Much Needed Update

Dear friends and family,

                I want to make you aware of an exciting change in plans in the ministry I have started in Bolivia.  Due to a small minor medical matter, out of Kelly’s control, Kelly is not in the Army and will not be leaving for training.  Kelly being gone while I was gone was part of the plans for me being in Bolivia without him.  SAM, Kelly, and I feel that God is opening a door to lead Kelly into ministry with me.  SAM (South America Mission) felt it was important for me to reunite with Kelly in the United States.  They made this decision very recently and I have been back in the United States since Wednesday 9/21/11.

                I hope that through this you will be able to see the bigger picture.  This is a small adjustment in our plans.  Kelly and I are now free to do ministry for God together.  We are trusting God with our plans for the next year.  We are praying and seeking the Lord as to what exactly we should do in ministry.  We both feel that God is calling us back to Bolivia as long term missionaries for HIS glory.  We plan to spend this next year in preparation for a life in ministry abroad.

                When I first heard that I was returning home, I was very sad because I have such a heart for the people of Bolivia and serving the people there.  I felt discouraged because I felt like I had made a mistake by coming down to Bolivia for the time I was there.  In this time before I left and while returning home, I was forced to draw closer to God and realize that he did have a reason for everything that he has given me the past few months.

                I was taught once again that God has a plan for me when he provided a job for me immediately upon my return.  The day after I returned, I was offered and accepted a full time Kindergarten teaching job with South St. Paul Public Schools.  I have now been teaching for a week in a newly formed classroom.  I rejoice daily in God’s provisions and his goodness!  Throughout everything that I have been through the past few months, the best thing about it is that I have drawn closer to GOD.  That is such a gift.

                I am sure many of you have questions about my early return.  Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have!  I am sure you will be hearing more from Kelly and I throughout the next year, and we plan to update this blog on a regular basis!  Thank you for your continuing prayers and support.

Lydia-Stateside.

Day 5- Church

After visiting a few churches with some other missionaries, I decided to be bold and visit a church in my barrio (neighborhood) on my own... and then my roomies decided to tag along.  I really really like the church.  It is walking distance from home, they were very welcoming, are very excited to have me there, and I can understand a lot if not most of what is going on.

The first week I went the message was about tithing and the offering.  It was such a bold message that pastors are not normally as eager to talk about in the states, but at this church it was a wonderful message and was very well received.  It is also exciting to see week after week the eagerness of the church goers to give to the church- it almost seems contagious

The worship in Spanish is just beautiful!  I love singing praises to my God in Spanish!

Church is very much an all morning thing here in this culture.  There is a bible study that the pastor does before the worship, then the worship, and then another message.  Then socializing afterwards :)

I was able to attend the youth service on last Saturday night after I got back from our staff retreat :)  Here you are considered a young person until you get married, and since I am "single" here I was invited to come.  It was a very akward experience for me but we all warmed up to each other and it ended up being a nice time and I was able to fit in well :)

Day 4- Home life!

Okay, here I go finally getting around to this again.  It has been quite the week.... to say the least...

HOME LIFE-

I live with 3 other lovely ladies who all teach at the learning center as well.

We live in a house of a missionary family who is on furlough right now in the States.  It is a complete blessing to have a real furnished house to stay in.

We have our own washer and dryer... which is AMAZING!

Every house here (including ours) is gated in so we enter and exit through a gate.

We have a gorgeous space and have really enjoyed hosting missionaries here for bible studies and a potluck brunch one morning (Dad I made our secret french toast :)

I have really made this house my home and enjoy being here with my roommates!  God has blessed me with so much.

