Greetings from Franklin, Virginia!

Hello there once again!
I pray this letter finds you all doing well. I had high hopes of updating my blog about every couple of weeks, but now it has been about a month...so much for that! Anyway, better late than never! Here's a little update as to my activities over the last 5 weeks.

Trip to Texas:

The trip to Texas went very well...no car trouble, no accidents, no screaming baby (at least not until the last 10 minutes or something, which was quite impressive), etc. The wedding was beautiful, the bride was beautiful, and of course the maid of honor was a knockout...just kidding, the bride was the real beauty by far. For the most part everything went smoothly and everyone had a very nice time.

Spending Some time in Franklin:
I have had some time to hang around the Franklin area. I am slowly getting to know some of the singles at my parent's church and enjoying the activities they have planned. I also have a great time hanging out with my grandfather who lives with my parents. We often have lunch together and at times I go with him to his arobics class. Of course there are plenty of other things to keep me busy as well; walking the dogs in the afternoon, taking naps, emailing, making plans, etc.
Trip to Abingdon, Winston-Salem, Fort Mill, Graham, Wilmington:
This was my most recent trip. I spent a few days in Abingdon, sorry if I missed you when I was there. I wasn't there long, but I'll be back again in August. I also spent some time visiting a friend in Winston-Salem, not to mention my friend Dana whom I met in Bolivia flew to Charlotte and spent the week with me. We basically drove all over North Carolina, spending time with my younger sister and her family as well as seeing the beach. We also spent a couple of days in South America Mission's Home Office in Fort Mill South Carolina. This was a wonderfully renewing time of debriefing and preparing for my return to Bolivia. More details to come on all of that!




Visit from a Good Friend:
For the next week and a half my friend Jen is here to visit with me. We have a few plans to take in some of the local flavor, but are also enjoying a little rest. Fortunately she is willing to let me get a few things done too as I have some speaking engagements to prepare for.
Well, I guess that's about it for now. I will try to write more in a couple of weeks from Rockingham County, North Carolina, which is where I will be at that time (or maybe from my younger sisters as I will be there part of the time as well)! Blessings to you all!

Home At Last!

Here it is...my first blog post from Franklin, Virginia! I arrived in the states without any major problems. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. The flight was delayed leaving Santa Cruz; however, I had plenty of time before my connecting flight to Raleigh so it worked out great. I landed in Raleigh at about 12:45. My mom, dad, Emily, Christopher, and baby Wesley were waiting! We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together and then I came on to Franklin with my parents.

The last few days have been spent unpacking and running errands. My mom took a few days off of work so that we could be together. It has been great! On Wednesday we are driving to Emily's house to spend the night. Then on Thursday morning all of us will begin our two day trip to Waco, Texas for Janet's wedding on Saturday. I will be back in Franklin next Monday, June 18. If you would like to contact me feel free to do so via email at boycelj@yahoo.com or you can call my parents house at (757)562-4432. I look forward to making arrangements to see as many of you as possible while I am home. If you are ever in this area...feel free to stop by, my parents have plenty of room and enjoy visitors as much as I do! Blessings to you all!

Last Blog Entry from Bolivia!

Sorry I didn't get a chance to write last week, I was busy moving out of my house. I officially moved in with the HAuse family on Friday night of last week and have enjoyed visiting with people/buying souvenirs this week. I don't have much time right now. I have just finished my last prayer meeting and fellowship dinner with my SAM family and I want to make sure I get to say all my good-byes before everyone leaves. This Friday night at aproximately 11:00 PM, I will leave Santa Cruz on American Airlines Flight 922. I arrive in Miami early Saturday morning and then at about 11:00 AM on Saturday, I will be flying to Raleigh/Durham, NC. I would appreciate all your prayers as I say my final good-byes and prepare to greet my family! Thank you so much! Blessings to you all!

2 Weeks and Counting!

Hello there family and friends! We're getting there bit by bit! Two weeks from today I will be saying my last good-byes and getting ready to board a plane for the states! I have my last meeting here at the school in about 20 minutes so I'll give you a few quick up-dates for this week and then maybe next week I'll have some pictures and more information to share.

School things are finished! My classroom is all packed up, all my grades are done, etc. This morning I have my last meeting and then tonight I am partly responsible for the reception at graduation. Other than that, my responsibilities here at the Learning Center are finished!

Yesterday I took Princessa (my cat) to the Mercado's house, which is where she will spend the next year. It was easier than I expected it to be, but still somewhat difficult. I didn't sleep well last night since she wasn't there to keep me warm. I woke up a couple of times thinking she was there and realized that it was a pillow. I know it sounds silly, but any kind of change can be hard. It also felt weird to move around this morning, checking the time and hitting snooze without her thinking I was getting out of bed. Please say a little prayer for her and the Mercado family as you think of it. I would appreciate it and I am sure they would too!

Cold weather...It seems like for the last few weeks we have had one cold spell after another, hence the struggles with my health. We are in the middle of another one this week...I got out of bed this morning to temperatures in the low 40s. That's pretty cold when there's no heat. You would think that living in this tropical paradise there would be great weather all the time, but winter is still winter. For the sake of my allergies and other cold symptoms, I am looking forward to summer weather in the states.

