February 2012

To all of our supporters and loved ones we send our warmest greetings and love.  We hope the new year so far has been full of blessings.  We know that the Lord has certainly been good to us during the first few weeks of this year and we would like to share with you what is happening in Cochabamba. 

To begin, we as a family are doing very well thankfully.  Jubilee and Malakai started school on February 6th after a twelve week summer break.  Jubilee is now in second grade and has a new teacher and a new classroom but many of her friends from last year have returned.  She is staying busy with regular classes and then gym class and music class in the afternoons.  Jubilee is also taking guitar classes along with Katie three days a week.  We are so happy with her school and teacher, just yesterday Jubilee told me that they were pretending to be Israelites coming out of Egypt with Moses during recess.  Those kinds of things make us feel very blessed. 

Malakai is doing well also.  He started pre-k this year and we are also very thankful for his teacher.  She is a woman who has expressed to us her priority is to teach the children about God and His love for the children first before academics and we could not think of a better teaching philosophy.  Mali was a little reluctant to stay at school the first few days, but now that he knows Jubilee literally watches him from her second story classroom as he plays we all feel better.  Leilani of course still stays with us at home and on January 20th she celebrated her first birthday.  We celebrated with cake and invited Gabriela, and Gabriel along with some other neighbors to share the special ocassion with us.  Leilani has begun to crawl and is already pulling up on furniture so we suspect she will be walking within the next month or so. 

Please continue to pray for the spiritual, emotional and physical health of our three beautiful children.  We know you pray for them and we see God hearing and answering!

Katie increasingly stays busy caring for three little ones but she still finds time for ministry as well.  One new thing to report is that on most days at lunch time Katie meets with two ladies from the congregation, Giovana and Ligia, to pray and visit with them.  This has been happening for about two weeks now and seems to really be helping all three ladies to grow closer to each other and closer to God.  Katie also continues to meet with the teenage girls of the congregation on Saturday afternoons.  Recently, this group was able to really reach out and minister to a young sister from the church in Sucre who was in Cochabamba for heart surgery.  Katie and the girls were able to visit Janette the girl who was operated on several times in the hospital and encourage her during her stay in Cochabamba.  Katie has also been teaching the intermediate Bible class in my place while Butch and Trish have been gone so that I can be with the adult Bible class.  The students and Katie as well have really enjoyed her teaching and I am very thankful for her help. 

Please continue to pray for Katie, specifically that God would give her the energy she needs to take care of a family and minister to others and the focus she needs to not sweat the small stuff.

I recently, have also been involved in various ministry activities.  With Butch and Trish gone, I have been in charge of teaching the Wednesday night Bible study on Acts.  I have enjoyed teaching this class and really challenging the participants to make applications between what we are reading and our own lives.  One particular application that I enjoyed teaching came from Acts 9 where Barnabus encourages the disciples in Jerusalem to embrace the newly coverted Saul as a brother in Christ.  It was hopefully a powerful lesson to new Christians about forgiveness and reaching out to other brothers and sisters.  Last night we moved on to Acts 10 and began reading about Peter’s interactions with Cornelius and we were challenged to consider how God may be asking us to put ourselves in uncomfortable situations as he asked of Peter. 

Aside from teaching and preaching, I have been trying to be better about visiting brethren in their homes during the week.  In fact, I had even prayed for God to help me recognize ministry opportunities.  Just a word to the wise, be careful if you say that prayer!  God did indeed present us with many ministry opportunities.  One of those ministry opportunities came in the form of Janette and her mother Felicia visiting from Sucre for Janette’s heart surgery.  Janette’s mother is not a Christian yet and had never visited the church in Sucre.  However, she was so grateful to the church family here and in Sucre for reaching out to them that she did decide to worship with us this past Sunday while Janette was still in the hospital.  We invite you to pray with us for the physical recovery of Janette and for her mother Felicia that hopefully her desire to know the Lord would grow.  We are also so thankful for the work of the mission team in Sucre and for the way the teach us to love the people we work with. 

In January I was also very blessed to travel to Santa Cruz and spend a few short days with the brethren from the El Pari and Hamacas congregations.  I had been invited by Roberto and Elvira Lopez to perform part of the wedding ceremony for their son Edmundo and his bride Daniela.  It was the first wedding I have ever done so I was pretty nervous but thankfully this family was very sweet and kind and it was a great honor to be included in such a special day.  Following the wedding on Saturday afternoon, I was invited to stay and preach the next day at El Pari.  After preaching and worshiping with those at El Pari, brother Fernando and his family drove me about two hours outside of the city to the small town of Samaipata where I spent a night before heading back to Cochabamba. 

A few weeks after my visit to Santa Cruz, we had an opportunity to return the favor of hospitality when a group of young people from the El Pari church stopped in Cochabamba on the way to La Paz to help with a campaign.  The youth group stopped in Cochabamba again on their way back to Santa Cruz.  It is very encouraging to see the churches across Bolivia work together to bring the message of Christ to those who have not yet heard it.  Please join with us in a prayer of thanksgiving for the congregations in La Paz, Sucre and Santa Cruz, thanking God for their examples of service and dedication to the Lord. 

