DLC supports Mike and Polly Brown $60 a month 

Mike & Polly Brown - Missionaries to Bolivia
Reaching the marginalized, outcast, and forgotten with the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." Proverbs 25:25 (ESV)

Finishing Strong

From Mike: I ran my second marathon in 2010. I had done so poorly in my first that I wanted to push for a better result. I trained harder and was in much better condition for this one. The race started off pretty well. However, by about mile 18, I started dealing with cramps in my side that finally led me to walk a bit. And, unfortunately, once you start walking, it's hard to get back into the flow of running. So, for the next 7 miles, I alternated between mostly running and occasionally walking. Then came the last mile. I could start hearing the roars of the onlookers. I saw a runner who had been in the same rhythm of running/walking. We would pass each other while running and then get passed while walking as we were running a similar pace. She had the name of someone on her shirt that she was running in memory of. I went up to her and said, "Let's finish strong. Let's do it for (insert name here)." And so we ran the last mile at our best pace since early on and did not stop again until the finish line.

Why do I share that? Because I believe it is a decent representation of what often happens in life. We start out with a lot of adrenaline and plans and dreams. Then when we're in the midst of whatever season it is, obstacles come our way. We face challenges and difficulties. We might not run as strong as we did at the beginning, but we keep pushing and trudging through. But as we near the finish line, we catch a second wind. We know that those challenges and difficulties are almost over and we push through as strong as ever. Of course, it's important to enjoy the journey to get to that finish line as well. But often times it's hard to 1. do it alone and 2. do it without a purpose. So we are grateful for our faithful ministry partners who have endured with us and who are rooting us on. We hear the roar of the cheers of our supporters, celebrating victories with us. We do not do this alone. And we have the greatest purpose there is, for the sake of reaching the marginalized, outcast, and forgotten with the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!!

This is how we feel right now. We're coming to the end of a four-year term in Bolivia. We will be heading back to the U.S. in January 2026 to begin one year of itineration. This is when we travel across the U.S. and visit churches to share what God is doing in Bolivia and to raise the funds needed to continue the ministry when we return in 2027. As we enter the final four months of this term, we are motivated to finish strong! We aim to leave all the ministries in the best place possible. Here's where we are with each:

ChildHope - a school scholarship ministry focused on education, compassion and transformation (visit childhopeonline.org for more info or to sponsor a child)

Things are going well at all our schools in general. However, we received amazing news in August that $80,000 was donated through ChildHope for the renovation of our school in Samaria! Separately, we received a donation of $6,000 from a friend of a friend for this project. And we have another friend who is very interested in being a part of what God is doing in Samaria too. We are expanding the school to accommodate a high school that we want to launch and to better enable us to serve those with special needs.

We will have our Christmas parties at our four schools in November.

Chicas de Promesa | Chicos Campeones para el Cambio - ministry club to middle school aged kids focused on discipleship, helping them discover their identity in Christ, giving them a safe space, and talking about the big, important topics they face.

We received a team from Newbreak Church in San Diego, CA in July who spent the week doting upon the kids in the ministry at Plenitud de Gozo (Fullness of Joy) near the city dump in Cochabamba. We did teachings with them, worked on the Chicas/Chicos ministry center together, ate lunch together each day and did an unforgettable fun day with them. But the team didn't stop there, they also donated a large sum toward the purchase of our next Chicas/Chicos project in another community in the southern side of Cochabamba.

We just poured the slab on top of the second floor of the ministry center at Plenitud de Gozo, which means we only have two floors left to build.

The structural construction of this project should be completed by the end of this year. They can work on the finish work next year while we're in the States. We are awaiting finalized plans on the new ministry center in the other community. Hopefully that project will begin while we are in the U.S.

Plenitud de Gozo - kids' church near the city dump in Cochabamba

We continue to see progress at the church. Our team from WV earlier this year left funds for them to finish the kids' classrooms downstairs at the church. The walls have been parged and the ceilings plastered. The church has begun painting the rooms.

Tyson, our next MAPS worker, will be arriving at the beginning of October to spend two months with us. He will work with Mike on building the pastoral apartment at the church.

