I woke up this morning to rain and cooler temperatures...that makes getting out of bed SO difficult on a Monday morning! However, I'm up and the day is off to a running start!
I don't have much to report from this week...Chelsea and I officially moved into our new house last Wednesday. I'm still unpacking some of my junk and working on getting settled in. Not to mention she and I are hoping to go out and do a bit of exploring on the buses that pass by the house so that we'll know where they go and so that Chelsea (especially) will be able to have a bit more freedom. We are closer to school than we were before so it was nice to be able to get here so quickly this morning. I had hoped to attach some pictures of the house this morning to my blog...but I haven't gotten a chance to take any. I'll do my best to get some on here very soon.
Yesterday at church we had one of our evangelistic services, which we often do on the last Sunday of the month. It was a typical tea, organized by the married women in the church. There were several different kinds of typical snacks, tea, coffee...as well as a time of fellowship and presentation of the gospel. The congregation was strongly encouraged to bring friends, neighbors, and coworkers who didn't know the Lord...I was very excited to see that we had about 25 visitors! Please pray that God will draw these people unto Himself and that He'll continue to allow us to be lights in a dark world.
Next weekend, I have agreed to start teaching a Master's level class in the mission's department at one of the local universities. The class, which only lasts a month, involves having the students read a book (in English) and then using class time for discussion (mostly done in Spanish). The purpose of the class is to teach the students skills for Reading in English (such as using context clues), and to encourage them in their ability to use English as a source for information and study in missions. As this is a new adventure for me, please pray for wisdom as I begin this class...that God would help me to prepare well for the class. Pray also for the students, that God would bless them through this time of studying together.
Well...I guess that's about it for this week. It's time to get going on all the things I need to accomplish at school today. Thank you so much for your prayers!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
We're Moving This Week!!!
Greetings from a rather frazzled missionary!!!
As you can see from the title...Chelsea and I are moving this week...actually tomorrow...hence the delay in my up-date this week as it has been a VERY hectic week. I have been actively trying to get things packed up into boxes, make arrangements for help from the missionary community, and balance ministry at the same time! Needless to say, I'll be thankful once we're moved in and I can actually work at a slower pace, unpacking and really getting settled! I am taking tomorrow off of school in order to organize the move. Then we are off of school on Thursday and Friday for a national holiday...giving us a long weekend to get ourselves settled before starting back to school next week! Praise the Lord for such a positive and supportive response from our SAM missionary community! Many have volunteered time and vehicles to help us move and clean the house tomorrow, getting it all ready for us. I am so thankful for that! I have also had several from church and school who have volunteered to pitch in where they can...tomorrow and/or over the next few days, helping to unpack or purchase/loan us things that we will need in the new house! It has been such a blessing and encouragement to me!
Thursday is "Santa Cruz Day", which basically is the day to celebrate the department of Santa Cruz. It is of course a local holiday and my church will be taking a day trip to a nearby river for a picnic lunch and baptismal service! It's always LOTS of fun! Pray for safety as we travel about an hour out of the city in cars and bus. Also, pray that I will be able to rest and enjoy myself, without spending the whole time concentrating on the boxes awaiting me at home!
I had an exciting experience tonight that I wanted to share with you. A friend of mine from church, whom I will call Jose, called last week and asked if I would help him and a friend of his from the university (whom I will call Ana) with their English homework. They came over and spent a couple of hours with me that afternoon. As it turned out...Ana lives close to the SAM base where I'm currently living (for one more night). She also discovered that I enjoy drinking mate (pronounced ma-ta, short "a" sound at the beginning and long "a" sound at the end...a social herbal drink, similar to a tea, which is extremely common in Argentina and also parts of Bolivia and Paraguay). She then said she would like to come again and drink mate with me. I talked to Jose over the weekend and asked him if she is a Christian. He said that to his knowledge, she isn't, and then went on to describe a few more things about her and her family. Next weekend at church we're having an evangelistic service...so I suggested to Jose, that I would like to invite Ana to be my guest for that event...and then maybe all of us could hang out for a bit afterwards. However, I figured it would be easier if we had visited a little bit more first. So, before moving...I invited Jose and Ana over to the house so that we could drink mate together. I then had the chance to invite Ana to the service on Sunday. She not only accepted my invitation, but also when I took her home (so that I would know where her house is in order to pick her up later)...she invited me in and we sat and talked for another hour or so more. Praise the Lord for this new relationship that He is placing in my life. Please pray not only for Ana's salvation, but also that God would help me take time to be diligent in following up with her...in mentoring and discipling roles. I'm excited about the opportunity to serve the Lord in this way. Also continue to pray that nothing will come in the way of her attending the service with me this Sunday!
