Radio Interview

On December 11th we were invited by a friend and "The Well Radio" anchor Gina Johnson to come on and share with her listeners. If you were not able to tune into the interview, you can click below to listen.

If you or someone you know has an outlet to speak in the media where we can share our story and spread the word of what He is doing here, please let us know!

Business Growth

A special thanks goes out to Carlisle & Company for allowing us to pick the brain of consultant Samuel Frank! Samuel joined us in Cochabamba for 3 weeks in November and provided pro-bono consulting for IOU’s supporting businesses, including Bolivia’s Best Coffee and hardwood flooring exportation. His hard work and insight were a great asset to IOU and helped to streamline our communications and give “backbones” to many of our ideas.
His passion, enthusiasm, and friendship will be missed, but we are confident he will be back! Thanks for using your gifts for IOU, Samuel!

We are also excited about the opportunity for exporting high-end wood flooring as another means of supporting IOU. Cochabamba is home to Jolyka, a company that sells exotic wood flooring. Jolyka has their FSC certification, a difficult “Green” certification to obtain and the only flooring company in Bolivia to boast this title. If you know someone in the flooring business or custom home-building business, we would love to connect with them and talk about an opportunity to sell high-quality wood flooring at a great price and help the children of Bolivia. Jolyka has graciously offered to allow us to export the wood at cost to benefit out mission.

We are blessed to have termendous support for Bolivia's Best Coffee, opportunities with Jolyka flooring, and childrens' lives that these businesses have the opportunity to touch. Our deepest appreciation to all those who donate their time, talents, and networks to help further the businesses that support His work in Bolivia!

Happy Anniversary

Did you know that Bonnie and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary on October 20th? I shared that news with a taxi driver earlier this week. He told me that he was on his 2nd marriage and they have a six month old baby and this relationship was doing so well either. He asked me for advice, that doesn’t happen too often. It was a short ride but I still managed to give him a two point sermon. First I told him, to recognize the fact that he married an imperfect spouse; he laughed immediately and agreed. I waved my finger at him as he looked for approval from me in the rearview mirror. I assured him that was only half of the first point and that she also needed to recognize that he wasn’t perfect either and they both need to be tolerant and forgiving. As I began point two he seemed a bit more somber and attentive. I told him he had to let her know he appreciates her constantly. We celebrated communion this last week along with many Churches that set aside the first Sunday of the month. We discussed the chances of a successful relationship where you only communicate or celebrate a loved one once a month or once a year? He asked if the flowers in my hand were for our anniversary and I told him yes but not our 25th year; it was to celebrate an anniversary of another day together. He charged me 10bs but I gave him 20bs if he promised to by his wife flowers with the change. Not everyone is blessed to have a wife like mine that would follow me to the ends of the earth; however, all marriages are a blessing. I pray for each one of you that’s been blessed with a partner to share your life with.

Another Brother

Another brother! Remberto’s younger brother, Juan Pablo (Juanpi), graduated from high school last year. He’s been training with a good friend of ours Nate Hitson who started a ministry to street boys through a carpentry shop. For the past four months Juanpi has been working side by side with Javier, a Bolivian pastor and carpenter. Just last week Juanpi gave his life to Jesus Christ. I can’t tell you how excited we were when we learned that another of Remberto’s family has joined His family. Victories like this allow all our struggles and grief to simply melt away. Praise God!