If you have read any of my blog posts about my travels in Bolivia you have heard a little about him and his work whether I mentioned his name or not. He is a pastor in Bolivia and was the contact I visited on two different occasions. He pastors two churches about 10 hours apart. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have been an encouragement to me and he graciously agreed to share some of his story here with y'all. We did the interview in Spanish and I translated it, so bear with me if any thoughts do not seem clear.
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Vanessa: What is your vision or dream for the work in Bolivia?
Yeri: Well, I had the opportunity to go to the evangelical church in 1965. For health reasons, my mom went with my sister and received a miracle. And so, starting in January, 1965, when I was fixing to turn 5 we changed courses, and ever since I was a child I've gone to church. This shows how true the proverb is that says, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it." So my life is an illustration of this verse in learning about God as a child and not departing from that knowledge as I am older. And this is the vision that I've had since I went to Cotoca because there are many children. Each home has a lot of children. My vision is to be able to teach them what the Bible says, what the word of God is. In the first years in every church meeting they learned a psalm or another passage of scripture so that by the time of the pandemic they knew quite a bit about the Bible and what it says. This is my vision: that they learn the word because the word, sooner or later would germinate and give fruit. I focused more on the children because they are the future. For this reason I went to Cotoca because there were so many children there and that was what motivated me.
Vanessa: How long have you been serving the Lord in this way and what got you started serving as a pastor?
Yeri: My story is simple, seven years after I started attending the evangelical church, in a class toward the end of 1972, a boy one year older than I and myself were having a time of prayer and there God made the call for us to enter into the ministry to be pastors. But life came and it's cares with finishing school and going to college, and later quitting college to help my father at work and then I got married and so I said, when I am 50 I will drop everything and dedicate myself to the ministry. So, I finally was able to achieve this goal when I was 53. And when I was 56 I went to Cotoca in 2009. I was ordained as a pastor and so, as such, I was able to go take charge of the mission in Cotoca, being the pastor. And since 2013 I haven't done anything else except pastoring the churches.
Vanessa: What motivates you to keep going?
Yeri: There is a Psalm that says, "I delight to do your will, O my God. I have always used this Psalm in the aspect of marriage, like when I married Ellie, I delighted to do God's will and that is how I viewed the verse. But it's also so much bigger than this. So, in my life there was a call for me to have part in God's ministry. Later this psalm helped me realize that it was a delight to do His will: to be able to serve, to be able to be part of Christ's body as a pastor. This thought motivated me through the years of providing for my family and being a father and I was always working towards the end of being able to dedicate myself to the ministry without having other business to attend to. This is what motivates me to do God's will now in serving in the church in Cotoca and also serving in the church in Tarija. Since the year of the pandemic we suffered a division in the church and so my time flies between serving in both Cotoca and Tarija. And this is what sustains me in doing the will of God and preaching the gospel. Even if I'm not exactly a preacher, I am a maker of disciples. And so it interests me to learn how to make disciples, so that I can pass on this form of teaching to the young men here, so that they are able to make disciples when it is their turn. I want to teach them how to make disciples, how to live as disciples and this is what drives me and what motivates me.
Vanessa: Have you ever struggled with discouragement?
Yeri: Jesus said, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." I decided to take up the cross and what I have learned through-out my life and ministry is what it says in these verses that make me very happy. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." So I teach the children that I have a cross, possibly the biggest cross. Bolivia is a huge cross, but it doesn't weigh anything. In other words, my life has always been one of resting on the promises of God. Therefore, I have never been discouraged in my life, it never discourages me. I would like to be depressed so I could come to the United States, there in Maine they have a cabin beside a lake and they treat the depressed pastors. But I can't because Jesus says that my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I know that Jesus' cross was heavy, mine is not. I have my cross, but I don't carry it with my own strength. It's like it says in Zechariah, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." And for this reason I have never been weary or tired of doing the work of God. It always makes my burden light because I know that the weight of the cross was carried by my teacher. Mine is light, and for this reason I have never felt discouraged.
Vanessa: What is it that encourages you in difficult times?
Yeri: I have always recognized what it says in verse that I learned when I was 5 years old. I wasn't even able to pronounce the words very well. Romans 1: 16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." This verse made sharing the gospel sound like an exciting adventure. I don't call myself a Christian, I call myself an Unsweetened Chocolate Evangelist. Back in the 60s when I would go to church it was an insult that the nonbelievers would call us, "unsweetened chocolate evangelists"*
and I have always said that evangelism is the most exciting adventure that a person can live because it is something that a person can enjoy every day and you can enjoy it to the fullest. It is not boring, not monotonous, this life is powerful, it's happy, it's dynamic. Really, it's a great thing to be part of the kingdom of God, it's fabulous, it's something exciting, it's novel, it's provoking in the sense of it challenging you to move forward. Through all of life and it's challenges it is the best adventure for the human to know God.
Vanessa: Share a verse that has been a blessing to you.
