tedd and emily: COMIBAM's IV Ibero-America Missions Conference

I've been traveling A LOT lately. So when I found out about COMIBAM's fourth decadal Ibero-America Missions Conference, I was torn. Because of all the traveling, I was reluctant to go.....but I knew that it would be a great opportunity to network with the missionary community. Most people don't know about Literacy & Evangelism International, so the first battle we face is to get the word out there. Our founder, Rev. Bob Rice, always said that literacy is the blindspot in missions. I talked and prayed about it with Emily and we agreed that I should go to Bogotá, Colombia (she's an amazing woman of faith!).

So, here are some definitions that will help:
COMIBAM - (Cooperación Misionera Iberoamericana) - An international congress to promote the development of the missions movement within Ibero-America

IBERO-AMERICA - Basically this means Spanish and Portuguese speaking Latin America plus Spain, Portugal, and Equatorial Guinea (the only African country where Spanish is the national language)

IV CONGRESO MISIONERO IBEROAMERICANO - This conference is like the "Urbana" of Latin America, but it's wider in scope and occurs less frequently....just once every ten years.

This missions conference was a spectacular experience and a tremendous opportunity to connect with over 400 different mission agencies and 2000 missionary candidates. I started each day by praying, "Lord, lead me to the people who need to know about literacy and ESL ministry." That simple prayer produced countless divine appointments that ultimately led to invitations for materials-development and training workshops. I am also dialoging now with several other agencies and talking about how our two organizations can form a mutually-beneficial alliance.

This brother from Equatorial Guinea has just finished translating the Bible in his mother tongue. I asked him if he was doing literacy. He said "Not yet, but I want to start & have been looking for someone who could help us develop a primer"

I also got to spend time meeting with LEI Canada's missionary - Carolina Perdomo. She has been doing great work as a literacy consultant for a number of different groups, including our partner organization in Guatemala, LAMP.

Carolina (red jacket) with leaders from Colombian organizations whom she's trained in literacy ministry.

Carolina's host family - Diva and Alfredo - also hosted me during the conference. They were extremely kind and generous.

One of the tasty Colombian breakfasts I had - scrambled eggs w/ corn, arepa, fresh cheese, and perfectly ripened papaya.

In the 15 years I've been in Latin America, I've seen the steady transition of Latin America transforming from a mission field to a missionary force. Latin missionaries are now in all regions of the world. They are uniquely equipped for transcultural ministry; their culture, appearance, nationality, and values all make them arguably more suitable and effective than their western missionary counterparts. It's nothing short of a slow revolution in world missions.

We appreciate your prayers for God's continued guidance as we attempt to work together more effectively to accomplish the mission our Lord gave us - to make disciples in ALL NATIONS.