Destination: Lima

Last night I finally stepped into my lovely apartment at about 8:30...only about 28 hours after stepping into a bus in Lima for the trip back to La Paz. It was a great week and I have been trying to figure out how best to share a week's worth of spring break without boring everyone to tears. I think just a few highlights and lowlights should do the trick.

Lowlights (thankfully, there are just a few):

*The bus trips...To Lima: comfortable bus, but I was miserably ill. (At one point in the middle of the night we stopped for a minute and I got off to use the restroom. When I came out the bus was gone and when I asked the policeman standing there he told me that bus had already left. I was about to go into panic mode, when a little old man came up asking about the bus as well. He assured me it wouldn't have left without us and we waited together for about 5 minutes and sure enough our bus returned. But talk about a scare!) From Lima: I was healthy, but very uncomfortable bus.

*The beach...the beach that was four blocks from our hostal ended up being a rock beach...hard to lay on, hard to walk on, altogether not much fun. We looked into driving to a nice beach an hour south, but it was going to cost us about $60 so we decided to suck it up and spend the day laying on rocks.

Highlights:

*THE FOOD...so even if it wasn't worth the 25-30 hour trip for the beach, it most definitely was for the food! We spent the whole first day saying that we hoped the NICS teachers in Lima appreciated the good food they had (and we found out they did!). We ate at TGI Friday's, Chili's, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Starbucks, and Dunkin Donuts. For those of you in the states, you might be wondering why in the world I am so excited about these restaurants, they really aren't that special. But remember for 10 months of the year I live in a country where the only hint of American food is Burger King (and that is still a Bolivian version). So to be in a place where there is not only a Friday's but the french fries have that special seasoning that only Friday's fries can have was kinda like heaven. We ate way too much, but decided since we have 10 more weeks of bland Bolivian food with no variety, we could splurge a little on vacation.

*Feeling summery and touristy...although it is summer in La Paz too, it never gets hot, just warm. And for day to day living it is perfect. But it was nice for vacation to go somewhere HOT! I could pull out those tank tops and skirts that never see outside the closet in La Paz and walk around a city that feels like a real city. It was clean, modern, and absolutely nothing like La Paz. We toured the historic part of Lima with our hysterically funny tour guide, Luis. I loved looking at old buildings and churches and we even got to go into the catacombs of one cathedral and see old bones of people buried there. That was a tad disturbing and I could have lived without seeing that, but all in all it was a blast to get to be a tourist for once!

*The people...I traveled with 3 other teachers and we had a marvelous time. The trip was off to a great start when 5 minutes into the first bus ride John was trying to take his camera bag down from the overhead bin and the bus hit a bump and he went flying head first through the door that opens to where the driver is. Both the steward and the driver jumped as this body came flying at them and we could do nothing but laugh hysterically. The whole trip was full of laughter and good times, and many quotes worthy of a Lima Quote Book.

Ok well, I am sure I could go on and on, but I will stop here. We spent most of the trip comparing Lima to La Paz. The cities are very different, but while it might be more convenient to live in Lima (and taste better, too) most of us decided we are very happy to live in La Paz. It is a beutiful city surrounded by majestic mountains. Our school is outside the city where the students have room to run around and climb mountains. We can easily take weekend trips to the jungle, the mountains, or the lake. Overall it was the perfect vacation: one you enjoy while you are there, but then are happy to go home at the end.

Looking Back

I just had a wonderful conversation with one of my best friends in the whole world. I can't believe we went from living together for four years to only seeing each other maybe once a year. I miss her soo much. Anyway, during our conversation she mentioned she had just found our old xanga sites from senior year of college. So I decided to see if I could find mine again, which I did. It was quite entertaining to read the old entries. Some reminded me of the hysterically funny times with my roommate and suitemates. Some were all about the angst of trying to figure out what to do after graduation. Those were probably the most interesting to read since now I am on the other side of that and I have seen God's faithfulness in answering my fervent prayers for guidance. It was funny to see the kinds of things I thought I might do (go somewhere with Word Made Flesh, work in an orphanage somewhere in the 10-40 window) and who knows I might still end up doing some of them some day. But now I am content teaching in Bolivia and I know I am exactly where God wants me. I thought I would post here a couple of the old entries that I found to be good reminders of who I am and where I came from:

I was created for such a time as this
I was made for now
I was made to fight
I was made to stand and open up their eyes
I was made for love
I was made for You
I was made to be Your hands and Your feet
I was made to live
I was made to fly
I was made for more than I've allowed in my life
I was made for today
So I will live my life like I was made
These lyrics I adapted from a song that we listened to last night at my amazing ICO retreat (in the song it is God speaking to us saying "You were made....", but this way for me helps me see my identity clearer). I love these words...they really express who we are and our identity in Christ. But the last line is the challenge...living like we are made. So much easier said than done. (Nov. 12, 2005)

