Bolivian Friends--100 Years!

I’m just back from our family trip to Bolivia to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the Bolivian Friends Church (INELA). And celebrate we did—both on the macro level of the whole denomination and the more micro level of our family. Although I’m still physically recovering from the trip (only one more round of antibiotics!), this is a good time for reflections and memories.

Celebrate is something the INELA knows how to do. They had rented the government sports coliseum on the upper city. After a two-hour, two-mile long parade of some of the church’s 200 congregations, around 7000 Andean Quakers filled the building for the Easter Sunday celebration. (Some leaders were actually disappointed that the anticipated 11,000 didn’t show. It seemed like a great crowd to me!)

The four-hour celebration filled the building with music, speeches, prayers, pronouncements, and lots of smiles and hugs at the end.

 With Hilarion and Agustina

Mario Surco, now an old man, was the first INELA national missionary in the 1960s.

Girl friends, Teodora and Solome

Hal with another dear old friend, Francisco Tintaya, twice INELA president in the 1970s and 80s.

Jim LeShana, NWYM superintendent, and Hector Castro, INELA president

Kristin sitting with her friends

For our family—David, Kristin, Hal and me—the whole two weeks was a time for memories and renewal of old friendships. Hal and I, with one-year-old David, arrived in La Paz in January 1972. Kristin joined our family in 1973. We all feel like Bolivia was the place of our growing-up years. When we left in 1989, David was 19 and Kristin 16-years-old. This place is still home to them. And this was the first time in the last 30 years we were together in La Paz.

View from our Airbnb in downtown La Paz, a perfect central place to receive guests and from which to launch out on our excursions

Behind us, the city at night

 Visit with Juana Ott de Mamani

In the New Jerusalem Friends Church with Jesus and Paulina Torrez

Kristin's friends had great fun dressing her up as a cholita.

Dinner with the extended Gutierrez family

With my old prayer partners, Susan Espejo and Ruth Galeb.

David was invited to give a major presentation. What a joy to support him.

What a joy to share this experience as a family.

Thanks be to God!

Reflections on the Bolivian Friends yearly meeting sessions

The Bolivian Friends Church (INELA) held its annual yearly meeting sessions in La Paz on January 10-14. There were 277 registered representatives and leaders from the 15 districts of the church. Reynaldo Mamani clerked the sessions and his continual admonition, “Seamos puntuales,” (Let’s be punctual!) went out at the beginning and end of each session. At the conclusion of the four days of yearly meeting, Reynaldo observed that punctuality was greater in this yearly meeting than any other in his memory. He took this as a sign of spiritual maturity and congratulated the brethren. (For some reason, that made me smile.)

The days were a marathon of meetings, starting with the 6:00 am early service (optional), then morning meetings from 8:00 to 12:00 (usually extending longer), afternoon meetings from 2:00 to 5:00 (always extending longer), and evening service from 7:00 to whenever it ended (usually around 10:00, although one night we stayed until 11:30). I admit to skipping some sessions and sleeping or reading a novel.

Fourteen of the 15 districts sent representatives; the Lago Norte District did not show up and the Pacajes District sent only one man, our old friend Osvaldo Cutipa. It’s obvious that these districts are in trouble. They are far from the city, isolated on the altiplano. One of the problems is that most, if not all, of the youth are migrating to the cities, and individual congregations are being closed as the old people die. It’s sad to us personally because we served in those districts, to open Lago Norte and to teach in the extension Bible school center in Pacajes.

The sessions contained the usual amount of conflicts and controversy, but I need to point out that all of this is in the context of a nation in conflict. Ever since we arrived (mid-October) the city has been rocked with strikes and protest marches, due to a new penal code that Evo Morales’ government has passed. One of the most serious protests is the ongoing strike of the medical profession. One aspect of the new code lets the family of any patient who has died or not improved under treatment sue the doctor, with assurance of winning. The doctors would lose their licenses and be imprisoned until payment could be made to the family. Also at risk are pastors and priests who pray for the sick; if the person prayed for does not get well (or worse, if he dies), the pastor or priest can be sued and the church property confiscated. This is just scratching the surface of the implications of the new penal code. Morales is currently on a campaign to be made president for life, and people sense the beginning of a dictatorship.

