Highlights

Again, it was another different week. I thought I would be in a routine by now, which I somewhat am, but still things at The Center are different every day.

Highlights from the past week:

The Ballet – Saturday night I attended a ballet downtown with Betsy, Kathryn, Joana, and Toty. I really like dance, but I thought there was a pretty good chance I would not like it, though I wanted to experience it anyway. I loved it! It was just a bunch of traditional Bolivian dances and the dancers were mostly little kids and teenagers. It was really good, but got a bit long. I no longer want to be a teacher; instead, I want to be a Bolivian dancer! Yeah I understand that won’t happen. It’s still a dream!

Toty and I at the ballet

Rainbow – On Tuesday it rained a lot and got very cold up at The Center. I wasn’t having the absolute best day, but towards the end of The Center, there was a beautiful rainbow over Cochabamba. Beautiful!

Banana bread – So our host grandma is a really great cook. She literally makes food ALL day long! She is up early and stays up really late, sometimes even later than us! She let us help her make banana bread the other night! It was great to be included in what Nazmi loves to do.

1^st grade – On Wednesday I got to hang out with the first graders in Toty’s class. It felt like everything was “fun sized” or just shrunken in there. They are so small! They sit in these little plastic chairs and tables. It was cool to see how a different classroom at the Center works. They’re such cute little kids. I helped a little boy named Freddy with some addition, which was somewhat hard to explain in Spanish, but so much easier than what the 4^th graders do! I also cut out a lot of little squares in capital and lowercase “ba, be, bi, bo, bu,” over and over again. Also, how convenient it is that their vowels make the same sound always!? That’s so cool. None of that short and long vowel business! The sweetest part of the day was a couple of the 4^th graders came in the 1^st grade room because they wanted to help out and give me a hug. The little ones didn’t need much help that day, but their intentions were good! :) One of these little first graders is Ruth. (pronounced “root”) I’ve seen a lot of beauty in these two this week. Little Ruth absolutely LOVES Kathryn. She calls her “Tia Katarin!” which means “Aunt Kathryn.”

Kathryn and Ruth

On Monday I made a list of things different in Bolivia or just things I don’t want to forget. “No te olvides.” They’re basically highlights and observations thus far. Here’s a few…

-          There are dogs EVERYWHERE, wild muts

-           Construction is also everywhere and it goes very slowly

-          Watch your step on the sidewalks. There could be a big hole or incline in front of you

-           Hot dogs are squishy and RED

-          Toty loves watching little kids dance (TV and real life)

-          The Coca-Cola Company takes over the world

-          Traffic doesn’t stop for pedestrians

-          Ballet for 20B’s with Toty, Joana, Betsy and Kathryn: so great! Toty dancing next to me: even better.

-          Dulce de leche

-          Wearing shorts in the winter (even when it gets up to 80 degrees) is not okay

-          Human tug-of-war that the students at The Center play

-          The Quechuan moms playing games

-          Hymns from radio 24/7. Nazmi loves them

-          Beautiful prayers in Spanish (which I only understand half of)

-          Getting stuck in traffic in the middle of the road

-          Playing UNO

-          Water must be boiled to be cleaned and safe

-          Watching movies with Betsy

-          When the girls at The Center play with my hair

Journal entry from 6/27/13 (Thursday)
“How are you going to tutor them if you don’t speak their language?” These words have been ringing in my head today. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not mad at whoever asked this to me. I think it might have been a couple people who said it to me. I pretty much laughed in uncertainty. It’s a pretty honest and bold question and I think I needed to think about it. My response to this question after being here for 3 weeks is still I DON’T KNOW. It’s hard, it really is. Just when I thought I was a pretty decent and confident teacher, God knocks me off my feet and brings me lower. Humility. Or maybe God just sweeps me off my feet and into his harms. My Beloved is a God of discipline. Really. It says in Hebrews 12 that God disciplines those he loves. He is a God of LOVE.

