Give thanks with a grateful heart.

In the United States there is a very special Thursday in November. Americans set aside a day to give thanks for their blessings. They spend the day relaxing, eating, remembering their heritage, and most importantly; cherishing the special people in their lives. All of those things they give thanks for.

Well this year on Thanksgiving Day things were a little different. I've celebrated 17 of these holidays without really giving a true thought of what it's all about. Of course I know the story of the pilgrims and of course I give thanks to God every year for all the blessings in my life, but until I celebrated a year without those blessings did I really realize my gratitude.

This year I gave thanks to God for my past, present, and future!

My Past.
I remembered all the past holidays running around the house with my cousins and brothers and watching football after lunch. I remembered the days leading up to Thanksgiving, baking and cooking with my mom and sisters. I remembered hearing laughter from my Uncles, Grandpa, and Dad, as my Mom, Grandma, and my Aunts took warm, delicious food out of the oven for dinner. I remembered all the things I've done over the years during Thanksgiving break with my dear, dear friends.
All these memories made it hard to be away from Iowa this year but also filled me with joy at what a blessed background and past I have.

My Present.
Thanksgiving Day 2012 I spent sharing some of our traditions with my "Bolivian sister" as we spent the day preparing an American Thanksgiving Dinner. All afternoon we spent time in the kitchen together trying to get the recipes just right for Sweet Potatoes, Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, & a big ole Chicken (We worked with what we had!).
When all was cooked and ready we slowly heard the doorbell ring as visitor after visitor came in. My "Bolivian cousins" brought Creamed Corn Casserole and Cranberries, a Bolivian friend brought juices, a Bolivian family brought a dessert, and another American stationed here brought homemade Pumpkin Pie! Everyone brought something and everyone loved the opportunity to share and experience a new, foreign holiday. It truly was a Thanksgiving to remember! As we sat in a circle eating, we all shared things that we are thankful for. We didn't just say we were thankful but truly said "Doy gracias a Dios por..." ("I give thanks to God for..."). They said they like that there is day not to ask God for things, not to make your request and issues known to Him but to just simply thank Him. Maybe in the future this tradition will keep going here :)

My Future.
I don't know my next step in life yet. I have a few options and completely different paths I can go down. At times that thought overwhelms and frustrates me...but it shouldn't. Instead I should be so happy with the opportunities that lie ahead of me. So as I laid in bed after a long day of up & down emotions I just thanked God that He knows the plans He has for me.
He held me then. He holds me now. And He will continue to hold me in my future.




Sweet Potatoes!


Posing? Nooooo.


Dinner time!


Enjoying the food?


A great cooking partner :) So much fun!

Give thanks to the Lord, He is good;
His love endures forever! Psalm 118:1

Navidad with the Center.

NAVIDAD!
Keeping in mind that the season are opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, the schools here are almost ready for summer break. With only a week left with the kids until they return in February, we celebrated Christmas with the kids on Friday! (Yes, same day as The Feria…a little crazy!)

As much as it warmed my heart to see these kids blessed by these presents and love from The Center I only hope to be able to share some of that happiness with you all. Many of you who supported me on this trip can be given many thanks! The presents we gave to the kids came from the team’s donations. I was able to give because of all the out pour of support I was given. I can’t thank you enough and stress enough how much that is doing in the lives of the children and families here!

Each girl and boy received a gift that suited their gender as well as a huge inflatable ball. I’m still not sure how they managed to get home with all their goodies from the day but they sure did, with huge smiles spread across their faces!

So thank you to everyone for your support! Here's a few pictures to share!

Feria!

This last week was a busy one. In telling you all about the activities I don’t want to forget anything and will split this into two blogs. I will start with explaining what “Feria” means to my team and I here at The Center.

Feria is an afternoon full of enegery, fun, and blessings for the children of The Center. All year they are given points based on their attendance and behavior at The Center. When a feria comes around they use those points to “buy” (with fake money: premios) food, toys, clothes, and play games. The children are given cards which are marked off by our team once they have passed each station. We want them to use their premios evenly between the four stations of food, clothes, toys, and games instead of piling up on just one.

Our Week
Now that you know that I’ll describe our week! A morning gluing and cutting the cards for every kid, an afternoon making all the premios (fake money), an evening of organizing 20+ garbage bags of clothes, an evening wrapping Christmas presents, and filling envelopes and making gift tags for every kid from The Center. All of that with afternoon center, morning construction, and Spanish lessons. Yes, it’s safe to say we were all busy and overwhelmed all week.

Friday we took the loads of things up to The Center. The kids were waiting outside the gate over an hour early. When we later opened the gates the kids watched a short drama of Jesus and the little children. We then celebrated the birthdays in October, November, December of the kids. They were given presents as the whole bunch of us sang to them (something we do for the kids every three months).  We then lined them up for The Feria. Within minutes there were anxious, smiling faces running from station to station. If you think Black Friday in The States is crazy, you'd have some major competition with these little folks.

