The End of the Bolivian Adventure... For Now

This is a picture of our field trip to the Cristo - the huge statue of Jesus (that I went to in the very beginning).

Well friends, thanks so much for those of you who have followed the few posts that I have made! Sorry there weren't more. So here's the last one.

Eating Saltenas at school - a favorite Bolivian treat!

The last couple weeks were great. The one week I just taught language arts in the morning, which was nice. I had a blast with the kids, and I tried to make the most of every lesson, knowing that it was the last time I would be teaching them. That weekend I went to the Cancha (the giant black-market like market in the city) for the last time. A little before we left, we were looking around in the artisan aisl (where they have touristy souveniers). As I was standing there looking at very colorful purses, I felt and heard a "ZIIP" on my bag. I whipped around to see my bag slashed and a little woman walking away like nothing had just happened. Well, thankfully she didn't steal anything from me, and the dress I has just bought for graduation was not sliced! Whew! This was the first time anything like this had happened to me the whole time I was in Bolivia. Praise the Lord - it could have been a lot worse.

This is at the Cristo as well. One of my favorites! (Mother and daughter :)

My little apartment is the one in front of the yellow tarp (the culprite of the loud music!)

My last week looked much different than the rest; I mostly walked around and sat in on different teachers and classrooms around the school to see different ways of teaching and gather ideas. It was nice, but I definitely missed teaching in my classroom. It was a helpful confirmation for me that I am pursuing the right job, at least! Every time I came in the classroom, the students would say, "MISS PORT!" and some would come to give me a hug. It was extremely encouraging to see that one of the little boys (you know, stinker little Vadhir) was behaving so much better that week. I asked him why he was doing better and he said, "I am listening and reading at home". Yes! Hopefully it continues. Man, the hardest thing after something like this is always leaving, and not knowing what their little futures are going to look like - if they are going to choose to follow Christ, if they are going to live a life for good despite their horrible family backgrounds. Well, the Lord loves them more than I do and can do far more in their lives than I ever could, so I just need to give them into His hands.

On my last day: Helen, my cooperating teacher, and Ruth, my supervisor. They were great!

My last week was also full of having dinner with different missionary families there, which was busy, but nice. The people in Cochabamba have been so welcoming, and have definitely been a significant factor in making my experience so great.

The first grade class! (Notice we have one more new student, and two more came after I left!) I am going to miss them... and I am!

I went to the airport in Coch. Monday night (my flight was scheduled to leave 8:30). The teacher friends that I have made over the past few months all came to say good-bye, which was super special! I was a little worried about going back to the US by myself, but the Lord is SO GOOD and provided a family (who are missionaries in Coch.) to travel all the way through to Miami on the same flights. They were going on vacation in Miami, and so I enjoyed helping them along with their three little precious boys. It was fun!

Some of the teachers had a little going away party - these are all the people that take Spanish lessons with Teresa at CCS. (Teresa is in black. I love her!)

The Saturday morning market a few blocks down the street - I miss the fresh food!

Praise the Lord for smooth travels - I got in to Miami about 5:45, and after going through customs and baggage check-in I got to my gate with 15 min. to spare - whew! In Charlotte I had the rest of Tuesday and then Wednesday morning to rest at SIM headquarters (with a delicious lunch, food provided in a kitchen, most comfortable bed, shower... aaah), and then debrief with the missionary coordinator. On Wednesday they were going to take me to lunch to wherever I wanted to go. I initially said Panera, but after seeing a Chick-Fil-A I changed my mind :), much to the joy of the miss. coordinator.

I finally reached Akron Ohio on Wednesday evening, and had a joyous reunion with my family at Friday's. I love my family!!

I came to Cedarville University on Saturday and have been here all week. It has been great to see friends, but it has been a challenge to try to think through all that I have learned, and try to figure out how to put into practice what I have learned. The more I talk it out with people, the more I realize some lessons the Lord was teaching me during my time in Bolivia.

