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Above: the church building in Zapocó |
| Indigenous Communities |
Through the initiative of Bolivian leaders, LATCOM is supporting the transformation of villages in eastern Bolivia. This work began in 1998 in the Ayoré village of Zapocó and has spread to the neighboring region known as the Lomerio, a collection of villages and settlements of the Chiquitos.
 The village of ZapocóZapocó has emerged with an infrastructure that is unparalleled in eastern Bolivia. They have a fledgling economy through forestry and cattle programs. Their spiritual leaders have begun to impact their small community in positive ways, and the church is growing again. LATCOM has done this by supporting the ministry of Onesimo and Elodia Rojas, Bolivian nationals who have left their lives in the city of Santa Cruz to minister to the Ayore people. The Rojases implemented a plan to return the community to a God-centered life in five areas: The first project was a new church building, built by a USA Work and Ministry Team, and dedicated in 1999. The most visible sign of transformation of the village is the over thirty two-room houses that have been built with the help of LATCOM donors and Work and Ministry Teams. Ayoré families who had left the village years before are now returning, and Zapocó has nearly doubled its population. It is our hope to make Zapocó an example to the other Ayore communities in Bolivia and to the neighboring communities of the Lomerio. The Lomerio region
LATCOM's first ministry venture into the Lomerio was to install a solar-powered recording studio in the home of Pablo Chuve to record and to broadcast the Gospel in the Chiquitano language. Pablo had been serving as a missionary--without any support--to his own Chiquitano people and wanted to broadcast the Gospel to cover the area. Seeing the great spiritual need of the area, LATCOM soon entered into a partnership with Pablo and with Miguel Ipama, a local pastor and the "voice" for the Bible recordings. With the help of the Rojases, LATCOM has begun new work that is modeled on the Rojases success in nearby Zapocó. As in Zapocó, LATCOM Work and Ministry Teams have constructed a church building in 2007 in the Lomerio and have run Daily Vacation Bible Schools for the Chiquitano children. Background about Zapocó and the Lomerio Zapocó begun in the 1950s as a missionary base from which to contact the nomadic and fierce Ayoré people. From the early 1950s through the 1970s, missionaries Chuck and Jean Ramsey evangelized and ministered to the Ayorés and, to a limited extent, to nearby Lomerio villages. The region collectively known as "the Lomerio" is a group of at least twenty-eight villages of the Chiquitos. These were outposts of Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth century, who taught the Chiquitos about Christianity but also arts and crafts. Local Catholic churches, known for their high-quality craftmanship, are spread throughout the area. Also from the influence of the Jesuits is the Chiquitano embrace of Baroque-style music. Each year, a Baroque music festival is held in the many churches and towns throughout the Lomerio. Today, out of the twenty-eight villages, thirteen to fifteen of these villages have not had the Gospel presented to them consistently or with a concentrated plan. In early 2010, LATCOM's national missionaries launched the NETS Project to evangelize these villages. |
in eastern Bolivia.
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Copyright © 2011 LATCOM
Copyright © 2011 LATCOM