I’m really liking this visual. How I long to be held in the arms of Christ. Here on earth, it’s so possible to feel that love. Praise the Lord! It’s like how Jesus, The Good Shepherd, would carry his lambs CLOSE to his heart, literally. Jesus even goes after the lost sheep. What a lost sheep I am sometimes. While staring at the workbook of one of my 4^th graders and have absolutely no idea what’s going on, I often feel defeated. Today was one of those days. I tried to help with abbreviations of words, but really had no idea because it’s something you just memorize. Por ejemplo, una de las palabras fue página, (For example, one of the words was page) which clearly in English is pg. However, en español, it’s pag. Who knew!? Not me, that’s for sure. Lost and confused I stared at their many pages hoping to stumble across something I could help with. I desire to help them academically, but sometimes am not equipped. Then I wonder, Jesus, why am I here? I’m not fluent in this language. Though still I can LOVE. And that is what I love in this life. People. Getting to know them. Especially children, loving them.

It’s really strange because sometimes I almost get excited about doing the dishes. Weird, right? But you know why? Because it’s something tangible that I KNOW I can do. I’m helpful. Though when I was at SNP(Stay N Play Child Care), I was so sick of doing the dishes and felt more utilized in the classroom with the students.

Ready to RELY on Christ fully?

Final thoughts…

-        --- So yesterday I just had to laugh because Erika told me that she didn’t understand my name. “Profe, no entiendes tu nombre!” Now that I’m writing this it doesn’t sound funny at all. My name is a word in English, but it’s not used that much. But I’m pretty sure the word “valor” is used much more often in Spanish. It basically means the same thing in both languages. The definition in Spanish is “value, worth, courage.” I don’t really blame her for being so confused at my name.

-       --- I really underestimated winter here. I was convinced that I would wear shorts every day since it gets up to 70 or 80 most days. But it’s only warm from like 10am-3pm. Then it drops quickly! Especially in the mountains of Taquiña. It’s also pretty cold in our house. It’s even colder when it rains or storms. I learned that snow exists in Bolivia! Only on the tips of the mountain, but it’s still pretty cool to see. I didn’t expect that! I’m not complaining though. Winter in MN/IA is SO much worse, like 800 times worse!

-       --- Shout out to the lovely Taylor Studer! It’s her birthday on Monday. Happy early birthday! I’m so glad to have you in my life. I love you and miss you and am excited to spend time with you in August!

Taylor and I

Prayer requests…

-          --- Continue to pray for Joel Stadem. If you are interested in more specific ways you can pray, check this out - http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joelstadem/journal

-          --- For continued health and safety. I didn’t get sick this week! Woo!

-          --- That VBS goes smoothly this week and God leads our team and speaks to the hearts of the children

-          --- For me to be joyful and rely on Christ always

LOVE like that

So last Saturday night I went to a Bolivian youth group! It was really awesome and definitely a highlight thus far. I spent most of the evening with Shelby, so we went to it together. She has been going there for a while. There were about 15 people total, mostly Bolivians. Also, youth group here is like after high school until age 30 or so. It was all in Spanish, though quite a few people there were bilingual. I understood most of it, but Shelby translated for me. They were talking about relationships and playing spin the bottle, but if the bottle landed on you all you had to do is answer a question about relationships. I learned 2 interesting things about relationships in Bolivia…
1. Bolivians wear their wedding rings on their right hand
2. “Novio/novia” means boyfriend or girlfriend. But here, if you have a novio, it means you are really serious and basically engaged.

On Monday my friend Shelby’s Bolivian friend, Coco, brought us to some Hot Springs near a part of Cochabamba called Quillacollo, which was about an hour away. It was cool to go out and do something different! The last like 15 minutes of the trip was on a narrow road in the mountains with a few small houses and a few people around. It was so random; it felt like we were going nowhere. Then all of the sudden we got to this somewhat shabby camping area with a piscina! (pool). We hiked for awhile and ate a little bit and then swam for a while! The pools were pretty hot, but the air and wind was pretty cold. I was pretty pumped to be able to swim. Since it’s invierno (winter) here, I didn’t think I would be able to swim. The view from every direction was beautiful.