MATTHEW WEST - "STRONG ENOUGH" LYRICS

You must, You must think I’m strong
To give me what I’m going through
Well forgive me, forgive me if I’m wrong
But this looks like more than I can do
On my own

I know I’m not strong enough to be
Everything that I’m supposed to be
I give up, I’m not strong enough
Hands of mercy won’t You cover me?
Lord, right now I’m asking You to be
Strong enough, strong enough
For the both of us

Well maybe, maybe that’s the point
To reach the point of giving up
‘Cause when I’m finally, finally at rock bottom
Well that’s when I start looking up
And reaching out

I know I’m not strong enough to be
Everything that I’m supposed to be
I give up, I’m not strong enough
Hands of mercy won’t You cover me?
Lord, right now I’m asking You to be
Strong enough, strong enough
For the both of us

‘Cause I’m broken
Down to nothing
But I’m still holding on to the one thing
You are God
And You are strong when I am weak
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength
And I don’t have to be strong enough
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength
And I don’t have to be
Strong enough, strong enough
Oh yeah

DAY 3- Culture Shocks - Misc Culture...

Wow here is day 3!  I hope you have enjoyed reading so far!


Here are some interesting cultural issues - 


-You cannot flush your toilet paper here- whew that took a long time to get used to.
-We have random power outages, you can't plan for them and you never know how long they are going to be for, and sometimes they are daily.
-When you greet someone you hug and kiss on the cheek.  
-You never should be on time here, it is not rude to be late.  For example: the first Sunday I went to church on my own, I arrived just a little after 9, the sign said the service starts at 9..... Well church didn't start until after 10... now I just show up an hour late.
-It is very rare for me to see an American/white person here.  When I ride on a bus or walk down the street I get stared at.... this is a big difference from any other country I have lived in.  Unless I am at school, it would be a rare occurance for me to see another Gringo like at the market.
-The exchange rate here is 1 dollar to 7 bolivianos.... I really am brushing up on my 7's division and multiplication tables :)
-Everyone has a tall gate around their house here.... you don't really see anyone's front yard.... 


Here are some sad realities of Bolivian culture and every time I remember these things it completely breaks my heart and I remember why I am here.
- Bolivian culture overuses the idea of Machismo.  If you think that women are objectified in the U.S.... you haven't seen anything.  Besides the common cat calling I get walking down the street, almost naked women are all over billboards, advertisements, and even the front page of the daily paper. :(  
- Domestic abuse is a very common here whether it is physical, sexual or emotional.  Neighbors, police, and even fellow church members look the other way.  There is such a thing as a social worker, but they can't do much.  About 40% of Bolivian children are sexually abused, a drastically higher number of these children are girls.  About 60% of Bolivian children are physically abused.
-God is not a priority in this country.  There are animal (and maybe human) sacrifices happening in the capital buildings.  There is a huge tension here between the highlanders and the lowlanders.  




I am crying right now and my heart is breaking putting these facts to paper.  I know there is SOOO much work that needs to happen here through Christ's love.  


Writing all of these things make me realize how much this God has laid this country on my heart.  I know that there is a purpose for me being here ministering to these people.  It is changing my life to the point that I am not sure if I could ever go back to living a life in the USA.....


Peace-------


Prayer today:


Praise:  I rested again today and am finally feeling better to the point that I can go back and teach tomorrow (Friday).


Prayer request:  1) This weekend (Friday and Saturday) I am going on our SCCLC staff retreat.  Pray for safety and unity between teachers especially between the North American and Bolivian teachers.
2) Kelly and I are deep in prayer asking God what he wants us to do next with our live's.  He already changed it by taking Kelly out of the military, and now we are waiting on the LORD to hear what we should be doing next.  Please pray that our ears will be open to what God has to tell us and that we will be obedient... sometimes I feel a little like Jonah...


God has been teaching me so much just today... as I laid in bed most of the day recuperating... but also on my knees literally crying out to God.... I am not even sure how to put it to words... but I am learning to have even more real meaningful communion with him.

Day 2- School!