Well...it's getting late and I still have some more packing to do! Thank you so much for your prayers this week! The joy of the Lord will be my strength!!
As you can see from the title...Chelsea and I are moving this week...actually tomorrow...hence the delay in my up-date this week as it has been a VERY hectic week. I have been actively trying to get things packed up into boxes, make arrangements for help from the missionary community, and balance ministry at the same time! Needless to say, I'll be thankful once we're moved in and I can actually work at a slower pace, unpacking and really getting settled! I am taking tomorrow off of school in order to organize the move. Then we are off of school on Thursday and Friday for a national holiday...giving us a long weekend to get ourselves settled before starting back to school next week! Praise the Lord for such a positive and supportive response from our SAM missionary community! Many have volunteered time and vehicles to help us move and clean the house tomorrow, getting it all ready for us. I am so thankful for that! I have also had several from church and school who have volunteered to pitch in where they can...tomorrow and/or over the next few days, helping to unpack or purchase/loan us things that we will need in the new house! It has been such a blessing and encouragement to me!
Thursday is "Santa Cruz Day", which basically is the day to celebrate the department of Santa Cruz. It is of course a local holiday and my church will be taking a day trip to a nearby river for a picnic lunch and baptismal service! It's always LOTS of fun! Pray for safety as we travel about an hour out of the city in cars and bus. Also, pray that I will be able to rest and enjoy myself, without spending the whole time concentrating on the boxes awaiting me at home!
I had an exciting experience tonight that I wanted to share with you. A friend of mine from church, whom I will call Jose, called last week and asked if I would help him and a friend of his from the university (whom I will call Ana) with their English homework. They came over and spent a couple of hours with me that afternoon. As it turned out...Ana lives close to the SAM base where I'm currently living (for one more night). She also discovered that I enjoy drinking mate (pronounced ma-ta, short "a" sound at the beginning and long "a" sound at the end...a social herbal drink, similar to a tea, which is extremely common in Argentina and also parts of Bolivia and Paraguay). She then said she would like to come again and drink mate with me. I talked to Jose over the weekend and asked him if she is a Christian. He said that to his knowledge, she isn't, and then went on to describe a few more things about her and her family. Next weekend at church we're having an evangelistic service...so I suggested to Jose, that I would like to invite Ana to be my guest for that event...and then maybe all of us could hang out for a bit afterwards. However, I figured it would be easier if we had visited a little bit more first. So, before moving...I invited Jose and Ana over to the house so that we could drink mate together. I then had the chance to invite Ana to the service on Sunday. She not only accepted my invitation, but also when I took her home (so that I would know where her house is in order to pick her up later)...she invited me in and we sat and talked for another hour or so more. Praise the Lord for this new relationship that He is placing in my life. Please pray not only for Ana's salvation, but also that God would help me take time to be diligent in following up with her...in mentoring and discipling roles. I'm excited about the opportunity to serve the Lord in this way. Also continue to pray that nothing will come in the way of her attending the service with me this Sunday!
Well...it's getting late and I still have some more packing to do! Thank you so much for your prayers this week! The joy of the Lord will be my strength!!
Monday, September 14, 2009
September 14, 2009
Well, it appears that I've gotten out of the habit of updating my blog each week...I'll try to do better at remembering! In general Monday mornings continues to be a good time for me to do it...so I'll work at getting back into that routine! This week I don't have anything major to report...just some updates, praises, and prayer requests!