I learned:

1. More about how to work and be friends with different kinds of people.

2. That I need to look at life and the world through GOD'S eyes, not my little falible human eyes. Before I came to Bolivia, I had to raise all of my support by December. I am ashamed to say that I doubted that this was possible. I never should have, though, because of course all the money came in just in time. The Lord is able to do far more than I can ever think or imagine. Also before I left, I told my roommate that I thought student teaching in Bolivia was going to be the hardest thing that I had done in my life up to that point. Looking back, I can say that there were definitely difficult moments, but the experience was not as hard as I was anticipating. I think the reason for this was because God was with me every step of the way - providing friendships, giving me the strength and wisdom I needed, keeping me safe... I need to expect great things from Him, and not look at Him through my puney fallible eyes of flesh.

3. Of course I learned many things about teaching in general: the necessity of flexibility, consistency, and communication (with parents, other teachers, etc.); ways to show love to students; how not to assume that students who speak English as a second language will know the meaning of a word (I made that mistake in one of my first lessons with "weather"); and how to tie lessons to gether to connect students' understanding and experiences.

4. The importance of being a good listener. It can be pretty difficult to be in a situation where you feel like no one wants to listen to what you have to say, and therefore it is important to make it a point to LISTEN.

5. The necessity of a consistent, daily time with the Lord. I am ashamed to say that I was not always faithful in this, but whenever I was or wasn't, I am a living testament to the truth that it is impossible to follow Christ and live a life pleasing to Him without being in the Word every day, and spending time in prayer. Impossible.

6. Mountains are beautiful. They are my favorite and I hope they exist in heaven so I can see them forever :)

7. People are people. Of course everyone is different and vary especially from culture to culture - that I witnessed every day. However, people still need the same basic things; food, water, shelter, love, Jesus. It is pretty crazy to think that people halfway around the world are not that much different from you. We both need the same things, have similar struggles, have similar desires, have similar cravings, and have the same need for something, or someone more that we can ever completely experience on this earth. Of course we are different - we do things differently, dress differently, eat different things, speak differently, have different things, but we can be together and worship the same God. Pretty cool.

I love the people who I have come to know - my students, the teachers, the Bolivians... I say that this is the end of my Bolivian adventure for now, but really I have no idea what the future holds (but I know WHO holds the future!). I am willing to go back, but I don't know if or when. For right now, I m graduating on Saturday, working at Camp Tapawingo one more summer, and trusting the Lord with the rest.

My favorite view at the school. Can you guess why? :)

So friends, thanks for "listening". Hopefully you enjoyed the posts, and hopefully you caught a little glimpse of the great God that I serve, and how He has faithfully and lovingly guided me through this experience. May God make you more like Him!

Love Katie

This was not taken during my last two weeks... but I love it! This is Kelly - a fellow teacher friend and I coming back from the ruins over Easter break.

Easter Break

Well....I guess I have a lot to update you all on. So here I go.

Right before Easter break, we had field days at CCS. I was only there for Thursday, the first day, because I left for La Paz that night.

This is little Vadhir - can you tell he's a stinker! I love this picture though. It says a lot :)

This is Nicole, jumping at the standing long jump pit (where I raked and helped measure all of Thursday).

I went to La Paz (the capital city) for Easter break with another teacher friend, Christine. All of the new short-termers were required to go on a "ministry exposure trip" to see different ministries of SIM. It worked out wonderfully for me to go visit Kep and Debbie James, missionaries who work in La Paz, and are from Parkside Church (my home church in Ohio). So, Christine and I left for La Paz on Thursday night (March 25). We travelled by a luxurious bus all night - I think it was the most comfortable I have ever been in a moving vehicle. Pretty amazing, I know. We arrived in La Paz at about 6:30 in the morning (Friday). Funny story: I happened to wake up and see that there were not many people on the bus. I didn't think much of the fact that the bus was stopped, because the bus had been stopping at various points along the way all night long. The lack of people however, did prompt me to ask the driver "Excuse me, where are we?" (using my limited Spanish of course). She proceded to tell me that we were at the end, in La Paz. Praise the Lord that I woke up and asked where we were!! We might have kept sleeping long past La Paz! Ha!

