“… that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God”
Colossians 1:9–10
Hello, I am Gabriel Warkentin, 19 years old, and a member of the Mennonite congregation in Detmold. Through God’s guidance, I have been able to work with the Bolivienhilfe since August 2022.
I came to faith in Jesus Christ in 2015 during an evangelistic event. That’s when I realised that the life I’d been leading previously made no sense, and that the ‘prayer of conversion’ I’d once prayed as a small child wasn’t genuine and hadn’t brought about any change. Ever since I have been walking with Jesus Christ, my prayer has been that God would reveal His plan for my life to me, and I began praying early on, particularly regarding my choice of career. Then, a year before I finished my A-levels, when I applied for university courses and vocational training programmes and gradually received nothing but rejections, God gave me the idea of going on a mission. I began to pray specifically for this and spoke about it with my parents, my boyfriend and the elders of my church. It had been several years since anyone I knew had spent a year on mission in Bolivia, so I started by finding out more about it, and over time God clearly showed me that he wanted to use me there too.
I’m mainly here as a teaching assistant at the school in Sommerfeld. There, I teach maths, German, Bible studies and PE. I also pick up a few schoolchildren on the school bus and take them home again. I attend the church in Sommerfeld and am able to serve there too. I sing in the choir and help out with the youth group by leading introductions and Bible study sessions. I live in the Swift Old Colony. A group has been meeting here for some time now, and it’s growing steadily – two or three times a week. Once for a Bible study, once for a singing session, and every other Sunday afternoon for the service. I attend these gatherings as well.
Even though we’re here in Bolivia, far from family and friends, and there are often challenges, this time is very enriching and we get to experience so much with God. In particular, knowing that we’re exactly where God wants us to be and that we’re serving God here gives us strength time and again.