In other news, we are extremely grateful to report that yesterday our teammates Butch and Trish Sandoval returned from visiting family and brethren in Argentina and Chile.  Butch had been invited by Jonathan Hannegan a missionary friend who works in Buenos Aires to speak at a youth camp outside the city of Cordoba, Argentina.  Camila, one of the young ladies from the church here in Cochabamba accompanied Butch and Trish to this camp.  By all reports, the camp was a really encouraging time and we pray that this special event may continue throughout the years to come.  We invite you to give thanks to God for the blessing it is to have a spiritual family spread throughout the entire continent and globe.  It is so encouraging to see brethren and congregations work together. 

Last but not least you may be wondering about the permanent building.  Everything is going well.  The building is officially in our name and now we are just waiting until April 15th which is the date the current renters have been given to find a new location.  Please continue to give thanks to God for this incredible blessing.  We also ask that you would pray for the next two months as we pack up and transition to the new location.  Most of all we invite you to pray with us that this move and this new location would allow us to glorify God and encourage many people. 

That is all for now.  Please continue to lift our family and this work up in prayer. 

Love,

La Familia Forbess

December Updates

Supporters, Friends & Family:

To begin, Katie, the children, and I would like to wish all of you a very happy Christmas and a blessed start to the New Year.  We are all fortunate to live in the constant outpouring of God´s grace and mercy and it is indeed a joyful time of year when so many are stopping to remember the gift of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.  To Him be all glory, honor and praise! 

Since the time of our last update there have been many activities and important events.  Please read below about our new additions to the church family, new teammates, the way God is working in our search for a permanent building and a recent Christmas celebration held for the children of the congregation.

For starters, our most exciting news is that we are rejoicing with the angels in Heaven for the entry of two new souls into the Kingdom.  Don Hugo is an older gentleman who was baptized into Christ three weeks ago.  He has been coming to church very faithfully for about 5 months or perhaps longer.  He came to know us through providence I believe.  One day he stopped by the Contact Center just out of curiousity and then began attending classes taught by Butch and attending worship service and other activities shortly after.  Don Hugo is a kind and gentle man who has shown a great deal of interest in God´s Word and in God´s will for his life.  Please pray for Hugo that he may continue to grow in the Lord and that he will remain steadfast throughout the rest of his life. 

In addition to Don Hugo, we also celebrate with a woman named Maria.  She has been coming to worship on and off for probably around 2 years at least, maybe longer.  It is sometimes hard to recall exactly when people first started coming.  At any rate, Maria has struggled somewhat to make her relationship with God her first priority, but God has done a great job of working in her heart to draw her closer to Him.  On Wednesday evening, she made the decision to be baptized into Christ right before our weekly Bible study on Acts began.  We ask you to also join us in prayer on behalf of Maria that God would continue to work in her life to draw her ever closer to Him and to use her as an instrument of service in the Kingdom. 

In other news, we recently received Eric Morales and his wife Cecilia and adorable 4 year old daughter.  Eric is originally from Chile and has known our teammates Butch and Trish since he became a Christian while worshipping with the congregation in Viña del Mar.  As a single man Eric moved from Chile to Ecuador to attend the preaching school located in Quito.  In Quito Eric also met his wife, a native of Ecuador, Cecilia.  Eric and Cecilia were able to make a visit to Cochabamba for about 10 days.  During that time they were able to spend quality time with both the Sandovals and us as well.  They also were able to visit with several different families and individuals who are members of the congregation.  Eric and Cecilia also took advantage of their time to tag along with Butch, Trish, Katie and I throughout the week to catch a glimpse of what life in Cochabamba is like and to get a feel for the ministry here.  At the end of their time here they were very upbeat and encouraged about the possibility of them joining our team at some point in the future.  We thank you for all of your prayers concerning the search for new teammates and we ask that you would continue to pray for Eric and Cecilia and their daughter as well as for the missions committee of Austin Avenue and our congregation here in Cochabamba concerning such an important transition.

Lastly, we are overjoyed to report that we are very close to signing a contract on a permanent building for the congregation.  Butch, Renan and Johnny along with some other men have worked extremely hard during the last year or so looking for a property that meets both our budget and our desire for a centrally located building.  After first receiving news that the price on this particular property had been raised to the tune of $40,000 USD in October.  The men went back to the owner just recently to give a counter offer which the owner considered and brought to his family for consideration.  To make a long story short, the final contract has been drawn up and is scheduled to be signed on Tuesday.  I am sure that many of you would like more details on the cost, location and the type of building the property is and as soon as those papers are signed we will put out another update with better details.  For now, please pray that the final details are carried out with no complications and that sometime in the near future our church family will begin meeting in this permanent location.  We are so thankful to God for the amazing way He has blessed us throughout this search and we are also so thankful for the generosity of many brethren throughout the world. 