Only part of the huge city of La Paz. Unlike Cochabamba, La Paz is built up onto the mountains.

So, we got a taxi to the James' house and froze our little buns the whole way there. We couldn't believe how cold it was compared to Cochabamba! We ate breakfast at the James' and crashed for a little bit, until we left in the early afternoon to go to the Yungas (a beginnings of the Amazon jungle in Bolivia). A medical team was also there from Parkside, so we were able to travel along with them and "help" them for the next couple of days in the jungle. The altitude changes that we experienced on the journey there were incredible - we were already extremely high in La Paz, and then we travelled even higher into the mountains (where it was even colder!), and then we went back down, into the Yungas. My favorite part about the ride there, is that I got to see Llamas!!! Woohoo! For the first time, after being in Peru for one week, and Bolivia for three months, I finally got to see Llamas!

We set up "camp" at the James' family/conference type camp (El Puente, which means "the bridge" - which I didn't learn until after I got back to Cochabamba) and hung out for the night. On Saturday, we travelled down the road a few kilometers to a little school situated in the beautifully green mountains and the team prepared to clean the locals' teeth. Christine and I learned how to change the novacane syringes, but we mostly tried to talk with the people and the little kids most of the time.

We met a very nice Bolivian couple from the James' church, Eric and Alison. They were very patient and kind in helping us practice and learn Spanish. I found out the Eric is actually coming with Kep to the pastor's conference at Parkside in May! So I might get to see him again :) In the afternoon, Debbie, and two of her children (grown) Andrew and Heather put on a kids program, with puppets, songs, a gospel message, and games. We had fun playing the games with the kids, even though it took us longer to figure oujt the rules! Later that evening back at the camp, we sang songs to the Lord together, both in Spanish and English. I must say that this is one of my favorite things. The glory of and worship of God transcends language barriers! I love that.
Debbie leading the singing during the kids program.

I think that this is my favorite picture of the whole trip :)

On Sunday the team set up their dental stuff again and helped the people who came. While they were having a service for the people who came, Christine and I had an awesome opportunity to hike up a waterfall with Heather and her fiance, and member of the Parkside team. It was pretty awesome! On the way back down, we got to slide down some of the rocks - weeee!

Back in La Paz on Sunday night we stayed with the James' and then Monday after shopping for a little bit at the large market, and eating at a fancy hotel where we could see out over the city, Christine and I met up with a group of teachers from CCS who had just arrived. We spent the next couple of days together: on Tuesday we travelled about an hour and a half out of the city to some ancient ruins called Tiwanaku. The ruins were from before the time of the Incas and Aztecs - who were surprisingly ony in existence for a very brief amount of time compared to the Tiwanakus and the other people groups who came before them. The ruins were a place where the people gathered for ceremonies to worship the sun and Pachamama - the god who is still widely worshipped today. It was sad to learn about how the people tried to appease Pachamama by making human sacrifices (not anymore), and engage in meaningless practices that are still a huge part of many of the Bolivians' traditions. Syncretism is a big problem here (old unbiblical traditions and practices mixed in with Biblical truth). Anyway, the ruins were cool, and it was fun neat to see a different part of Bolivia, even though I haven't been that cold since I left winter in Ohio!

Christine and I left La Paz on Wednesday and took a bus back to Coch. I got to see snow when we travelled through the mountains!! I was quite excited, since I missed all the snow at home. We arrived quite tired and ready for the last few days of break to relax.

On Thursday, Helen (my cooperating teacher) took me out to her son and daughter-in-law's farm for the afternoon. It was neat to see how much they had on one farm (ducks, chickens, turkeys, goats, cows, a horse, rabbits, guinea pigs, llamas, corn, potatoes...!). It was neat. On the way back though, we got a flat tire. It was an adventure, and could have been a lot worse, but it was resolved rather quickly.