The yearly meeting sessions included a presentation of the penal code given by an Aymara lawyer and former Friends pastor, Ramiro Carrillo. Among other things, Carrillo stressed that if any organization does not fulfill its own government-approved constitution, it can be disbanded and all property confiscated. This caused a spirit of fear to arise in many of the representatives.

One unfortunate result was the action of the assembly to fire the current treasurer on the basis on some confusion in her annual report. This young woman is a professional accountant and an honest, hard-working Friend. (Furthermore, she was the only woman at the national level of leadership.) While the criticism and shaming heaped on her was typical of Aymara Quakers in yearly meeting, I cringed and prayed for mercy. Indeed, some voices asking for mercy, justice and grace did rise up, but they were discounted in the end.

Reports of the growth (or non-growth) of the church were typically contradictory, with the president reporting 184 churches in the 15 districts, and the districts themselves reporting 192 churches. This contrasts with the 202 churches reported last year. Statistics always have to be taken with a grain of salt as standards and categories vary from district to district and from year to year. But taken over a 25-year period, we see a national church pretty much plateaued, with new churches constantly rising up, balanced by churches being lost. We are analyzing this in our history team.

Each district and each working commission (task force or committee) gave their annual report, along with the national women’s and youth organizations. A highlight for me was the report of the women’s organization, UFINELA. Actually, it was one of the more boring reports of the sessions. The out-going president didn’t know how to read well and she stumbled through the report (obviously written by someone else on her board). It was basically a list of activities plus the financial report. Most of the activities were visits to quarterly meetings and conferences. At the end, the clerk scolded her for not including a ministry plan for the coming year.

But what I heard filled me with appreciation and hope. Basically, the women engage in three ministries: they visit, they give offerings, and they pray. Their constant visitation of other Friends gatherings in the country follows the old tradition of the Quaker traveling ministry (although the women don’t know this and they don’t use those terms). It’s a gentle ministry of encouragement, teaching and unity. They work to raise money to cover, not only their own costs, but offerings that go mostly to the mission work of the national church. The financial report of the secretary of missions showed that the women gave more money than any other group or church in the country. And they pray. People here acknowledge that the Friends women are the prayer force behind the whole church. I see the Spirit at work in these feminine Quakers.

By the time Saturday night rolled around, I admit I was discouraged with all the controversy and in-fighting. I found myself asking, “Where is Jesus in all of this?” I decided I would not even attend the closing celebration on Sunday morning.

I’m so glad I changed my mind. Sunday’s service is always dedicated to celebration and to the consecration of new leaders on all levels. I knew it would be long (people here not being oriented to the clock), and I was right. We started at 8:00 am (more or less) and ended just after 1:00 pm. A good deal of that time was given to singing. Loud and heartfelt singing, accompanied by drums, guitars and an electronic keyboard. Because most of the visiting representative were from rural churches, we sang in the Aymara language. I loved that; it’s such an expressive, complex and beautiful language, and many of the songs were original compositions using Aymara musical styles, not translations through Spanish from English or German.

I made some observations about the ministry of women during the service. The first group of leaders to be consecrated were the members of the executive council of the church (the mesa directiva). The clerk asked that their wives accompany them to the altar, recognizing the importance of the couple and the role wives play. (Unfortunately, none of the mesa members this year is a woman.) Later, when the new leaders of the women’s organization were asked to come forward for consecration, their husbands were not asked to accompany them. I wondered why. For the valuable leadership and ministry these women offer, surely the support of their husbands counts for something. A delightful exception was the positioning of the new youth officers; half of them were men and half women. And in the past, young women have served as president.