Thank you to all of you who read my first blog of my 7 day challenge!  I had some questions about how to comment on the page.  I believe you have to have an account (just a gmail account) and click that you want to follow the blog on the side of the page.  You can also enter your email address and I have been informed that you will get an email with the blog right in it every time I post a new blog- but really mom... you should come visit my page every once in a while :)


Alright, topic of the day SCHOOL.  The main reason why I came here to Santa Cruz is to teach at SCCLC (Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center).  I am teaching Kindergarten in the morning and 12th grade computers in the afternoon.  It is quite the spread.  I am co-teaching with a Bolivian, Martha Garcia, in the kindergarten classroom.  She is a really sweet lady.  We sometimes struggle to agree on how we should run the classroom, but we have started to work together quite well.  She will completely take over the classroom if/when I leave in the end of December.  I am modeling to her a more "American" teaching style, which is what the school wants from her and also working on some translation issues (like when she says who hasn't passed,  instead of had a turn).  We only have the kids from 8am-12pm everyday.  I struggle a lot with how much I want to teach them in SO LITTLE TIME in the day.  We are really only teaching them for 3 of those for hours because they have a half hour specialist class and 1/2 hour snack/recess.  


FYI - I would encourage you to go back a few blogs to see the names and pictures of my little kinders so that you can put a face with the names I talk about.

I teach mostly the phonics/language aspect and science.  During the language time Martha Thomas the ESL teacher (English as a Second Language) comes in to sit alongside the kids and work with them on their English learning.  The curriculum I have does not account for the fact that when I teach kids how to read/spell a word, they might not know that that thing even is- for example using a nut as in a nut and bolt for the word that represents the letter N.  Needless to say it is a real blessing to the kids and me to have her in the classroom during that time!


I have been SOOOO impressed with my kids in the past few days with how much they are just catching onto and using it.  I have parents saying to me "My child is trying to read everything".  There are a few kids that I am still very concerned about, Obed, Dana, and Julian are all really struggling with their language acquisition.  They are all very intelligent, but don't always have the language skills to show it.


Behavior has been a very interesting aspect of the classroom.  I have to deal with things in the classroom that I would not have to deal with so heavily in a stateside classroom.  Here lying is socially acceptable and especially placing blame on others.  Whenever I say something like, I hear too much talking, without a doubt I get a chiming in from little voices saying "me no" (we are working on the grammar on that one).  We have had many conversations about how lying is not ok and it is not what Jesus would do.  It is amazing to see how much effect conversations like that have on the children.  

With only 4 girls in the class, they can go from best friends to enemies very easily.  That happened last Friday with a marker war in library class :(  I was praying the whole way back to the classroom trying to figure out exactly how we would handle it.  Thankfully God gave me the right words to say to these girls, they understood that what they did was wrong and they hugged and apologized.  In the end the girls who has had the most discipline problems, Andrea, came up and hugged and kissed me on the cheek (culturally acceptable)  I was so touched that she obviously saw the love in my discipline.  I think I finally got through to here at that moment and she has had very good behavior in class since then!

I absolutely love all of my students, but if I had to choose an absolute favorite in the class, it would have to be Ryan.  He is just a cutie, he is still 4 years old and I think is very sheltered.  He played soccer for the first time the other day and loves just playing around with the "bigger kids" in the class (Sebastian is more than a year older than him).  He is new to the school and at first I was worried about him fitting in, but evidently his personality is contagious and he seems to almost be the most popular boy in the class- this week at least :)


 One other thing that makes discipline SO HARD, is that I know some of these kids have such little love at home, whether they are abused or just left home with a nanny, it doesn't surprise me that these kids are still learning how to act appropriately with other kids and with us teachers.  Kids here hit, push, and say some awful things to each other.  It is a daily struggle, but I know that God is softening their hearts to be better people.


These kids are Bolivia's future and I feel so honored to be teaching them.  I hope that I have even a little influence on their life!


Alright I feel that I have blogged too much already, I will have to talk about computer class later.


Here is how you can be praying for me:
Praise: God has been providing for me emotionally here helping me rely on him for my support knowing that there is a reason why I am here without Kelly.