The farm - Coachaca (Daniel lives here, is Helen's grandson, and therefore is one of my students) Daniel is the boy in the middle... we had to get the goat untangled from the barbed wire fence!

On Sunday my neighbors (those who live next to me and in the apartments accross the street) and I walked to a international church where we had a little informal Easter service with discussion and singing. (Because it was voting day, the use of vehicles was prohibited.) In the afternoon, we had a barbecue for lunch!

That was kind of a lot. To make this post lest overwhelming, I'll write another post for this past week. :)

KP

Time Flies

This is a picture of people getting ready for Carnival - a celebration of water - which includes throwing water balloons at women for a month beforehand!

Well friends, yes, time DOES fly... as evidenced by the large gap between my last blog post and now! I can't believe it's been over a month since I last updated! Please forgive me. Because it has been so long, and it is getting late, I will just give little highlights of the past month (roughly).

*Note: the points may not be in chronological order :)

~ Overall, teaching has been going well. It took a little while for the students to adjust to me and stop testing me, but once they learned that my rules were pretty much the same as their teacher's, and that I expected them to obey, they began to "settle in". The Lord's timing really is perfect, because in Bible we have been learning about the Israelites and how they chose to disobey God (after receiving the ten commandments, and when Moses hit the rock to get water instead of speaking to it, like God told him to do). This theme has been perfect for reminding the students of the necessity of obeying, and how there are consequences when they disobey (and positive consequences when they do obey).

One of the school's School spirit Fridays - here we are dressed up as movie characters... can you tell who I am?

~I'll give you a few highlights of what I have taught (not necessarily my original ideas, however): We learned about weather/water in science, and it was fun to do different experiments with water! Science can be so much fun in elementary school! On the back window, they painted a mural of the water cycle, which was pretty cool. In Social Studies we began learning about homes - different kinds of houses, what they are made of, why they are important, etc. The students made a model of their houses with boxes, and we took a tour of the school to find out what the buildings are made of (grass, wood, brick, adobes, stones - a surprisingly large variety!). In math we learned about time, fact families, and most recently, measurement (inches, centimeters, liters, kilograms, cups, etc.). I think that reading is one of my favorites... In language arts last week the students performed a play of The Three Little Pigs in two different groups. They had fun, and so did I! I love their little Spanish accents :) Afterwards, they wrote their own version of the story - The Four Little Pigs.

These are the girls in Monday night Bible study (though the girl next to me, Valerie, has since gone home to Canada).

~STORY TIME: Heh heh... let me tell you about my water jug experience. We can't drink the water here, so we get bottled water (20 L) delivered to our houses. Well, I have had help replacing old bottle before, but one Saturday afternoon I decided that I would do it myself. I've climbed mountains, bushwacked trails, and swam around an island, so I should be able to simply turn a bottle of water over onto a stand, right? WRONG. The trick is to turn the bottle over as quickly as possible to minimize the water splashing or spilling. Well, because of my lack of height and leverage (the bottle stand is on a table), I stood on a chair. When I thought that I had mentally prepared myself to turn over the bottle, I got a firm grasp around the bottle and flipped it over. Somehow in this split-second process, I lost my "firm grasp" around the bottle, and it tumbled to the floor. For some strange reason the plastic is not as strong here as it is in the U.S... and I ended up with 20 Liters of good water on my floor. All I could do, my friends was laugh. And then attempt to scoop the water out my door with a plastic folder. HA!

On the playground after our chapel.

~ More stories... So I have this little boy in my class (the same one who I had to confine to one little hug a day - and who has wanted a kiss from me before). Well, one day, when all of the students were getting ready to go home, what should I see but this little boy crouching over by the cubbies with his backpack. I asked him what he was doing, and he asked me if I would have everyone leave the room for one minute. I thought this was a rather strange request, so I asked him WHY he wanted me to do this. He simply repeated his request. I repeated my response. I went over to him and asked him if there was something in his backpack. He just looked at me with a strange look on his face. I finally began to open his backpack, and inside he showed me a heap of little rubber cars/boats/airplanes that are from a center. Apparently this precious little boy had been slowly stashing the little toys in his backpack all day long. I asked him why he did this and he replied, "I jus lof bhoats". He HAS been on a crasze about the Titanic lately. Of course, I had to explain to him that he was stealing - taking something that was not his. O brother. I couldn't believe it.