School is well underway once again! We're about halfway through the first quarter! On Friday night we had our first open house for the year. As I don't usually get much traffic in the Resource room during open house hours, I volunteered to serve as a translator in the Kindergarten room as there are a couple of parents of students in that grade who don't speak English and the teacher doesn't know Spanish. I enjoyed that, it was a different role and I felt a bit like I was doing public relations for the school (which this introverted girl does enjoy from time to time). Please continue to pray for our students and staff. You can particularly pray for us in the resource department as we work to figure out the best methods for reaching our students. There are a couple of students whose disabilities are causing them to be quite a bit below gradelevel. One of my goals for this year is to get an Individualized Education Plan in place for them that will be a help to teachers and families alike. Please pray for wisdom and strength in this endeavor...as this isn't an aspect of Special Education that I have enjoyed in the past...although it does appear to be a necessary one at this time!
God has been reminding me quite a bit over the past week that He is in charge and that this, all of this, all of what I'm doing here...is not about me, but about Him! Sometimes His reminder has been in small ways...such as when I didn't feel well prepared for a couple of different classes or Bible studies last week and God worked through me anyway, giving me the exact words to say and often the appropriate skills/materials needed. Other times God has just taken my breath away in amazement...for example...there were 10 of us at the girls' meeting on Saturday night at my house (with the girls from the youth group at church) and two regular attenders weren't even there!!! However, that's not the only amazing part of that situation...as three of us were in fact missionaries...the REALLY amazing part is the way the girls have gotten so excited about these meetings that they are even anxious to tell/invite others! Three of the girls who came on Saturday night were first timers! I think we've had about 6 visitors in the last couple of months and at least a couple who attend regularly right now aren't even Christians! I love the excitement and interest that God has placed on the hearts of these young women!!! It's super exciting! May I continue to remember that it's not about me as God continues to use me and my home in discipling and pointing these young ladies to Him!
I guess my only other news for this week is that my roommate Chelsea and I are hoping to move sometime next week. While we have been waiting for a house owned by another missionboard to be available, we have been living in an apartment at the SAM guesthouse. Although there are many perks to living in the guesthouse...I'm anxious to get settled into one house that I can call my own...rather than to have all of my things stored in about 5 different places!!! Praise the Lord for providing this house for us that we can afford...with GREAT landlords, some added furnishings, a location not far from school, friends nearby, etc. However, we covet your prayers for us as well while we prepare to make this transition.
Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support of this ministry to which God has called me! I feel so blessed to be used by Him in this way and so very thankful this week to be able to see a bit of the fruit from that labor.
(Side note...I almost forgot my very exciting news...I bought my plane tickets in order to go home for Christmas...I arrive at night on December 15 and leave in the morning on January 2...Praise God for the extra time I'll be able to spend at home!!!)
School is well underway once again! We're about halfway through the first quarter! On Friday night we had our first open house for the year. As I don't usually get much traffic in the Resource room during open house hours, I volunteered to serve as a translator in the Kindergarten room as there are a couple of parents of students in that grade who don't speak English and the teacher doesn't know Spanish. I enjoyed that, it was a different role and I felt a bit like I was doing public relations for the school (which this introverted girl does enjoy from time to time). Please continue to pray for our students and staff. You can particularly pray for us in the resource department as we work to figure out the best methods for reaching our students. There are a couple of students whose disabilities are causing them to be quite a bit below gradelevel. One of my goals for this year is to get an Individualized Education Plan in place for them that will be a help to teachers and families alike. Please pray for wisdom and strength in this endeavor...as this isn't an aspect of Special Education that I have enjoyed in the past...although it does appear to be a necessary one at this time!