Monday, November 07, 2005
From the Interview form for NICS:
How have you felt God calling you specifically to missions?
I began to feel the tugging on my heart to enter the mission field the summer after my eighth grade year when I went on my first overseas mission trip to the Dominican Republic. I was the kind of girl who hated bugs, hated being dirty, hated being hot, and was a very picky eater. However, on this trip, even though gigantic spiders climbed the walls next to my bed, I was often hot and dirty, and I had to eat things that I didn’t necessarily like, none of this really bothered me. I fit in down there and I didn’t want to leave. However, at the time I didn’t realize the significance of all of this. I continued to go on mission trips every summer during high school and enjoyed every single one. Then when I came to college and began searching for God’s will for my life I began to see those trips as God preparing me for what he was calling me to do. During my sophomore year, for over a month straight, everything I read in the Bible, every worship service I attended, something reminded me of missions. I read God’s command to sing his praise to all nations, I read about Isaiah declaring “Here am I, send me.” I sang a song that included the lines “You said ‘Ask, and I’ll give the nations to you’”. I heard speakers speak on mission experiences and had friends go on their own trips. Then, at the end of this time, I went home to Cincinnati for Thanksgiving break and that happened to be where the National Missionary Convention was being held that year. I attended one evening with my parents. As my mom and I were walking around looking at the different booths, we passed one that was for parents of overseas missionaries. My mom looked at me and asked if that was one she needed to check out. I had not yet told her that more and more I was learning that God was calling me to overseas missions, but somehow she already knew. During the speaker that night, I sat in my seat with tears streaming down my face knowing for sure that God had called me to the overseas mission field to heal and teach his lost and broken children.

So I just finished filling out the interview form for the Network of International Christian Schools and I submitted it! That was crazy and a huge step of faith. I still do not know if this opportunity is what the Lord has planned for me. But now I have acted and done what I can and it's up to him to show me the way. However, it was an incredible experience answering the above question. Just to put together all the little signs and see the big picture is amazing and totally confirming. I know more than ever that God wants me overseas. Now I must wait patiently as he reveals to me where and when he wants me to go. It is not easy to wait, but as i just discovered it's not easy to act either. That is why I am so glad we have AN AMAZING ALL POWERFUL GOD directing our paths. I don't have to worry about it. He will guide me as I seek His will. I just pray that I will be able to discern his will..... and sometimes that seems so hard.
_________________________________________

Yeah, reading that answer to the interview question just confirmed again how the Lord has led me to the place where I am today...and like the end of the song says...I need to be living my life like I was made....He led me here...is my life a reflection of that truth?

Kids and Hunting...

So today we were reading a book together as a class and in the book they are talking about hunting. One of my boys, raises his hand and tells me with a completely straight face, "Miss, in April my grandpa and me are going to go hunting and we are going to shoot orphans and eat them." He used the spanish word for orphans so I repeated it back to him to make sure I heard him right and he insisted...they were going to hunt orphans. When I told him that orphans are people and we dont shoot and eat people he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, that's what grandpa said." I honestly had no response and just had to keep reading.

This same kid continued to entertain me today with dramatic stories to explain why he could not be nice to his friends (well according to him they were not his friends...hence the problem)...it had something to do with him wanting to be like Shaggy and Scooby on his favorite show. However to get the most out of this story you would have to talk to me in person and get full impressions...it's the only way to fully enjoy the story.

Sometimes the hardest part of being a teacher is keeping a straight face when your kids are being crazy and they don't know it...

Sunday Afternoon

Sunday I was given the opportunity to remember why I love going to the river and spending time with the kids who live there. I had been feeling sick, tired, exhausted,worn out (I think you get the idea) and it took all my will-power to make myself get out of bed Sunday afternoon to make our weekly appearance at the tiny church at the top of the hill. I felt guilty about not wanting to go, and hoped that once I was there my attitude would be changed. And it was. It was really just any other Sunday. The same 15-20 kids that are always there were sitting in small wooden chairs learning about Moses as a baby (quite a smaller group than the 95 that showed up for the Christmas party). As we came over the top of the hill, little Alvaro, our favorite 4 year old, came running out, smiling, laughing, and screaming, "Hermanas!!!" (sisters...what the kids call us, Hermana Ashlyn and Hermana Kristen). My attitude changed in that instant.

