We are SAMS missionaries as well as representatives of Five Talents International, the Anglican Church Microcredit and Microenterprise program. Tom is the Latin America Program Coordinator for Five Talents. This partnership has proved to be an effective relationship in taking the global ministry of Five Talents into South America. To date, Five Talents has implemented programs in the following Latin American countries--Honduras, Peru, and Bolivia.
What is the Mission of Five Talents?
To equip the poor with opportunity to operate their own small businesses
To strengthen the Anglican communion’s ability to combat poverty in the developing world
To show Christ’s love and mercy in word and deed
To affirm the dignity of all God’s people
The theme of Five Talents is: “Releasing the talents of the poor.” For more information about Five Talents, go to: www.fivetalents.org.
Want to Know More About Bolivia?
Bolivia, as you can see from the map of Latin America, is in the heart of South America. It is a subequatorial country one time zone ahead of U.S. EST, and 6-1/2 hours flying time south of Miami. It is a country roughly the size of California and Texas combined with a population of 8 million people, the majority of whom are indigenous, descendants of the Inca and Aymara peoples. Landlocked Bolivia includes a western 1/4 of the country that is a cold, high plain (12,000 feet) surrounded by the Andean mountains that rise up to 23,000 feet. The eastern half of the country is Amazon jungle and hot lowlands. A middle section is mountainous, dry and pleasantly warm. This is where Cochabamba is located. For more information about traveling to Bolivia, click here.
There are currently four Anglican parishes in Bolivia (www.bolivia.anglicana.org), two in La Paz (Cristo Redentor & Cristo Salvador), one in Santa Cruz (Cristo Luz del Mundo), and one in Cochabamba (La Trinidad).
Why are We in Bolivia?
We have been in Bolivia since July 2002. This is our first assignment as missionaries. Before our call to serve as missionaries, we lived in Hamilton, MA, where Tom earned an M.Div. at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with an emphasis in World MIssions and Evangelism.
God has called us to a ministry in what now is generally characterized Transformational Development. In some circles our type of ministry is called Holistic Mission. The ministry is holistic in the sense that it tries to help people spiritually as well as economically. In other words, people are seen a "whole" beings whose fundamental needs can only be met by being in right relationship with God via the reconciling work of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). Once in a right relationship with God, people can be in a right "relationship" with themselves, that is, they can see themselves a they truly are--persons who have dignity and value because God created them in His image. People can then also be in right relationship with other people and with the totality of God's creation.
Specifically, we are applying the principles and practices of Christian Microenterprise Development and Microfinance as a way of outreach to the poor and the marginalized. Who in addition to the poor are typically the marginalized in the Two Thirds world? They include street children and other children-at-risk, orphans, the incarcerated, abused and abandoned women, the handicapped, and so on.
This photo was taken while we were traveling in the Amazon Basin, east of Cochabamba.
There are few models for this type of ministry. Thus, our first term has been one of testing various approaches in different contexts in order to learn about how the local church might undertake a ministry to the poor while being faithful to Scripture, treating the people with integriy, and trying to adopt approaches that will be sustainable over the longer term.
With Bolivia being one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, the needs and the opportunities for the local church are huge.
What Exactly Do We Do?
Our ministry seeks to help the poor help themselves. Our approach is to form simple financial systems as an outreach ministry of the local church that provides a safe place to save, the opportunity for people to mobilize their own savings and to gain access to lump sums of money. In the context of these small self-help (or solidarity) groups, we teach a Biblical worldview, lifeskills and other issues surrounding the management of personal finances, and business skills. The latter relate especially to the establishment and operation of what are called microenterprises, the most common economic activities in developing countries such as Bolivia. Community and, thus, spiritual and social capital are built in the context of these small groups. Individuals and families are transformed. Leadership is developed, and the local church is strengthened both spiritually and financially.
In order to accomplish the above, we have developed training materials that can be used widely to provide the needed capacitation for individuals to experience the fullness and abundance of living in the Kingdom of God.
To date, we have formed small groups with girls-at-risk, orphans, and in the context of our local parish, La Trinidad. [To left is a photo of Linda with one of our classes at Mosoj Yan, a ministry to street girls and girls-at-risk.]
These operated intially as simple rotating savings groups. The groups in the local parish have now evolved into a more powerful savings and loan association where savings accumulate to form a pool of capital that can then be used to provide loans to one another. Access to traditional capital markets is very difficult for most of those with whom we work.
We have also worked to develop a Bolivia-wide network of individuals and organizations interested in Christian Microenterprise Development and Microfinance by sponsoring regional formums in the major cities. A city-wide group of pastors in Tarija, Bolivia, has since formed their own savings group from which they hope to gain experience before implementing the concept in their local parishes.
For More Information
You can click on the following to read our past updates or our bi-monthly prayer "letters" (the latter are distributed only by email).
For more information or to be added to either of our distribution lists, you can email us at tomwaddell@sams-usa.org or lindawaddell@sams-usa.org . If you simply want to be added to our distribution lists for either or both of these update mechanisms via email, please include "add to email list" in the subject line. If you wish to receive snail mail copies to our monthly updates, please also provide your mailing address is the message text. And please remember to keep us informed about any changes in either email or home mailing address.
Various documents are also accesible by clicking resources. Please also visit and download photos from our photo gallery (under construction)..
Missionary Support
Individuals and churches have partnered with us to provide the necessary prayer and financial support that enables us to serve as SAMS missionaries. We are deeply grateful to those who have prayed for us and given financially so faithfully over these past several years. For many, it has been a great sacrifice. For all it has been a choice of supporting one mission at the expense of so many other worthy causes. We take none of this for granted and give thanks to God for his faithfulness.
We need your support and simply ask that you prayerfully consider partnering with us. Any financial gifts can be sent to SAMS at the address below or donated on-line by following the links after clicking on www.samsusa.org noting that your gift is "For the Waddells."
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or wish additional information.
Tom & Linda
Mailing Address in Bolivia Tomas y Linda Waddell Iglesia Anglicana Casilla 848 Cochabamba BOLIVIA (591) (4) 424-9038
Mailing Address in the U.S. 1113 Trumpet Vine Court Mableton, GA 30126
Isaiah 61:1-2a--"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor.."
This page is maintained and updated by Tom & Linda Waddell
