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