One more thing to report is that yesterday, Katie and I were able to celebrate Christmas in a special way with the children of the congregation.  We had 13 children in attendance which was a good crowd for us.  During the celebration we reviewed the lessons of the past few weeks which providentially fit in perfectly well with a lesson connecting stories, promises and prophecies of the Old Testament with the birth and life of Jesus.  Some of you may know of some families who make a Jesse Tree for Christmas.  The Jesse Tree concept takes children through God´s plan of redemption starting with Adam and Eve all the way to the birth of Jesus including showing how Jesus came from the line of David, (thus the name Jesse Tree since Jesse was David´s father).  I changed the passages included in the activity a little bit to include events of Jesus´ life all the way to the resurrection so that the children hopefully would put His birth into the context of the whole plan.  We studied, read, sang, played games and of course we ate!  This time we ate Panetón which is a traditional Christmas cake eaten in many Latin American countries and in Italy.  Interestingly, on Wednesday evening after the Jesse Tree activity in the morning, Butch was teaching out of Acts 7 where Stephen gives a concise history of the Jewish nation.  It was so exciting to see Juji´s face light up as she new exactly what Uncle Butch was talking about when he mentioned God´s covenant with Abraham and the Israelite´s exodus out of Egypt and such.  Teaching children is such a joy for me and Katie and I am happy to be a part of this ministry.  Please continue to pray for the children of the congregation here in Cochabamba, that seeds would be planted in very receptive and thirsty little hearts.  Pray that one day God would raise up strong leaders for His Kingdom out of our special group of students. 

To close, may the Lord bless you. 

Love, 

La Familia Forbess

November Updates

Hopefully, you have found this new blog of the Forbess family by means of our newsletter or from a personal email you received with a link to this blog.  If you have stumbled upon this page you are most welcome as well to read about what the Lord is doing through the Forbess family and many others in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia. 

Thankfully, all five of us are in good health and we praise God for such a blessing.  Jubilee and Malakai are doing well and both of them are getting ready for their summer break that begins this Saturday and will last until February 7th.  They are delighted and mom and dad are already racking our brains thinking of how to keep them occupied without watching cartoons all day.  In all seriousness though, we are happy to have them at home with us during the day and let them just play and enjoy their brief childhood.  Jubilee celebrated her birthday on October 27th turning 7 years old.  We celebrated that day at home and also later on with two other children of the congregation while at the National Family Camp a few days later.  Her “real” party however is going to be held during the break and she would told us that she wanted an Around the World in 80 Days and Christian Special Agents themed party.  We have narrowed that down to a Paris themed party but it still promises to be very fun and memorable. 

Malakai is doing well and getting used to his new school.  After we returned from furlough in September we moved him from his previous school to attend the same school as Jubilee.  It took him a while to adjust but he has three great teachers and he benefits from having his big sister around to monitor for any problems he may be having.  He is a very rambuctious little 3 almost 4 year old who has recently found running around the house with his shirt off is the most comfortable in this hot weather we have been having.  He is certainly all boy, but very sweet at the same time and he is a very good brother to both Jubilee and Leilani. 

Leilani is growing quickly and although her looks are strikingly similar to Juju´s at the same age, her own unique personality comes out a little more with each passing day.  She is quite on the verge of crawling, she is saying a few words including dadda, (my favorite of course), and she is really beginning to enjoy eating new foods.  She is a charmer for sure like her other two siblings and is already well known for her trade mark smile and wave.  Please pray for all three of our children giving thanks for the blessing they are and continually asking for their health, safety, and well being. 

Katie and I are also doing well.  Just this morning we worked on some personal goal setting and plans for the upcoming year of 2012.  We talked the better part of the morning about things we need to get done this year here in the ministry and in our personal lives as well As we had mentioned during our furlough visits our main focus in Cochabamba throughout this year is going to be mentoring and training others to take over our current ministries.  We hope to get the Bolivian Christians even more involved in the ministries that we lead or help with.  Among those ministries include the benevolence, welcoming and visitation, childrens, ladies and teaching ministries.  It is kind of strange to think about these kind of transitions but at the same time it is exciting to see God give others in the congregation an opportunity to serve.  We ask for your prayers that we along with the Bolivian brethren would move forward with wisdom and the guidance of the Holy Spirit during this time of transition. 

Another piece of exciting news that we would like to ask for you to be praying about is the possibility of adding a new family to the Cochabamba mission team.  For over two years now our team has been collaborating with the Austin Avenue congregation to search for possible new teammates.  We were blessed to find two very qualified and promising couples.  One of those couples are graduates of the Quito School of Preaching were our former teammate Joshua Marcum now ministers.  We are going to be receiving this couple and their young daughter of 4 years old in mid-December most likely and pending the outcome of the visit we are anxious to introduce this couple to all of you in a more direct manner.  For now, please pray that the Lord would give wisdom to our current team, the leaders at Austin Avenue, the Cochabamba church family and the previously mentioned couple in consideration of this very important step in the work. 

 

HELLLOOO!!!!

Just wanted to say hi and welcome you to the new Forbess blog.  We are doing great!  Here are a few new pictures!

These were taken at a birthday party a couple of weeks ago!

Much more to come!