Of all the district officers consecrated (a group of about 90 people), six were women, three of these representing the more progressive Santa Cruz District. And of the group of around 140 pastors gathered at the altar, three were women. We still have a way to go.

Before the end of the service, national president Hector Castro challenged the church to plant a new congregation in each of the 15 districts this year. And in his closing remarks, clerk Reynaldo Mamani remarked that, “We always have conflicts, but God always shows up and somehow we manage to do his will.”

Ukhamaw. Amen. So be it.

Hal with INELA president Hector Castro

Sending greetings to Northwest Yearly Meeting

Consecration of women and youth officers

INELA pastors for 2018

Bolivian Friends at prayer

Surviving the Hobbit Hole

I have a fantasy about being part of the persecuted church. I am captured for my faith and put into a dark dank little room and left there to suffer in solitude. But, in my imagination, I pray. I sense the presence of Jesus and meditate on his beauty. My circumstances become irrelevant as the glory overwhelms me. The divine beauty lifts me up.

Maybe it’s good to put such positive pictures in my head. But every now and then reality marches in and knocks them out.

Our current reality is called “The Hobbit Hole.” Hal and I gave it that name in order to inject a bit of humor into our living situation.

Several years ago, the executive council of the Friends Church here in La Paz fixed up this little apartment for us. It had been the office of the Bible school staff and when they relocated, the council painted it a peach color, put in a ply-wood partition and a miniscule kitchen counter and sink, and invited us to live here during our yearly visits to Bolivia. It was a loving gesture and we receive it in that spirit. It’s conveniently located near the office of the history commission we’re a part of, and right in the hub of activity of the Bolivian Friends Church headquarters. Moreover, it comes with its own small but private bathroom.

We’re grateful.

And yet….

People here have their own nickname for this space. They call it “The Refrigerator.” Truth be told, it’s small, dark, cold, and ugly. When we first moved in, we referred to it as “The Cave,” but later opted for the more positive “Hobbit Hole.” The peach-colored walls help.

The apartment does have one large window—that looks four feet out onto the unfinished brick

wall of the church. Not one beam of sunlight dares to enter. Ever.

Our “Hole” is located on the lower level of the large Friends school in back of the main church. Above us is a primary classroom, and from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., the kids shuffle, stomp, recite in unison and scrap their desks across the floor. In the time between the morning and the afternoon shifts, rascally little boys and girls run up to our door, bang on it, and run away giggling. We choose to see the humor in all of this.

But at night, the place is dark and silent. Sleep is sweet.

So, we ask ourselves, “How do we choose life in this particular situation?” There is much we can do. Rugs help warm up the floors (tile over cement), as does the small but efficient space heater. We’ve brought in trees, mountains, flowers and even two affectionate giraffes with calendar photos on our partition.  Pictures by our artistic granddaughter, Gwen, add both joy and beauty. We try hard to keep things neat and orderly. Our table serves as a center for study, meals and hospitality. Yes, people do visit us here. We have seating for five if we bring in the stools that serve as our bedside tables. If more show up, some of us stand. It tends to keep visits short.

 Living room/dining room/office

Thank you, Gwen!

A place to fix simple meals

But I have to admit that my surroundings do affect my spirit. There are days when I fight depression, when the lack of sunlight and the sheer smallness of this space begin to give me a spiritual claustrophobia. I fight the temptation to give in, but this takes its toll on my energy level.

So we make an effort to get outside every day, to visit our friends around the city, to program adventures that let us see real trees and flowers growing out of the ground.

And in the early mornings, as I wait before the Lord, there are times when his beauty becomes more real than anything else, and glory fills even the Hobbit Hole.

For all the other times, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”

Amen.

Sunday with Friends in La Paz

On Sunday I went to the New Jerusalem Friends Church and enjoyed worship among my Aymara Quaker friends. Going to this church is convenient as Hal and I live in a small guest apartment on the same property. In fact, our window faces the basement window of the church where the youth meet every Saturday night, and late into the previous evening we got to listen to the young drummer practicing his rhythms. I predict he’s going to become very good if he keeps up this vigorous practice.

