January 30, 2013

This time has been such a blessing to us as we slow down a little from our whirlwind of travel in the first six months.  We have been able to develop a routine, which has included the opportunity for Dalmiro to work in the office on a regular basis for the mission.  As Laura has advanced further along in the pregnancy, she has appreciated the opportunity to rest more frequently...taking naps when needed.  We have also enjoyed spending time together...occasional dates and movie nights, nightly devotionals together, etc.

Making new friends and enjoying the opportunity to minister in Eastern, VA.

Anxiously awaiting the arrival of Benjamin Carmelo Ortiz

Enjoying our first snow of the year...and Dalmiro's first chance to build a snowman!!!

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support for our family!  We will be sure to let you know once our bundle of joy has arrived!!! 

I’m a bit embarrassed to finally be up-dating my blog to inform you about events that happened in July! It used to be relatively easy to up-date my blog almost every week…now I’m doing well if I get it written once a month and for that I apologize! I do hope you feel informed of what God is doing here in Bolivia…even when I’m a bit slow at sharing about it!

July Events

During the last two weeks of July, I was busy directing an English Village in Santa Cruz. Together with some other SAM missionaries, we hosted a class of 9 students all of whom were from various cities in Bolivia. Living together at a camp outside of the city, gave us the chance to simulate an English immersion environment for them. Although not all of them are current mission’s candidates, I was impressed by the impact that the course seemed to have in encouraging them to think about what God is doing around the world and the part they could have in that. Please continue to pray that God gives us wisdom in knowing where to go from here as we’ve been asked to direct/teach English Villages in Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, and believe in the importance of doing another one in Bolivia!

August Happenings

August 10, was the official start to the new school year! We started the year a bit short-handed as a few of our staff members were still working on raising enough support to come down. A few of them have since arrived, leaving us with substitutes only in 2^nd grade and 3^rd grade. Those teachers will be arriving in about two weeks. Due to this, it has been a bit rocky of a start to the new school year, but God has been faithful to continue to provide the strength and endurance that we need and we praise Him for that!

Wedding Plans

On September 3, Dalmiro and I celebrated the 1^st of three official weddings! In our home at about 12:00 in the afternoon, we signed the official paperwork, along with Dalmiro’s sister, our 3 witnesses, a close friend (who is our personal photographer ☺), and a notary (who does all the legal paperwork), thereby becoming legally married here in Bolivia. We hosted a lunch afterwards of baked chicken, cheese rice, boiled yucca, salad, and lemon meringue pie for dessert! Attached you’ll see a link with some pictures of the affair. Enjoy! Although we are now legally married so that we could begin some necessary paperwork, we’re waiting for wedding #2 before we move in together or celebrate a honeymoon! Wedding #2 will be on October 22 here in Santa Cruz, then, there will be a reception in Abingdon, VA on December 20, and wedding #3 in Franklin, VA on December 28!!! I think you could say we’ll be about as married as anyone can be!!! Very exciting times!!! Thank you for your prayers as we continue to move through each of these important steps!

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Thank you for all of your constant prayers! Please continue to lift us up...I will admit that I'm anxious to get home and see many of you in December! I long to be able to introduce you to Dalmiro and to spend time with you while you get to know him a little! I am also anxious for a chance to get some rest...to feel spiritually and physically renewed! Pray for strength and wisdom for both of us in all that needs to be done, and for me in working through the problems that cross my desk at school! Thank you for going before the throne on our behalf! We love you and talk about you often!

This is Vacation???

Greetings once again from Santa Cruz! Dalmiro and I completed the Beni trip...physically and emotionally tired...yet changed for the better at having been able to serve the Lord in this area of Bolivia. There is much to report on the events of our trip, so I'll do my best to share as much as I can.

Our boat trip began, unfortunately, not as we expected. The first night while we were on the river, traveling during the night, one of our team members, woke up to use the restroom. Apparently, as we discovered after the fact, he must have become disoriented while returning to his hammock. He then opened the gate on the front end of the boat and walked into the water. We then spent the next few days anchored to the shore, hosting a search and rescue center. We took turns keeping watch day and night for any sign of the body. It was at that point that we held a memorial service for our brother in Christ, feeling sure that he had gone home to be with the Lord.


The next few days on the river were very intense as we we then realized the great need and quantity of villages to be seen, yet our shortened amount of time on the river. In each of the villages the doctors/nurses would set up a medical clinic. While they were providing medical attention Dalmiro and another pastor were praying for and witnessing to the adults. At the same time, there were a number of us who provided activities, songs, verses, and a Bible lesson for the children.


It was difficult at times, living in such close quarters for about 10 days, not to mention the emotional stress of the accident at the beginning of the trip. Yet, we also saw God working in many ways as well. We say Him healing people of their physical wounds, providing for their physical needs, and using us to share more about Him. God also led us into some villages which to our knowledge, had not been reached before for the gospel! Praise the Lord for the opportunity to share His love with people who haven't heard how they can have a personal relationship with him! Pray too for children like Bella in this picture (the one in the front, middle) who heard the gospel many times that day and still chose not to accept it! May God draw her unto Himself!