At the end of The Feria we asked them to hold up their goodie bags. Black bags full of toys, clothes, and food were held above every one's heads. This picture doesn't do justice of portraying what a success and blessing Friday was for the kids!

Saturday We once again hauled things up the hill but instead of going to the school we went to the construction site of our new center. We invited the families of all the kids to come there on Saturday for a couple reason. 1) The parents participated in their own feria of food and adult sized/baby sized clothing. 2) We wanted to introduce them to the new center and share with them our plans. What we didn't realize was how seeing all the families there at the center would help our vision click in our minds.

Our Vision:  Taquiña is the name of the region we are reaching. It is actually a beer factory set up on the north side of the city, pretty far up a hill into the mountains but they use that name as the reference point. There is a community of people who live there and the children's school is located within walking distance.
In the coming year our team is doing some major changes to help reach out to Taquiña's teenagers, adults, and families. Starting a women's ministry, Bible studies, and other outreaches we are hoping not only to help these people with their physical needs but also their spiritual needs too!
Please Pray
That we would have far more than just a humanitarian effect on these people's lives!

Something about this city.

Last weekend I put on my tourist pants for the first time. I went right ahead and shot for a real touristy day!
The most famous thing about this city is The Cristo de la Concordia, without a doubt. This is the largest statue of Christ (Yes, larger than the one in Rio) in the world. Towering over this city you can see The Cristo from any location in Cochabamba. It is nice and symbolic to think that Jesus Christ is watching over this city or that it is especially blessed because of the statue but that's all rubbish.
    For the first time in my months of being here I saw it up close and personal last Saturday! We rode a cable car/ski lift sort of thing to the top of the hill and there it was. Wow. I've seen many pictures of this statue but standing at the feet is something pictures can't do justice of. We even got a chance to walk inside the statue (10 stories of the 12) and look out at the city of Cochabamba. And that is where my story for today starts....

This is Cochabamba, Bolivia everybody! Beautiful, no? When I stood there looking out on this city my heart was so stirred. I didn't feel like a tourist at all, like I had planned for the day. Immediately this verse came to my mind;

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed." Luke 4:18
  Before coming here I studied this verse with International Teams. Many times you will find in the Bible the emphasis on poor, slave, blind, oppressed (Isaiah 61:1, 35:3-6, 42:7, Luke 7:22). The Bible repeats a calling to bring them the gospel, the hope of forgiveness, food, and freedom, both spiritually and physically. The Lord has put such a strong desire on my heart to serve Him here. This city is full of people who are spiritually oppressed, physically poor, and mentally captive to false preaching and idolatry.

    So as I stood up there under the feet of one of the most famous tourist attractions in the world I was not phased at all. What I was moved by was the site of this breath taking city I was looking out on. A city that I have been brought to for a purpose. I could have gone anywhere but Christ brought me here. I know more and more each day that there is a purpose for me and my life here.

Please Pray that God would continue to show me His plan for me here.
That he would open even more doors for evangelizing and relationship building.
Most importantly, pray that God would do great things in this city and that He would soften their hearts to receive Him!

We're building, Ya'll!

So here's the deal...

 

  At the moment our center is being run in a school's facilities. Therefore we follow the school's rules. All too often we have to take days off because the school took the day off (and I mean really often). Though the liberty to share the gospel is a little stronger here than in the U.S. we are limited on the activities we can do with the kids. We come when they open the doors for us and we put their lock on the door as we leave until they open it again. That is why... we're building!

 
  Every Wednesday and Friday, three other workers from the center and I spend our mornings working at the site of our new center. It is up in the mountains, about 5 minutes from the school we are stationed at now. The construction experience I am going through here is a tad different than anything I've ever experienced. With my American family owning a business in the trades I feel like I've experienced quite a lot but, wow. This was all very new to me. I am amazed by the hard work that has already been done. Those before me put in some serious time! When I got here it was well on it's way. But we have some tedious tasks as of right now...

 

 

   We have to cover the floors with medium sized rocks and then fill the spaces with smaller rocks before we put cement in. I spend most of my mornings collecting rocks in the hot sun, taking a pick to a dirt mound, looking for rocks, shoveling dirt loads from one pile only to wheelbarrow it to the next, and even watering the rocks already collected & placed (to help them settle into the right spots before the cement).
I have some serious mixed emotions about construction days here. I love the time of prayer and quietness/fellowship (if some one's working near you), the motivation of knowing why we are doing this, and the chance to stay quite physically fit without hitting a weight room. I'd like to say that's all my feelings towards construction but it is also easy to feel discouraged when we hardly see any progress after a days work. It is easy to feel frustrated when the blisters continue to grow and your body aches for days following. I have to keep reminding myself to do everything with my whole heart, not unto man but unto the Lord!!!

