First United Methodist Church Centre, Partnering with Cochabamba International Church in Bolivia, is active in advancing the kingdom of God among the Quechua People.
What do you see in the road ahead? A cross? This is the monument to integration, standing in the entrance to the town of Quillacollo in the Cochabamba valley of Bolivia. From here it sure looks Christian.
As we get closer we see some shifts in the "cross". The three story high monument starts to show some angles and lines that a solid structure should not have.
As we come to the base and see the monument up close and at another angle we see that it is not a cross at all but three separate buildings adorned with cubes, a triangle and even a quarter moon, that represents Pachamama (Earth Mother). This is not a monument to the integration of people but the integration of religions.
This monument illustrates well the state of the religious system of Bolivia. If you look in Wikipidia you will find that Bolivian religion breaks down as: "Catholic 77.99%, Protestant 19.46%, No religion 2.44%, and Other 0.11% " According to this 97.45% of Bolivians are Christian. That's like seeing the monument from a distance. It looks Christian. But,when we get close enough to the culture we see their true religious beliefs, things come apart, like the monument, revealing that most who call themselves Christian have only placed a veneer of Christian terminology over their traditional religious beliefs.
Many of these "Christians" still make sacrifices to mother earth and other spirits.
They follow set ritual in order to gain good luck and avoid bad luck.
They have renamed their gods using the names of Mary and the saints
Very few understand or have faith in Jesus Christ.
The Quechua people of Bolivia are an intelligent and hard working people!
The Quechua language has over 1,200 words pertaining to the potato but no word for forgiveness. You can imagine that the concept of forgiveness is not well understood in a culture that has no word for it.
Our Quechua Partnership is active in the Cochabamba department demonstrating that the Christian faith addresses every part of a person's life. Spiritual, Physical, Social and other needs are acknowledged by the ministry of our partners Javier and Lidia Soliz along with the many volunteers who want to share their faith with their their own people in their own neighborhoods and beyond.
We use Appropriate Technology as a tool for showing the Quechua that God loves them and is interested in their day-to-day lives.
Javier demonstrates a simple solar cooker. These cookers work well in the high altitude and can be made for about $4.
At their request, Lidia teaches women of Palkapampa how to make their own solar cookers.
They are excited to make something with their own hands that will help their families and lessen the time they need to gather fire wood.
Boiling food can be insulated inside a simple potato sack filled with hay, wool or rags. It will continue to cook and be ready to eat in 2 hours
Lidia explains how she is cooking as they visit. She has her lunch cooking in her bundle insulated by old clothes.
Going into the pastor's house in Salla Wasi, Quechua partner Bill Scroggin, finds Lidia and the Pastor sitting in the cooking area.
The wood fire smoke has blackened almost everything in the room. The occupants' lungs have undoubtedly absorbed much of the smoke as well.
We started mixing mud, straw and at his request, horse manure, to make a fuel efficient mud stove with a chimney. This lessens the work gathering fire wood and takes most of the smoke out of the house giving a great health benefit to the whole family.
A finished stove excites a croud of Methodist pastors
Kids at Llave Grande school learn how God's Creation of the earth is for everyone and can be used for many things
In communities where water is hard to get at or is polluted, teaching folks how to build simple inexpensive water pumps is a good way to share God's love in ways people understand.
Javier shows these high school students the innovative valves made from PVC pipe, wire and bicycle tube.
These are members of a church located south of the city of Cochabamba. The only water in the community has to be trucked in. They must store water in cisterns to have enough for their day to day needs. The problem was getting the water out of the cisterns while keeping it clean. We showed them that by using a simple pump that, they could build, the cistern could remain closed to keep out pollutants while giving easy access to the water within. They were so excited that these pumps worked that they started plans to teach others this technology as an outreach from the church to their community.
What better time to share the Water of Life than while sharing clean natural water.
The Quechua Partnership at First United Methodist Church Centre
Reaching out to other parts of the world, and cultures different from our own with the Good News of Jesus Christ
What do you see in the road ahead? A cross? This is the monument to integration, standing in the entrance to the town of Quillacollo in the Cochabamba valley of Bolivia. From here it sure looks Christian.
As we get closer we see some shifts in the "cross". The three story high monument starts to show some angles and lines that a solid structure should not have.
As we come to the base and see the monument up close and at another angle we see that it is not a cross at all but three separate buildings adorned with cubes, a triangle and even a quarter moon, that represents Pachamama (Earth Mother). This is not a monument to the integration of people but the integration of religions.
The Quechua language has over 1,200 words pertaining to the potato but no word for forgiveness. You can imagine that the concept of forgiveness is not well understood in a culture that has no word for it.
Javier demonstrates a simple solar cooker. These cookers work well in the high altitude and can be made for about $4.
At their request, Lidia teaches women of Palkapampa how to make their own solar cookers.
They are excited to make something with their own hands that will help their families and lessen the time they need to gather fire wood.
Lidia explains how she is cooking as they visit. She has her lunch cooking in her bundle insulated by old clothes.
Going into the pastor's house in Salla Wasi, Quechua partner Bill Scroggin, finds Lidia and the Pastor sitting in the cooking area.
The wood fire smoke has blackened almost everything in the room. The occupants' lungs have undoubtedly absorbed much of the smoke as well.
We started mixing mud, straw and at his request, horse manure, to make a fuel efficient mud stove with a chimney. This lessens the work gathering fire wood and takes most of the smoke out of the house giving a great health benefit to the whole family.
A finished stove excites a croud of Methodist pastors
Kids at Llave Grande school learn how God's Creation of the earth is for everyone and can be used for many things
In communities where water is hard to get at or is polluted, teaching folks how to build simple inexpensive water pumps is a good way to share God's love in ways people understand. 
Javier shows these high school students the innovative valves made from PVC pipe, wire and bicycle tube.
These are members of a church located south of the city of Cochabamba. The only water in the community has to be trucked in. They must store water in cisterns to have enough for their day to day needs. The problem was getting the water out of the cisterns while keeping it clean. We showed them that by using a simple pump that, they could build, the cistern could remain closed to keep out pollutants while giving easy access to the water within. They were so excited that these pumps worked that they started plans to teach others this technology as an outreach from the church to their community.
What better time to share the Water of Life than while sharing clean natural water.
