About the ministry…

• Angie's Bios
• DaRonn's Bios
• Important dates?
• Who are you connected with?
• What do you do
• Orphanage statistics?
• Church history?
• Vision?
• Statement of beliefs?

About Bolivia and it’s people…

• Where is Bolivia?
• Statistics about Bolivia?
• Weather in Bolivia?
• Interesting customs?
• Typical holidays?
• What do Bolivians look like?
• What do Bolivians sound like?
• Map of Bolivia
• Flag of Bolivia

About being a missionary…

• Training?
• Where have you been?
• Why Bolivia?
• How did you get started?
• Greatest challenge?
• Greatest joy?
• Language learning?

About our family…

• Anniversary?
• Birthdays and kids names?
• A day in the life of DaRonn?
• A day in the life of Angie?
• Schooling of the children?
• Home life?
• Bi-lingual?

Answers

Angie Washington:

Interests: Blogging, reading and writing

Places I have been: United States, Australia, Botswana, Costa Rica, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia

Favorite Reads: Bible, C.S. Lewis books, Shel Silverstein books, Oz books, classic literature and blogs of my friends

Favorite Movies: “Far and Away” and “In Good Company”

Favorite Foods: sandwiches and sushi

My story:I was born in Omaha, Nebraska 1976 the eldest of 5 to Christian parents. When I was 8 years old I received Christ as my savior at a Derek Prince meeting; soon after I was baptized in water and with the Holy Spirit. It was about this some time in my life that I began to feel the tug to foreign nations. My trips to Australia, Botswana and Costa Rica clinched the issue. I knew that I was going to be a missionary.

I met my wonderful husband when I was 15 at the youth group in our church in Omaha. While our differences were obvious the passions of our heartbeats were almost identical. We were married November 23, 1996. We made our way south to Bolivia. We spent two years in St. Joseph, Missouri as members of Word of Life Church under the pastorate of Brian and Peri Zahnd being strengthed in the word of God. Then two years were spent in Tulsa, Oklahoma at Billy Joe Daughertys World Mission Training Center. It was from there that we made the tremendous move to full-time, overseas career missions in Bolivia in 2001.

We now have four children: Raimy, Timothy, Gabrielle and Tyler. I am home schooling them. My involvement with the ministry established here consists of helping my husband as we pastor a local church in the teaching capacity. I also help out whenever I can in the office and in the orphanage. I am also a published author. My main focus is creating a haven for my family at home.

DaRonn Washington:

Interests: Bowling, writing, spending time with my wife and traveling.

Places I have been: United States, Germany, Costa Rica, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil and Bolivia

Favorite Reads: Bible and The Travels Gift.

Favorite Movies: “Matrix”, "Adventures of Riddick" and “Lord of the Rings”

Favorite Foods: Pizza, Pancakes and desserts.

The city that we lived in at the time was a very rough city. In fact time magazine declared it as one of the most dangerous cities in the country because of gang violence. In my particular neighborhood there were shootings all of the time. Very high in gang violence. But that we the city that my friends and I grew up in. Next door to us was a Christian couple. I did not know this couple very well only had seen them every once and a while. I was junior high age around the time and they had a kids club (a type of Sunday school program in their home each week). They would fill their house with little social misfits each week, sing songs, play games, tell stories and also sold cookies. It was not before long that this couple began to invite my friends and I to the children’s club. At took us a while to start coming but after a while we started to come. I must admit that in the beginning the main reason we came was to get the snacks. We pretty much found ourselves a crowner where we could be left alone and watch from a distance.

One of the things that this couple did as well is each Sunday they would load up their station wagon full of social misfits and bring them to church. Each Sunday morning this Caucasian couple would load up their little car as packed as they could full of children. Each Sunday they would bring in between 30 and 40 children so they had to make several trips. My friends and I would be some of these children that we carted to church each week.

As I explained earlier I was church illiterate so my first experiences in church were very foreign to me. To put it plainly I did not know how to act. I did not know when to stand or when to sit. I did not have the right clothes. I did not know the words to the songs. When the pastor said open your Bibles to the Old Testament I did not know there was a New Testament and Old Testament. Plus I was an Afro-American in the middle of a Caucasian church. I felt like a freckle. It was completely foreign to me. I can still remember one Sunday my friends and I had bought new hats. We were so proud of our has that we wore them everywhere including to church. We looked like a group of urban gangsters entering into church on Sunday morning with our hats all cocked to the side. Later some of the members tried to explain to us that men do not wear hats in church just women. When we asked why and they could not give us a good answer we keep wearing them.