God has been reminding me quite a bit over the past week that He is in charge and that this, all of this, all of what I'm doing here...is not about me, but about Him! Sometimes His reminder has been in small ways...such as when I didn't feel well prepared for a couple of different classes or Bible studies last week and God worked through me anyway, giving me the exact words to say and often the appropriate skills/materials needed. Other times God has just taken my breath away in amazement...for example...there were 10 of us at the girls' meeting on Saturday night at my house (with the girls from the youth group at church) and two regular attenders weren't even there!!! However, that's not the only amazing part of that situation...as three of us were in fact missionaries...the REALLY amazing part is the way the girls have gotten so excited about these meetings that they are even anxious to tell/invite others! Three of the girls who came on Saturday night were first timers! I think we've had about 6 visitors in the last couple of months and at least a couple who attend regularly right now aren't even Christians! I love the excitement and interest that God has placed on the hearts of these young women!!! It's super exciting! May I continue to remember that it's not about me as God continues to use me and my home in discipling and pointing these young ladies to Him!
I guess my only other news for this week is that my roommate Chelsea and I are hoping to move sometime next week. While we have been waiting for a house owned by another missionboard to be available, we have been living in an apartment at the SAM guesthouse. Although there are many perks to living in the guesthouse...I'm anxious to get settled into one house that I can call my own...rather than to have all of my things stored in about 5 different places!!! Praise the Lord for providing this house for us that we can afford...with GREAT landlords, some added furnishings, a location not far from school, friends nearby, etc. However, we covet your prayers for us as well while we prepare to make this transition.
Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support of this ministry to which God has called me! I feel so blessed to be used by Him in this way and so very thankful this week to be able to see a bit of the fruit from that labor.
(Side note...I almost forgot my very exciting news...I bought my plane tickets in order to go home for Christmas...I arrive at night on December 15 and leave in the morning on January 2...Praise God for the extra time I'll be able to spend at home!!!)
Monday, August 31, 2009
August 31, 2009
Greetings from sunny...and VERY windy...Santa Cruz! I apologize that I haven't had a chance to up-date my blog in several weeks...it's amazing how busy the beginning of the school year is. As promised, I finally got around to getting some of the pictures of the Beni trip into a shutterfly album online, a link is posted below so that you can check those out when you have some time. There are also a few pictures at the end of the album of various activities during the month of August.
For the last week and a half the school was required to cancel classes due to the spreading of the Swine Flu in the city. There have not been any reported cases at the Learning Center or in the missionary community that I am aware of...however, it was a city wide decision to cancel classes in all schools due to the spreading of this disease. Please pray that the warmer and more humid weather we're experiencing now will decrease the transmission of these germs so that the school year will not be affected anymore!
While there were no classes, we did have several teacher meetings and decide to go ahead and hold our teacher retreat a week earlier than originally planned. We left on Friday morning and went to Los Cedros (a resort about a half an hour away) and then returned Saturday afternoon. All in all it was a wonderfully relaxing time of fellowship! There are a couple of pictures posted below of Chelsea and me enjoying ourselves on this retreat!
We thoroughly enjoyed the time we had together on the retreat (mostly relaxing by the pool) and the time spent fellowshipping with other teachers!
While I was on the teacher retreat here in Santa Cruz...my family was enjoying each other's company in Graham, NC as they surprised my sister with a celebration for her 30th birthday, which is actually September 1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!!! It was a fun surprise for her! This is about all I was able to get in on the action...(pictured with me are Leann Vernon, friend of the family...and Rick Nye, my brother-in-law, Janet's husband)...
Although I was sad to not be able to actually be with them for the festivities...I was extremely thankful once again for skype and other such communication helps! I was also encouraged knowing that I hope to be home for Christmas again this year...Lord willing...there are of course still several details to be worked out! So, for those of you in the Franklin, VA area...hope to see you soon! Thank you once again for your faithful prayers and interest in the work God is doing here in Santa Cruz! I appreciate your support and care more than you can imagine! Blessings to each one of you!
Monday, July 27, 2009
I Am Back in Santa Cruz!!!