I arrived at 10:00 a.m. for the second service, but things were running late, so I caught the tail end of the first service where the preacher was preparing the congregation for All-Saints-Day, coming up the end of the month. He strongly exhorted them not to follow the animistic customs of the culture by bringing food and offerings to the tombs of their dead ancestors.

The temple was full for this first service, and at the end a multitude of people moved to the altar to pray. Then they filed out to make room for the next service. As they passed the pew where I was sitting, many shook my hand and we exchanged verbal blessings.

The second service contrasted to the first. It began with an hour of Sunday school, and the lesson focused on time management, complete with PowerPoint illustrations. David Quispe taught the class and did an excellent job. This delighted me because David was one of a small group of teenagers that our daughter Kristin belonged to. I remembered all the times the kids gathered at our house to roast hot dogs (a novelty) and have fun. Now David pastors a church and is raising his own family. (He had been invited as a guest teacher for this Sunday school class.)

Somewhere in the middle of the class, I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked up to see my dear friend Salomé. We embraced and she invited me to sit with her in the back row. I’m afraid we whispered during the rest of the class (an advantage of being on the back row).

The following worship service rang with music, most of it adopted from the lively Pentecostal tradition that is so popular with young people here. No one danced, but quite a few clapped, and everyone sang at the top of their lungs. Then the church president went to the pulpit for announcements but took about ten minutes updating the congregation on the problems with the construction of a new room on the fourth floor of the building. Saturday night when they were to pour the cement, it rained, and some leakage damaged the ceiling of the auditorium. People are pretty upset, and the president assured everyone that steps were being taken to address the problem.

Pastor Silver Ramos then gave the morning sermon, apologizing for the lateness of the hour, but assuring people that he would not rob them by cutting down his sermon. He didn’t. He preached on the same subject as did his co-pastor in the earlier service, on the dangers of following the customs of the culture during All-Saints. He emphasized that death is death, and that if they were to bring a Bible to put on the grave of their ancestor, he would not read it. He’s dead and the dead don’t read. If they were to lay bread on his grave, he would not eat it. The dead don’t eat. “With death, everything ends,” he warned. I squirmed a bit, wishing he’d come out of the Old Testament and give some New Testament hope on the promises of God for our resurrection life. Maybe he’ll preach that sermon at Easter.

I’m again aware that I’m in a completely different culture. But I’m also aware that these people are my brothers and sisters and that I love them. It really is good to be here again.

Bolivia: From one extreme to another

Yesterday we came home to La Paz after a week in Santa Cruz, the lowlands! All that oxygen was wonderful, and our bodies rested in spite of the tropical heat and humidity. But when we got into our room here in La Paz, we found that the drinking water we had boiled and left in the pot on the stove had frozen. Not just a skim of ice, but one big ice cube. From one extreme to another! No wonder my body is confused.

We loved staying in Santa Cruz with our friends (also Friends) David and Arminda Tintaya and their girls. The family had just returned from a mission trip to India with Evangelical Friends Mission and they were bursting to talk about it. Many among Bolivian Friends are experiencing a revival of interest in missions. While in Santa Cruz we participated in the district’s first annual Congress of Missions, talking about missions in the history of the Bolivian Friends. Two of the Titnaya girls, Anabel and Anahi, are sensing a strong call to participate with God in mission, somewhere in the world.

Tintaya family, Santa Cruz

On our way home we flew closer to Mt. Illimani that I have ever been. It was a bit scary, but so beautiful.

The taxi ride from the airport to our room up in the Friends complex up on Max Paredes Street was another adventure of inching our way through traffic snarls, made worse by demonstrations down town.

The demonstrations have to do with the upcoming political referendum. This coming Sunday, everything will shut down in Bolivia. Everything but the poles, where the issue is whether the Bolivian constitution will be modified in order to let current President Evo Morales become president for life. That sounds as scary as flying too close to the Andes for comfort. People will vote either “Yes” or “No.” It’s up in the air as to which side will win, and with what consequences. It seems a little bit like theater-of-the-absurd, and more and more people here feel that way.

