The kids officially started back to school on August 10, Sam in 4th, Georgia in 3rd and Ty in Kindergarten. Ty shed a few tears when we left him, even had to pry him off of me, but when we returned to pick him up, he exclaimed "I LOVE school!". So thankful for that. I actually substituted in the 4th grade classroom for about a week while the teacher was taking her daughter to college in the states. But after a mere 8 days in school, the government closed schools for 10 days due to swine flu. So, our kids have been home with 5 days worth of schoolwork to do at home with the hope that the the kids won't have to make up all the days missed. We've enjoyed having the kids home again, kind of like our homeschooling days. I will substitute in the 3rd grade classroom for 5 afternoons starting Monday as the 3rd grade teacher is finishing raising her support to be here. No shortage of work to be done here!
As for ministry opportunites, we have plenty of those as well. On September 14th we will begin a series called Alpha. Some of you may be familiar with this. It is a series of videos that are shown over 10 weeks and after each video, small groups meet to discuss the topic. It is a very basic introduction to the Christian faith. Video topics include, "Christianity, Boring, False and Irrelevant?", "Who is Jesus?","Why did Jesus Die?". It is designed for open and honest discussion to take place in the small groups. We have 4, possibly 6 Bolivian nationals who will be helping us lead the small groups, and we plan to canvas the neighborhood passing our invitations. Pray for this effort with us if you will. It is a step of faith for all of us, stepping out of our comfort zone, inviting people we don't yet know as well as people we already have relationships with. Pray for a fruitful time. Other SAM missionaries in Peru have used the Alpha series with great success and we are counting on the Lord blessing our efforts as well.
Laura and I (Angela) are praying about opportunites with the women we know. We have 20 or so Women's Devotional Bibles in Spanish. We are praying about how to use these in some type of morning study. Also, a new teacher has come down for a year and is passionate about ESL. She would really like to lead a Bible Study in English as a way to teach English. I may partner with her in this endeavor. She would teach, I would host it in our home. Bubba continues to be busy not only with the professional class ministry, but also with the Ayore, as he's getting ready to harvest the sunflower crop, the CIET board, and SAMAIR. There is no shortage of work to be done here. Please pray that we would seek to do each day what God would have us do for that day. So thankful for each one of you and your partnership with us.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
New Stateside Phone Number
Here it is.....434-227-4380. It's supposed to be a local Charlottesville number, so give it a try sometime:) For those not in Charlottesville, it is a normal long distance call. We'd love to hear from you!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Today marks one year in Bolivia!
Wow - one year here. So thankful that God has sustained us here in Sant Cruz, Bolivia. There certainly were some days we thought we couldn't do it. Thankful that it's not on our own strength that we try to do anything, but that we serve a Great God who is all powerful!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Good friends, good times
So thankful that some of our greatest friends from Charlottesville were able to be here in Santa Cruz with us for a week. Reid and Angie Murphy and their son Carrington, Kendall Tucker, Kirk Ogden and Luke Heinsohn were here from July 23 -30. We were able to do a variety of projects as well as show them our life here in Bolivia. We worked in 2 different Ayore communities together, had a party with our professional class friends who have attended our English class, spent time with fellow missionaries, and enjoyed many times of sweet fellowship. What a blessing and encouragement it was for us to be able to share our lives with our dear friends. We are so thankful that they made so many sacrifices to be here with us. Planning for the next Trinity Vision Trip to Santa Cruz, Bolivia early summer 2010!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Bumpy roads, flat tires, and good times
Our trip out to the middle of nowhere Bolivia was an amazing experience for all of us. Thank you so much for your prayers! Where to begin....it's so hard to recount all the details and stories and experiences we had. I wish each one of you could have been with us. There are 2 verses and 1 quote that I think help to sum up our week. Along with the photos, I hope these stories help you envision our week.