Hello there...I just wanted to write a quick up-date to let you know that once again I'm back into the world of internet and phone service!!! It is good to be home once again after living on a boat with 31 people...sleeping in a hammock...being eaten alive by mosquitoes...eating piranhas (best to eat them before they eat you, so we were told)...etc. However, I don't want to mislead you...I thoroughly enjoyed this experience...and would quickly agree to do it again! I was in charge of the children's ministry. I worked with a few of the youth who went with us to plan evangelistic activities for the kids...and then while they waited their turn to see the doctors in our travelling clinic...I just played with them...showing them God's love! It was great! God used me to present the gospel to close to 200 children...some of them had heard the gospel and accepted Christ in their life previously, but many had not. What a joy it was to share this good news for the first time to many children...even more exciting to be able to pray with quite a few of them so that they too could accept Christ in their lives!
Well...I need to get off the internet for now and get home...but I wanted to get a few pictures and information on here for you to see! I'll be sure to get some more pictures onto the internet and send out the link...there is so much more to share with you!!! Thanks so much for your prayers! They were definitely felt and appreciated!!!
Well...I need to get off the internet for now and get home...but I wanted to get a few pictures and information on here for you to see! I'll be sure to get some more pictures onto the internet and send out the link...there is so much more to share with you!!! Thanks so much for your prayers! They were definitely felt and appreciated!!!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
July 22, 2009
Greetings... this is Laura's mother writing to thank all of you who prayed for Laura while she was on her trip up the river in the Beni.
We were in touch with her last night and she had reached Guayaramerin safely by boat. There were thirty people traveling by river together. She said there were twenty people from Santa Cruz and about ten from Guayaramerin who brought the boat down to San Joaquin where they joined them. The team worked well together and her biggest complaint was that she was eaten alive by chiggers, mosquitoes and who knows what in spite of bug spray, long sleeves, pants and mosquito netting.
They were able to minister to several villages where there is no church and hold children's meetings as well as offer medical aid. She was very encouraged by the response and her opportunity to serve the Lord. I am sure she will regale you with stories when she is settled again.
Today they will be flying from Guayaramerin to Trinidad (city). From Trinidad they will be on a ten hour bus ride overnight to Santa Cruz, arriving in the morning on Thursday, July 23. Please pray for the safety of the team and for the lives they touched while on this trip.
Sincerely, Grace Boyce
We were in touch with her last night and she had reached Guayaramerin safely by boat. There were thirty people traveling by river together. She said there were twenty people from Santa Cruz and about ten from Guayaramerin who brought the boat down to San Joaquin where they joined them. The team worked well together and her biggest complaint was that she was eaten alive by chiggers, mosquitoes and who knows what in spite of bug spray, long sleeves, pants and mosquito netting.
They were able to minister to several villages where there is no church and hold children's meetings as well as offer medical aid. She was very encouraged by the response and her opportunity to serve the Lord. I am sure she will regale you with stories when she is settled again.
Today they will be flying from Guayaramerin to Trinidad (city). From Trinidad they will be on a ten hour bus ride overnight to Santa Cruz, arriving in the morning on Thursday, July 23. Please pray for the safety of the team and for the lives they touched while on this trip.
Sincerely, Grace Boyce
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
July 8, 2009
Greetings once again from beautiful Santa Cruz!!! I have to admit the weather has been gorgeous the past several days!!! I love it!!! In the 80s every day, cooling down in the evening...sun, light breeze...wonderful!
As you may remember I wrote a quick up-date which my mom attached last week telling you a bit about the English Vacation Bible School that I was a part of as well as the conference for World Gospel Mission missionaries in Bolivia...in order to teach their kids while the parents were in meetings. You should be able to click on the link below...if not, just copy and paste it into your browser in order to see pictures of those two events. Once the shutterfly window opens, you can click "view pictures", and then "play slideshow".
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbNnDNm5btmQ0
I am very thankful for the opportunity to participate in both of these activities! It was a joy to serve the Lord by teaching His children. We had a couple of small accidents at the WGM conference. One of the younger boys bumped his head during a game we were playing...it bled a LOT...but praise the Lord he didn't need stitches. We also had several who got sick with some sort of flu bug...they passed it from one to the other (nausea, vomiting, etc.)...ending with me on Friday night after I got back...but fortunately it was a quick "bug", came and went in about 24 hours! The most exciting thing for me to see was that the kids were actually learning...in both events!!! That of course is the goal and a joy to be able to witness.
