Nine Weeks and Counting!

Well, here we are practically in April! Incredible really! This afternoon there are some special activities at school that I plan to participate in so I'm running around trying to squeeze too many things into my morning! What else is new!

Events from this past week...

1. There is a woman at church, Leonor, who accounced that she was pregnant about the same time that Emily and Christopher told me they were expecting. It has been fun for me to watch her tummy grow and think of Emily at the same time. I am proud to say that I get to be "aunt" to more than my flesh and blood, and this little one I actually get to hold. They keep teasing me that I'm getting lots of practice in so that I'll be ready to hold Wesley when I get home. Anyway, Leonor's baby was born last Friday, 8 days after Wesley, and weighed about the same. They have not picked out a name for him, but I believe it will be Josue or Joshua. I am enjoying getting to love on him as much as I can!

2. My PreK class is usually one of the most difficult classes for me to teach. It is my largest class and they often lack discipline. However, the last couple of weeks, God has allowed me to have a great time with them. Some of the pressure to have a specific lesson for them has been removed so now, I basically work on their English using interactive play and it has been so much more enjoyable. They have loved it and I have left their room with my sanity intact! This past week I took some of my clothes and we just played dress-up for a while. This photo was taken then!

3. Please continue to pray for my preparations for going home as it consumes many of my thoughts at the moment. I continue to look for a home for my cat. It is important to me to know that she is well cared for. There are other things, some of which can't be completed until I'm getting ready to leave, but they're on my mind much of the time. It is also a difficult time, my heart feels very divided. I know that I am ready to come home for a little while, but it is difficult to pack up and say good-bye, even if it's only temporary! My sleep is affected by my stress so I feel tired a lot of the time. If only I could be successful in truly leaving it all in the Lord's hands, some times it is so difficult to let go.

Well, that's basically it for me this week. Next week I hope to up-date my blog on Thursday instead of Friday, because I will be travelling for Easter vacation. Thank you as always for your faithful prayers!

Greetings from Sunny Santa Cruz!

Hello there! Thanks for tuning in once again to this amazing blog, that I am sure just knocks your socks off. As promised I have posted another photo of my adorable nephew, who of course is not the least bit spoiled! I am looking forward to the day when I get to see him and hold him for myself!


I don't have a lot of new information to share with you this week. It has been a rather slow week. Some of you have asked about my friend Avelina who had gall bladder surgery a week ago. She is doing quite well. I haven't been able to get by to see her for a few days, but I plan to go this afternoon. The last couple of days have been full of birthday celebrations. It seems like the majority of my friends have birthdays in March, very strange! I believe most of my time, recently, has been spent buying presents, planning celebrations, and attending birthday parties! Of course that makes it fun for all of us!

I do have a specific prayer request for you to lift up. A while ago I asked a friend from school if she and her family would be willing to keep my cat while I am in the states. This week, she told me that they would not be able to. I don't have very many options in mind right now of who I could ask to take on this responsibility. Please pray that God will give me the wisdom to know what to do with her while I am gone. I would like the comfort of knowing that she will be well taken care of.

Thanks as always for your support and prayers. I think of you all often and look forward to being reunited with you!

The Arrival of Little Wes!

Greetings from Santa Cruz Bolivia! May the God of creation be ever drawing you unto Himself! As you may have guessed from the title, my biggest news this week has to do with the arrival of my nephew. Wesley Andrew Marks was born on March 15 at 8:01 pm, 19 1/2 inches and weighing 7 lbs 2 oz. Mother and baby are both healthy. I was able to speak with my mother briefly last night who was at the hospital with them. My dad is supposed to drive down to North Carolina today to join them after a meeting that he has this morning. Praise God for this new little life he has brought into our family!

In reality that's about all the news I have for this week. As promised I'm attaching a couple of pictures this time for your enjoyment. The top picture, of course, is of Wesley. The other pictures are of my Kindergarten class. You need to notice that they're wearing my shirts for the activity we did that day! I thought they looked so cute!

We are enjoying Beth HAuse's arrival this past Tuesday. It is wonderful to have her back with us. I also mentioned in a previous post that my friend, Avelina, needs to have surgery. God has provided all of the necessary funds, thank you for your prayers, and the surgery has been scheduled for this morning. Today, I am at school for a workshop which is about to start so I need to get going! Thank you once again for all of your love and support! I look forward to being with you all again soon!

Another Week Gone By...