Later that day we met up with Joana. I forgot to mention something… so last week when we met with Joana, she asked us to plan a Vacation Bible School for the students. What we do normally is help them with their homework. Well the first two weeks of July the students have a break from school. The first week of that is when we are going to do this VBS. Praise the Lord I have some experience with day camp (thanks, Riverside!) and have lesson planned and such before, so between Betsy and I, it wasn’t too hard to come up with things to do. I just pray it’ll come together and the students will have fun. Again, it was a blessing to meet with Joana. She’s so kind and encouraging. Here was just a quick thought at the end of that day. What it means to serve goes much deeper. I am called to serve no matter where I go…

Journal entry 6/17/13 Monday: “So the point of a Summer of Service is to serve, right? Well, that’s a good goal, but I want something more. My focus is to live, give and LOVE well. I should serve every day. I’m here to be. And love in as many ways I can.”

Lord, teach me to LOVE.

Then I worked at The Center Tuesday-Friday. So far every day is different, folks. Check out some of my thoughts…

Journal entry 6/18/13 Tuesday: “Interesting day with the kids. It was tough. Though there were a few successes with homework. Remember that first day what they were doing for math? I was so confused. Well, it was back again! Today! Luckily, I understand it more now. The boys actually asked me questions. That was new. I still don’t feel I did real great at explaining it… She [the teacher who speaks only Spanish] had me work with Aracely, which was so hard. She didn’t want to do a thing.”

(same day) “Favorite moment of today: I was talking to Joana in English and Erika heard us and said ‘no entiendes!’ (I don’t understand!) and Joana said to Erika (in Spanish) ‘Well, she doesn’t know what we we’re saying. She’s learning!’ Erika hugged Joana and Joana held her while she said that and Erika smiled and giggled. It was so cute. Definitely a highlight. Love that one. Thanks, Jesus!”

6/19/13 Wednesday “Today was unique at The Center. Rut was late and the kids literally had 1 page of math homework. Joana and I tried to figure it out and we finally did. Then I worked with Aracely. I TRIED to help her with her times tables. It kind of really failed. I made her cry! She did not want to work at all. I finally let her go. Then I made snack and washed the dishes.”

6/20/13 Thursday “I so enjoy being with them. I quizzed Alejandro and Patrick on their tablas (multiplication facts). They’re so cute and they did great. Now that’s something I can do! I also quizzed Erika and Wilma. The Wilma that they call another name but I still don’t know it yet. The other Wilma is constantly smiling. She is so cute and tries to hide her smile. Yesica always looks sad or sick and today she was crying. Her mom was there for a bit. I feel bad for her because I don’t know what’s wrong. All I can do is hug her. Josie is such a sweetheart. She works so hard and is way nice to the other kids. Simon is also so cute. Such a little gentleman.”

Friday was a special event. It was some holiday here but I never really figured out what it was, some sort of solstice or celebration of a saint. But anyway, some businesses were closed as well as school. But at The Center we had “la feria” (the fair). The students earned fake money and then got to go around and get games, food, clothes, and toys. I helped at the door giving the students a card and their bags for this festivity. After that, I was supposed to go around and help the little kids with their money and where to go. I ended up in the toy room because it was crazy chaos. The line was SO long and the kids pushed and wanted to just go in right away. I’m not sure how many times I said “espera!” (wait) or “en la fila, por favor!” (in the line, please). I literally had to hold kids back. It was crazy, but fun to see the kids have fun and get things they want and need.

Yesica, me, Erika

Josie

Patrick and Alejandro

Wilma in the ball cap. Hiding her smile!

Josie, another boy who I can't tell who it is, and little Simon!

Falling in love with these kids, especially the ones in my 4^th grade class. They’re getting closer and closer to my heart. They’re seriously such cool kids. They LOVE Uno! How cool is that? They are motivated and they work hard and they help each other. Son inteligentes. (They are intelligent.) The more I get to know them, the more awesome they get. So what they wear the same, ripped, too small clothes most days. So what they are a little dirty. Christ holds them so close to his heart and I am called to LOVE like that as well.