 

(<- The second story, roofless and ready.)
After lots of prayer and support, the money for the roof is on it's way! And though we may not enjoy the hot, rainless days; we can be thankful that God is holding off the rainy season as we prepare to roof the building. This was a concern to all of us and the Lord has answered our prayers, allowing us to start with roof this week or next week!

Once the roof is on there is still lots of work to do. The kids take a "summer break" over Christmas for about two months. When they return in early January we will no longer be able to use the school's facilities. Meaning this construction site will need to be usable by then. Wow!

Even when the kids return here in January we will still have lots of work. We will get some of the rooms working and slowly but steadily continue working on the others and the yard as we gain the time and money.



Keep this project in your prayer, please! Pray;
*That we would continue depending on God's provision in every step.
*That we would not lose heart in the long, tedious work.
*That God would use this center to reach the hearts of the children and their families this January.



(( P.s. I added Ya'll to the title because I miss some English words, like such, that don't have a translation in Spanish. I try & throw them into conversation whenever possible!))

Torn.

Cochabamba, Bolivia

I've been in Bolivia for 8 weeks, today! Wow. Time flies.
Apparently that's how much time it takes to tear your heart into two directions.
I am missing Iowa, my small town, family, and friends every day. But at the same time I am loving the culture and new life I've found here while my heart breaks more and more every day for the families and children of this country. The balance between the two has been really difficult on my head and heart lately...

Center Point, Iowa

  This week I received an email with recordings of all my favorite worship songs from my home church. I was so blessed to be able to worship in English (even if it was just belting it out alone in my room) for the first time in over 8 weeks. Yesterday I mentioned "my church" (as in the one in The States) to a Bolivian friend and he pointed out that they (as in the one in Bolivia) are my church.
Yes, yes they are.

  Instead of being overwhelmed by this tear in my heart, instead of letting Satan use this pull from both directions to distract me I am going to take one day at a time and be thankful for everything God has blessed me with.

   He has blessed me with two loving families, two strong church bodies, two languages of communication, two cultures of friends, and two countrieswith many hearts in need of Him.

Some of my personal prayer requests this week;
*That God will open more opportunities for our ministry and outreach here!
*That God would bring peace to me as I feel constantly torn.
*That my Spanish would continue to advance so I can use it more in outreach.

Feeeelix!

J o s e F e l i xThis kid...Ah, where to start?
Your first impression of Felix really depends on the exact moment you first run into him. He is either scowling and sticking his tongue out or smiling and giggling as his eyes squint with happiness. He is either the bad boy in class, breaking all the rules or the goofy boy, laying on the floor getting tickled. Whether he is happy or sad he's always making quite the impression on his class as I often hear "Feeeeelix" (Pronounced; Fay-Leex) being yelled from across the room. 

One second....

 

 

The very next second!

Felix has a hard time writing down words correctly when he hears them. He blends them all together into one word or breaks them apart in the middle of words. A trying task is the time in which I read sentences to him and he writes them down for review. I don't know who dislikes this activity more. Once, the sentence I read was "There are 5 frogs in my house." Following me reading the sentence Felix ran away from his desk close to 10 times, I read the sentence close to 15 times, and 25 minutes later he finally wrote it down. Now every time I ask him Guess what? He responds "There are 5 frogs in your house!!!! "
Another time he was supposed to be reading a book to me but was in one of his angry, little moods. He mumbled through an entire page as I tried my hardest to listen for mistakes. When he got to the end of the page I smiled and said "Felix, I can't quite hear you." A few seconds passed then he looked up from him book with a half grin, half scowl and firmly said "Listen better."

My first two weeks here, Felix & I seemed to get a long quite well. Sure, he tried to be a bad boy but I could always force him into a smile a few seconds into his act. But then I hit a slump...
For about two weeks in there Jose Felix wasn't the happy boy I'd seen at all. At least not to me. He almost seemed angry with me when I tried talking to him and he never wanted my help anymore. It was a kind of sadness/disappointment I hadn't ever felt before...

But this last week I had a break through! Unfortunately with the language difference my way of solving the problem was to just leave him alone and hope he'd want to be friends again later.
Well he did. As I was helping another kid with homework I heard him say, I want Profe Shelvy's help. The main teacher in our class told him he would have to go ask politely and he got quite shy. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him walk up to me slowly and quietly say Help me, please Profe Shelvy. I can't even describe how much my heart felt in that moment.

Since then I have had some of the best moments with Jose Felix. He still can be difficult at times, keeping me on my toes and needing to be carried over my shoulder back into class after running away. But the giggle I get from him afterwards is worth the trouble.
When I look into his eyes I see so much pain and so much hurt. Without knowing a thing I understand why he is how he is. No words can really describe what it feels like to have strong, little hands hold yours. Dark, dirty little hands up against mine so tenderly and sweet. No words can sum up the feeling of those eyes looking into mine...I mean really looking. Without putting up a face I have seen started to see the real, vulnerable boy under his many moods. Just for the reward of truly seeing that boy, I'll continue pursuing the mystery of Jose Felix.