Yeri: One of my favorite verses is the day when Jesus said, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight." This is a verse that is very profound. For example, in my life back during the beginning stages of serving as an evangelist up until 1969 the Bible that I had was from the year 1960. It was a version with Spanish that was a little confusing for the Bolivians. Then, in 1969, the first of the revised versions of the Bible started arriving. And so then I could read and understand this Bible and the words, which in the older versions that I had grown up reading, I had not been able to understand. I think that the Bible is to be believed, to be obeyed. It contains promises, it contains commandments, it has precepts and so I love this verse and how it says that "thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent" When there is a person who is wise, God is going to hide things in His word. When there is a person who understands the word, God can make them blind. I would rather be a child. A child has to be 100% dependent. I have a granddaughter who is going to be 3 months old in April. And this past Sunday I was holding her and God told me, "She is your teacher." And I said, "How can that be? She is only 2 months and several days old." But God said, "Yes, you see, she is 100% dependent on her mom, her dad, her grandparents, her uncles and aunts to take care of her. She can't feed herself, she can't bathe herself, she can't do anything for herself. And if you don't become like her, if you aren't 100% dependent on me you will not be able to be like a child." I know that to believe is to be dependent. So a child is 100% dependent on others and the Psalm says "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength" That is to say the older I become, I just turned 65, the more I need strength from God. So I am going to be as it says in this verse. I am like a child. I love children and they love me. Between me and the children there is a formidable chemical, I can each them and I can enjoy it like a child.
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| Pastor Yeri enjoying some activities with his church |
Vanessa: What encouragement would you share with other people.
Yeri: To those of you are part of this great adventure, which is being servant of Jesus Christ. I know that the servant that doesn't pray, has problems because I know that prayer kills sin. So, if I pray a lot, sin is unable to cause damage in my life. If I don't pray, sin kills my life and it kills my prayer life. Therefore, the fundamental key to success for a person who wants to serve is to pray. The Bible says that Jesus is the rock and "whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." So, I would rather fall and be broken, recognizing that as a man I don't have the capacity to serve as a pastor, as a servant. This is not a work of the flesh, but a working of the spirit. Therefore, the best way to recognize this is while one is humbly turning to the Lord in prayer. As John said, "He must increase, but I must decrease." That is to say, I need to diminish, it needs to be less about me and more about Jesus. Jesus needs to increase and the only way to achieve this is to pray. And so, I encourage you, fellow servants. I love Psalm 134 where it says, “Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which stand by night in the house of the LORD. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion." How wonderful it is to go to God's house and stay the whole night praising Him because He is a magnificent creator, He is a powerful creator, He is an imaginative creator. His work is so detailed and we can see His power and magnificence in the things He has made. He is infinite, He goes on forever like the sand by the sea goes on forever. Like the leaves on the trees are innumerable. The hairs of all people in the world are innumerable, the snowflakes that fall in the places where it snows, the coconuts, the drops of water that fall everything in creation reminds me, it shows me, the great power of my God. And for this reason there is nothing better to do than recognize His greatness and praise Him, to allow Him to use us in His work. Because we are not the main characters in this story. Jesus is the main character and the Father uses us to bring honor to His son's name. This is the reason I tell you to spend more time praying, so God will open the heavens and His glory can be manifested through our simple lives. Our lives are full of faults, full of sin, full of imperfections, but they can be powerful in the hands of our living, great, and Unique God. There is no God, like my God.
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| The Cotoca church in 2022 |
Vanessa: Share a story of God's faithfulness
Yeri: I have many stories of God's faithfulness. In the early years at Cotoca we did not have a kitchen, we didn't have bedrooms, so for two years I slept in a tent. One day there was one of these animals that cause damage that entered my tent, so I moved the tent to find the animal to kill it and discovered that under the tent was a water puddle. And so, there was the reason for my back problems. I had been having back troubles and now I knew it was because it was over this water puddle. So I decided we needed a bedroom at the church. I went to one of the sisters from the community who had a hardware store and said, "I don't have any resources, but I don't know if you could give me the materials, etc." So she gave me the materials and we worked out a plan for me to pay so much every month. And it was good. Then one day she called me and said, "Pastor, I know it's not time for you to pay, but one of my other clients isn't able to pay and I need to pay the bank $700. I know it's not the time for you to pay and you don't have to pay, but I don't have any one else to go to and I need the money." And so I said to the children, "Pray, because this lady who kindly gave us the materials is needing money." That same day we had guests for lunch and after lunch one of our guests was preparing to leave for the airport. I offered that we could take her to the airport in my car, no problem, so she agreed and off we went to the airport. When we got there I helped her unload and she headed for the door and then she stopped and said, "Yeri, come here, I have something for you." So I went over and she handed me an envelope and then we said goodbye and she left. I got back into the van and handed the envelope to Ellie saying, "The lady gave this to me, would you open it and see what is in it?" So she opened it and there were $700, so I told the children about it and I said to them. It is not so important what the person gives as what I receive. When I asked God for $700 He sent it. It wouldn't have mattered how much money I had asked for, little or much. God provided what we asked for."
There are many more stories from Cotoca, stories of God providing for us so we could help families during the pandemic. We were able to provide basic food items for many families in the community. He provided sewing machines for our sewing classes at the church and those are still in use today. There are thousands of stories that I could tell, but these are some of the first ones that come to mind.
Thank you Vanessa for your time, I hope I haven't tired you out. I am a big talker.
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Thank you, my readers, for your interest in what God is doing around the world. If you think about it, pray for Pastor Yeri and Ellie. Pray for the churches and that God would continue to give strength and wisdom as Yeri guides and teaches the children and others who attend. And pray that God would continue to provide people to help out and help carry on the torch.
*the reason they were called unsweetened chocolate evangelists was because of the custom they had of serving hot cocoa after services. The missionaries who first came sharing the gospel did not put in as much sugar as the Bolivians were accustomed to, hence the nickname unsweetened chocolate evangelists.
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