wfn.org | ABCUSA: Prayer for Bolivia Urged=20

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Rich.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 6/9/05)--Mario and Iris
Morales, American Baptist International Ministries missionaries serving
in Cochabamba, Bolivia, are urging all American Baptists to join them in
prayer for the Bolivian nation following large and sometimes violent
demonstrations this week in La Paz, the capital city.

Mario Morales told International Ministries staff on June 8 that there
also have been demonstrations and roadblocks in Cochabamba, where they
serve at the seminary of the Bolivian Baptist Union.  Morales stressed
that the situation in Cochabamba up to that point had been unsettled,
but not a matter of deep concern. He noted, however, that the
constitutional crisis in Bolivia could swing quickly and dramatically in
the next few days, either back toward peaceful conditions or further
into chaos or even civil war.

The Morales family, International Ministries staff and their Bolivian
partners are monitoring the situation closely.	Missionaries of
International Ministries have served in Bolivia since the mid-1980s,
working with the roughly 300 churches and 28,000 members of the Bolivian
Baptist Union.	The BBU traces its roots to the work of Canadian Baptist
missionaries over a hundred years ago.

K/2005ABNS/05ABN55

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA
x2077 / (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org;
richard.schramm@abc-usa.org