Greetings from Santa Cruz Bolivia once again! Sorry for the delay in updating my blog! I tried to write a quick note on Friday afternoon, but it didn't save correctly which is why it ended up looking so scattered. Anyway, a lot has been going on this week and I am excited about sharing it with you!

First of all...
A couple of months ago, one of the girls in the youth group confessed that she was pregnant. After receiving a lot of advice suggesting that she shouldn't marry the father of the baby, because he is not a Christian; she chose to marry him anyway. She also stopped coming to church. Anyway, to make a long story short, about a week ago before the evening service at church, I went with a couple of girls from the youth group to visit her. We had the opportunity to talk with her about God's forgiveness and encourage her to come to church with us. The good news is that she did! It was amazing to see God's timing in it all. She was really ready to come back and ready to talk with us. It isn't going to be all peaches and cream, that's for sure. She also didn't return again this past Sunday, but there was something in it that felt like a breakthrough. I believe that with some continued support/prayers on our part combined with God's conviction and strength...she will return to Him and seek the relationship with Him that she once had.

Secondly...
I spent a fair amount of time last week visiting and helping a friend of mine from church who is sick. After several tests being run and a lot of communication with the doctor it was confirmed that she will need to have surgery to have her gall bladder removed. She has had stones in her gall bladder for awhile, but now she has more of them and they have become more irritating. We are currently working on collecting the funds that she will need for the surgery since she and her husband don't have the money. Please pray that God will provide for their financial needs.

Finally...
Beth HAuse is coming home! She flies back tonight arriving tomorrow, Tuesday, morning! Basically, she is returning knowing that she actually has two problems. One is the problem with her eye, I think I mentioned that one in an earlier blog entry. The other one is the infection in the bone of her sinuses. The discouraging news is that it appears that there really isn't anything they can do to help her and she will just need to learn to how to live with it as well as what antibiotics she can take on a more longterm basis to allow some relief. In any case, we are all very excited that she is on her way back! Please continue to pray for her and her family.

Well, I think that covers the main highlights. I took some pictures this week, but I borrowed a friends camera and so I need to get them from her before I will be able to share them with you...maybe when I update my blog on Friday, I'll be able to share them! Thanks for reading all the news, praying for me, and just in general...loving me! I appreciate each one of you!

Is it really the beginning of March?

Hello there once again! Just so that you are aware, my plan is to update my blog each Friday so that it will be ready for you anxious readers on Monday morning. In actuality it works to check it Friday afternoon or during the weekend as well. Since I plan to write each week, I might not have a lot to say every time. This week would be one of those! However, I will list a few highlights for you...

1. My plane ticket home has been bought. I fly out at night on June 8, arriving home on June 9 around 1:00 in the afternoon.

2. I had a meeting with two of the SAM leaders to discuss my plans for departure as well as the possibility of my return. They provided me with lots of good advice concerning my preparations for leaving and some of the things I can expect when re-entering the states. If I return, they also have given me several ministry options that I can consider to see if God may be leading me in one of those directions.

3. I had a very busy week at school, since I have added on some extra tutoring assignments and there is a student teacher who will be working with me a couple of afternoons each week. God did provide a couple of moments that warmed my heart! One of them was with my Kindergarten class. I was doing a special activity with them, working on places you might go in a town. Since I was going to be giving out treats...I invited the rest of the Kindergarten class. As it turned out, I had so much fun with them. We not only had a great time while they were in my room and I felt like they learned something. Then, when we returned to their room early and their teacher wasn't there yet, I had a few minutes to just play and laugh with them! It was such a blessing to me. The other little boost that God provided was when I saw another class waiting by the kiosko (a place where the students buy snacks) and I stopped to talk to them. I found out their teacher was buying a few of them a snack as a reward, so I said, "Wow, you must have the coolest teacher in the whole school." However, the little girl's response was, "No, you are, but she's really nice." That really cracked me up, since it came from a little girl who is not in any of my classes, in any case, I appreciated the compliment.

4. Beth HAuse had her appointment with the neuro-opthamalogist who told her, praise God, that she does not have a problem with the back of her eye. He say that he believed that it is a problem with the front of the eye, but suggested that it wasn't progressively getting worse. However, the neuro-opthamalogist did recommend that she go back to the doctor she saw in November when she was in the states to see what further treatments he would suggest for her sinus issues. She has been able to schedule that appointment for Monday, March 5.

I think that's about it for this week. Stay tuned next week for more 'Lil Bits from Laura Boyce!