My friend, Dana Sterling, leaves to go to the states on Monday morning. She has a forced overnight in Miami, but will arrive home on Tuesday. Please pray for safety as she travels and for the bittersweet emotions that she is feeling. I understand them all to well!

Well, that's it for this week! I really look forward to seeing you all soon! Blessings to you all!

3 Weeks and Counting!

Here we are...3 weeks to go! This week I finished my last week of teaching. In the upcoming week I will be busy recording grades in the computer, attending meetings, helping to plan the reception for graduation, and packing up my classroom...all of those lovely end of the year activities! I also plan to take Princessa to her new home and work on packing a few things in my house as I have time. However, my main focus will be in finishing up things at school. My health has gotten better. I have been able to work at school all week. The antibiotic is definitely helping. You can continue to pray for strength. I can tell that my body isn't completely healed as I still have a few symptoms that are holding on. I am praising the Lord, though, that I feel strong enough to continue with the things I need to do. Well, I guess that's about it for this week! I really don't have too many new or exciting things to share! Thanks as always for your continued support and prayers!

4 Weeks and Counting!

Greetings from Bolivia once again! Yes the title is correct...I am down to four weeks exactly! That seems so hard to believe! We have two weeks of school left, so my goal is to get all of my school things wrapped up in that amount of time, then I will have a week to pack up and farm out my personal belongings, then I hope to have the last week to visit with friends and say my good-byes. I think that would help me to be somewhat more relaxed in leaving if I don't need to worry about packing issues my last week here.

Some of you may be curious about Chiquito, my dog...he made it home all the way to my parents without any major issues. According to my parents he is making himself at home, eating everything in sight and enjoying all of the attention. I miss having him here, but it is nice to not have to worry about him and to know that I will get to have him with me while I am at home. God really opened a lot of doors in getting him to the states, that it was rather miraculous for me to watch. Other than the obvious ones of providing a family willing to travel with him and weather that was appropriate for animal travel, there were other things as well. One of the most miraculous for me was the paperwork. I knew I needed a certificate from a vet, but I just thought the vet could sign it, etc. Apparently, it had to be stamped by a government official, etc. About 2 hours before I left with him to the airport, I had the paperwork in my hands. The vet told me that she didn't know how they got it done in time. She said that is usually takes 6 days and this time it had been done in 2. I told her I had been praying really hard...her comment was that she could tell! Praise God for His provision!

The other question that may be on the tip of your tongue is with regards to my health. The stomach issues seemed to get better but my sinus issues took a turn for the worst. I finally talked with a doctor friend in our mission who determined that I had Bronchitis. She started me on an antibiotic right away and encouraged me to get some rest. I moved into the HAuse home for a couple of days, mostly because it's nice to be pampered when I am sick, plus someone is usually home here so I have had plenty of company. I am writing from their computer now, which is dial up so I don't want to use up too many more of their minutes. I am planning to go home this afternoon. I am feeling somewhat better, but I still have a ways to go. Please continue to pray for my health. This isn't a good time for me to be sick!

This coming week is my last week of classes! YEAH! I am looking forward to that! Thank you for your continued prayers! I feel them frequently and take comfort in knowing that you are lifting me up! May God bless each one of you for your faithfulness to Him! See you soon!

Chiquito...My Dog

Well, as you may have realized, I never got the pictures attached to the last entry like I had hoped. I did attach them today, so if you would like to scroll down and look at them, feel free!

This week has been filled with many challenges as well as lots of blessings! I have a couple of quick prayer requests and hopefully in those you'll see the praises! Last Sunday I received confirmation that a family here visiting could take my dog back to the states with them. The rest of the week has been busy trying to get all of Chiquito's flight arrangements made so that he can go all the way to Atlanta with them and then be shipped from Atlanta to Norfolk where my dad will pick him up tomorrow evening. The praises are simple, God has totally opened all the doors in making this possible to Chiquito to go to the states now, rather than with me in June. There were too many possible hindrances with weather and other things at the time of my flight that it will be much more relaxing for me to know that he is already safe at home with my parents. As far as prayer requests go, I still have several things to take care of today to get him ready to go. Not to mention there's the fact that he has a rather stressful few days ahead of him and a lot of travelling. Please pray that connections are made without any difficulties and that he arrives in Norfolk as scheduled tomorrow evening. You can pray too that it won't be too hard for me to say good-bye to him. I know that God has made all these arrangements, but it's still hard to part with him for a month!

The only other prayer request that I have is that I have been battling with health issues this week. I have a cold that has been sticking around for about a week now and for the last 4 days, my stomach decided to add a few problems of it's own. I am sure that none of it is serious and that my body is struggling to heal itself due to the emotional state that I am in. However, God is the great physician and can help me get the rest my body obviously needs. Please pray that He will strengthen me through all of these things that I am trying to get done!

This is it! Only about a month left! 2-3 weeks of school left plus about 2 weeks to finish packing up an say my good-byes! We're getting down to the countdown!