Africa Tour / Stop 1 / Uganda

God gave us a divine appointment our first day in Uganda. A lady was at the hotel selling handmade necklaces. She had a sign that she was with TASO [The AIDS Support Organization]. Jeff Sheets struck up a conversation with her, and learned she is HIV+. She makes the bracelets, baskets, etc. to sell to support herself and her 3 kids.

Her husband died of AIDS several years ago. He was a truck driver for the UN, running back and forth between Uganda and Kenya. He knew he was infected, but didn’t tell her until his HIV developed into AIDS. At the funeral, or thereabouts, she found out he had 2 other wives with kids in other cities.

Janet (at left) now is a born again believer. She sells stuff to make a living, but her passion is HIV/AIDS awareness training and encouragement. She said she no longer is sad she has it, because God has used her situation to change many people’s lives.

We invited her to share at the HIV/AIDS Cube training. She gave her testimony and everyone was riveted. Then we went to a clinic and shared with ladies waiting for treatment. She knew everyone at the hospital, and presented to all the ladies. The HIV/AIDS “practice” presentation was followed by the gospel. Several prayed to receive Christ.

A huge problem here is stigma. People often are ostracized because others are afraid they’ll be infected if they shake hands or even get close to HIV+ people. Often people just want to die because they’re so lonely. Or they get bitter and want to infect others—“if I die, I want to take others with me” as one person put it. So they don’t tell anyone, and end up spreading it even more. So learning the truth hopefully will reduce the fear, and thereby the stigma. Plus, and this is The Major Plus, this whole thing opens the door for discussions about real hope and love of God through Jesus Christ.

One thing we have heard over and over from many leaders—government, AIDS organizations, business leaders, as well as church leaders: it is only life change through a relationship with Christ that makes a difference.

This fits in with our prayer, that the Lord would use this tool to bring many into His kingdom and plant many new churches.

Please continue to pray for us as we head next to Rwanda for church planting training Sept 20-23, which also will include AIDS Cube training.

After that to Burundi and Ethiopia.

Blessings.
Mike Jorgensen

Uganda: True Hope Through Christ

Praying to receive Christ after 1) HIV/AIDS Cube presentation followed by 2) presentation of gospel using EvangeCube.

Hallelujah!

Uganda HIV/AIDS Cube "Practice"

Janet (on left) and Josephine (but now everyone calls her "Miracle") share the truths about HIV/AIDS with the new HIV/AIDS Cube.

Africa: 4 Countries in 15 Days

Four African countries in 15 days.

Sometimes I wonder “what in the world were you thinking when you set that up, Mike?” But then I think all the people who might be spared untold agony and grief because of a pilot project we are doing. Not only spared for eternity, but also spared in this life.

25 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV, according to UN estimates. Almost 3 million new infections each year. Some estimate there are 12 million kids orphaned in that region because of AIDS.

Tremendous hurt. Tremendous need. Tremendous open door for the love of Christ to be extended by planting new churches.

So we’ve developed a new Cube. A new Cube that hopefully will open many, many doors for sharing the gospel with the EvangeCube. This new tool is called the HIV/AIDS Cube. Through pictures people can easily learn what HIV/AIDS is, how you get it, how you don’t get it, symptoms, precautions to take, and how to care for those already infected.

This trip is to do a pilot project testing in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia. We want to see what people think of it. The EvangeCube makes sharing the gospel easy. Will this HIV/AIDS Cube do the same? How can we use it to also introduce people to the Great Physician? How can we teach churches to reach out to people with the love of Christ using this tool?

--Pray for wisdom as we learn from our African brothers and sisters, who have lived with this pandemic in ways we don’t understand.

--Pray for God to use this tool to expand His kingdom for His glory.

--Pray for our team (Dr. Zege Tsige, Jeff Sheets, Casey See and me) as we travel Sept 14 to Oct 1.

Thanks for praying.

Mike Jorgensen

BIG Meetings in Bolivia

We’ve all been there. Fork in the road. Key decision. Something BIG happening that may change things for a long, long time.

