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The CIC Has a New Home! | Cochabamba in the Middle 
Changed Lives: Miriam and Ivan | Archives

The CIC Has a New Home!
The Cochabamba International Church (CIC) has long had the dream of buying property. We currently meet in rented facilities on Sundays and lease office space for our pastoral staff and for the activities that take place during the week (Bible study groups, youth group, women’s ministries, college and young professionals group, young marrieds group, drama rehearsals, English classes and pastoral training seminars).

However, the CIC will soon be able to stop paying rent, because we have purchased land! The land is located in a prime location in Cochabamba (Cala Cala) and is being purchased from another non-profit organization. This mission has generously sold it to us at a below-market price. The land has some buildings on it that we will be able to use for office space and small groups. Plans are already being made to build a sanctuary to accommodate our membership. Currently, our average attendance is about 275, although some Sundays we surpass 325! We are quickly outgrowing our rented facilities.

We are so excited about this new step for the CIC. Due to a generous donation from the USA, the land has been paid for in full! However, the church lacks funds to complete the building project. If you would like to be a part of this new adventure through prayer or a financial gift, please contact us at: cic@vivabolivia.org.

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Cochabamba in the Middle
Cochabamba occupies a unique place in Bolivian geography and politics. Known as the “City of Eternal Spring,” Cochabamba has a dry, pleasant climate of generally warm days and cool nights. At an elevation of 8,500 feet, it does not have the tropical vegetation and humidity of lowland cities such as Santa Cruz. It is also warmer and greener than altiplano (high plains) cities such as Oruro and La Paz (at elevations of 10,000 to 14,000 feet).

Bolivians who are from lowland areas are known as “cambas”. Those from the highland areas are known as “collas” (koi-yahs). Elevation-wise, Cochabamba is between the two. Politically, Cochabamba is also divided with a mix of both people groups and a mix of both left and right-leaning politicians. Recently, we came across the graffiti in the photo above. It demonstrates the dilemma for Cochalos (people from Cochabamba). It says, “Not colla (highlanders), nor camba (lowlanders), Kochalo.” The spelling of Cochalo with a “k” is the more traditional spelling, as the name “Cochabamba” is derived from two Quechua words—“k’ocha” (lake) and “pampa” (plain).

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Changed Lives:  Miriam and Ivan
Miriam and Ivan both attend the CIC. Viva Bolivia recently helped sponsor Ivan and Miriam’s attendance at a leadership development seminar in Peru. In this seminar, they learned about “tentmaking” (living and working in a foreign country while also sharing your faith with others), the importance of effective communication for teamwork, the different types of personalities and how to interact most effectively with each personality type.

Ivan and Miriam have both been on short-term missions trips—Ivan to India and Miriam to Eastern Europe. Ivan would love to return to India, if possible, and Miriam has plans to live in the Middle East.

Through a Café Yungas grant, VB helped cover their travel expenses from Bolivia to Peru. Following are a few words about the seminar from Miriam and Ivan.

Miriam
I will use what I learned in the seminar to try to communicate more effectively with the people around me (expressing my thoughts completely when trying to explain something). I will also try to be a better listener. I know that not everyone has the same personality as me and I can work on certain aspects of my personality so that I can be a better team member. I will also use this knowledge to better understand others, as I now know how to recognize the various types of personalities.

At the seminar, they encouraged us to write goals for this year, and I will try to reach these goals. I will also try to be more disciplined about my devotional habits and will soon begin to disciple others.

It was wonderful to see that, of all the Latin American countries that were represented at the seminar, Bolivia had the largest number of participants!

One funny thing that happened at the seminar was an activity where they divided us into groups based on our favorite pastimes. One of the groups was made up of people who liked cooking. The group was comprised totally of men—not even one woman!

It was a blessing to be able to participate in this training, because we learned key strategies for working in a team as well as for working in a foreign country. We can also share what we learned, because the speakers gave us several of their PowerPoint presentations so that we could use them to train others. I am so thankful to the CIC and to Viva Bolivia for their financial support. Many thanks to you and God bless you!

Ivan
The seminar was well planned, although the climate was very hot and humid! I want to build on what I learned in the seminar by studying at CET (Center for Trans-cultural Training) in Cochabamba later this year. After that,  I want to work as a “tentmaker” in a foreign country.

One special thing about this seminar was that I had a chance to see the ocean! For a Bolivian, this is a nostalgic experience.* I also played soccer with a group of other young men at 5:00 in the morning, because there was no other time for us to play!

*Editor’s Note:  Bolivia has been a landlocked country since the War of the Pacific with Chile (1879-84).  During that war, Bolivia lost the small amount of coastline they had previously held. Bolivians still remember this loss by celebrating “Day of the Sea” every year on March 23rd.

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Newsletter Archive
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