SOCIAL NETWORKING...IN PERSON

First off I have to apologize for my parents. Sunday was a very full morning of driving all around the city visiting our seven different churches, but mom and dad left the house without the camera so we didn’t capture all the adventure. I will post a few pics that dad took on his basic phone camera, but they are a bit blurry.

Pastor Fimo preaching at the church anniversary service.
The last church we stopped at happened to be having a 19th anniversary celebration.

Me with one of the ladies from Rios de Agua Viva.  (Rivers of Living Water)

So you might be asking why we visited all seven churches in one morning. The simple answer is…technology.

My generation will grow up in a world that has always had iPhones, iPads, “the Cloud”, high speed internet, digital photography, mp3 players, etc. Did you see that the latest iPhone has a personal fingerprint recognition security feature? Wow. Perhaps you have noticed that more and more people around you have smart phones, tablets, gaming devices, etc. People like to be connected. What is it that dad said?...Plugged in. People like to be plugged in to what is going on.

That is true here in Bolivia as well. Just sometimes the plugging in happens in different forms. The National Church has a calendar of events that each pastor receives in December at the general church conference in La Paz. Sometimes events come up that were not prescheduled to be on that calendar. The soccer tournament hosted by The New Hope Tutoring Center on September 24 is one of those events. This past Sunday mom, dad, and I went around to all of the churches to distribute posters and ask the pastors to promote the event to their congregations.

There are very few of our pastors who have their own personal computers, smart phones, or even internet service in their homes. Some may have e-mail or even a facebook page for their church, but they generally access this from one of the internet cafes around the city and possibly only once a week (probably varies for each pastor). So sending out an email blast announcement or creating a facebook group of all our pastors is not the best form of communication. We will see if that changes in a few years, but part of me hopes it doesn’t.  I like going to all the churches and hearing people say how cute I am. I love getting held, hugged, and loved on. “Como una muñeca” (Like a doll) is what they say.  In many ways the face to face time helps mom and dad too. They know that the pastor actually has the poster or announcement in hand instead of hoping that he may have found a way to print the linked file that they sent over e-mail. They can also answer any questions right then and there. Clear communication is vital especially when speaking in your second language (Spanish). Just like in the states, different people have different accents and sometimes it can really help to see the person’s lips moving.

Sometimes it takes a bit more time and energy, but isn’t that what ministry is about anyway? It’s about relationships and those take time…or so they tell me.

Thanks for listening. Talk to you next week.

Cecilia Joy

Look at this cool promo Coca-Cola is doing down here!!!
They print new names each week and WE FOUND MINE!