This is one of those weeks for our Bolivia ministry. This afternoon I leave for Bolivia to meet with the leaders of Campus Crusade for Christ. Jason Ferrell, the associate pastor at Potomac Heights Baptist Church in Maryland, is going, too.

Tito Ramos, national director for CCC—Bolivia, has asked us to partner with them to plant hundreds of new churches in 9 cities over the next 4 years. These meetings are to figure out the who / what /when / where / how of it all.

As I have prayed about these strategic meetings, these verses in Phil. 2:1-4 have come to mind—

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Please pray that the Holy Spirit will enable Jason, me and everyone involved in these meetings to live out these verses.

Please also pray for our travel. As an organization, we’ve had more travel disruptions with our teams over the past couple months than ever before. Since our time in Bolivia will be very short, we don’t want to a bunch of delays disrupting things.

Blessings.
Mike Jorgensen

Bolivia Summary / Boy Scout Trip

Thanks for praying for our Bolivia trip last week. In spite of all the travel complications (the rest of the team got home about 24 hours late after spending a night in the Santa Cruz airport), God blessed us richly—

· 5 new churches planted
· 91 local believers worked with us and saw first hand a simple, effective church planting model
· 675 professions of faith
· 690 follow-up discipleship contacts (102%)
· Approximately 200 received eye glasses as a result of Philip’s Eagle Scout project, and most of the said “Si” to Jesus when our team shared the Gospel with them after they had received their glasses

You prayed us through a “ends of the earth” ministry. Now we need your prayers for our “Jerusalem” ministry.

Philip and I are involved in a Boy Scout troop. In fact, Philip now is the Senior Patrol Leader (sorta like the president of the Troop). Philip and Trevor (who went on the Bolivia trip with us) and the rest of the Troop left Saturday morning, about 14 hours after we got home. Both are a bit under the weather from the exhaustion of the Bolivia trip. I am flying to Albuquerque this morning to meet them.

This is a high adventure trip through New Mexico, Colorado and Oklahoma. They visited Carlsbad Caverns, and we’ll be fly fishing, rock climbing, white water rafting, canoeing, etc. on this trip.

Please pray for us—

· Healing for Philip and Trevor in the midst of this challenging, but fun, trip
· Safety
· For us to be lighthouses of God’s grace and love
· For open doors for us to share the love of Christ

Here’s a short online slide show of their launch last Saturday, plus where they’re headed.

Troop 751 High Adventure Tour

Thanks for praying.

Mike Jorgensen

All of Tokyo Comes to Christ

Yesterday Kyle went to a new village named Tokyo. After the first house, a terrible sand storm blew in—so bad they couldn’t see the next house.

“Do you want to leave?” Kyle asked the translator. “No,” she replied, “they haven’t heard here yet.” So they ducked behind a wall to break the wind and prayed the storm would stop. It did, less than a minute later.

After a few more homes, they could see a thunderstorm coming across the mountain ridge. They prayed again and continued. Later they could see a horseshoe of rain surrounding them, but none in the village.

They met Javier (in picture next to Kyle), who told them to go see the mayor of the village, a necessary protocol here. As they shared the Gospel with him, he interrupted and said “my whole village needs to hear this. Can you come back tomorrow? I’ll ring the bell . . . everyone will come.” They agreed and headed back to their team’s evening meeting in another village.

As they arrived in the main village the next day, a man on a bicycle was waiting. “The village is waiting for you.” Kyle was surprised because it was hours before the scheduled meeting, but he and some of the team hurried on.

As he entered Tokyo, they rang the bell to call the village to meeting (click on picture below to see an example). 40 to 60 assembled at this traditional call to come together. Kyle began sharing, but midway through the presentation his translator stopped translating and started passionately preaching about the pain, sacrifice and love of Christ for them. Kyle was stunned, but not by her taking over. He sat speechless as he understood every word she was saying in Spanish, which he could not do before or after those sweet few minutes in the presence of God!

Quechua Call to Meet

When they asked who would like to receive Christ as their Savior, the entire village assembled on that mountainside raised their hand and prayed to receive Christ!