     We’ll wait and see. Like everyone else. Meanwhile, life goes on. With all its crazy beauty and dizzying extremes. Life goes on in the middle of the extremes, and its ordinariness is as beautiful as Mt. Illimani.

Bolivian Friends (INELA) Yearly Meeting: Reflections

Hal and I landed in Bolivia on January 1 and five days later participated in the opening session of the INELA’s 2016 yearly meeting. (INELA stands for “National Evangelical Friends Church.”) For five days (Jan. 6-10) some 263 registered representatives of all the churches of the INELA gathered in La Paz to worship and conduct business, according to the customs of Friends. Here are some highlights:

--Some considered the final approval of the new Estatutos (equivalent to the Faith and Practice of yearly meetings in the US) to be miraculous. The necessary revision process has been going on for more than 10 years, accompanied by controversy, even agony, and many drafts. We spent several days reading aloud the whole document with its over 100 articles, making observations, and, section by section, approving it by consensus. INELA president, Timoteo Choque, along with the Estatutos committee, will spend much of 2016 obtaining legal government approval of the document, in order for it to come into practice in 2017. Choque’s experience as a lawyer has been most helpful in this whole process.

The new Estatutos affirms the INELA’s status as an evangelical, Christ-centered Quaker yearly meeting, and adds a section that establishes the Quaker principles of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, and equality. It makes major structural changes, putting the executive authority back under one national committee, followed by 15 district executive committees that maintain the broad participatory leadership base of the church.

--Another major change is the formation of a commission (responsible to the national executive committee) for church discipline, called the commission for “Admonition and Restoration.” In contrast to the rather harsh disciplinary procedures of the past, this commission is to emphasize restoration of pastors and leaders who have fallen into some kind of moral problem.

--The annual reports of the national women’s and youth organizations are always a highlight. These groups provide much of the sacrificial energy to carry on the ground-level ministry of church, and the representatives appropriately and enthusiastically affirmed their reports.

--The new social action branch of the INELA, El Buen Amigo (The Good Friend), gave its report which was also received with appreciation and enthusiasm. This group of mostly university and professional volunteers represents the young idealistic branch of the yearly meeting. In many of their projects this past year, they worked alongside the Missions Commission in new areas, conducting medical or dental clinics, teaching, and affirming new believers. They provide a light of hope and an outlet for young people anxious to “do something” for Christ and their society.

I could report on much more, of course. Sunday morning’s concluding worship service began at 8:30 and ended at 1:00. One by one different groups of leaders came forward and were “consecrated” for a new year of service, a ritual that is very meaningful in this context. I was especially moved to see the district executive councils crowding the front of the temple; the 15 districts of the church were all represented, again emphasizing the communal, highly participatory leadership of the INELA. Likewise, the pastors of the 200 congregations came forward to receive words of dedication and encouragement for the new year.

The choir of the New Jerusalem Friends Church (where we were meeting) gave a rousing presentation that included two original Aymara hymns and two historic hymns of the Christian church, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” and “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” The uniqueness of the Aymara Friends Church thus flowed into the greater stream of the Body of Christ throughout the generations. It brought tears.

I confess to sleeping through much of the sermon, the last hour of the service. I’m reasonably sure it was good, given by one of our pastors from the upper city, El Alto. The loud “amens” at the end woke me up, and we all joined in the final song and prayer. And then came the communal meal in the patio behind the church, where different congregations and districts spread their offerings on blankets on the ground. Hal and I went from group to group and ate more than we should have, but it was all good, flavored by the love and dedication of these Andean Quakers.

We are blessed to have been adopted into this family of Friends.

Consecration of women leaders

Consecration of youth leaders

Consecration of leaders of the 15 districts

Prayers of dedication

Sing to the Lord!