One thing that made this Sunday a little different was that we were able to hand out brand new clothes to the kids. Kristen's sister-in-law had collected two huge boxes of brand new children's clothes and sent them to us for the kids. Today we were just handing out one outfit per child, in order to spread out the gifts to be distrubuted as they were needed. Two of the mothers came, which is always unusual. Both mothers had small babies, (as well as at least 6 older children), and were just the sweetest women. Their smiles and appreciation were truly genuine and to me it seemed like a small breakthrough into reaching whole families. After handing out clothes, Elisabeth left and Kristen and I were left to "tutor" the older kids. Tutoring usually turns into reading with half of the kids, while the other half play different math games with flash cards. That day however, the kids were more interested in playing with Kristen's camera and having their picture taken than anything else. And they had a blast...running from the camera, posing for the camera, making videos.

I really can't quite put my finger on what made that day so special. However I think I have looked through the pictures from that day 5 or 6 times. Those kids have nothing, and Kristen and I don't usually bring anything for them. That day we had, but normally it is just ourselves. And that is all they want. They appreciate the clothes, shoes, socks, and underwear, but I really think the time spent reading, playing, taking pictures, playing beauty shop, and laughing, is more valuable to them than anything we could put in a bag. Amazing. And as we were leaving, one of the older girls, Mari, stopped us and took from her wrist two sparkly, plastic bracelets, a prized possession among the girls. She gave one to each of us, smiled, and then continued walking down the hill. I wear it as a reminder of the humility the Lord has been teaching me in many ways throughout this year. And I look forward to next Sunday afternoon.

A Thought

"God does not, by the instant gift of His Spirit, make us always feel right, desire good, love purity, aspire after Him and His Will...The truth is this: He wants to make us in His own image, choosing the good, refusing the evil. How should He effect this if he were always moving us from within, as He does at divine intervals, toward the beauty of holiness?...For God made our individuality as well as, and a greater marvel than. our dependence; made our apartness from Himself, that freedom should bind us divinely dearer to Himself, with a new and inscrutable marvel of love; for the Godhead is still at the root, is the making root of our individuality, and the freer the man, the stronger the bond that binds him to Him who made his freedome." ~An Anthology of George MacDonald (edited by C.S. Lewis)

El Raton de los Dientes?!

We will get to the tooth mouse in a second. It has been a beautiful weekend so far. At first I wasn't sure how possible it would be to enjoy any of this weekend, considering I am suffering from a cold at 12,000 ft...where respitory ailments seem to hit you hard. When you barely have enough air to breathe on a normal day, add a stuffy nose and chest congestion and it's just plain impossible at times to find enough air. But...in spite of all this it has been wonderful.

Friday night my roommate and dear friend, Kristen, and I decided to just take it easy. We decided we were in need of some comfort food so we headed to the only American restaurant in the city...Burger King. If you don't understand, try living in a third world country. You begin to appreciate the little things. We then returned home, climbed into my huge king size bed and settled down to watch the first good movie we had seen in weeks...Once. It's amazing, it's beautiful...you should see it. After the movie we just laid there, discussed the possibility of another movie, but ended up just talking for 3 more hours. All in all, a great night!

Saturday (today) I woke up still sick so I decided to take it easy all day. I think I got out of bed 5 times all day. But it was nice. I watched Gilmore Girls, did some work, watched a movie, did some more work, read a little, and by 6:00 was starving and feeling much better. Kristen and I decided we needed a little more excitement than the night before so we headed up to the city for dinner and movie (I know, basically the same as the night before...but this time it was in a theater..much more exciting!). We got some pizza, and then chocolate cheesecake and frushakes from Alexander's (not the healthiest weekend ever, but definitely a delicious one!). We had time to kill before the movie, so we walked around the Prado (the main street in the city). I had a drunk man spray water in my face and then my bum...leaving me feeling violated and annoyed, but it didn't ruin the night. We saw The Bucket List. Not a movie I was dying to see, but was willing to watch in order to see a movie in a theater. And it turned out to be a really cute movie. We are two for two so far this weekend, probably because we are the ones actually choosing the movies for once. Of course, only in Bolivia would a couple sit down in the seat right next to your's when the theater is practically empty. Spanish subtitles also always add a little bonus entertainment. For example...when Jack Nicholson asks if there is a sugar plum fairy, it was translated "hay un raton de los dientes?" (is there a mouse of the teeth?). Sugar plum fairy... tooth mouse?!?! hmm...you just have to wonder sometimes.

Tomorrow the plan is to do some major art shopping in the city, then hang out with the kids at the river and then have our weekly roommate cooking and prayer time. A perfect ending to a great weekend. And now...I plan to fall asleep to the rumbles of thunder in the distance. Really, it is amazing how God knows just what you need, even when you yourself don't.