Prayer request: I know I said this yesterday, but I actually stayed home today (by the insistence of my principals and director) and am probably going to tomorrow because I am just not feeling good.  I have lots of symptoms of the flu, but fortunately have been able to keep everything down so far.  Please pray that God will heal me and I can get back to my work here ASAP.


Here is a quote from the devotion book I read from today.  "Enjoy the warmth of MY presence shining upon you.  Feel your face tingle as you bask in My Love-Light.  I delight in you more than you can imagine."  I found such comfort in those words today!  It was a wonderful to hear especially since I didn't actually get out and see the sun today!




PS... I am listening to an online christian radio and I heard an AMAZING song from my past that I know some of you will appreciate.... Breakfast by Newsboys.... Wow and all of the sudden Gone by Switchfoot came on.... bringing back teenage memories :)

Day 1- NACER home for boys

I was invited to go with a friend to the NACER home for boys by a friend and it has completely changed my life here in Bolivia.  NACER means "to be born", and these homes give kids new life.  These homes are for kids on the street, some orphans, some not, all of them do not have a better place to go than to the NACER homes.  There is a girls home in the city of Santa Cruz, but the boys home is about a 1.5 hour bus ride outside of the town.


When I first went, I thought it was going to have to be just a one time thing, but the LORD captured my heart for these kids and has made a way for me to go back every week.  I have now been 3 Fridays in a row.


I leave on a Friday around 11 with Martha Thomas a fellow teacher.  We ride a bus straight out of town towards the mountains.  We see so much culture and scenery of the outskirts of Santa Cruz.  Sometimes when we get on these mini busses, there are not any free seats and we have to stand for a while.  At one point we stop in a small town quick to pick up people while street kids sell little bags of homemade juice or snacks through the small bus windows. This time has proven to be a great time of fellowship with Martha.

This last week was by far my favorite week with the kids to this point.  As we were getting off the bus some of the kids from NACER were walking home from school and as soon as they saw us, they starting racing towards us calling our names and nearly tackling us!  We walked down the long road to get to the home together, laughing, joking, and catching up on their week.  It is amazing how far my Spanish skills can go with these kids, it surprises me every time I open my mouth.  It must be God speaking through me.


Sometimes if we arrive on time we eat with the boys.  Lunch is there biggest meal of the day and they always have some good food.  During this time I spent remembering names and answering all of their eager questions wondering of a translation of one word or another into English.  This week I was joking around with them that there was going to be a quiz.


After lunch the kids have chores.  Sometimes we are able to help with things like dishes or washing their laundry by hand, but sometimes we are more of a distraction than help.  We use this time normally to pick fresh mandarins from trees, help with their crafts that they sell, or other random things we can find to do.


At about 4 the kids have homework time.  Two weeks ago they did a really good job of sitting down and doing it, but this last Friday Martha and I distracted them, in a good way.


We brought some children's books in Spanish from the school library with us, like Clifford and some multiplication flashcards.  We could not believe the boy's overwhelming reaction to these things.  They acted like they had never seen books before.  Boys young and old (from 5-20) were taking turns reading these 3 books out loud to each other.  It was so touching seeing them enjoy such a small thing.  They also really liked the flashcards that Martha made.  They especially liked quizzing me on them, because I had to think in Spanish for my numbers.


It is always so sad to leave, but it is something so amazing to look forward to for the next week.


I am so thankful that I am able to start this ministry alongside teaching!  I feel so blessed to be used as one of God's instruments to build relationships with these boys.


Praise: I Praise God today for my wonderful roommates and friends that I have made down here.  They are a new family for me and are such a blessing.


Prayer: Please pray for my health today as I feel like I am coming down with the flu :(


Something GOD has been showing me:  I am learning to do EVERYTHING in dependence of GOD! John 15:5- I am the vine you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.


Thank you for reading day 1 of my 7 day challenge!  I would love to hear from you as well!