We have also been blessed with the opportunity to help support the youth pastor Jhobi as she embarks on a monthlong missions trip to India in the fall. If you would like to make a specific donation to help support her on this journey, please reach out to us.

Ministry to the Deaf

We continue to have a free lunch and Bible lesson with kids from a local school for the Deaf on Wednesdays. A number of school personnel and families also attend. And we have a good group of university students as well. We continue to see positive traction and still look to launch a ministry community center for the Deaf in the future. Unfortunately, we will not be able to continue the lunches while we are gone and will have to wait until 2027 to establish that ministry center as there would be no one to leave it with while we're gone.

Miscellaneous

We also continue to be involved with other various ministry opportunities. Among other things, we are teaching a class on parenting at a local church each week throughout September and October, Mike is teaching on missions, Mike will be traveling to Paraguay for Next Gen (youth and kids) ministry in September and to Honduras as part of our new leadership responsibilities with ChildHope in November. And we will be receiving our final team of the year from Orlando in October.

Itineration 2026

As mentioned above, we will be traveling around the U.S. throughout 2026. We have already booked 34 services as of writing this newsletter. If you would like to have us come and share at your church or have a meal or cup of coffee when we're in the area please let us know. We still have many dates available, especially for Sunday nights or midweeks. Below is a list of where we'll be in the U.S. for various dates as well as only the Sunday morning dates still open in parentheses:

February: New England
March: New Jersey (1, 15, 22, 29)
April: Northeast (19, 26)
May: New Jersey (3); Northeast (10)
June: Traveling across U.S.
July: Mississippi; Ohio (12); Northeast (19, 26)
August: Pennsylvania/New York/New Jersey (9, 16); Texas
September: Potomac; Florida (13, 20); New England
October: New England
November: New England (15, 22); Northeast (29)
December: Northeast (6, 13, 20, 27)

FINANCIAL PARTNERSHIP

If you would like to contribute to our ministry, through a one-time donation or through monthly support, you can do so at the following link:

s1.ag.org/brown

Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions: mikeandpollybrown@gmail.com

To our financial partners, please accept our gratitude: Thank you! Your faithful financial partnership helps us to continue to do the things God has called us to do. We do not serve here in Bolivia alone. We are in this together.

PRAISE & PRAYER OPPORTUNITIES

Praise God with us for...
...our prayer and financial partners
...Jonah got his visa
...a great team from Newbreak Church in San Diego, CA
...our time with our MAPS worker Ana who went home in July
...a great Area Retreat in Panama in July
...a fruitful time at the General Council of the Assemblies of God in Orlando in August
...a great ChildHope Leadership Team meeting in Orlando
...the continued advance in the construction projects in Central Arrumani
...the purchase of our next Chicas/Chicos location in Cochabamba
...safety in all our travels
...health and safety
...Mike's father's successful surgery

Pray with us for...
...Mike's dad who is continuing to have some issues related to his heart
...Mike's sister Dawn who has been facing a number of serious health issues
...favor as we figure out how to handle our house as we head back to the U.S. in January 2026
...the continuing construction projects
...wisdom for the purchase of our next Chicas/Chicos location in Santa Cruz
...our schools and the needs they have
...the future for the next steps of Deaf ministry here
...more opportunities to multiply missions
...more workers to be called to Bolivia
...MAs and MAPS workers to come alongside us
...Tyson who will be serving with us in October and November
...the missionaries who serve here
...the missionaries from Bolivia who serve around the world
...health and safety for our family
...continued favor as we walk in what God calls us to
...opportunities to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others
...all financial needs to be met each month
...to finish well

MORE PHOTOS...

Praying over the new Chicas/Chicos property in a different community in Cochabamba with the team from Newbreak Church in San Diego, CA

After a lot of complications, Jonah finally got his visa; we will have to deal with this again when we return in 2027, but we're glad to be good for now

Plenitud de Gozo celebrated the anniversary of their kids' ministry

We loved having Ana with us during June and July; it was sad to say goodbye to her; she was such a blessing to our family and to the ministries here!

The kids love helping out when teams are around; here is Genevieve helping prepare lunch for the team, chicas and chicos...

...and Jonah interpreting for the chicos (Genevieve did too for the chicas but we didn't get a photo)...

...and Olive making another friend (she's good at that)