After returning from the Beni trip and taking a couple of days to sleep/rest, I jumped back into taking care of things at school! I had three intense days of English testing for new students seeking enrollment. After that I was meeting with the director so that he could teach me about an accreditation visit that the school is preparing for in this upcoming year (as he will be returning to the states and is leaving me in charge of the information needed for the visit).

The weather has turned cold, my roommates have all traveled either to the states or to other parts of Bolivia, and I'm working frantically to get caught up and ahead of things here! Coming up in a week, I will be teaching the music class for an English-speaking VBS, each morning from 8:30-11:30. Then the following couple of weeks I will be helping to direct an English Village (similar to that which I attended/directed in Argentina) here in Santa Cruz. We're still waiting to see if we have enough students to run the course and should know something about that within the next week. After that..."vacation" will be over and I'll be getting back into the swing of things at school...while trying to move into a new apartment!!! Dalmiro and I have decided to begin renting an apartment which is close to the school and owned by World Gospel Mission. I will be living there on my own until October and then he will move in with me after we get married!

Thank you so much for your prayers on our behalf during the Beni trip! We covet your continued prayers for us as we move through the next...very busy months...and look forward to our upcoming marriage! There is lots of growing, adjusting, and learning yet to come!!!

May 29, 2011--Busy times

For those of you who are not on Facebook or heard via other means, I definitely want to let you know that I am now engaged to Dalmiro Oritz. Dalmiro is a pastor at my church and also works with the church association of which our church is a part as missions pastor. We plan to be married in Santa Cruz on October 22. I am looking forward to our future ministry together...some of which comes very soon as you will see.

Firstly, I need to say that the school year finished well. We were all very busy with the end of the year activities, but we praise the Lord for what He accomplished at school this year. As a result, I haven't had the time to write as much as I would like.

Secondly, my older sister, Janet had her first baby on May 3 in Arlington, TX. Miles Lee Nye was 8 lbs. 11 ozs. and 20.25 inches. I praise the Lord for his safe arrival and look forward to the day when I can see him.

I leave this evening (Sunday, May 29) for a missions trip to the Beni. Some of you may remember that I went on this trip in the past. It is a medical/dental/evangelistic trip, traveling initially to a city near the river between Brazil and Bolivia in the department of Beni. From there we take a boat and travel on the river, stopping at villages and providing medical care, dental care, children's meetings and showing a film. We also do follow-up discipleship with people who have come to Christ at stops from previous years. We won't be on the exact trip as I went on previously, but other teams may have stopped at some towns in the past.

We are are mixed group, the two medical doctors are a couple with SAM who serve in Santa Cruz. The dentist is Bolivian. We also have nurses and some teams have other medical personnel join them as well. There are other missionaries and youth going along also. I am on the first of three trips planned for this year. At first I wasn't supposed to go on this trip as it came so close to the end of the school year, but when I got bumped it made things very hectic at the last minute.

What is very exciting for me is that Dalmiro is also going on this trip. He will be doing the devotionals for the team as we begin each day and also doing some of the evangelistic work in the evenings. The living conditions on the boat and in the villages are very primitive. The men/boys sleep in hammocks on one level and the women/girls sleep in cots or hammocks on another level. We do bring some food (some of it still living) and catch fish along the way.

Please pray for physical strength and safety in travel, both to and from the site and along the river. The team is comprised of folks from different areas, cultures and ministries. Pray that we will have a God-centered focus on serving Him and working together. Most importantly, pray that many will come to a knowledge of the Savior and be encouraged to grow in their walk with Him. We should be back in Santa Cruz on June 10.

Thank you for your partnership with me in Bolivia.

April 10, 2011

On Friday afternoon a 10 yr old boy was sent to my office...it was a student who spends about as much time in my office as I do! We began to talk...once again about his behavior...and I began to wonder once again if I were ever going to get through to him...this time he began to cry. His parents have been separated for awhile now, but the night before he had heard his mom talking about filing the divorce papers. On top of that, she told him that his aunt and uncle were getting a divorce as well. It's all around him. This particular student is walking on thin ice so to speak as there are those who feel it's necessary to kick him out of the school (they call it "not inviting him back"). There are several students they would like to see removed. I'm praying it doesn't get to that. If he isn't at our school to learn about God's love and experience it first-hand from teachers and administrators...where will he see it? Yet, he needs so much more than his teacher and I can give him. Please pray for him and other students like him at the Learning Center! The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few!!!

Yesterday, I attended a birthday party for a boy in my mission who turned 1 and then another party for 2 boys in my Sunday School class at church! I had so much fun celebrating their special day with them!!! Although it's hard to miss out on my own nephew's birthdays...I do enjoy being Aunt Laura for so many different children here on the field! Praise God that I could fill in as that role for them!!! This morning I met a friend at church early in order to go pass out tracts to the neighbors. We were also selling tickets for a lunch that we had at church today...a fundraising tool to help in rebuilding the Sunday school classrooms at the church...something that is desperately needed! Please pray not only for the building fund (and projects that will continue to take place over the course of this year or so), but also for those who received tracts this morning, that God will touch their lives with the message of His gospel! In one week I will turn 35 years old...it seems hard for me to believe! Some of my friends are already planning special ways to help me celebrate...I'm looking forward to it! I do love having a birthday...although stepping up a year with each birthday feels a little frightening sometimes! God has blessed me both last year and this year with people I know coming down to the field just before the 18th of April who have brought birthday presents from my family...the other years the gifts arrived whenever they could (sometimes a month or two late)...but once again this year, they'll be here BEFORE my birthday!!! How fun is that!!! Praise the Lord for the little things! This is a short blog up-date for this week, but if you didn't get a chance to check out the last post with pictures of my trips in February and early March, feel free to do so (scroll down to where it says Blog Archive and click on March for the last blog post to pop up)! Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support!

