October 2023- Thank you

In Amparo’s existence there has not been a month with more exposure than September of 2023.

‘Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can do much to help it.’ – Learned Hand

Awareness Campaign

Due to the movie Sound of Freedom, we saw the interest in sexual exploitation of children grow in Bolivian society like never before.

The movie was released in movie theaters across Bolivia on August 31rst. And we had the huge chance to be present for two weeks in three of the main movie theaters in the country. We had a booth in each movie theater with four volunteers and one staff per day in order to answer questions of people after seeing the movie and canalize their interest to be part of the solution.

We estimate we were able to engage face to face with at least 10.000 people during this time. Plus a video we released during the campaign reached more than 300.000 people and got 46.000 interactions in 1 month. Currently there are several Churches, families and individuals interested in joining Amparo’s work. This month we will work in the follow up of it.

Please pray Bolivian society rallies around the fight for a Bolivia free of child sexual exploitation. If Bolivians are not actively fighting against it there is no way of winning the fight.

In-person Board Meeting

Last year our Board of Directors committed to meet in-person once a year. Which is a big challenge. We have members from across the US (Oregon, Texas, West Virginia and Indiana) and me in Bolivia. The 4th weekend of September that commitment was honored. We gathered in Westfield Indiana for two days and had a great time together. Amparo is blessed to have this Governing Body giving of their time and resources freely, believing in what God is doing through Amparo. We meet regularly through zoom, usually once a month, but as we learnt in the covid pandemic there is nothing like face to face interaction.

Dinner in Westfield

On September 22^nd we held a dinner with people from the Indianapolis – Westfield area. It was a first time for us to organize an event this size (around 40 people were there). Our goal with the event was not to raise a certain amount of money but rather to bring awareness and see what doors God might open.  It was also the first time we were able to organize an event in the US with Bolivian staff members present!!! It was an honor for me and Matilde (Prevention Program Coordinator) to be there.

Weekend with Brazos Pointe Fellowship

The first weekend of October I visited, with my wife and son, Brazos Pointe Fellowship [1]in Lake Jackson – Texas. It was a wonderful couple of days. In 5 days we shared 10 times about Amparo with a different group of people each time. The night of Wednesday 27^th we shared in their student ministry service with around 150 high and mid school students. Sunday morning they held an ‘Amparo Sunday’ where both of their services were focused on what God is doing through Amparo. It is a huge blessing to see Churches coming along side us. We are convinced we cannot do what we do separate from the Global Church, the body of Christ our Lord.

We really appreciate when people take of their time and energy to hear Amparo’s story. Reading this update too, THANK YOU! While exposure and awareness are good we can fall short if we do not take action based on what we learnt. Echoing pastor Randy Dane from Brazos Pointe Fellowship. We pray all would care, some would give, and some would come.

In order to finish 2023 strong we need your giving. We have great plans to grow in 2024 (I’ll share about that in the next update). But we need your prayers and financial support to make it happen.

If you feel called to support the ministry whether that be one time or monthly we would greatly appreciate it.  By no means do you need to feel obligated in any way.  While we have big goals and dreams we know that God will provide because He certainly has in the past 5 years and we thank you for that!