As Kyle tearfully shared this with our group, he told us “I came out of obedience to a call for my daughter and me to come, but I never expected to be blessed like this.”

God is answering Your prayers powerfully! Please keep praying!

Seeing the Light / Eye Clinic

Our son, Philip, collected and processed donated eye glasses for Bolivia. Today we were blessed by distributing many to the residents of Villa Alegria, a Quechua village overlooking the airport of Sucre.

Click below to see a short slide show of the happy recipients in the midst of other pictures of our trip here.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Wow in Sucre

Wow! God answered your prayers powerfully over the past 24 hours.

Many Quechua have made professions of faith. Yesterday LS, Lindsay, Leah, Kyle, and Matt did some relationship building on the soccer field. As they started to play, some young ladies asked if our group wanted to play them. Well, let’s say that the little Quechua ladies in skirts beat the pants off the e3 team! But many responded to the Gospel after the game, and 35+ came to the evening meeting, where another 10 professed faith in Christ.

Leanne´s grandmother has stabilized and may be improving. Thanks for praying for her and their family.

See some more praises in the posts below.

Prepared People

Many people trusted Christ in the Judicial District. Yesterday Enzo and I went to find the team working there. We looked and looked and looked, but we couldn´t find the team, so we decided to go to another area. Before we could catch a taxi, a lady hurried up to us. "Are you the people wanting to rent the apartment?"

"No, but we'd love to talk to you about why we're here."

Nora was the first of many to pray to receive Christ in that upper class neighborhood! God prepared her heart before we arrived. We thank the Lord we couldn't find a taxi quickly! And as she prayed to receive Christ, we saw the team rounding the corner on the street down the hill.

3 Generations in Sucre

Today I went to visit the area in which James, Mike H, Amanda and Glenda. 15 year old Amanda has a spiritual grandchild here! This morning she trained (first picture) 13 year old William and several other kids to share the Gospel. Then William went out and shared Christ with 13 year old Victor, who received Christ (second picture). Amanda to William to Victor--3 generations!

Team Sucre NEEDS Your Prayers

Team Sucre has had more than the normal challenges. Big delay getting here because of weather in Miami. Several churches did not show up that had committed to work with us. Our local coordinator is out of commission because of surgery. Translators from Sucre did not show up (so we especially praise the Lord for the ones who came from Santa Cruz to help us!). The grandmother of Leanne (one of our e3 leaders) had a stroke and is partially paralyzed.

In other words, there are many, many opportunities for God to display His glory here as He answers prayer! So please pray for us!

Below are pix of the pastors and translators working with our team! We are working in 5 areas with 4 mother churches.

Jason, Joyce, Tracy, Sarah, Abi, Troy and Elaine met a 12 year old girl yesterday when they visited their area to prayer walk. She asked “are you the ones who sent the boxes?” God already had prepared her through the Samaritan Purse Christmas boxes! Pray that God will direct all our teams to the people He already has prepared to believe in the Good News.

Sucre is the home of the Bolivia Supreme Court. Also, the commission writing the new constitution meets here. Sam, Leanne, Philip, Trevor, Hal and Woodlyn have a unique opportunity. They are working in the “Judicial District” where many lawyers and judges live. It is one of the highest class areas any teams of mine have ever worked. It will be difficult getting to the key leaders that live in the magnificent homes in that area. Pray for God to open doors to the hearts and minds of this strategic group of people.

The team of Joe, Taylor, Chandler, and Mike R were prayer walking last night in their area. They stopped to talk to a Quechua lady. She invited them to come back today to speak to about 15 ladies who are attending a cooking class. Pray for God to introduce us to many “persons of peace” through whom we can reach groups of people.

James, Mike H, Amanda and Glenda are working in an area that overlooks the huge soccer stadium here. Pray that God will so change lives here that people will be more passionate and enthusiastic about the Lord than they are about the national focus of soccer.

The Tickets

I get a lump in my throat every time I look at a new short video our son Philip and his buddy Nathan made. Click here to take a look at it.

