Mostly Pictures

At the beginning of this week, especially after being sick, I was really struggling with missing home again. My mom sent me some quotes that really encouraged me.

"Remember this, had any other condition 

been better for you than the one in which you are, 

divine love would have put you there." 

-Charles H Spurgeon-

"Today is mine. Tomorrow is none of my business.

If I peer anxiously into the fog of the future,

I will strain my spiritual eyes so that 

I will not see clearly what is required of me now."

-Elisabeth Elliot-

"Restlessness and impatience change nothing

except our peace and joy.

Peace does not dwell in outward things, 

but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly

on Him who has all things safely in His hands."

-Elisabeth Elliot-

The rest of this week has been so much better. I am so thankful for my mom and my friend who encouraged me to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus. 

 This woman makes these bracelets on the street, using her feet to help her hold the strings. 

 Practicing balancing

 

 I sat on the ground for a while, the whole time Pablo was scrapping the ground for dried grass (and dirt) to "feed" me. I kept telling him, "but, I'm not hungry!" "Yes you are tia!!!" He would respond reassuringly as he piled more into my hands. Finally, when he saw that I was being serious about not wanting dusty grass all over my hands anymore, he wrapped it in leaves and gave it to me that way!

I've been blessed with a lot of pleasant fellowship this week! Bible study Tuesday mornings. This past Thursday was the first of weekly "Bible study/fellowship" time with Kayla (a friend.) Friday after the baby house was team meal, I enjoyed getting to know the other missionaries here a little better. Saturday I spent with Kayla and got to meet her husband. After church this morning I went to lunch with Kayla and her husband and then Kayla and I did grocery shopping. (I've been putting off my grocery shopping for two weeks now!)

I should have my visa extension this week. The lawyer and I went to complete more paperwork earlier this week, so that was an experience... It was good Spanish practice! ;)  

I also have some more Bolivian recipes I want to make when I get home, queque de platano (basically banana bread but it was in a GIANT pan so it's perfect for my family,) and something else that I haven't seen in writing yet so I don't remember what it's called... The cook is going to print up the recipe for me, it made me think of a sort of fry bread and was really good! Monica (the cook) knew that I liked it so she gave me some for breakfast the next morning. (Ever since I was sick she won't let me use my milk unless I make it hot... She says that I will get sick if I put it in my cereal while it's cold.) 

Please don't judge me for the following story, I was rushing to leave my room and I didn't think clearly, I hope it makes you laugh... 

I was waiting to meet Kayla on Cala Cala and decided to see if, by some miracle, my American iPhone would work with the chip from my Bolivian Android phone because I really prefer Apple... Anyway, the SIM card was too big so I put it back in my Android, and upon realizing the time, I rushed out the door.

I typed a text message to Kayla to tell her where to meet me and was frusturated to discover that it wouldn't send... I tried another message and it still wouldn't go through, that's when I noticed that my phone said "Emergency Calls Only" 

What happened I wondered. Maybe you can't take SIM cards out of Androids, Apple phones work fine removing and replacing SIMs... Maybe I shouldn't have messed with it! The date was on December of 2009 or something insane and the time was 8 hours off. Anyway, after having Kayla look at it we took it to a guy in a little store off the street, he said that it was a problem with the phone and said to take it to wherever I purchased it from. I had NO idea where that was. I used Kayla's phone and texted TJ, he gave us directions and we set out to find it. 

After waiting for a couple minutes the man behind the counter in the back of the tiny store heard Kayla's explanation and took my phone. He opened it up and looked at us with pure disappointment and disgust. With a heavy sigh, he took out my SIM card, turned it around, and slid it back into place...

Kayla couldn't stop laughing about it all day. I do NOT know why I never thought to check the SIM, it never even occurred to me that I could have made such a silly mistake!!!