The Village of Chojo

(Suggested background song while reading this post: "Kings and Queens" by Audio Adrenaline)

Our team had the chance to visit the village of Chojo twice during this trip.

On the first day of ministry, it was at the end of a long and rugged detour in the Andes Mountains (more about this in my post about Wakallani). Late in the afternoon, we came to the edge of the village and met a young teenage girl sitting by herself along the path. Donna and Juan V. shared the Gospel with this girl, Raquel, who made the decision to receive Christ.

Donna and Juan V. sharing the Gospel with Raquel

About an hour later, we walked into the one school in the village, where its lone teacher, Abelina, was finishing up her day. Abigail and I shared the Gospel with her and she also accepted Christ. We ended the day singing praise songs in the school yard with Abelina, and she invited us to come back to visit with her students.

The view outside the school in Chojo
(where the red truck, "Jack", eventually found us after a day of "wandering")

It was such an encouragement after 5+ hours of intensive, and sometimes dangerous, mountain hiking, which felt like wandering most of the time. I commented on how this day's experience reminded me of the movie Saving Private Ryan in which "The mission was one man."  Later on, Donna reminded us that it is more a real-life example of Matthew 18:10-14 (Parable of the Lost Sheep), which illustrates God's intense love for His flock that He would go the extra distance to seek out and save every lost one - our team counted it a privilege to be used by Him in this way.

Statistics from my "step counter" after Day 1 of ministry
(As a point of reference, I usually aim for 8,000 steps/day - on flat ground :)

Two days later, we came back to Chojo and visited with the 14 students in Abelina's class - that seemed to be the entire student body. We sang song, played games, shared the Gospel, led Bible studies, hung out, and even had a fun match of futbol (soccer) with the kids. (Thank you, AWANA, for the years of training in that awesome ministry!)

A memorable day with the children of Chojo

Near the end of the day, we drove the kids home - in our beloved red truck, "Jack" - and got a firsthand look at the impoverished conditions in which they lived. It was a shock even to our fellow Bolivian ministry partners, who said they had no idea children were living like this just outside their city. Several of them felt so moved that they committed to coming back and visiting with the children - which some of them already did the week after we left!

Photos from the follow-up visit to Chojo (a week after we left)

While we were visiting the kids' house, our team shared the Gospel with Elias, who lived next door. He also accepted Christ and we did a discipleship study with him right away.  We then found out that he was the brother of Raquel, who we had encountered in the mountains two days ago! We could not help but feel that God was really trying to get the attention of this family - these were definitely not chance encounters.

Juan V. disciplining the new believer, Elias

The experience in Chojo gave me a vivid understanding of what Jesus meant in Matthew 18:1-5. Despite what we felt were unfathomable living conditions, never once did I hear any of the kids complain about them (sure, they had spats between them - like any other children). As far as I know, none of them had a smart phone, tablet, toys, TV shows, or even internet access. The lasting image I have of the children are their innocent smiles and heart-warming laughter as we played with them.

A selfie with the kids in Chojo - such beautiful smiles!

Please pray for the village of Chojo - the new believers, the children, their families and their community.  As far as we know, there is still no house of peace in the village... yet.  Our "apostle to the Aymara villages", Juan Sosa, will continue to visit Chojo with his small team of Bolivian missionaries. Pray that their ministry will bear fruit so that Chojo will shine Christ's light brightly in the spiritual darkness that currently permeates most of the Aymara villages.

Please pray for the children (i.e., the future) of Chojo