June 22, 2017 - Lunch with Gustavo

Lunch with Gustavo

I want to introduce you to one of my favorite people in Santa Cruz, Gustavo Soliz.  This young man attends Berea Church, where my former student, Debbie, is married to the pastor, Percy Miranda.  After a year in Bolivia, like I said, he has become one of my favorite people here.

The first Saturday here in Santa Cruz, I came to the Berea Church to attend the youth meeting.  When I arrived, it was crowded with 50 or more young people playing a game.  After about 15 minutes they started stacking up all the chairs at the back of the room, so I thought the youth service was over.  But it wasn’t.  They moved the chairs to begin the worship service and the crowd more than doubled.  There was a very active duo leading the service, a young black man, very rare in Bolivia, named Joel, and a typical Cruceño named Gustavo.  When I say active, I mean this duo was jumping around and dancing to the music.  Since then, most Sundays, both of them lead worship, though there is another young man and three women who are regularly part of the worship team.

I’ve heard him preach on two different occasions.  The second time, the last Sunday of May, he preached on our value to God, specifically speaking about destroying our bodies through sex.  He was in tears the last ten minutes of his sermon.  I look forward to seeing what God does with him in the future.

One day, on Bolivian Father’s Day, the door greeter asked me if I had any children and I told him no.  Gustavo standing next to him, reached over and and said he would be my Bolivian son.  I liked that!  So Mario, Hans, and Artur will have to share.  

The other day I was talking to Debbie about my family back home and she asked about my younger brother, Cris.  He has epilepsy and cerebral palsy.  In his teens and again in his twenties he had surgeries that were supposed to control the epileptic seizures, but they always came back.  The medicines he has to take make him irritable, so he won’t take them.  The interesting thing is the doctors told my mom he wouldn’t live to be 20, then changed the date to 25, and later 30.  He will be 58 this August.

Debbie told me that Gustavo has suffered with epilepsy too, though now it seems to be under control.  I have been wanting to sit with Gustavo sometime and get to know him better.  So, I found my excuse.

On Thursday, June 1, we met at the Texas kolache and burger place on the second ring.  I asked about the epilepsy and heard a similar story to my brother’s.  He knew there was something wrong, but nobody believed him.  It took him having several major seizures until they recognized he had something major wrong.  Gustavo told me God healed him, but not just of the epilepsy, but of anger and pride he held onto for so long.

Currently he works as a counselor, going from school to school in Santa Cruz, helping to guide young men and women.  He also is an amazing singer.  I’ve heard him sing on several occasions, not just when leading the church in worship.  He is trying to get the songs he has written recorded, but the costs can be high for the average Bolivian.

The best description I can give to this young man is that he loves God.  His conversation is filled with Christ.  His face is always lit up with the smile of someone who has met God.  He might only be 25, but he knows the Savior personally.

If you ever visit me in Santa Cruz, you will have to meet Gustavo.