They way we thought about church was no different that a child on the side of a swimming pool full of cold water. We went close enough to the edge to not fall in and would dip our toes in the water every once and a while. We would go but we did not what to get too carried away. We liked Jesus or at least the concept of Him but we were not sure if we wanted to give our lives completely over to Him because we did not what Him to ask too much of us. I mean if we got too close He would probably call us to go to some far away country and be a missionary or something?. But we keep attending. Actually I attended church for 4 or 5 months before I every made the decision to serve Him. I like to think of it as I standing out front of the store looking into the window to see what was inside. I did not know if I wanted to go in yet but I wanted to see what was inside.

This continued for months until one day there was a Christian concert. I almost did not go but I am glad that I decided to. By this time we were all in high school. We listened to the entire concert and at the end there was an invitation to receive Jesus as owner of our lives. When I had heard the invitation I had come to the realization that I could not say with confidence that I had a relationship with Jesus. I know about Him. I admired Him. I even tried to live a good life. But what I could not do is go to bed at night with the confidence that I was right with God. Also I learned that God was not mad at me. He was not waiting for me to clean my life up and then come to Him but He wanted to know me just the way I was with all of my human frailty. Lastly I came to the realization that God was not the one that was keeping me from having a relationship with Christ but it was me because I had not prayer publicly and invited Him to be the Lord of my life. So the unconverted unchurched social misfit that had been attending church for 4 of 5 months heard and understood the gospel and responded to the invitation of Christ. I came down front and was wonderfully saved.

Now ever great story will leave you with something to think about and an opportunity to act. I stand before you today as a normal person with human fragility that because of a group of people loved me enough to start bringing me to church I know can say that I have peace with God. I met my wife in church, I received my purpose for existence in church and I had an encounter face to face with Jesus in church. It just so happens that this morning we find ourselves in a church and to conclude this great story I want to give you the same opportunity that I had so many years ago. If you were to ask me if I though I was a bad person I would have said no. But it was not a question of whether I was a good person or a bad person because good people do not go to heaven, saved people do. I want to give you this opportunity this morning to make a public decision to make Jesus the Lord of your life. This is not the entire process but this is the beginning of a wonderful walk through life with Him. I know that you are not perfect. None of us are perfect. I am here today because a group of people loved me enough to bring me to a place where I could have an encounter with God.

About the ministry…

Important dates?

Who are you connected with? Our mission training was realized through Victory World Missions Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma under the leadership of Pastors Billy Joe and Sharon Daugherty. Our sending church is Word of Life Church in Saint Joseph, Missouri under the pastoral leadership of Pastors Brian and Peri Zahnd.

What do you do? Our ministry has a variety of branches. The team in our main office oversees the network of bible schools throughout South America, the production and publishing of Christian materials, the organization of conferences and international speaking engagements, and the support program we provide to pastors and church leaders. The local church that we pastor reaches out to Cochabamba with the love of Christ. We have an orphanage that serves as a foster home and also facilitates adoptions. Our operations are administered with the greatest level of excellence utilizing the latest technology and innovative techniques. An interesting aspect of the ministry here in Bolivia is that many other full time ministers have chosen to come along side us and work together to see God’s plan for this region accomplished.

Orphanage statistics? House of Dreams Orphanage was founded in 2006 as the fulfillment to a desire to reach out to the children of the city that need a home. We have a capacity for 42 children aged 5 and under with plans for starting a home for children 6 and up. Our director is a Bolivian woman who is also a member of our church. We have a team of full-time and part-time paid employees and volunteers. There are two people that live on the premises. The orphanage is located on our base property in the middle of the city on the second floor of the church building. The support to finance this project is received from partners who have decided to give a certain amount each month. We are greatly appreciative to these wonderful people who have made this dream a reality.

Church history? Iglesia Cristo Nacion (Christ Nation Church) began in June of 2006. We have various services on Sundays, one of them is in English and the rest are in Spanish with the hopes of adding a service in Portuguese and one in Quechua. Our childrens ministry is outstanding. We have a nursery which uncommon in the Bolivian church. The youth and adolescent ministries are growing as well. Most of the labor realized in the church is done so by its members. Our desire is to be a church that reaches out impacting this city, this nation and this region of the world with the truth and love of Christ.

Vision? Christ Nation Ministries has the vision of working in five specific areas in order to change the allegiance of a people group to Jesus Christ. Those areas are: local churches, social outreach programs, Christian education, media and the sending out of Bolivian missionaries.

Statement of beliefs?