"The joy of the Lord is my strength" Nehemiah 8:10 We were blessed to get to work with a team of 14 from Georgia. What a spirit of joy they had about them. And their joy was contagious. On our 6 hour dirt road journey out to San Jose (think up and down up and down, bump bump bump) we sure needed the strength of the Lord to get us through! It actually wasn't so bad. Bubba wanted us all to take dramamine, so for the first 2 hours we all slept. The other 4 hours really weren't as dreadful as I had feared. The kids did great and thankfully no one got sick. I was amazed that there really was NOTHING on the road for 6 hours, no houses, no towns, no stores....nothing but fields and fields. I've never quite experienced anything like being that far in the middle of nowhere. We arrived safely and began 3 days of work with the Ayore in Fua. Church construction, Bible school, play time with the kids, women's studies, and men's messages were what we did in the village. And throughout it all, heat, dirt, dust, long days everyone worked with such an evident spirt of joy that could only come from the Lord. I'm so thankful that our family got to experience this kind of work. We closed our time there with a small service at sunset with the Ayore and their half finished church building. They sang songs in Ayore, the children quoted scripture in Spanish, and we prayed in Ayore, Spanish, and English to dedicate the new church to the Lord. What an amazing way to end our time in Fua. I was able to video the women singing "Amazing Grace" in their native language earlier that day. Here it is:
"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed" 2 Corinthians 4:8 Our trip was fantastic, but not without it's share of trials! Every aspect of the trip was covered in prayer so I know it was the protection of the Lord that kept us from being crushed, abandoned or destroyed. We had a total of 5 flat tires amongst the 4 vehicles, the first one occurring when the women took off for another Ayore village 30 minutes down the dirt road in the jungle. I was not with them b/c I got claustrophobic in the truck with so many people so I hopped out. Sam, however begged to go with them and Jose, the Mercados' 13 year old son. All the women promised they would watch out for him and protect him, so in the spirit of "Wild at Heart" and letting him spread his wings a little, we decided he could go. They were half way there when they got a flat tire. No one could find the jack, so the women found a log to prop the truck on (mind you, no ordinary truck but an F350 or somethiing of the sort). The women tried and tried to lift the truck (with Sam watching or maybe trying a few times) but couldn't do it. They stopped and prayed, then were able to lift the truck and change the tire right before help arrived (an ayore boy had been sent back to the village to let us know they needed help). Adventure for sure! The second one was uneventful (a truck full of men with a jack :). The third one came when the dirt road to Santiago was blocked by a truck that had broken an axle. We had 2 choices - sit for hours maybe days really until the truck was fixed, or blaze our own trail. We chose the second option which resulted in a blown tire on our truck (changed quickly with a jack and lots of men). The other 2 happened on the way home, which was an adventure in itself. With the exception of the drivers (Bubba included) we took the train home. Uneventful, but instead of up and down bumping, it was a lot of back and forth swaying. But it was eventful for the drivers. The 6 hour drive turned into 12 hours b/c rain turned the road into a mud pit. WHEW! Oh, and one more thing. We got to go to these amazing hot springs to relax for the afternoon. It was great fun until Bubba was sucked down in a bubbling hot spring with the car keys in his pocket. We have a remote door opener, which got wet, meaning we couldn't open the door w/o the alarm going off. The alarm starts going off, the battery is being drained, we can't start the car with the alarm going off, and did I mention we are in the middle of nowhere? So 30 minutes and 5 men later, the alarm system is ripped out, the car is jumped, and we're good as new. Why am I bothering to recount all these stories? I want to tell of the goodness of the Lord. During all of these trials, no one got upset, no one panicked, no one got angry. Really, we relied on the Lord, we prayed, we worked together. It was amazing to see the Lord's provision. Too often we all rely on our own strength, but out where we were, we could see plainly our weakness, our inability to do anything apart from Him. I'm not sorry for any of the "trials". I'm thankful we had the chance to rely on Him and see Him take care of all of our needs.
"We're all in this together" High School Musical. I kept thinking of this the whole week. The team really included our family, sharing treats from the states, loving our kids, caring for us and about us. The other two missionary families and our family bonded in new ways. We helped out with Spanish translating (realizing that 3 years ago we were just like the majority of this team knowing only "gracias" and "por favor" - what a long way we've come!) We really were all in it together, loving, serving, praying, playing. I'm so thankful for all we did!