I’m really thankful to be here. I really can’t imagine being in another country or culture. I’m so thankful I have a background of the language. Thankful that the time difference is only an hour different from home. Thankful for the food. Thankful for the people I’ve met so far. Thankful for the kids. Thankful to see God working in a completely different world (to me) called Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Prayer requests…
- for the preparation of VBS and that God will prepare the hearts of the kids and the volunteers
- for continued safety and that I don’t get sick again
- one of my teammate’s mother is sick, with cancer potentially. Also, she is sick with stomach problems herself here in Bolivia
- that God will provide for the kids at The Center, spiritually, physically, emotionally, etc. Pray that they feel the love of God
- that God continues to give me patience while working with the students, and that they give me grace because of the language barrier J
- that Betsy and I continue to learn the language well
- Also, PLEASE pray for my friend Joel Stadem. We are family friends with the Stadems; we go to church with them and my parents work with their family. Late Wednesday night he dove in a pool and hit his head really hard and fractured a vertebrae. If you want more info, here’s a post on Facebook on Thursday morning from his mother Kari. (or please scroll to the end)….

“Please pray for our son Joel (age 20). He dove in to a swimming pool last night, hit his head on the bottom and couldn't move underwater for some period of time. When his friend Cole realized it had been too long, he pulled him up and he wasn't breathing. Twin Daniel administered CPR and after 30-60 seconds, he coughed up some water and started breathing. He was barely conscious and moaning at that point - about 11:30 pm. After the First Responders, paramedics, and helicopter team arrived and did their thing, the helicopter took off about 12:30 am. I (Kari), Daniel & Cole got our stuff and took off about 1:30 am, just after receiving the call that Joel was safely at Hennepin County Medical Center and had tolerated the flight well. We three drove there and by about 5 am they had Joel in a halo to immobilize his cervical vertebrae as much as possible. His 5th cervical vertebra was fractured, and part of it tipped into the spinal column. Whether his lack of mobility (he can move his arms but not his legs) is caused by the swelling and trauma, or more severe damage, won't be known for a while.

I (Kari) just talked to the head surgeon and she said that Joel's vertebrae are lined up quite well and they will be waiting to see if they align perfectly. If they don't, surgery will be needed to line them up. They will probably do an MRI at some point to determine whether the ligaments suffered damage. Just as a cast would immobilize a limb to allow the bone to heal, this halo will immobilize Joel's neck to allow the vertebra to heal - and that is a long process. She stressed that the return of full function can take months, so we should not be discouraged if we don't see a lot of progress early. On the other hand, she shared the story of a patient who couldn't move his legs at all and could barely move his arms, who walked into her office today after just weeks.

We are trusting God with and for Joel - he belongs to Him! We so appreciate everyone's prayers and love. Your warm concern and faith bring hope to our hearts.

The chaplain on call last night anointed Joel with oil and prayed for him. Our dear friend flipped her Bible open this morning to JOEL 2:21-24, paraphrased "Be not afraid, but be glad and rejoice in the Lord our God, who by many acts shows His faithfulness." God is good - all the time!”

-Anyway, I am very concerned for Joel, but this hits even more home because it all happened at my grandma and grandpa Gorans’ house, which is just 2 miles from my house. And seriously, my grandma’s biggest nightmare happened. Even though my sister and I swam for years growing up, she was and is ALWAYS concerned and telling us to be careful. Also, my sister was there that night. Kari has had more recent posts, so you can check that out on Facebook. But please, pray for Joel and the whole Stadem family, as well as my grandparents and sister, Liz, and friend, Cole, who was also there that night. This has been heavy on my heart here in Bolivia.

Daniel, Liz, and Joel

- PRAISE God because he is a God of healing, comfort, grace, and love. All of which he gives freely and I take advantage of all the time.

Find you on my knees

So my last entry was pretty scattered, which really bothered me. I had to do it quick because the coffee shop I was in was closing. I'm sorry it's a lot. My mother says "I have the gift of gab.' Not sure if that's a good or bad thing .Anyway, here’s a more organized and detailed update…

The Center: I spent every afternoon from Tuesday-Friday with the kids at The Center. The kids start coming at 2:30, wash their hands, and then go straight to their classrooms and work on their homework. Most have a lot of homework. There’s 1^st, 2^nd, two 3^rd grades, 4^th grade, and 5^th and 6^th grade are together. Like I said, I've been with the 4th grade class this week. At first I thought there was no way I could be in there. But come Friday, there were only 9 students and they didn't need much help at all. They got right to their work. They were working on drawing the human body and labeling the parts. Again, very helpful for my Spanish! One little girl in my class, Erika, I've bonded with quite a bit. She gets frustrated with me sometimes when I can't understand what she's saying to me. "Prooofe!" (said in more of a whiney or 'come on' way) She's very patient with me though and will repeat things and say them slower. Thanks Jesus for this little one with so much grace for me!