Faith

We believe:

• He came to the earth and gave us the example of how to live.
• He died on the cross as a sinless man for our sins to be forgiven.
• He went to hell on our behalf and defeated the devils hold on our lives.
• He rose again so that we could have a right to go to heaven.
• He is returning again

The Authority of the Bible

Prayer

Church Attendance

Life of Victory

Spiritual Gifts

Evangelism

Integrity

Excellence

Discipleship

About Bolivia and it’s people…

Where is Bolivia? Bolivia is a landlocked country in the middle of South America.

Statistics about Bolivia? The following information was taken from the web site: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/bl.html (the information there is updated frequently so some of this may have changed slightly since this posting)

Background: Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon BOLIVAR, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825; much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of nearly 200 coups and countercoups. Democratic civilian rule was established in 1982, but leaders have faced difficult problems of deep-seated poverty, social unrest, and illegal drug production. In December 2005, Bolivians elected Movement Toward Socialism leader Evo MORALES president - by the widest margin of any leader since the restoration of civilian rule in 1982 - after he ran on a promise to change the country's traditional political class and empower the nation's poor majority. However, since taking office, his controversial strategies have exacerbated racial and economic tensions between the Amerindian populations of the Andean west and the non-indigenous communities of the eastern lowlands.

Geography: Central South America, southwest of Brazil. Slightly less than three times the size of Montana. Area: total: 1,098,580 sq km , land: 1,084,390 sq km, water: 14,190 sq km. The altitude of Cochabamba, Bolivia is about 2,500 meters (about 8,200 feet).

People: Population: 9,119,152 (July 2007 est.). Median age: 22 years. Life expectancy: 66 years. Religion: Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5%. Languages: Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official). Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 86.7%

Government: Capitals: La Paz (administrative capital) and Sucre (constitutional capital). Independence Day, 6 August, 1825 from Spain. 9 departments (like states): Beni, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija.

Economy: Bolivia, long one of the poorest and least developed Latin American countries, reformed its economy after suffering a disastrous economic crisis in the early 1980s. The reforms spurred real GDP growth, which averaged 4% in the 1990s, and poverty rates fell. Economic growth, however, lagged again beginning in 1999 because of a global slowdown and homegrown factors such as political turmoil, civil unrest, and soaring fiscal deficits, all of which hurt investor confidence. In 2003, violent protests against the pro-foreign investment economic policies of ex-President SANCHEZ DE LOZADA led to his resignation and the cancellation of plans to export Bolivia's newly discovered natural gas reserves to large northern hemisphere markets. In 2005, the government passed a controversial natural gas law that imposed significantly higher taxes on the >oil and gas firms and required production firms to sign new operating contracts, which were completed in October 2006. Bolivian officials are in the process of revamping the defunct state-owned oil company and acquiring majority ownership of five gas production, transportation, refining, and storage companies. The MORALES administration plans to increase state control over other sectors as well, including mining, electricity, telecommunications, transportation, and forestry. Real GDP growth in 2003-06 - helped by increased demand for natural gas in neighboring Brazil - was positive, but still below the levels seen during the 1990s. Bolivia's fiscal position has improved in recent years, and the country had a record 6% fiscal surplus for 2006. In 2005, the G8 announced a $2 billion debt-forgiveness plan over the next few decades. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank forgave a total of approximately $1.8 billion of Bolivian debt in 2006 that has helped reduce fiscal pressures on the government.

Exchange rates: bolivianos per US dollar - 8.0159 (2006), 8.0661 (2005), 7.9363 (2004), 7.6592 (2003), 7.17 (2002).

Weather in Bolivia? The different parts of Bolivia have different weather. Cochabamba, where we live, is said to have the best weather in the world. A nickname for the city is: Eternal Spring. We never see temperatures colder than lower 40s and never higher than mid 90s. There is almost zero humidity in this mountainous basin. Our summer, which is also the rainy season runs from the end of November to the beginning of February. The coolest time is from the end of June to the end of August when the most you would need is to wear layers or a heavy sweater. The other months are spring-like and pleasant.

Interesting customs? There are so many customs and traditions that it would be impossible to list them all. Included here are some of the most immediately notable. The Bolivian people prioritize based on relationships rather than the accomplishment of tasks. Thus punctuality is not so important. The greeting and parting ritual is required even if it will interrupt what is already going on and consists of a kiss on the cheek for the ladies (sometimes both cheeks) and a hand shake for the boys and men. Sometimes this is combined with a pat on the forearm or a small hug. Another interesting custom they have is adoration for babies and a deep honor and consideration for the elderly.

Typical holidays? Bolivians have many holidays throughout the year. The founding date of each city and state (called departments) is remembered and celebrated. August 6 is Bolivia day. Easter, Christmas and New Years are celebrated along with the rest of the world. There are other special days such as: Mothers Day, The Day of the Child, The Day of the Pedestrian, The Day of Love, and Saint John Day. Many tribal festivals take place as well. Finally the biggest celebration of the year is Carnaval; three days of partying comparative to Marti Gras.

