MISIONARY'S PRAYER LETTER
PALM OnlineNews
Meet the Chuyma Family
Article from: Chuyma Family. Diego was born in the Altiplano of Bolivia where his grandfather started the first Church in their town. Diego accepted Christ at a young age. While teaching school in Bolivia at the age of twenty-three he was awarded the opportunity to study in the United States. He received his Bachelors degree of theology from Barclay College in Kansas and his Masters of Divinity degree from Azusa Pacific University in California. He felt that God was calling him to return to Bolivia and share what he had learned with the people there. He then moved to Santa Cruz, Bolivia (18 hour drive from his parents) to teach Theology at a university there and to start a church. In 2005 he married Rebecca and in 2007 they moved to the States where Diego began work on his Doctorate of Ministry degree in Leadership development.
In Diego\'s 15 years of teaching in Bolivia, he reached the point where most of his co-workers were his former students who began teaching without any further education. He saw a great need to develop a way to further educate them. In 2007 the Bolivian government passed a new law requiring all professors to have at least one semester of their Master\'s degree completed in order to teach. There are not currently any Master\'s Degree of Theology programs in the country. Upon completing his Doctorate Degree Diego will be one of the most highly educated Bolivians in the area of Theology. He feels God calling him to return to Bolivia and attempt to start the first Master\'s of Theology program in Bolivia. He will teach theology at the undergraduate level until he is able to move up to teaching at the master\'s level. He will also focus on discipling and encouraging local leaders.
Rebecca grew up in Barrington, Illinois. At sixteen she accepted Christ as her Savior. Soon after she prayed Romans 12:1 and told God that she wanted Him to use her life as a living sacrifice. Many people encouraged her into missions. She received her Bachelors of Ministry degree in Missions from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. She then continued to study and received her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Loyola University; she also took master degree classes in Nursing. In 2000 she moved to Ecuador and worked training village health care workers. In 2005 when she married Diego and she moved to Bolivia, there she taught nursing at a Christian university. She is currently working as a hospital nurse.
 Upon returning to Bolivia Rebecca will work as Diego\'s helpmate and administrative assistant. She will also work as a nurse with street children in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. She will join Operation Restoration and their teams on the streets in the storm drains and sewers of the city encouraging the children and teenagers to leave their life on the streets. As a nurse she will help the mobile medical units to provide first aid to kids while on the street. The first step off the streets is moving to a reception home. There children spend five days of personal preparation and orientation as they make their initial decision to leave their life on the streets. Rebecca will be involved in caring for the kids medical needs before they move into restoration homes, where they return to full-time education and are supported psychologically, socially and spiritually, with the aim of bringing a personal knowledge of God and His purpose for their lives, achieving a high school education and preparation for adult life. This is an exciting ministry where Rebecca has seen God actively working and she is excited to become involved.
John was born October 29, 2006 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. He is now a healthy, active three year old. He loves cars and trains and enjoys going to preschool two days a week. He is excited to return to Bolivia because in his words, “When we get our new house we get a dog!”
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