A journal entry from 6/12/13 (Wednesday)
“Though I’ve spent so much time working with kids, it’s a completely different world here. I mean, the language has a lot to do with that. Duh. I’ve been trying to observe the kids and learn their names. I noticed that most of them wore the same clothes as the day before. Some don’t smell too pleasant. The clothes they do wear are mostly too small or ripped or dirty. These kids seem to really love Profe Ruth. I wish I could give them everything they need, but like Joana said: We can help give them an education and give them love and that’s seriously so important. Give them the love of Christ! #GiveemJesus”

"Give 'em Jesus" is a phrase I learned at Riverside last summer. It's great, always. 

The language: I’m really loving the language. I love the sound of the native speakers and how they perfectly put the stress on the right parts of words. I especially love the accents of the kids at The Center! But really, I enjoy speaking, though it takes a lot of thinking on my end. I need to speak in Spanish at home and at The Center with the kids. It’s good practice just talking with the Bolivians and with the few workers at The Center that speak both. We had our first Spanish lesson on Thursday morning. My teacher, Toni, is incredible. She has taught at colleges and worked with many students. For the first few lessons, we are reviewing what I learned in high school and my one semester in college.

The accident: I really hate to even admit this, but I lost my debit card. I feel like I’m a pretty put together person, though I still lose things and forget things. If it’s possible to inherit such a trait, I’m pretty sure I inherited that from my dad’s side. Thanks, Gorans. Anyway, I used my card Tuesday afternoon and when I was going to use it Thursday night, it wasn’t in my little wallet. My Vera Bradley mini zip pouch must have failed me since I’m pretty sure it fell out as I was taking out money somewhere, like in a trufi. I took 5 on Tuesday, and like 8 on Wednesday and I don’t know how many on Thursday, but there is no way to retrace those since I don’t know which ones exactly I got in. I tore through all my stuff. Pero, no tengo mi tarjeta. (But, I don’t have my card.) No worries though. It’ll all work out. I’ll be getting a new one. It just added a little stress to my evening. It was one of those situations I just had to laugh at. Seriously :)

The coffee shop: Cowork is the name. We discovered this place earlier this week. It’s really the best. It’s clean and smoking isn’t allowed. There’s a back room where it’s quiet. It’s pretty cheap. It’s only like a 7 minute walk from our house, if that. And here’s what tops it off… the people there speak English! It’s so fantastic. I discovered that when I went back there to see if my debit card was there. I tried to explain my situation in Spanish and I struggled to the end of what I was trying to say and the lady just looked and calmly stated, “We speak English here.” We call it our little slice of America.

The words on my heart: “Find you on my knees.” This song has been my theme song for my time here so far and I've been listening to this song over and over again. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGumE9nkP3o

A journal entry from 6/11/13 (Tuesday)

"Find you on my knees' : This is how I've been feeling about Christ lately. When things were tough on the flight, then with $ and my converter and the language barrier. Then when I was sick. Yes. I could just drop to my knees and cry out to Christ to help and guide me. God has been making me uncomfortable.. some in a good way, like the laguage. By trying and failing is how I learn more. Father I will find you on my knees. Gracias, Senor!"

One week!

 I've been here one week! 

We got to do whatever we wanted this past weekend. It's was nice to just relax, though we did walk around a lot. It's a great way to become familiar with the city! Public transportation is how we get around here in Cochabamba, besides walking. "Trufis" go all around the city. They are like a taxi, but they go shorter distances and are cheaper. One trufi ride is like 2 cents in American money. We went to a movie in Spanish with one of the other interns. The movie was all in Spanish, so I didn't understand much, but it was still a good to experience a movie in the theater in Bolivia!