What do Bolivians look like? The Bolivians are comparatively short and have a Native American look with defined facial features, ruddy skin and sleek black hair. This of course is a general description. There are many Bolivians, especially in the more populated areas that have a European look.

What do Bolivians sound like? The main language spoken in Bolivia is Spanish. There are two native languages spoken in the rural regions: Quechua and Aymara. The traditional music has unique sound incorporating wood winds, special guitar type instruments and large drums.

Map of Bolivia

Flag of Bolivia

About being a missionary…

Training? Each person must follow the unique journey that God has designed for him or her. We do recommend, though, if you feel that you are called to a life as a missionary that you do spend time in some formal training. We identify three phases of training (aside from the basic training in Christian practices and principals). The first was an intense two years of excellent training in the word of God and the operations of an effective ministry at Word of Life Church in Saint Joseph, Missouri under the close care of Pastors Brian and Peri Zahnd. Our second phase was two years of formal missions training and learning how to live in complete dependence on God in Tulsa, Oklahoma at Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty’s Victory World Missions Training Center. The third phase of training was our two years as interns and the combination of language and culture learning in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. We have by no means arrived at a place where we do not recognize the vital importance of continuing to submit ourselves to God and to the authorities that He has placed in our lives that we may maintain a state of learning and growing. We attend conferences and seek godly council to remain accountable.

Where have you been? DaRonn has lived in the United States, Germany and now Bolivia. Along with those nations he has ministered in: Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, Brazil and Argentina. Angie has lived in the United States and Bolivia. She has also been to: Australia, Botswana, Costa Rica, Chile, and Argentina. The effects of our ministry reach into many other nations through the internet and book publications that we realize.

Why Bolivia? Why not?

How did you get started? Both DaRonn and I knew during our youth that we would be missionaries. DaRonn founded Christ Nation Ministries during his high school years. We knew that we would begin our overseas work in Bolivia from a word of God we received while DaRonn was in college. After we got married and he graduated from college we went to mission school in Tulsa. There was a missionary couple connected to our mission school already working in Bolivia so we spent time as interns with them before launching out on our own.

Greatest challenge? Seeing the potential in the Latin American people and then not reaching that as fast as we would desire. There is much patience in work on the mission field.

Greatest joy? Knowing that we are following in obedience the plan of God for our lives is the most fulfilling sensation that we experience.

Language learning? Upon arrival to Bolivia we learned the language through the combination of two methods. Primarily immersion and secondarily language tutors in our home and a couple of weeks at a language school for grammar purposes. Our children are bi-lingual by all technical definitions. DaRonn and I are English speakers with a fluency in Spanish.

About our family…

Anniversary? Our wedding anniversary is November 23, 1996.

Birthdays and kids names? Here are the birthdays of our family members:

A day in the life of DaRonn? I start my day off at around 6:00 AM. I wake up and get ready for work. Once I am ready I go downstairs to our office and the first thing I usually do is write messages for the church. Usually I have three messages a week so I enter the office at around 7:00 AM and finish my messages around 9:00 AM. When I finish my messages I respond to my emails. That usually takes around 30 to 45 minutes. Once that is completed I work on Spanish and English webpage or have staff meetings which ever of the two are planned for the day. Around 12:30 PM I go upstairs and eat with my family. Later between 1:30 or 2:00 PM I return to the office and finish working on international correspondence of working with my personnel until around 5:30 PM. From there I return home and spend the rest of the day at home unless there is a church service and I will preach that night at 7:00 PM. That is a day in my life.

A day in the life of Angie? Mornings are dedicated to caring for Tyler, the toddler of the house, and schooling the three older kids. Middle of the day three times a week I go to the gym. Our house help cooks for us during the week. I give her instructions for meals and for cleaning. In the afternoon I split my time between taking children to their extra curricular activities, counseling church members and writing books or messages. My evenings are varied. Sometimes there are meetings at church and sometimes we are just hanging out as a family. Every Friday night DaRonn and I go on a date. Saturdays I climb the stairs to the statue of Christ (1,345 steps) and then I go do our fruit and vegetable shopping at the market. In the afternoon and evening I am with the kids. Sundays are dedicated to church.

Schooling of the children? We have chosen to home school our kids.

Home life? Creating an oasis in the midst of demanding and overwhelming work load is a high priority. We guard our health by constructing an environment that lends to very few bouts with sickness thus increasing our effectiveness and longevity.

Bi-lingual? Yes we are: English and Spanish.

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