On a side note:  I am currently not fully funded to stay down here!  Also adding this new ministry of working with the kids at NACER is adding an extra cost to my budget.  Every Boliviano (Bolivia's currency) I use down here is budgeted.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE prayerfully consider giving to my ministry!  Even a small gift and/or a small monthly gift could go a long way and would mean the world to me.  It is not too late to help me out!  If you have any questions please ask!  If you would like to know how to give please click on the above link that says SUPPORT LYDIA!


Thank you for all of your support!  Both financial and prayerful support is VERY appreciated.

7 Day Challenge!

Alright my blog readers, I am going to present a challenge for myself and for you.  I am going to give us a 7 day challenge.  Starting today I will post a blog a day for 7 days (at least we will see what I do after).  I feel as though I should be giving you most consistent updates, maybe not everyday, but for the next week I will be writing everyday.


I am going to have a topic for the day.  Here are some topics that I am thinking about already church, school, home life, weekend life, shopping, going to NACER- the boys home, and culture shocks.  I am hoping by covering all of those topics I will be able to get y'all faithful readers up to speed on my life here.


In each blog I will also share a prayer request for the day, a praise, and slice of something God is teaching me that day.


I am putting some effort into this hoping you will join me!  I hope to hear from you this week as I take my 7 day challenge!


Also, If you have any other topics that you would like to hear about other than the ones mentioned above, please let me know!

Life

Oh, where to begin... I do not know.  Life wearing on me right now.  Through it all though GOD has been so good.  He is pruning me.

Right after I arrived here in Bolivia, God started talking to Kelly and I telling us that he wants him in the mission field as well.  WE KNOW that he was not telling him that before I left and I would like to make that clear to my blog readers.  GOD gave us this time apart serving him for many reasons, he is growing us as husband and wife together (but in two physically different places).  He is also growing our faith in him like CRAZY.

Anyway, Kelly and I have been praying for God to show us his will in our lives.  One night (almost out of frustration) we prayed a very bold prayer telling him that he can have whatever he wants/do whatever he wants with our lives- we just needed an answer.  The next morning HE gave us a crystal clear answer that Kelly is not supposed to be in the military anymore and instead is preparing his heart for the mission field!

It is seriously insane the way God works sometimes.  Since this clear answer we have felt such intense excitement, confusion, frustration, and energy--- Sometimes all at the same time!

Like I said God has made is so clear that we are to prepare ourselves for the opportunity for him to use us in long term mission together.  We are not yet sure when that is or exactly how. 

On last Tuesday, my principal, two field directors here, a field director on furlough (over skype), Kelly (over Skype), and I all gathered together to pray and discuss options for the immediate future here.  Dan, the director over Skype, is going to contact the home office to start to get a process going talking about Kelly joining me here in a few months for a few months after he and I raise more support together.  In the time being, Kelly and I are just praying and waiting for answers from God through SAM's home office.

With all that being said there is the frustration and hardship of not only having Kelly so far away from me (I was prepared for that), but also having him at home living his normal life, but without me (I was NOT prepared for that).  We talk daily over skype and I get to see him through the wonders of video chat, but it does not make up for the fact that things are not going as planned- I am just trusting and leaning on God for his next step.

Another burden I have right now is the joy and frustration that comes with having a new family.  Right now I am living in a house with three other lovely ladies.  I love them so much and feel like I have bonded with them like sisters!  Their names are Rachel, Melissa, and Emily.  We have been getting along with each other surprisingly well, except for there are times- like with sisters where we have our quarrels.  I have learned over the years - and God has been teaching me to let some of the little things go!  There is one girl in the house though that has been snaping at me randomly for no aparent reason- which makes me break and hurt so bad.  Last night we tried to talk some of this out, with a little solution, and leaving the rest to GOD.  The hardest part is that I admire and LOVE this girl like crazy- so when she hurts me sometimes like she does, it leaves me very hurt.