We also discovered Full House on the Bolivian TV channel! That was probably one of the highlights so far. It was all in Spanish, but luckily we had seen that episode enough in English and so we understood it between already seeing it and picking up some of the Spanish. :)

Monday I went to a national park kind of place with the 4 other interns. It was a little over an hour away and we had to take two taxis. It was an adventure! We explored for a couple hours. The place was really beautiful. The downside to this adventure, was that I very much over-dressed. It was hot out and we skipped lunch. Then in the taxi on the way back I rode backwards. I also drank very little water. All these things added up to a very sick Valor. I was so nauseous in the taxi. Ahh, it was the worst. I felt better after being home for a bit. Then we went out again for coffee with Joana, who organizes the ministry. It was great to get more information about what we'll actually be doing. She's such a beautiful lady. The time with her was such a blessing!
I felt sick again later that night. My stomach hurt but I was very very cold. I was shaking in my bed for almost an hour. It's usually pretty cold at night since it's winter here, but I had been sleeping fine and Betsy was warm in her bed. I figured it was normal to be shaking that long. Finally I called Joana and explained it to her, who then talked to my host grandma and explained it to her. I just wasn't sure how to explain that I was unnaturally cold! Nazmi then gave me more blankets and I warmed up finally. I think I had a fever. The next day I slept most of the morning. I'm better now! Praise God!

So The Center was closed on Thursday and Friday and we have Mondays off, so my first official day with the kids was yesterday. It was fun to finally meet the kids. I'm usually pretty good with names, but when they are in Spanish and the kids say them so fast, I don't always catch them! Basically the kids come to get help with their homework, since they usually have a lot to do. I'm working with the 4th graders. There are about 10 of them and the teacher is Bolivian and speaks only Spanish. I felt pretty useless yesterday. I couldn't figure out what the kids were working on. Then once I thought I figured it out, I didn't know how to explain it in Spanish! The kids were yelling "Profe!, profe!, profe!" every minute, I'm sure. Though I figured observing for the first day was okay. Today was much better with the kids. They were working on vocabulary words and using dictionaries, which helped me learn more Spanish as well! Today was great. It was nice to actually communicate with them as well. Praise the Lord! He is faithful.

Prayer requests...
- PRAISE God the healer, that I'm feeling much better
- for good health
- that I can catch onto the language more
- that I learn to love others on God's terms

Settling in...

So here's what's up....

At this very moment: Sitting in a fairly classy internet cafe next to the plaza. We're upstairs and it's pretty full of guys and some ladies, most of them watching the soccer game on the TV. It smells like cigarettes because most people are smoking. I'm listening to Kari Jobe and feeling super content in the truth of her words to our Father. 

Tuesday night we met up with Bekah after waiting in the airport all day and finally flew from Miami to Santa Cruz overnight. I didn't sleep much and felt a little sick, but it really was not too bad. It took some time to get our visas and go through customs, but it worked out just fine. We actually got to go out in Santa Cruz since our flight didn't leave until 2pm. We took a taxi and found a place to eat and just hung out in the plaza and people watched and soaked up the sun. It was such a blessing to be with Bekah, who has been in this type of culture before and is fluent in Spanish. She's a sweetheart and will be in a different part of Cochabamba working in a clinic with a nurse speaking all Spanish. Please pray for her as well!  Here we are in the taxi on the way to Santa Cruz from the airport... 

Finally we got on our last flight, which was only about 40 minutes. The view flying into Cochabamba was absolutely gorgeous. I finally had a window seat! But didn't have my camera on me. Hopefully I can get some from Bekah later. One of the ladies from the ministry met us at the airport, who we've been communicating with. It was such a relief to finally be there and have someone waiting for us! The greeting is a kiss on the cheek then usually followed by a hug. It's so sweet! We took a taxi and arrived at our host home. 

No worries. That's not actually our house.. just the entry to it! Back through there is where our little home actually is. We live with a missionary gal, Judith, who is probably in her 50's and her sweet little mother, Nazmi, who does all the cooking for us. She is a super adorable little grandma/great-grandmother. Nazmi doesn't speak English, but Judith speaks some. That's been difficult. We moved into our room, showered, and then we literally slept for 14 hours. No lie. It was fantastic. I sleep on the left. 