"The joy of the Lord is my strength" Nehemiah 8:10 We were blessed to get to work with a team of 14 from Georgia. What a spirit of joy they had about them. And their joy was contagious. On our 6 hour dirt road journey out to San Jose (think up and down up and down, bump bump bump) we sure needed the strength of the Lord to get us through! It actually wasn't so bad. Bubba wanted us all to take dramamine, so for the first 2 hours we all slept. The other 4 hours really weren't as dreadful as I had feared. The kids did great and thankfully no one got sick. I was amazed that there really was NOTHING on the road for 6 hours, no houses, no towns, no stores....nothing but fields and fields. I've never quite experienced anything like being that far in the middle of nowhere. We arrived safely and began 3 days of work with the Ayore in Fua. Church construction, Bible school, play time with the kids, women's studies, and men's messages were what we did in the village. And throughout it all, heat, dirt, dust, long days everyone worked with such an evident spirt of joy that could only come from the Lord. I'm so thankful that our family got to experience this kind of work. We closed our time there with a small service at sunset with the Ayore and their half finished church building. They sang songs in Ayore, the children quoted scripture in Spanish, and we prayed in Ayore, Spanish, and English to dedicate the new church to the Lord. What an amazing way to end our time in Fua. I was able to video the women singing "Amazing Grace" in their native language earlier that day. Here it is:
"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed" 2 Corinthians 4:8 Our trip was fantastic, but not without it's share of trials! Every aspect of the trip was covered in prayer so I know it was the protection of the Lord that kept us from being crushed, abandoned or destroyed. We had a total of 5 flat tires amongst the 4 vehicles, the first one occurring when the women took off for another Ayore village 30 minutes down the dirt road in the jungle. I was not with them b/c I got claustrophobic in the truck with so many people so I hopped out. Sam, however begged to go with them and Jose, the Mercados' 13 year old son. All the women promised they would watch out for him and protect him, so in the spirit of "Wild at Heart" and letting him spread his wings a little, we decided he could go. They were half way there when they got a flat tire. No one could find the jack, so the women found a log to prop the truck on (mind you, no ordinary truck but an F350 or somethiing of the sort). The women tried and tried to lift the truck (with Sam watching or maybe trying a few times) but couldn't do it. They stopped and prayed, then were able to lift the truck and change the tire right before help arrived (an ayore boy had been sent back to the village to let us know they needed help). Adventure for sure! The second one was uneventful (a truck full of men with a jack :). The third one came when the dirt road to Santiago was blocked by a truck that had broken an axle. We had 2 choices - sit for hours maybe days really until the truck was fixed, or blaze our own trail. We chose the second option which resulted in a blown tire on our truck (changed quickly with a jack and lots of men). The other 2 happened on the way home, which was an adventure in itself. With the exception of the drivers (Bubba included) we took the train home. Uneventful, but instead of up and down bumping, it was a lot of back and forth swaying. But it was eventful for the drivers. The 6 hour drive turned into 12 hours b/c rain turned the road into a mud pit. WHEW! Oh, and one more thing. We got to go to these amazing hot springs to relax for the afternoon. It was great fun until Bubba was sucked down in a bubbling hot spring with the car keys in his pocket. We have a remote door opener, which got wet, meaning we couldn't open the door w/o the alarm going off. The alarm starts going off, the battery is being drained, we can't start the car with the alarm going off, and did I mention we are in the middle of nowhere? So 30 minutes and 5 men later, the alarm system is ripped out, the car is jumped, and we're good as new. Why am I bothering to recount all these stories? I want to tell of the goodness of the Lord. During all of these trials, no one got upset, no one panicked, no one got angry. Really, we relied on the Lord, we prayed, we worked together. It was amazing to see the Lord's provision. Too often we all rely on our own strength, but out where we were, we could see plainly our weakness, our inability to do anything apart from Him. I'm not sorry for any of the "trials". I'm thankful we had the chance to rely on Him and see Him take care of all of our needs.
"We're all in this together" High School Musical. I kept thinking of this the whole week. The team really included our family, sharing treats from the states, loving our kids, caring for us and about us. The other two missionary families and our family bonded in new ways. We helped out with Spanish translating (realizing that 3 years ago we were just like the majority of this team knowing only "gracias" and "por favor" - what a long way we've come!) We really were all in it together, loving, serving, praying, playing. I'm so thankful for all we did!
Friday, July 3, 2009
We're back
Just wanted to quickly update this and let everyone know that we are back safe and sound from our adventure. Thanks for praying for us. It wasn't always easy, but it was sure full of adventure. I'm so glad we went! Will update with details and pictures soon.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Adventure
This week the kids and I are finishing up an enjoyable week of VBS. They are having a great time, and I am enjoying myself as well as I am teaching Ty's class. (although keeping up with 11 3,4, and 5 year olds is wearing me out!) Sunday we will begin an adventure that we are looking forward to with excitement and a little bit of apprehension. A team from Georgia is coming down for just over a week to work with fellow SAM missionaries and doctors, Toni and Placido Mercado. A team from this church has been coming for many years to work with the Mercados and the Ayore indians. On Sunday our family will join the team and head for a town called San Jose de Chiquitos. This town is about 130 miles from here, but it will take us about 5-6 hours to drive. Why you ask? because the road is dirt and gravel! Ouch! Once we are there we will work in two Ayore communities, one called Fua and the other Santa Teresita. We will be doing various activities, namely finishing a church in Fua (a community of about 30) and holding VBS for the children of the communities. We will work there until Wednesday morning and then we will begin the second leg of the journey. We will head to 2 other small towns, only about 2 hours away on a paved road, Roboré and Santiago where we will visit another Ayore community. Not far from the town of Santiago is the sight where in 1943 five New Tribe Missions missionaries were killed by a group of Ayore. We will visit that sight as well as some hot springs nearby. On Thursday night, the team, another SAM missionary and her 3 kids, and our three kids and myself will catch a train back to Santa Cruz. It's supposed to be the "nice" train, meaning that the seats recline, it is air conditioned, and it doesn't stop at every little town. Bubba and the other men will drive home the next day. Hopefully this will give you an idea as to why we are looking forward to the trip with excitement and a little bit of apprehension. We really want our kids to have this kind of missionary experience, and we pray that it will be a good experience for all of us. I'll include some specific prayer requests and we'd certainly appreciate your prayers for us!
