Blessings

God is good.... He has a plan for us... We just want to faithfully follow him.... That is what we keep reminding ourselves as we continue our walk in life together with Nuestro Senor (OUR GOD).

I have been back in Minnesota since October now, and am just starting to feel adjusted.  I would like to open my heart to you and share with you a little of what my life has felt like since returning from Bolivia.

-I am so grateful to be back with my husband, for some reason God designed a time for us to be apart, and it was beautiful, because I was able to learn things about myself to make my marriage and walk with God together stronger.

(I have to tell you right now thinking about what I have already written and what I will be writing has brought me tears- I write this with a heavy heart).

-There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about Santa Cruz, Bolivia; the land itself, the kids that I taught, the kids at the homes I worked with, and the missionaries that so quickly became as close to me as my own family.

-I went through many stages of grief when I returned. Knowing that there are so many people in Bolivia that need God's love and not being there to help share it is hard. I was sad a lot.  It was (and still is) hard for me to be alone.  I have been very grateful for the blessings of my friends and family that are willing to drop everything to talk on the phone or open their house to let me just be around them.  I have spent many nights with Kelly with neither of us not able to understand the weird emotions and reactions to them I was having.  Realizing that all I could do was turn to GOD, the one who put me where I am today.  

-I have had Jesus appear to me in a dream, and comfort me.  I didn't even realize what had come over me until I was sitting in church with Kelly the next morning.  HE has blessed me with the comfort of knowing that I am going to make it through this time, and that he DOES have a purpose for us in South America.

-I have dug deep into our church.  We have a wonderful, biblical based church, that is all about taking Jesus to the streets.  It is called The Alley and is in Cottage Grove, MN.  Our pastor lets God speak through him.  He challenges us in very uncomfortable, but needed, ways.  ANYWAY, we have been studying the book of Daniel.  God blessed me with this.  In the beginning of the book it talks about the empire of Babylon.  It was a country much like ours that is very materialistic, and void of God in many ways.  Daniel is able to live in this Babylon anyway, following God completely, not falling into the very glamorous ways of Babylon.

The reason why I say this study came and blessed me at just the right time is because leaving a country like Bolivia that has nothing and coming back to a country that seemingly has EVERYTHING, was HARD.  I am still struggling with it.  Maybe not it the way Daniel was, but in my own way.  I look around and am saddened by what we have here that we are not grateful for, everyone here has SO MUCH they don't even realize, whether you have a job or not, whether you have a roof over your head or not.  Even just the fact that you can walk around carrying your purse with out looking over your shoulder wondering if the person behind you is going to take it.

So I went on a tangent- getting more involved with my church is a blessing, I have become involved with a bible study with a great group of women, and gotten into a small group of couples at church that challenge each other.

One of the biggest blessing was my job that God handed to me a day after I returned.  I teach 21 little kindergartners in South St. Paul, MN.  They distract me from my desire to be in Bolivia.  They make me realize that for the time being I have a ministry right here with them.  Although I cannot specifically talk to them about GOD and his love they need so much, I can show it to them.  We talk quite often about my friend that I talk to every morning, asking him that we have a good day together.  I think they think my friend is pretty nifty, if only I could tell them who he is.

Right before Thanksgiving I was blessed with the ability to see my friend Martha.  She is also a missionary in Santa Cruz that I was VERY close to.  She was home for a family emergency in Iowa, and I was able to take the time to go visit her.  This was an incredible time of healing for me.  I praise God for this time.  I was able to talk with her about how I was really doing, and she really understood.  I do not think she even realizes how much that less than 24 hours I spent with her meant to me.  

One of the other things I was able to do was send back some things for my family in Bolivia with Martha.  They each requested some simple things that they really wanted and I went crazy shopping for them.  Thankfully Martha was willing to bring it all back.  One of my favorite requests was "can you please send me some body spray, I am sick of smelling like dirt all of the time".  It was such a blessing to be able to send all of those things for them.

So that is where I have been and some of where I still am at.

Looking forward to the future, you may be wondering what it holds for the Skadberg family.  Well we would like to believe that we will both be in Bolivia in the Fall.  We are unsure at this point of the how and the timing.  We would like to commit to long term service, which will need a lot of support raising, but we know we (Kelly, God and I) can do it.  We are still slowly waiting on some good communication from our organization SAM (South America Mission) as to what this will look like, if they are going to accept us as a couple, and have a lot of unanswered questions.  We bring these uncertainties to God everyday hoping that they will be answered soon.

We consider anyone reading this page one of our supporters in what may turn into a lifelong ministry for us.  We feel completely blessed to know you.  Here are some things that you can do for us now:

-Keep us in your prayers

-Pray for the people of Santa Cruz, Bolivia

-Pray about how you may be able to support us from even the biggest or smallest gift.  We know we will need many people and churches to come alongside us and commit to monthly support.

-If you desire, contact us, we would love to hear from you!  (check out our contact page)

-I know it would make the day of my missionary friends if you wrote them cards, or sent them little care packages.  If that is something that interests you I can get you more information on that.