We have a courtyard right in front of the house. The house is kind of in the shape of a U. These little buggers have woken me up both mornings at about 6:30am. Ellos no son nuestros amigos. (They are not our friends)

There I am looking pretty great after 14 hours of sleep! Breakfast was bread and this caramel spread "dulce de leche." Mmmm. It's like Nutella, but caramel and even better. 

Yesterday one of the other interns from Iteams showed us around town and we got to go up to The Center where we'll be working with the kids. It wasn't open today or yesterday. I think we start on Monday or Tuesday. Not sure on that one. The Center is at an elevation, so as we were walking up there I was super short of breath. At first I thought it was because I'm really out of shape (which I kind of am, so it made sense.) I later found out that that's what the elevation does to you. I felt it more as we were walking around that day. The elevation is 8,000 feet above sea level! I'm feeling a lot better today. Here's the view over Cochabamba from The Center. It was beautiful! Breathtaking, even. Literally, since the elevation was getting to me :) Do you see el Christo? The little white statue on the hill overlooking the city :)

The intern, Scott, showed us around and we used public transportation, which is crazy, but pretty fun. We met up with another intern, Shelby, in the plaza. We got ice cream and sat on a bench and relaxed and people-watched. Though I'm sure people were watching us way more than we were watching others because we are white people (gringos). Then these two little Quechua girls came up and played with us some. Just kidding, they more like harassed us a little bit. They look so sweet here! There were actually, and cute! They were just forceful and poking us and crawling all over. They didn't speak much Spanish. They actually sat still for this one!

Then this happened!

She came at me with a bag of Coca-Cola! It was slightly scary. Anyway, we later went to a park on the north side of Cochabamba. It got pretty chilly once the sun went down. Good thing I'm used to the cold weather from IA and MN. It was very enjoyable to explore the city and not be confused while speaking in English. I love speaking Spanish! It's been hard though. Especially since our hosts don't speak much English and in public places it can be hard communicating. I'm so thankful I have a background in Spanish. Between Betsy and I we have been able to figure out most things. We get to take language lessons! I'm so excited for that.
I figure I can always listen, right? Ahh, praise the Lord.

Prayer requests...

- PRAISE that we made it here safely

- PRAISE that they've given us time to settle in and get used to life here

- I've been having trouble finding a place where I can get dollars out of my account to make a couple required payments. Pray that I'll be able to get that all worked out!

- the language barrier... especially with our hosts, Nazmi y Judith

- that we'll be able to get acquainted with the city quickly. I feel so dumb in most I do and say. I just want to dive in and know everything. Pray I'll be okay with failing and patience for learning more each day

- little silly things are going wrong that have been getting me down, like the money stuff and I blew a fuse in my converter and my computer charger doesn't fit it. Pray I won't worry about silly things and I may see God's GREATER glory in the small things and challenges. 

Thanks again for all your support back home. It has been such a comfort knowing loved ones are praying for me and reading notes in my SOS encouragement binder that my roommate, Jill, put together. You guys know who you are. THANK YOU. And thanks all for praying for us. How great is our God, right!? 

Because I have a stinkin' long layover...

... IN MIAMI. So because I have a stinkin long layover in Miami, here are some of the things I have experienced or observed so far...

- a little boy crawling on the floor rolling a penny, then chasing it, then rolling it again
- a young child riding on her mom's suitcase
- this just in!... ANOTHER CHILD RIDING ON LUGGAGE
- a child on a leash
- the premium lounge (just kidding. We thought we could use that, but I guess it's just for first class and pilots and such. Lame.)
- two fluffy white poodles
- four nuns wearing all white!
- a man taking his shoes on and off right next to us. Ehhh..
- a lady at the ticket counter introduced herself as "assistance needed" (because the computer said "assistance needed.") She was very friendly and helpful
- some people dress very fancy to the airport
- a lady with sunburn on her back... then I wondered where she was where she had seen the sun, because I sure haven't seen it in a while
- the Miami airport is huge. We've paced much of it and I still don't think I can find my way around easily because all the terminals look the same
- thinking "I want to ride on one of those!" referring to the fancy airport golf carts. Then almost got hit by said fancy airport golf cart
- two little boys speaking Spanish and giggling
- debating with Betsy if we should leave the airport... then walking and riding the escalators and skytrain just for fun and deciding it was too rainy out and we didn't want to have to worry about coming back in
- I got really stumped on a dumb Sudoko. Then I went and bought a little book for more.
- A probably 1 or 2 year old black child with a plaid shirt, jeans and an AFRO.. super cute
- I may have been doing some people watching..