Tears in Church

This morning in church was very emotional for me. We were singing a Mercy Me song many of you know--

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell
The guilty pair, bowed down with care
God gave His Son to win
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin

Tears came to my eyes as we sang, for two competing ideas were bumping into each other in my mind.

First, gratitude welled up in my heart and teared out my eyes, for I am that “erring child He reconciled and pardoned from his sin.” Jesus died for me, and I have been set free from the bondage of that sin.

Second, my thoughts flew ahead to Sucre, Bolivia, where we’ll be going in a couple weeks. Many people there live in fear, not in gratitude. They worship Pachamama (Mother Earth), who they believe rewards or punishes people based on their rituals, festivals and sacrifices. They also fear other spirits, as described in the Area Handbook for Bolivia by Thomas Weil and others—

“The [Indian] world is densely populated with spirits that are constantly influencing everyday events. They are related to and explain his economic state (in griculture), his health, his personal relations with other members of his community, and the fearful unknown. Most commonly, spirits are place spirits, living in the air, in or around a natural phenomenon, or wandering with no fixed dwelling. . . .

“Other supernaturals include ghosts, demons, the souls of the dead, and Roman Catholic saints. These spirits are considered ambivalent, if not malevolent, in their attitude toward the Indian, concerned with his affairs but not necessarily with his welfare. For this reason the individual must attempt to remain on good terms with them through propitiation and the use of magicians and diviners who can speak with or interpret the actions of the supernaturals for him. . . .

“God and Christ, as the Indian envisions them, are white men who are not interested in his affairs and who are potentially threatening.”

I yearn for many to put their complete trust in Christ, and be freed from these fears. Would you join me in praying and fasting for them over the next few weeks?

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen

God’s Math in Bolivia

Can you really plant a church in a week? No . . . but God can!

Last week God started 7 new baby churches in Bolivia! “How in the world did He do that,” you may ask. By the end of this week-long mission trip, some of the new baby churches had over 100 in attendance! Here’s how God’s “math” worked out for this team.

· 29 US team members working with . . .
· 149 local Bolivian believers from . . .
· 6 local churches working in . . .
· 7 barrios (neighborhoods) to start new churches saw . . .
· 783 people pray to receive Christ as their Savior and there were . . .
· 78% follow-up discipleship contacts made during the week.

During the week, our US team worked side-by-side with Bolivian Christians and translators sharing the Gospel using the EvangeCube. As people said “Si” to Jesus, they made follow-up appointments to visit them the next day to begin the discipleship process. They also invited the new believers to evening meetings in the homes where the new groups will begin to meet.

As 9 year old Ben Parsons said the second day of the trip, “I thought I’d be nervous, but I’m not. This is FUN!”

Behind each of these stats is a real person. Click on the link to the left that says "Bolivia Family Camp" to see a short online slide show where you can catch a glimpse of God’s glory in Bolivia.

Mike Jorgensen

Bolivia Prayer

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

You are the Lord of the Harvest, Father. You raised up the 29 US members of our team, plus the 149 Bolivian believers with whom we worked. You are Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our Banner, under whom this army marched last week in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

May Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

You promised that You would build Your church, Lord Jesus, for You are Head of the Church. You expanded Your kingdom in those 7 areas where new baby churches now are growing.

Father, You are the One who draws people to Yourself. You are the One who gave faith to the 783 people who prayed to receive Christ as their Savior. May Your will now be done as the local believers go back to follow-up all these new believers to obey Your command to make disciples.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Lord, You promised—

But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

Lord, enable each of us on Team Bolivia to wait on You now at home. May we not return in our own strength, but trust in You this week for all our needs. Renew our strength. Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually. In all ways, and especially in all relationships. May we mount up with wings of eagles. May we run and not grow weary. May we walk and not faint. Give each of us wisdom as we continue to seek Your kingdom purposes in the midst of “life as normal” back home.

Forgive my sins as I forgive others.