~I planned and led the first grade chapel last Thursday. The students performed a little play of when Moses disobeyed God by hitting the rock instead of speaking to it to get water. They each had one line, and they did a great job! I was so proud. It was fun, but I was glad when it was over. Afterwards, we had a "tea" with the parents on the playground.

~ We missed two days of school towards the end of February, because of a bus strike (roughly translated for you). It was nice to have a couple days to take a break!

~ Last Friday I finished my last full day of teaching, though I still taught this week, and will teach a little more after Easter break. Today I had parent-teacher interviews. They went well, and the Lord gave me the clarity of thought, energy, and confidence that I needed. I don't know why I was surprised; He promises to give us everything that we need.

~ Tomorrow (Thursday) begins field days, so we don't have normal days of school. I will be leaving tomorrow night to take a bus to La Paz with a teacher friend for Easter break. I am going to visit some missionaries from my church (Parkside), and help them out, along with the team who is there right now from Parkside. I am excited to see a different place, and when I come back I WILL be sure to update you! Only THREE more weeks left until I come home! AAGH!

Like I said... time flies... when you're having fun. I guess that's a good sign :)

Thanks for reading, and until next time,
KP

First Week Down

Well friends.... I finished my first full week of teaching alive : )

Monday went very well. I finished the day in awe of how the Lord gave me the strength I needed and the patience.

The rest of the week did not pass with quite the same novelty, but went well. The students have been adjusting to me, and have begun to test my authority a little bit, which was defintely the most difficult aspect of my week. I loved the teaching, but the challenge was to react appropriately to the students in unexpected situations, in a way that not showed them that I am the teacher, and that was consistent with the way I treat the rest of the students. I am always hearing "consistency is the key" for classroom management, and now I believe it, but also recognize the difficulty in it. O boy. Just pray that I will be firm, but show the kids that I love them (while being consistent!).


The hilghlight for me was teaching the kids about rhyming words and then writing a little poem about the weather together. I gave them the first line of the poem, "I like to see a ____ day" (they had to fill in the type of weather they would like to see) and then we wrote the second line together. They were allowed some variation, but they all evloved around the word "play" (like, "I like to go outside to play"). I think they enjoyed writing them, and I enjoyed their creativity.


Another highlight was teaching Bible on Monday. I taught them about God coming to Mount Sinai before the 10 commandments. One girl asked about how if the Israelites could not touch the mountain because of their sin, can we come to God? I then had the great priveledge of reminding them about how Jesus died to take away all the bad things we do so that we would be able to come to Him!


The highlight of the week for the students, I'm sure, was the Valentine's Day party on Friday. Even though they don't celebrate Valentine's Day here in Bolivia, we celebrate it in first grade because it ties in with the theme of loving God and loving others. For the past two weeks the students have been making cards for one another (they had to make one for their neighbors on either side of their desks, so everyone would get at least two... only one boy ended up getting only one...). For the last twenty minutes or so of the day on Friday, I distributed their cards and they ate jell-o jiggler and brownie hearts (mine and Mrs. Steele's valentine).

So, that was my first week as a teacher in a nut shell.
Today, because of Carnival (a holiday that involves throwing water/water balloons at innocent pedestrians), we (the teachers who live around me) had our own little Sunday morning service, with a delicious feasty breakfast, singing, and a downloaded sermon. It was nice to all be together.

Well, I am going to go work some more before the Valentine's party tonight. I hope you all are doing well!

In His grace,
KP

p.s. I have included a couple of pictures from last weekend, a Saturday of SIM orientation, but mostly visiting a cabin in the beautiful outskirts of the city. I got to canoe on the lake (!), we went for a walk, had a cook-out dinner, and roasted marshmallows. It was great!

