Prayers Requested

Well, generally speaking, my posts are of a non-political nature (I leave that to my much more talented teammate, Jeff Forbess), but due to some recent events that you may be aware of (and the fact that the Forbesses are traveling Stateside), I decided to post a few tidbits of information and request your prayers for Bolivia.

Over recent days, the political situation here has gone downhill. Violence has spiked in several provinces, namely Santa Cruz, and there have been several confrontations and resulting deaths between governmental troops and local citizens protesting on several levels: mostly against the president. A few weeks ago, there was a vote to see whether or not the president should stay - and although he won the vote (although there was some question of authenticity), several provinces still are seeking their autonomy (something like what each individual state in the US has). There are also some bad feelings between those who live in the lowlands and the more indigenious highlanders - as in all situations a lot of factors wiegh in. Regardless, the government is now cracking down on protests in Santa Cruz and the result has not been pretty. The city is now blockaded - meaning no transportation goes in or out (except for the airport, although there are protests there too, and AA has canceled all flights to Bolivia). As a result - we are experiencing gasoline, natural gas, and meat shortages (as all of those things generally are shipped in from Santa Cruz). And because of meat shortages, the price of chicken is now going up. Other than that, we are thankful to be experiencing peace here for the meantime in Cochabamba - although there is an air of watchfulness, as if that too might change any day. Every other major city is experiencing some share of violence or discontent.

In addition to all this, Bolivia is now straining relations with the US by expelling the DEA from the Chapare region (their headquarters are in Cochabamba) and declaring our ambassador persona non grata for some alleged form of conspiracy. See the following news article for more information. (As a show of support for Bolivia, Venezuela's Chavez has done the same to their US ambassador). So far, the US's reaction has been to express their concern and disapppoinment, and to wait for official diplomatic communication (see the US embassy website). And as far as US citizens are concerned, the US embassy is only recommending careful common sense and avoidance of troubled areas. However, among governmental circles, there is definitely an anti-American sentiment right now, which doesn't bode well for us as we are still in the process of pursuing our permanent visas.

Your prayers for the country of Boliva would be appreciated, as would your continued prayers for our work here and the pursuit of our visas. We're so grateful to have so many who provide spiritual support for us here!