Now, I'm back in the city...briefly! This week, I'm frantically trying to get all of my things moved into the apartment behind Virginia's house (as she is due to come back in a couple of weeks...Lord willing...she's still waiting for Him to provide a bit more of her support)...as well as fix things that broke during this year that the house/truck has been in my care...and get ready to go on my next big adventure (I leave early Monday morning)! As you can imagine, I'm certainly feeling the stress of trying to get all of these things done...my body feels the stress as well (headaches and backaches daily, not sleeping well, etc.) Please pray that God will give me the strength I need to get all of these things wrapped up...it will make my next adventure much more relaxing!
So...what is the NEXT ADVENTURE? Each year there is a group (of missionaries and nationals) who plan an evangelistic/medical/exploratory trip to the Bolivian department called the Beni. The Beni is basically jungle and rivers with small towns scattered throughout. This group (led by Enoel Suarez a Bolivian who is a Plymouth Brethren missionary and Toni/Placido Mercado doctors with SAM) takes trips up and down the river stopping at various towns to offer medical relief as well as to spread the gospel to adults and children alike. Each year, they try to plan a different route in order to explore unreached areas. Enoel's desire is that these trips will allow Bolivian Christians to become exposed to this unreached area and possibly sense God's calling to full-time ministry in these areas. This year there are 18 people going, adults and youth. I have been asked to go along and lead the children's ministry team, playing games, singing songs, sharing the gospel with the children in each town where we stop. We will be gone about 12 days total (including travel to the river where we get on the boat)...sleeping in hammocks on the boat...eating lots of fish and fruit (and maybe a little crocodile or other such river creatures). I expect this to be a stretching experience for me, but also a time of spiritual renewal. Others who have gone in past years say the best part of the trip is floating down the river on the boat knowing that nothing can be done about what you've left behind; so you might as well just read a bit and enjoy some quality time with your Savior! I'm looking forward to that!!! I'm also excited about getting know a new area of Bolivia to which I've never been exposed! WOW! Attached below you will see a map outlining the route that we'll be taking! I will be flying from Santa Cruz to Trinidad, then on to San Joaquin. From there I travel by road to the river. Follow the red line on the river to our final destination, Guayaramerin, before flying back. Please pray for safety, health...as well as the spiritual renewal for each of us as team members/our unity as a team. Pray also for those to whom we'll be ministering...that they will come to a saving understanding of Christ.
One other things I ALMOST forgot to mention...since Virginia is on her way back to Bolivia...I am not only looking for a new place to live (as I think I've mentioned before)...but I also will be without a vehicle! As this is a large city and there is public transportation...it isn't a necessity in life...however, in this culture, it certainly makes life easier! So, thankfully, God has provided the needed funding as well as basically placed a vehicle in my lap for me to buy! Another missionary family, who is leaving the field, was selling their Honda Crv...after getting permission from the mission and such...we finally have been able to get the business taken care of and I will be the proud new owner as of Friday when we sign the papers! I'm super excited! Since, I'll be in the Beni...they're going to keep driving it until they move back to the states on the 20th...but it will be here waiting for me when I return!!! Thank you for your generous support that has helped to make this possibility...myself and the many Bolivians for whom I act as a taxi service...thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!!
Thank you once again as well for your prayers!!! I'll be sure to send an email or an up-date when I get back to the city...as obviously, I will not have email/internet/phone service while I'm floating down the river! Blessings to you all!
As you may remember I wrote a quick up-date which my mom attached last week telling you a bit about the English Vacation Bible School that I was a part of as well as the conference for World Gospel Mission missionaries in Bolivia...in order to teach their kids while the parents were in meetings. You should be able to click on the link below...if not, just copy and paste it into your browser in order to see pictures of those two events. Once the shutterfly window opens, you can click "view pictures", and then "play slideshow".