March 20, 2011

Well, after being away from the city for a week for SAM field conference, 2 weeks in Argentina for a course I was teaching, 4 days for church camp during Carnaval, and 5 days in Quito, Ecuador to attend a teacher workshop...I'm GLAD to be home!!! Since getting back from Quito, I've now spent more nights consecutively sleeping in my own bed in the last week than I did during the month of February and first part of March! Incredible! I guess at this point it all feels a bit surreal to me! In an effort to not ramble on in this blog post, I decided it would be easiest to just point out a few highlights and things God has been teaching me during all of this traveling! At the end, you'll also find the link to a shutterfly album where you can find pictures of these various events!

* Am I putting my total trust/faith in God...allowing Him to work and move in my life according to His plans?

* Am I willing to sign a blank piece of paper and turn it over to Him, thereby leaving it up to Him to write out His plan for my life?

* Life does not revolve around me!

* I love talking about Language Acquisition tools and helping others in learning a new language.

* It's amazing how God cares for His children...providing just what we need, when we need it...even if it's simply for our enjoyment. Returning from Cordoba, my friends and I decided to bus to Buenos Aires and then fly back to Santa Cruz. This meant we would be in Buenos Aires for about 4 or 5 hours before needing to head to the airport. We didn't know what we would do with our suitcases, but we REALLY wanted to see a bit of the city! As it turned out, there were a couple of people from Buenos Aires at the English Village. One of them rode with us on the bus, his wife picked us up at the terminal, they took us out for breakfast, and drove us to another lady's house...she then became our tour guide for the morning.

* Church Camp: Bolivian countryside is BEAUTIFUL!!! It was fun to get out of the city and spend time with friends! Teaching the children every morning was a challenge...next time I'll look for additional help so that I can enjoy a few of the adult services as well! I was encouraged by several children who have accepted Christ. Time will tell if the seed has fallen on good ground.

* Quito has everything...TGIFridays, Dunkin Doughnuts, Cinnabon, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, etc.

* What a great experience...workshops for educators and administrators combined with eating every chance we got!!! Couldn't have asked for more!

* This was a little bit too much traveling...hard to be away for so long and hard to get back into the swing of things (or get caught up) now that I'm back.

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All in all, the trips were wonderful and I'm so thankful that God allowed me to be a part of such wonderful opportunities...learning and being stretched all along the way! However, I am glad to be back home...I love being back at school and getting to daily be a part of the lives God has placed there! Below you'll find just a couple more pictures taken just today as I dressed up like a Pirate in order to read the book "How I Became a Pirate" to the 1st and 2nd grade classes! Thank you so much for your prayers! Enjoy!

Greetings from Cordoba, Argentina!

I apologize for not writing an update for several weeks now!!! Last week I was busy with the SAM annual conference...which was wonderful...but also very intense!!! Then once conference ended about 2:00, I quickly packed my bags and headed to the bus terminal along with Chelsea and Dana to catch the bus. After two nights on the bus (about 36 hours total travel time...30 hours actually on the bus)...we arrived in Cordoba on Sunday morning.

As the director of the English Village, I jumped in the role of administrating the course...doing a fair amount of the teaching...as well as dividing up those responsibilities! Now, at the end of the week, I'm finally beginning to feel like I'm on top of things...understand what's going on, see things running smoothly, and not feeling as tired as I was initially!

Tomorrow we will take a tour of the city of Cordoba (in English of course) with the students and then enjoy a lunch together in the park! After that, the students are free until Sunday night...which means we (the tutors are as well)!!! We plan to do a few tourist things in this area...if the weather is nice on Sunday, we will take a train ride to a nearby town in the mountains. I've heard it's very beautiful...so I'm excited about that! We'll see what the weather is like...they're calling for bad weather this weekend and today has been cool and rainy!

Next week will be another full week of classes...teaching the students methods that the can use in learning a foreign language! It is exciting for me to be able to teach and train these men and women who are feeling called by God to serve Him in other parts of the world! The two women in my tutor group feel led to serve God in Africa. Lord willing, one will be going with her family in July and the other will go next January! What a joy it is to play a small part in the great plan that God has for the lives of these brothers and sisters in Christ!

Please continue to pray for our time here, that it will be fruitful...not only that the students will learn English, but also that they will learn the important tools which we are teaching for grasping a new language! Pray too for strength and endurance for all of us as tutors (the sessions and schedule are intense at times)!

Well, I need to get to the next session! Thank you so much for your prayers and support!