Lord, forgive us for any thoughts that this is any way attributable to our team, our methods or our materials. Without You, we can do nothing. Everything that happened last week was Your hand at work.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

I am the Lord, that is My name;
And My glory I will not give to another . . . .
Isaiah 42:8a

Deliver us from the temptation of stealing any of Your glory, Lord. This is all You.

Deliver the new believers and the new churches from the evil one, the father of lies. Bring a strong disciple maker to each of the new believers.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen!

Thank You for allowing us to see Your glory this past week, Lord. Continue to make Your name more famous in Bolivia and around the world.

Amen.

Mike Jorgensen

Bolivia Wed Report

Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Today’s our last day of work in the field. There’s gonna be lots of tears tonight as our teams say goodbye to their new friends here. The church members with whom they have walked these dusty streets. The translators who have been by their side house and after house after house. The ladies who have cooked banquets for them each day. And the new believers on whose dusty cheeks they have seen tears roll down. Whose smiles they have witnessed as they came to understand the glory of Christ’s love and sacrifice for them. Whose enthusiasm during the discipleship visits and meetings they have seen grow. Already one of the youth with us has told me “I wanna stay here.”

God has given our teams the privilege of seeing over 700 people pray to receive Christ in the 7 new church areas in which we are working. So please continue to pray for the follow-up discipleship. It is the key to the ongoing health and growth of these new baby churches.

Interesting impact story I heard from two different people. Before my first campaign here four years ago, my host put me up in a 5 star hotel when I came early to do leadership training. He didn’t realize that our budgets do not cover that kind of expense. So during my stay I asked to go look at other hotels for the team coming a few weeks later. His response was “why not here?” So I explained our more frugal standards and budget. To which he replied, “what’s your budget? Let’s go talk to the manager.” Much to my shock, the manager was a Christian and agreed to allow us to stay in this condominium suite hotel for our normal budget! To give you an idea of what it’s like, the 5 person family that’s with me told me they have a spare bedroom in their suite that they aren’t even using!

But I was also concerned about what impression this hotel would give to the nationals with whom we work. As I’ve asked this question multiple times of multiple leaders here, each time the answer has been the same: “God has provided this blessing, so enjoy it.”

The assistant manager told Enzo this week that they love to have us here because the hotel always fills up around the time when we come because God blesses them. Another employee told me that when our team arrives, the peace of God falls on the whole hotel. It gave me great joy that both these staff members were giving God the glory, and not attributing this to our team. Hallelujah!

The online slide show has been updated with some more pix. Click on link below. Please keep praying for us.

Blessings.

Mike Jorgensen for Team Bolivia

Bolivia Family Camp II

Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Tuesday morning / 6.12.2007

Last year Samantha came with her dad. This year she brought back her mom, Sophia, to “Bolivia Family Camp.”

Sophia is the children’s leader at Austin Chinese Church, and she and Samantha have had the joy of serving the Lord together her. During the day they do evangelism and discipleship. God is using the kids on the team as “kid magnets,” and through the kids more adults are being reached, too. Already God has given Samantha the joy of helping lead 19 people to Christ! Then Sophia and Samantha together minister to dozens of kids during the evening discipleship meetings.

Check out the updated online slide show with more action from Bolivia!

We’ve begun returning to those who have made professions of faith to start discipling them. Continue to pray that everyone we’re working with here will catch a vision for making disciples, and not just making converts.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Already the power of the gospel is changing people. A couple days ago one team witnessed to an alcoholic. He was living in total squalor. Yesterday when the team returned to start the discipleship follow-up, they saw that he had worked hard to clean things up. Step by step Jesus is changing lives.

Another answered prayer involves the “dog incident” with Winston. One of the big questions is whether the dog is healthy. Yesterday the local church members introduced him to the owners. First, it was a blessing knowing the dog was a pet, and not just a wild street dog. Second . . . he had led the owners to Christ about 30 minutes before the dog nipped him! So they can watch the dog for the next few days to make sure it is healthy. Plus Winston is modeling Christian love to these new believers in spite of their pesky pet. “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”

Continue to pray for all the churches to wholeheartedly commit to following up all the new believers.