But really, not much has happened yet. We made it through the MSP airport and our first flight with no problems. PTL! (Praise the Lord!) Soon we will be going to meet up with Bekah, who is also doing an SOS to Bolivia, but will be with a different ministry working with a doctor/nurse a little ways from us. Pray that we get through customs and things go well with our visa and such when we land. THANKS. Peace and blessings.

Bolivia: TWO DAYS

So, I’m not so into blogging or journaling, but for the sake of my summer plans I want to document and cherish the moments as well as share them with family and friends back home! Speaking of those summer plans, I will be traveling to Cochabamba, Bolivia from June 4-July 28. Northwestern offers this program called “Summer of Service,” or I may often refer to it as “SOS.” We are a team of 18 students giving our summers to partner with ministries all over the world, literally. I have friends going to Greece, India, Haiti, and Ghana, just to name a few. We met to train and pray together many nights this past semester.Each candle represents a country  a student(s) are traveling to. 

How’s your geography? Remember where Bolivia is? 

You may be wondering, why Bolivia? That’s a very good question. I had no intention of going there. I really didn’t know where I wanted to go. All I knew was that I wanted to do children’s ministry, or teach, or just anything in which I could spend time with kids. I was looking into an organization called “International Teams” because I had heard of students doing their SOS there before. Two different people from ITeams suggested this site for me thinking it would be a “good fit.” They speak Spanish there, so that was also a pull factor because I have some background in Spanish. (Gracias, Seῆora Schroeder y Profe Svoboda Ojeda (: ) It sounded great and seemed right, so I took time to think about it and it was soon decided. I’ll be working with “El centro de Amistad y Apoyo, which means "The center of Friendship and Support. http://hopeforbolivianchildren.org/ The Center is an after-school program for kids tutoring, doing activities, games, crafts, etc. They are building a church there, so I will also be working construction and working for that church. Hopefully we’ll get to travel some as well! I was even blessed to get a partner from Northwestern, Betsy Wallin. We’re both education majors and considering we just met in December, I’d say we’re buds now and ready to travel the world together.

Time at home in between finishing at Northwestern and leaving for Bolivia has been really wonderful. I’ve spent time with friends and family (mainly at Applebees or Lulu Beans), worked at Stay N’ Play (the day care I worked at in high school), played church league softball for Svea Lutheran Church on Thursday nights, packed, shopped, attended a Barn Dance hosted by a good family friend from church, babysat, visited elementary classrooms (spent a day in 3^rd grade in Willmar and a day in 4^th grade in Lake Crystal), was a committed sister attending her many events tied in with her graduating, went to church, talked on the phone with friends mostly from NW and that about covers it. I stayed up way too late and got up early… Nothing too new there :)

I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me financially and with your prayers, love, and support. I've been overwhelmed with your generosity. There is no way I could be going without your financial and prayerful support. I have been so blessed by your giving and I pray that you, as the giver, may be blessed as well! 

I take off for Minneapolis on Monday early afternoon and I’ll stay at Betsy’s house that night because we fly out to Miami at 6:25am on Tuesday. We’ll arrive in Miami at 11am on Tuesday and won’t leave for Santa Cruz, Bolivia until 10:50pm. We’ll arrive in Santa Cruz Wednesday morning and will take a short flight to arrive in Cochabamba in the afternoon! I’m excited to finally go after many months of planning and talking about it! However, I am also nervous because I don’t really know what I’m getting myself into. Ready or not, I’m about to find out!

Please pray for…
                - safe and smooth travels these next couple days
                - that God will equip me each day 

                - flexibility
                - my focus to be on Christ