Needless to say I could use some extra prayer on the weekends.  Pray that God protects my heart and fills my time with things to do to keep my mind off of my troubles.  Even if I completely fill my weekend I still feel like I have way to much down time!


God has given me a heart for this country!  When I first came down here, I was literally not impressed with the country.  For a while I thought this place was not for me.  But then I started learning about, living with, and talking to the beautiful Bolivian people!  I have such a place for them in my heart.  Some of the things I learn about the culture my students grow up in is almost too much to bear.  Knowing the statistic of how many kids are sexually abused at home and the government looks the other way just breaks my heart!  I have such a heart for the children of Bolivia.

Here is a little update on my week last week:
Wednesday night I had our regular SAM prayer meeting except for four of us new teachers shared our testimony!  I was not looking forward to it because my words in English right now are SOOO jumbled because of all of the Spanish zooming through my head!  It turned out to be a very nice time to talk so that everyone could have a chance to know my story and what led me to the mission field.  I also had really nice fellowship with the other SAM missionaries at our meal afterwards

Friday- I am so blessed to have become friends with another missionary named Martha Thomas.  She teaches English language learning (ELL) in the mornings here at SCCLC (which includes an hour everyday in my class helping my kindergarteners!).  In the afternoon she volunteers at the NACER girls and boys homes in and outside of Santa Cruz.  These homes are for girls and boys young and old who may or may not be orphans but know nothing else but the street. Two Fridays now I have had my schedule align in a way that I could go with Martha to the NACER boys homes which are about an 1.5 hour bus ride out of town.  Being there interacting with these boys and spending time with Martha has been one of the most exciting things I have done here!

On Friday we went right from the bus back to my house where we were having a ladies fellowship night.  We ate dinner, socialized and had a worship/prayer/sharing time.  It was very nice to have this time with these ladies, but was already very distracted by something my roomate had said to me earlier in the night - I JUST HATE HOW SATAN TRIES TO GRAB HOLD OF ME :(

God was about to give me great comfort though in Ephesians 4:1-6 which I am now trying to commit to memory
 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Saturday- I was able to go to a new market that is in walking distance with my roomie Rachel and Marth (who spent the night)- I bought a cucumber and beats!  I was very excited about this because I can't have the garden fresh ones that I miss and crave from home.  I also bought a 6x6 hand mirror for only 5 Bolivianos (less than a dollar)

I spent some time at school on Saturday working on my classroom and unpacking the NEW MATERIALS that were finally released from Bolivian customs on Friday!  I walked to school with my roomie Melissa who is an amazing woman and we had a great talk.

Saturday night we decided to pretend like we were Americans... we went to the Cine Center (a mall with a few stores huge foodcourt and a movie theatre)  We saw the only movie in English- The Green Lantern- it was a horrible movie..... But it was very fun spending time with all of the young ladies and the one single guy on the field.

Sunday- I walked to my new church, Renacer, all by myself.  It was a very nice service and was able to take good notes, but am still having a hard time finding the books that the pastor is saying.  I spent the longest time trying to figure out what book "Santiago" is and then once I remembered it was James, I had already forgotten the reference.... :) I am learning.

I had a good hour or so before the rest of my roomies got home from their various services alone at home which was nice.  I got some laundry done, did some dishes, and then set to work cooking my lunch.  I boiled some new baby potatoes I have never seen before (they are like bright yellow and red and the potatoe inside is yellow) anyone know what they are?  I also made a cucumber, tomato and cream cheese sandwich which was absolutely delicious- except it was missing my MOM who I love to eat those with :(

For dinner as well I made tomato soup with the noodles in it just like my dad makes for me (I must have been missing home) and gormet grilled cheese with my roomie Emily. 

I am sorry I have to go!  That was basically my weekend in a nutshell.  I appreciate your prayers!  Thank you!  God Bless. Peace.

Broken

I am so completely BROKEN right now!  God I am trusting you to put me back together!