Rembering Tito

This past weekend was Carnaval, which is a large celebration in all of Latin America to mark the beginning of Lent. Carnaval is marked by traditions of dancing and drinking. In Bolivia it is also marked by making sacrifices to the "Pache Mama." Our church here has a tradition of going to the church camp every year for these four days. The purpose is to get away from all of the drinking in the city, and just have a nice wholesome weekend as a church family.

This year our church tragically lost one of our elders during the camp. Tito Gonzales, a church elder, husband, and father of two daughters (2 and 4) was hiking down into the camp when he dropped his backpack into the river. He went into the river to retrieve the backpack and was last seen with the backback a few hundred meters down river. After not returning for a few hours the church members at camp began looking for him. First it was by foot, then by rafting (in level 4 or 5 waters). Search and rescue was done both by church members and a professional rescue crew from La Paz. Yesterday, on Tuesday, they found the body about 70 km down river from the camp.

The funeral was this afternoon, and we all consider the loss of Tito a painful loss for the church. He was a wonderful father, was an elder of our church, and a friend to many, including many of the staff and boys of the homes. When someone so young dies, you realize how death is the great interrupter of life. Remembering Tito, we recognize the mourning that even Christ experienced at the loss of his friend (John 11:35) and also find hope in the words of the Apostle Paul, who says that "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)

We ask that you keep Tito's family in your prayers - his wife Katia, and his two daughters Augustina and Martina as well as his mother, brothers and sisters.