safety on the road as we travel
that we would be able to endure the 5 -6 hour gravel road without any car sickness
that our kids would be flexible and patient, but also enjoy our time and understand why we're doing what we're doing (showing the love of God to a people who are extremely poverty sticken and marginalized in Bolivia)
for God's protection to be over all aspects of the trip
safety on the road as we travel
that we would be able to endure the 5 -6 hour gravel road without any car sickness
that our kids would be flexible and patient, but also enjoy our time and understand why we're doing what we're doing (showing the love of God to a people who are extremely poverty sticken and marginalized in Bolivia)
for God's protection to be over all aspects of the trip
Saturday, June 20, 2009
HOPE
"Hope, for the Christian, is not wishful thinking or mere blind optimism." N.T. Wright
What is hope? This is a question we are addressing tonight at our house with our Bolivian friends. Tonight is the second in our three part series of talks on faith, hope and love. We're praying that our friends will see why we have hope, in whom we hope, and most of all that our hope is real.
What is hope? This is a question we are addressing tonight at our house with our Bolivian friends. Tonight is the second in our three part series of talks on faith, hope and love. We're praying that our friends will see why we have hope, in whom we hope, and most of all that our hope is real.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Samaipata, Bolivia
VACATION! Our family got to take a 5 day vacation in the mountains of Bolivia, in a little town called Samaipata about 2 1/2 hours away. It was great to get away from the city and from reality for a few days. We stayed in a cabin on top of a mountain that overlooked the town. The kids were able to run and explore, which is something they don't get to do much of here in the city. We hiked, read, played games, built fires, and had amazing family time. I loved not only being away with my family, but also seeing a different part of Bolivia, a beautiful part. Santa Cruz is not a pretty place. It's a big, dirty, noisy city. So for me, getting away to enjoy the beauty of God's creation was like a breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively.
As far as ministry right now goes, we're continuing with our Monday night English class and our talk/discussion on Hope is coming up on the 18th. This Thursday we're going to a concert and taking along 5 Bolivian friends. Jesus Adrian Romero is a latin christian singer whom we first heard in Costa Rica. He is phenomenal. Personally, we're excited to go see him ourselves, but adding to the excitement is the fact that we have Bolivian friends going with us. Also, we're praying about a family trip out to the country the last week of June to help with a work team from the states. Bubba will definitely go, maybe taking Sam and maybe taking all of us. And lastly, we are so excited that a team from our home church is coming July 23 - 30th. We're so excited to share our lives here with some of our best friends from home and to work together on some projects both with the professional class and the Ayore indians.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Building Relationships
Last Friday was Bolivia's Labor Day, so a holiday for all. We decided to take a bunch of Bolivian friends bowling. Yes, there is a traditional bowling alley here, but for most Bolivians it's not a common activity. We invited 5 families to go with us and the Kienzles. Two were able to come and it was a great afternoon! We bowled for about an hour then went across the street for ice cream. Sometimes this kind of thing doesn't feel like ministry, but in our eyes it is absolutely essential, these times of relationship building. Then today, our kids's school had a huge yard sale. One of my Bolivian friends wanted to go, so she and I went along with my children and her 2, ages 5 and 9 (just lacking a 7 year old and it would be a perfect match!) We spent 3 1/2 hours there, no kidding! (I was done after 30 minutes :) After that we went out to lunch with the kids. 6 months ago, I couldn't have done it. 6 hours of being with a Bolivian by myself would have made me so nervous (because of having to speak spanish for that long without having anyone else to rely on to "save" me). And granted, my spanish was far from perfect today, but I did it. We feel like we're beginning to make good friends, and we're praying that throught these friendships others will see Jesus.
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