LAMP-Miami » South America

Catching Up (1)

Jim Holway — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:28:16 +0000

A little over a year ago, a van carrying the Cochabamba, Bolivia youth group lost control and rolled down a steep embankment. Three girls from the group died and numerous others were injured. Last November, I was invited by one of the missionaries in Cochabamba, Josh Marcum, to be the speaker for a national family camp held in the mountains above Cochabamba. Josh and his wife Julie were co-workers with the Latino church plant in Memphis, and truly have hearts to serve Christ. While the physical injuries Josh and the others suffered were healing, the emotional and spiritual scars were slower to heal. The family camp was another step towards recovery.

Camp Kewina is located in Colomi, some 11,000 feet above sea level, with the same winding roads overlooking steep chasms with little protection as where the accident took place. Only a few of the kids on that fateful trip were able to summon the courage to make the trip back into the mountains.

The weekend was an amazing experience! I got cold at night, sunburned during the day, but had a wonderful time with fellow travelers on the path towards heaven. I met with church planters and members, church leaders and staff, and some veteran soldiers of the cross. My two regrets were that I couldn’t stay longer and that Kathryn was not with me.

Click to view slideshow.

Asunción, Paraguay

Jim Holway — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:53:58 +0000

Although we lived “next door” to Paraguay for all our years in Argentina, we only made it once to visit, and that was only to the border town of Puerto Strossner (now called Ciudad del Este). In Sept. I had the blessing of working a week in Asunción, the capital city. The church was celebrating her fourth anniversary, and I was able to preach and teach in numerous settings throughout the week. The mission team also had their fifth year anniversary while I was there, and we celebrated that joyous occasion in a Korean/Japanese/Chinese/Paraguayan restaurant. It was great!

Paraguay is one of two land-locked countries in South America, and is surrounded by Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina. It rarely appears on anyone’s list of “top ten tourist destinations.” But the people of Asunción are on my list of “best people in the world!” They are lively, energetic, and wonderfully warm and receiving. The missionaries have done a good job showing Asunción what the church should be: a healthy mix of gender, race, and socioeconomic groupings. I was blessed to be in the presence of this wonderful fellowship!

Missionaries Coming and Going

Jim Holway — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 03:53:18 +0000

Miami, “the Gateway to the Americas,” is the entry and exit point for many traveling to and from Latin America. This is especially true for missionaries, which gives us the wonderful opportunity to meet, visit with, and pray with missionaries. We had two such experiences last week.

Enoch Rinks and his fiance, Laura, were on their way back to Asunción, Paraguay where they work as missionaries. Their flight out of Miami got postponed for a few days, and they took advantage of the delay to visit friends and family in Miami. Enoch is from Tennessee and has been working in Asunción for five years, and Laura is Italian but moved to Paraguay with her family over 10 years ago. Their team is doing a great job maturing the congregation they started, and I am planning to visit their work in September.

Enoch and Laura will wed in August.

Josh and Julie Marcum and their three girls arrived in Miami from Cochabamba, Bolivia, where they have been working for 3 years. They had intended to enjoy a few days of rest before a very hectic two months of furlough travel, but their flight out of Bolivia was delayed and they spent two nights in Santa Cruz. We will see them again one their way back home in Bolivia.

Josh, Julie, Michaela & Eliana

This is the “before” furlough picture — I can’t wait for the “after!”