tried for about an hour to dig out without success.  You guessed it…once again, in the dark and rain; we walked until we got to the village.  The doctor for this area invited us to stay at the clinic where he was working.  (There is an agency called Mano a Mano – hand in hand, that has helped build clinics in some of the larger secluded villages here in Bolivia).  We stayed up, drank herbal tea and talked with the doctor and had a chance to share the gospel with him.  What a blessing this was to sleep in a bed that night as there were no patients.  The next morning a group of Christian men walked back to the car with us to help us try to get out.  We dug and pushed and did everything we could think of, but to no avail.  Finally one of the men walked back to his house and brought us a wood post.  Using the post to lift and the rest of the men to push, we finally got unstuck.  Greg gave the men a donation for helping us to go towards fixing this rut before someone else met the same fate.  After a time of prayer we set out for the next village of Kilpani.  A couple hours later we made the decision to cancel/reschedule the rest of this trip for a month or two until the rains stopped.  There are many villages that are cut off from any kind of travel or contact from the cities for 3-4 months of the year due to high rivers.  Three of the 9 states here are flooded and declared a national disaster.  They have been under water for two months and the rains continue.  Disease is spreading.  I would like to close by asking you to pray for Bolivia. 

                                                                                                                        God bless you,

                                                                                                                                Jamie

Our first home assignment! We just completed our first “term” in Bolivia, 2 ½ years and will be in the USA for a little over 5 months, visiting family, friends, and churches. We went to Bolivia in 2004 not knowing what to expect, and returned with Spanish on our tongues and many new friends in our hearts! The April-July trimester at Seminario Teológico Del Sur was a fulfilling one. Jamie taught I and II Corinthians to 3rd year students. Much growth was seen as God is preparing these future kingdom leaders/workers. Susan continued to work with the female students and wives of the male students. We regularly visit Quechua villages with the Seminary’s leadership development team and assist in any way we can. In Belen Urmiri, the seminary team conducted workshops with church leaders while a medical team treated all those coming in from the surrounding countryside. Upon moving to Sucre over a year ago, we immediately befriended dozens of neighborhood kids, always at our door wanting to play, do homework or Bible studies, receive first aid, or just chat. Only in the last several months did we begin several home Bible studies with adults. With the help of the “Evangecube” and a presentation from our visiting Bolivian pastor friend Enzo, several of our neighbors made the step to accept and follow Christ. On separate occasions, our favorite taxi driver and the owners of the house we are renting also took this step. We are overjoyed and can’t wait to resume our Bible studies when we return to Sucre the end of December. Many thanks to our friends and co-workers in Bolivia who are meeting with these precious new Christians to continue the Bible studies in our absence! In May, Jenna graduated from Colorado University with a double major – Psychology and Math. She took a teaching job at a high school for this year while deciding where she wants to continue with graduate school. We returned to the U.S. July 15th and started off with visiting Jamie’s family and an Emmaus Walk – a 3 day spiritual retreat in Ohio, followed a presentation at one of our supporting churches there. Then it was on to Colorado, sharing/presenting at various churches, Sunday school classes and small groups, catching up with friends, and visiting Susan’s family in New Mexico. A short trip to California to visit Susan’s brother at Yosemite National Park was refreshing, viewing God’s awesome creation. Later, we enjoyed the season’s first snowfall in the Rockies. We are now settled into class in Denver Seminary and are taking advantage of whatever opportunities we can find to prepare ourselves for our return to Bolivia. In His service,

Jamie & Susan Ramge

Casilla 503 • Sucre, Bolivia S.A.

(Susan) srquechua@msn.com • (Jamie) jrquechua@msn.com

Cell phone #’s Jamie 011591-77118568

Susan 011591-77118309

 

Prayer Requests

• For God to continue working in the hearts of the Quechua people and drawing them to Himself.

• For Jamie’s knee surgeries to be successful.

• That our precious visits with family and friends be mutually encouraging.

• God’s priorities and time management upon our reentry to Bolivia.

 

We are well into the new trimester at Seminario Teológico Del Sur. Jamie is teaching “The Spiritual Life” to first year students, a class to help them develop a quiet time with God. It also focuses on the importance of reading the Bible and scripture memorization. Susan continues to co-lead the women's devotional time and is also teaching English. We are both available for spiritual counseling for

the students.

 

We have a neighborhood outreach which consists of a well-attended monthly movie night in the empty lot near our house. At times up to 60 people come to watch the Biblical films. They are mostly kids and probably few if any of them are Christians. On Sundays, we take a group of kids to church (sometimes as many as 15 kids in our 5-person jeep) and on Saturdays, Susan walks with a stream of followers to a neighborhood “hora feliz” (children's Bible

lesson time.)

 

 

In September a team from Canada and the U.S. came with 1000 solar paneled short-wave radios permanently tuned to the Bolivian Quechua Christian radio station Mosoj Chaski to distribute in the rugged countryside of the Andes Mountains. Five of the members were from our supporting churches in Colorado. The men traveled 10 tough, rugged days through mountains and down riverbeds to the

destination of many Quechua villages. They were greeted warmly in each place by cheerful, colorfully dressed

villagers playing their traditional musical instruments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The youth camp (singles ages 14-27) at Tusquiña over Christmas went well.  Jaime taught two seminars and we showed movies each night using our generator and other equipment. The Quechua do not do anything special for Christmas because it is not part of the Andean culture. Fifteen minutes before the service was to begin, Christmas night, the leaders of the church informed Jamie that he was to give the message/sermon that night. Nothing       like having a little prep time! The Bible says we are to be ready, in season and out of season!

