El Redentor - Redeemer Lutheran

El Redentor is a large Lutheran church located in La Paz. It was founded in the 1960's by a group that claimed to be a confessional Lutheran Church. The constitution of the church states that they follow all the Lutheran Confessions.

There are several other churches affiliated with this Lutheran group - all claiming to be Lutheran in their confession and practice. In reality, this has not always been true, as several of the leaders adhere to Pentecostal and Reformed teachings and practices.

About four years ago, one of the members of Redeemer church wanted to investigate what it meant to be a "confessional" Lutheran. He tried to find out which Lutheran churches truthfully taught the confessions and the teachings of the Bible. That is what led him to WELS.

For the past four years, LATTE member Larry Retberg, has been making regular trips into La Paz to work with the leaders of these different churches. On each trip, he has presented the confessional teachings of the church for consideration by these leaders. The Holy Spirit has blessed these teaching trips and some of the leaders are willing to present these truths to their members, even though it means much turmoil among their members as they struggle with these "new" teachings.

Now that we will be living here in La Paz, our task will be to continue teaching biblical doctrines and working with these leaders as they continue to study and present these teachings in their churches to their congregations. Our prayer is that they will recognize and reject the false teachings they have been taught and by the work of the Holy Spirit will full heartedly subscribe to and follow all the teachings of their true Redeemer, Jesus.

Welcome to La Paz!

We arrived in La Paz on Monday morning at 6 AM after a six hour flight from Miami. Since we had done previous paperwork for Bolivian visas, we were able to pass through immigration without any problems. A member of the Bolivian church was there to receive and drive us down the mountain into the city.

We have had a few problems adjusting to the high altitude. We are at 12,000 ft. (2 miles) high and have had some headaches and nausea. You have to walk slow because of the thin air. It is also colder here than in Santiago. It gets down to 50 F overnight, and there is no heating system in the houses.

In our first week here we have made contact with a lawyer who works with foreigners trying to acquire Bolivian residency. She had taken us to Interpol where we gave photos and fingerprints and they will do an international background check on us. We have also been to the National Police where we also gave fingerprints and applied for a Certificate of Good Behavior. Our third stop was to get a Health Certificate. This included: blood pressure, blood sample, lung x-rays, general check up by dr., and dental check. We need to get all our papers together and then we will submit them to the Bolivian authorities to receive our residency papers.

In the evenings we have been attending the LATTE classes led by Larry Retberg. He is here offering classes for the leaders. This has been an opportunity for us to get to know the leaders and have time to talk with them between sessions. We appreciate all the work that Larry has done with the leaders here. He has laid the groundwork for the work to be continued with a worker living here permanently.

We thank God for bringing us here safely and for all the blessings He is pouring out on us. We ask for your continued prayers so His Word may be spread to many more souls.