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbNnDNm5btmQ0
I am very thankful for the opportunity to participate in both of these activities! It was a joy to serve the Lord by teaching His children. We had a couple of small accidents at the WGM conference. One of the younger boys bumped his head during a game we were playing...it bled a LOT...but praise the Lord he didn't need stitches. We also had several who got sick with some sort of flu bug...they passed it from one to the other (nausea, vomiting, etc.)...ending with me on Friday night after I got back...but fortunately it was a quick "bug", came and went in about 24 hours! The most exciting thing for me to see was that the kids were actually learning...in both events!!! That of course is the goal and a joy to be able to witness.
Now, I'm back in the city...briefly! This week, I'm frantically trying to get all of my things moved into the apartment behind Virginia's house (as she is due to come back in a couple of weeks...Lord willing...she's still waiting for Him to provide a bit more of her support)...as well as fix things that broke during this year that the house/truck has been in my care...and get ready to go on my next big adventure (I leave early Monday morning)! As you can imagine, I'm certainly feeling the stress of trying to get all of these things done...my body feels the stress as well (headaches and backaches daily, not sleeping well, etc.) Please pray that God will give me the strength I need to get all of these things wrapped up...it will make my next adventure much more relaxing!
So...what is the NEXT ADVENTURE? Each year there is a group (of missionaries and nationals) who plan an evangelistic/medical/exploratory trip to the Bolivian department called the Beni. The Beni is basically jungle and rivers with small towns scattered throughout. This group (led by Enoel Suarez a Bolivian who is a Plymouth Brethren missionary and Toni/Placido Mercado doctors with SAM) takes trips up and down the river stopping at various towns to offer medical relief as well as to spread the gospel to adults and children alike. Each year, they try to plan a different route in order to explore unreached areas. Enoel's desire is that these trips will allow Bolivian Christians to become exposed to this unreached area and possibly sense God's calling to full-time ministry in these areas. This year there are 18 people going, adults and youth. I have been asked to go along and lead the children's ministry team, playing games, singing songs, sharing the gospel with the children in each town where we stop. We will be gone about 12 days total (including travel to the river where we get on the boat)...sleeping in hammocks on the boat...eating lots of fish and fruit (and maybe a little crocodile or other such river creatures). I expect this to be a stretching experience for me, but also a time of spiritual renewal. Others who have gone in past years say the best part of the trip is floating down the river on the boat knowing that nothing can be done about what you've left behind; so you might as well just read a bit and enjoy some quality time with your Savior! I'm looking forward to that!!! I'm also excited about getting know a new area of Bolivia to which I've never been exposed! WOW! Attached below you will see a map outlining the route that we'll be taking! I will be flying from Santa Cruz to Trinidad, then on to San Joaquin. From there I travel by road to the river. Follow the red line on the river to our final destination, Guayaramerin, before flying back. Please pray for safety, health...as well as the spiritual renewal for each of us as team members/our unity as a team. Pray also for those to whom we'll be ministering...that they will come to a saving understanding of Christ.
One other things I ALMOST forgot to mention...since Virginia is on her way back to Bolivia...I am not only looking for a new place to live (as I think I've mentioned before)...but I also will be without a vehicle! As this is a large city and there is public transportation...it isn't a necessity in life...however, in this culture, it certainly makes life easier! So, thankfully, God has provided the needed funding as well as basically placed a vehicle in my lap for me to buy! Another missionary family, who is leaving the field, was selling their Honda Crv...after getting permission from the mission and such...we finally have been able to get the business taken care of and I will be the proud new owner as of Friday when we sign the papers! I'm super excited! Since, I'll be in the Beni...they're going to keep driving it until they move back to the states on the 20th...but it will be here waiting for me when I return!!! Thank you for your generous support that has helped to make this possibility...myself and the many Bolivians for whom I act as a taxi service...thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!!
Thank you once again as well for your prayers!!! I'll be sure to send an email or an up-date when I get back to the city...as obviously, I will not have email/internet/phone service while I'm floating down the river! Blessings to you all!
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