 

We continue to travel each month with the Quechua Leadership Development Team, keeping the vision for the future to teach in their native tongue. Now when we teach or preach in Spanish our teammates need to translate for us to Quechua. We plan to start Quechua language training January of 2007.

 

We will be coming back to the U.S. from August until January for furlough/home assignment. We have much travel planned to visit supporting churches and family. We will also be taking classes at Denver Seminary Sept - Dec.

 

We would love to share our ministry with your church, or bible study  group but please let us know soon as our

schedule is filling

up fast.

 

*If anyone has a reliable vehicle they would want to let us use for a period of time, please let us know. We are looking forward to our first return visit to the United States!

 

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “And my servant whom I have chosen,

so that you may know and believe me

and understand that I am He.

Before me no god was formed,

nor will there be one after Me.

I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no Savior.”

Isaiah 43:10-11

 

PRAYER REQUESTS

 

• Preparation for furlough/home assignment.

 

• For God to continue working in the hearts of the Quechua people and drawing them to Himself.

 

• For clear direction - the needs are overwhelming.

 

Donations may be sent to: PIONEERS (address on inside) Our account # is 010740.

If you are not on our e-mail update list and would like to be, (or would like to be removed)

please send your e-mail address to jrquechua@msn.com

 

Thank you

for being part of our team

in prayers

and financial support.

November ‘05

Bolivia Brief

•Ministry to the Quechua in Bolivia•

 

Life in Sucre, Bolivia -

 

We are settled now in Sucre, and it seems as if we have been here much longer than just a few months! Soon, we will receive our first “team visit” from home, and we are really looking forward to it.  The political situation has quieted down, and we are looking forward to the start of springtime and the end of our windy season, so everything is looking positive for a good trip.

 

Jamie is teaching on the books of 1-2-3 Juan (John), 1-2 Pedro (Peter), Santiago (James) and Judas (Jude) at Instituto Biblico San Juanillo, a seminary which focuses on raising Quechua church leaders.  The students come in from their mountainside villages and live at the institute for the 3 years of study to become pastors and leaders.  Unfortunately some stay in the city and do not return to their villages.  Since there is a real shortage of Quechua instructors (and materials) the seminary still teaches many classes in Spanish instead of their first/heart language.

 

Jamie is moving forward with his Spanish, and for most of his Quechua students, Spanish is their second language as well.  Many students also struggle with their reading and studying skills in addition to the Bible material presented.  Counseling and discipling students one-on-one is another area in which we enjoy serving.  It is our hope that in the next few years, we can learn to speak and teach in the Quechua language, which is what is so desperately needed in order for the millions of monolingual Quechua people to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

 

Susan is co-leading a women's class on “La Mujer Segun Tito 2” which is based on a Bible study of the same name (The Woman According to Titus 2.)  After the study, we knit, crochet, and chat.  The language is still quite a challenge, especially when discussing difficult personal issues.  Due to popular demand, Susan is also teaching an English class which began with one student's request for tutoring, but has grown to a classroom full of students!

 

 

God's ways are sometimes so comical!  Susan had to come all the way to Bolivia and learn to speak Spanish before she could take a formal class about teaching the gospel to kids!  The class is called Libopen and she is taking level 1 while auditing level 2 (there are timing and prerequisite issues to taking both simultaneously.)  The classes are excellent!  One of Susan's immediate challenges on coming to Bolivia was being thrown into a big group of kids of various ages and being asked to “teach” without a classroom environment, materials of any type, songs, or even ideas for games, or the language.  So this will be a big a help!

 

We have already joined in with the Quechua leadership here and regularly go on long, grueling trips to the mountainside villages to teach and lift up leaders.  There are rarely any pastors in these villages so helping the elders to become effective preachers of the Word is crucial.  Many do not even have Bibles so we try to help in this area as well.  Enclosed are some pictures - (notice that the dress in this part of the country is much different than the pictures we have sent in the past from the Cochabamba area.)

 

You may not be able to see it in the photo, but in the background of the photo of the weaving is Susan's worst nightmare!  A mountain of marble-sized potatoes, just waiting to be peeled!

 

Greetings and blessings to all,

 

Thank you for being part of our team in prayers and financial support.

 

“I will praise you, O Lord,  among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.

For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.”

 

Psalm 180 : 3 -5

 

PRAYER REQUESTS:

•For God to continue working in the hearts of the Quechua people

   drawing them to Himself

•For our marriage to strengthen through the many trials here

•For Jenna's last semester at Colorado University and her spiritual life

•For our language skills

 

Donations may be sent to: PIONEERS (address on inside) Our account # is 010740.

If you are not on our e-mail update list and would like to be, (or would like to be removed)

please send your e-mail address to jrquechua@msn.com