Thanks for standing in the gap for our Bolivia Team.

Mike Jorgensen

Bolivia Family Camp

Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Monday morning / 6.11.2007

Over the years Woodlyn and I have savored the times we were able to get away as a family on a trip. When the kids were little, it was a time to “make memories.” As they got older, our times away also got the kids off the phone and internet and more connected with us. Many of you do the same with family vacations and family camps. Wonderful times developing family relationships in new surroundings, doing fun stuff.

This week we have a bit of a family camp here. Dave and Jenny are here with their 3 boys—Kyle (16), Luke (13) and Ben (9). Mike and his daughter, Kaitlyn (13), made the trip, along with Jeff and his daughter, Carla (12).

Saturday I had the privilege of going out with Dave and Jenny and their boys. When I asked Jenny why they had decided to do this as a family, she said “we talk to the boys about serving the Lord, but it is even better just to show them.” They had a hum dinger of a day! All 5 had translators, so they formed 5 teams. Each of them had the privilege of many several people say “Si” to Jesus, from 9 year old Ben on up. Among them they saw 63 people make a profession of faith! They now are working with the local church members to follow-up with as many of those people as possible to start the discipling them. Don’t you agree that they making some hallelujah hum dinger memories!

Sunday morning I joined Kaitlyn, Carla, Mike and Jeff as they worshipped at their mother church. While the two dads preached and taught, their daughters were working with the kids. They, too, are having a hallelujah hum dinger week.

Take a look at this short slide show and rejoice with us at what God is doing through these families, and our whole team, here in Bolivia.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Many, many people are coming to Christ. Please pray for God to raise up Mark 4:8 disciples from these new believers—those who multiply themselves 30, 60 and 100 times.

Please also pray for Winston, who was nipped by a dog while he was sharing Christ with someone. Our enemy will do anything to disrupt the work. This has not caused any problems for Winston, but we want to take the appropriate steps to prevent this from developing into a problem.

Thanks for standing in the gap for our Bolivia Team.

Mike Jorgensen

Bolivia: God's Rearranging

Santa Cruz, Bolivia / Saturday Morning 6/9/07

I used to get pretty frustrated when things didn’t go according to my plan on a campaign. Perhaps a pastor or two didn’t show up to greet their team. Or a pastor showed up who wasn’t on our list. Sometimes they showed up at the welcome meeting for our team. Or maybe they even showed up on day two . . . or three. Used to drive me crazy.

But usually by the end of the campaign it became apparent that “my” plans had not been God’s plan, so He rearranged things for His glory! So now it is exciting to see “surprises” happen as we deploy the teams. I trust that each change in “my” Team/Area Chart is God blessing us with His answer to our prayers of “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

So I was not surprised, or frustrated, yesterday when one of the pastors who had committed to work with us did not show up for the initial meeting. When Pastor Enzo, our Bolivia coordinator, called that pastor, he said he couldn’t come to the meeting because he was working on a problem and was busy with some legal papers. Then when we called him back a few minutes later to see if we could at least take the US team out to the area to prayer walk, he said “I guess I’m not going to be able to host the team because of these legal problems.” Thank You, Lord, for reallocating the team away from someone who was preoccupied with something else!

Yesterday the teams met their host churches and then prayer walked the neighborhoods where they are working this week. Today the evangelism begins. Please pray for these teams as they share the love of Christ with people today (click on names to see pix of teams)—

Bob / Sue / Mary Team

Kaitlyn / Carla / Mike / Jeff Team

Parsons Family Team

Alex / Teresa / Winston / Pedro Team (Pedro reassigned to team after picture taken)

Greg / Jocelyn / Mike / Kip Team (Kip reassigned to team after picture taken)

Steve / Simon / Faye / Emily Team (Emily reassigned to team after picture taken)

Samantha / Sophia / Gaylord / Steve Team

We especially are praying today--

· For the veil to be removed from the hearts and minds of those we meet today (2 Cor 4:3-4)

· For our teams to meet a person of peace in each neighborhood (Luke 10:5-7)