Since the start of this year, Bolivia has been shaken by political tensions and deep economic uncertainty. For many, daily life has become a struggle. As the presidential elections approached at the end of August, people prayed for peace and justice.
The economic crisis is severe. The official bank rate offers 6.95 Bolivianos per euro, while local exchange offices sometimes give up to 16, a difference that makes daily life and bookkeeping extremely difficult. Paying with credit cards is nearly impossible in the cities, and in the villages where we serve there is often no electricity or internet. Fuel shortages can delay our medical journeys for days, and frequent protests and road blockades hinder our expeditions to remote areas.
Yet the need is urgent. In La Chiquitanía, the Bolivian Amazon, in the Chaco, bordering Paraguay, and across the Andes, countless forgotten villages have no access to medical care. With your support, we can reach them with life-saving help.
In the face of uncertainty, we cling to God's promise: he cares for us even during the most difficult times.
For more than 35 years, I have followed God's call together with my wife and our dedicated Bolivian medical, logistical, pastoral and creative team.
To go where no medical doctor comes.
This way, we have brought medical care to villages, not only in the medical field, but also in the field of lasting hope.
This spring, heavy rains and landslides made the Andes villages unreachable — the paths along the Río Pilcomayo were completely washed away. Later in the year we were able to return and continue serving. Our monthly expenses include purchasing thousands of medicines, paying staff salaries, and maintaining our vehicles to cross the rugged terrain.
Even now, in July and August 2025, we press on through the cold of the Andean winter. Thankfully, winter also means the dry season, making travel a little easier. With virtually no outside help, our work can literally save lives, treating diseases before they become serious, or even deadly. The relief and gratitude in the eyes of the children, and adults, confirm how indispensable our help is here.
Thanks to your prayers, gifts and faithful support, this work has continued unbroken for 35 years. Our gratitude, and that of our Bolivian team, is immense. All glory to God, who calls, guides and strengthens us to make his love tangible in the most remote places.
We needed to end our work in Haiti in 2023 due to extreme violence: an unrelenting Haitian and Colombian gang war made the situation extremely unsafe. These armed gangs struck Haiti with terror, including sexual violence, torture, killings and kidnappings of missionaries and volunteers for ransom, and our local team had to flee. In the two years leading up to mid-2025, about 1.3 million people were internally displaced in Haiti by the violence, a record high, and nearly half a million fled to the US without papers. Haiti rarely appears in the news and needs much prayer.
