So far 2023 has offered us a warm welcome. As summer vacation in Bolivia comes to an end, ministry is starting up. Though it seems that for us, life rarely slows down; our last season was filled with activity. 

Every year our ministries wind-down from mid-December to the beginning of February for Bolivia’s summer vacation. These months are a slower-paced season of thoughtful planning for the year to come. However, rather than a quiet hasta luego (“see you later”) we close out the year with celebration! (Yes, this often involves a clown).

Our closing program for our community health project is particularly eventful. Each community with whom we work holds a closing ceremony to give thanks for the work that has been done. Everyone comes together; the school children prepare dances, leaders give speeches, a marching band plays, and even the provincial governor attends to offer thanks. After the ceremony is over, people line up to throw confetti on the heads of everyone involved with the project. Finally, together we enjoy a feast of goat with all the trimmings. This year, we were pleased to have some of our CBM colleagues from Canada and Latin America join us for the closing celebrations in Achumani.

For the past couple of years, we haven’t been able to host any visitors from SENT, CBM’s global discipleship program. While we’ve loved hosting virtual cooking classes with Canadian churches, we’ve missed in-person teams. With travel starting up again, we’ve had the opportunity to host two special SENT visitors: Jenna MacLeod and Melora Cook.

Jenna joined us for a few weeks to do research on our Chagas Prevention Project for her master’s practicum in global public health. Jenna spoke with community nurses and the government fumigation team, visited homes renovated to protect families from the vinchuca beetle which spreads the disease, and even got her hands dirty renovating a home with a local group of young people.

Melora has come for a longer stretch of 5 months to volunteer at the Casa de la Amistad and learn about what it’s like to live on the mission field. During her time here, she’s developed an impressive level of Spanish, joined a few volleyball teams, made local friends, and created strong bonds with the kids and staff at the Casa.

For those of you who have been following CBM’s work for a while, you’ll know that we approach mission integrally: we believe that the gospel is communicated through both our words and actions holistically.

Our partners here in Bolivia hold the same position and organized a council on integral mission to challenge and inspire their pastors. Tim was invited to be one of the speakers, sharing the podium with several denominational leaders including the president of the Bolivian Baptist Union and the directors of Obades and the seminary.

We had a great turn out with pastors from across the country coming to participate in the discussion and churches joined online. This resulted in a list of recommendations that have guided the denomination’s five-year plan.

• Pray that fresh beginnings are as joyful as the year-end celebrations, as we kick-off a new year of ministry.
• Pray for Canadian churches who are starting to make plans to visit and serve alongside us in the coming year.
• Pray for the Bolivian church to continue to grow in their understanding and application of Integral Mission.
• Pray for us as we continue to work through the adoption process.

• You can learn more about us and our ministry by visiting our website at timandkallie.com
• Reach us by email at: thutton@cbmin.org / khutton@cbmin.org

• If you are not currently partnering with us, we would love to see you participate financially in this work.

You can donate online at cbmin.org or via timandkallie.com. You can also donate by contacting Barb Keys by phone at 905-821-3533 or by email at bkeys@cbmin.org