My First Post from Bolivia

I finally connected my laptop to the internet. I am here, my bags are also here- though they were stuck in Miami for a couple days. It's actually incredible that I didn't get stuck in Miami for a couple of days...   

My flight from Peoria to North Carolina was delayed which meant that I completely missed my flight from North Carolina to Miami. The airline changed my flight to a later one so that I could still get to Miami. Nevertheless, the 4 hours that I was SUPPOSED to have, (to collect baggage, check in with the new Bolivian airline, go through security and board my plane to Bolivia,) got shortened to an hour and a half. I got to Miami at 9:07, I tried to find the baggage claim and finally had to ask someone. I heaved my bags onto a cart and asked another person how to find the Bolivian airline check-in, she told me to go one way but I couldn’t find it so I went to the next level and asked someone else. He had NO idea what I was talking about at first. Finally, he gave me some rough directions. I still couldn’t find it and tried to ask someone else but they were talking with a co-worker in Spanish and completely ignored me.

So I asked another person, and another person... finally I found it. After some questions about my visa and what I would be doing in the country, they let me go through security... they gestured around the corner... it wasn’t marked though so I had to ask for directions AGAIN. When I found it, I was greeted in Spanish and commanded to hurry. (I was really confused why everyone was telling me to hurry. I thought I still had thirty minutes to boarding time.)

The guy at security noted that I must be running late to catch my flight, (I wonder what gave it away, my beet red face and sweaty brow or me constantly checking my watch with a disconcerted expression on my face?) anyway, he was very gracious to help me pack my stuff back into my bag once it had gone through the scanner. It was late and there was hardly anyone around so I ran as fast as I could for being tired, running slightly uphill and with my back killing me from my backpack...(I never knew how heavy 20lbs could feel!!!!!) I finally reached a room of nearly empty boarding gates. At the far end of the room, three ladies started yelling at me in Spanish to hurry. They explained as they scanned my ticket that boarding for an international flight (or at least this one) started an hour before the flight. (Which I did not know!) I was the last person to board the plane but God was gracious and allowed me to get done in 45 minutes what I had planned on taking 4 hours!!!! How? I’m still not sure!!!! 

Besides losing my luggage for a couple days the rest of my trip was relatively uneventful!

 This is my view from my room in TJ's house. My room at the baby-house is currently under construction so I can't move in yet. While I am waiting, TJ and his family have opened up their home for me to stay in. 

These are TJ's daughters. They're really fun! 

This was a gift from Kathryn because my purse broke in the last airport. I needed a purse because it is inadvisable to carry anything in your back pockets because they would easily be pickpocketed and never seen again. 

The babyhouse yard.

My room is the brown door, the kids' favorite bathroom to use is the open door on the right... It's funny because they have one inside too but they like the outdoor one best. (I guess it is a little closer but not by much!)

Side view so you can see how close my room is to the yard. 

I don't think that I can show their faces publicly. This is Damaris, she's a year old.

 The baby house is very different from what I expected. It's harder. I'm learning though. Also, hardly anyone there speaks English and no one that I work with.

I like the culture. It is warm and friendly from what I've seen so far! The weather has been gorgeous!

TJ's twin daughters had a birthday party yesterday. Two moms came together to pick up their kids, they had a boy with them who was maybe eleven or twelve years old. They greeted Tammy and her friend Anita, to my surprise they also greeted me (thankfully with nothing more difficult than 'hola') and a customary kiss on the cheek. It really caught me off guard when the little boy did it too! It was so cute!!!I think that my opinion of Bolivia has been more positive since that encounter. ;)

I love how TJ and Tammy and the other couple, Kathryn and Gustavo (they are closer to my age than Tammy and TJ) can switch from English to Spanish and back to English without a thought. I so want to be able to do that! I haven't started classes yet. The one school that I was going to attend may have raised their prices so I might be going somewhere else... it depends.

I went to church today, Kathryn and Gustavo took me out to lunch afterward and then we went to their house and watched a movie, talked and drank coffee before going on a walk through the Abraham Lincoln Park... I'm not sure why but apparently someone in Cochabamba admired Abraham Lincoln and wanted to build a park with his name attached to it! I really enjoyed my time with them. It was good to hear their advise and get to know them better.

 This is a pacay... It's a fruit. The white, stone looking things actually feel like fuzzy white mold, or soggy cotton candy... You chew the white stuff off of a large black seed and then dispose of the seed. It's actually good! I was skeptical at first!

It's been nice to have the weekend off, tomorrow I'm back at the babyhouse so I should probably get to bed! 

Thank you all for your prayers. I have been struggling to keep my eyes off of myself and on my Savior- I want to be His hands and feet and I can't do that if I'm concerned about my own desires. 

Also, pray for my ability to connect with the kids and teach them lovingly. I want to understand what they say so that I am not just correcting bad behavior or playing silly games, I want to really get to know them. One little boy is particularly hard to manage, and he keeps calling me mama instead of tia. He desperately wants love and he acts out probably to get attention. The kids at the home are all misbehaving a lot lately because some staff has left and that has thrown them for a loop.

Also, I need to be finding time for my Bible time, being in a new home and not in my own space has tampered with my routine and thus makes finding time difficult, plus when I do have time to relax I want to text my mom and tell her about my day. I need to be renewing my mind with Scripture and I won't feel near to God unless I am drawing near to Him. There have been a few times in the past five days that I have been worn emotionally and spiritually and questioned my purpose in being here. It's hard to think that I am going to be able to make a difference when I barely have the vocabulary to tell a kid to wash his hands after he's gone to the bathroom, let alone try and share the gospel!!! My sister, Emily, sent me the lyrics to this song in an email and they encouraged me greatly!

"Hither-to Thy love has blest me;

Thou hast bro't me to this place;

and I know Thy hand will bring me

safely home by Thy good grace."

Psalm 42:1-6a 

As a deer pants for the flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirst for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 

My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, 'Where is your God?' 

These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go out with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, oh my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? 

Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.

Psalm 42:8

By day the LORD commands His steadfast love, and at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.