The group (mostly short-termers, a couple who are coming long-term).

What a wonderful Creator!!

Life

Hello friends!

Tonight will be a short update, but I just wanted to fill you in on how life has been going.

Right now I am sitting in my apartment, (it's almost 9 Ohio time, but almost 10 Cochabamba time), listening to the soccer game that is going on at the stadium downtown. Don't be fooled - I don't live right next to the stadium, but... I can hear a play-by-play on the Bolivian radio that is travelling through my wall, coupled with the fireworks that go off every five minutes or so. Ha! Someone told me soon after I arrived that their family's first newsletter was about the noises that they had to learn. Well, I can certainly attest to that! It's probably a good thing most of it is in Spanish so I can't understand it all :).

Anyway, teaching is going well. For last week and this week I have been teaching Math (telling time), and today I started teaching a science unit on Weather. Next week I start teaching Bible (Moses and the Ten Commandments) and Reading: that means I will be teaching everything, "full time". Please pray that the transition goes smoothly, especially for the kids (which can drastically affect their behavior). I am now taking over the afternoons, and they keep asking me, "Where is Mrs. Steele?"

To provide a little glimpse into the joys and special moments of teaching, I will tell you about an event that occured today while I was reading them a story after lunch. A little boy (who is often making noises and can hardly ever sit still) passed some gas, rather loudly. Of course the little first graders all thought it was hilarious and burst into a fit of giggles. What could I do but let them laugh it out for a couple of minutes, and try to calm them down. We talked about how passing gas is something that we all do, especially when our body is digesting food and sendind it to where our body needs it. Thankfully, they had just finished a unit all about their bodies, so they understood. Oh they are so funny.

Well, I need to get to bed. See Meredith? Finally I manage to make it to bed before 11:00!! It just took me moving to another country and living by myself, ha.

I hope you all are doing well! Know that I am praying for you all back in the states, and not a day goes by that I don't think about the snow that you are having. I miss the snow a little, but the mountains make up for it :).

Here is a picture of the week: my students (minus one).

In His Grace,

KP

Finally!

Well, I've been here for three weeks now. It's kind of hard to believe! Time has passed by so quickly and I know it will only get faster. Sorry I haven't been updating as often as the beginning. I will try to do better!

My first week of school went well. I met all 11 of my first graders, and they all speak Spanish as their first language! Looking at this in a positive light, I guess it will be good for the students because they will get more practice speaking English with me, and I will have lots of practice with ESL instruction. This does not help immensely with practicing my Spanish, but I am taking Spanish lessons with an instructor at school twice a week. She is very patient and encouraging, despite my lack of understanding and poor memory :)

The students are all pretty good, and my cooperating teacher has a wealth of knowledge for teaching first graders. I was also pleasantly surprised with the relatively large school library, and the teaching resources available! Just another reminder not to have many expectations!

The second week of school, I moved into my apartment (Monday). It is just across the street from where I was staying, so it was nice not to have to move very far. I have slowly begun to settle in, and am learning the quirks and strange things that have given my apartment quite a reputation.

For example, on Friday I was home from school (a story I will share later on) and when I woke up, there was music BLARING through my wall. Pretty much, I have my own personal Bolivian radio (though sometimes it is kareoke, sometimes Spanish, sometimes English, sometimes... who knows). Ha ha! I am still experimenting with the volume of my music that will sufficiently mask the personal radio :) As another example, sometimes cats prance their way accross my tin/plastic roof, creating quite a commotion. But, thankfully I have a hot shower, running water, a bed, a couch, a kitchen, and a "skylight" (the plastic part the cats run accross). Really, it's a pretty nice place to have all to myself, and thankfully I am a heavy sleeper, as some of you may know... Here are a few pictures of my place:

Here is part of my living room

This is my kitchen (excuse the mess - my table is acting as a cupboard because there's no pantry)

And this is part of my bedroom (the door is the bathroom), there's also a wardrobe

Monday night we had girls' Bible study, with the females (most of them teachers at CCS) from the surrounding apartments. We are beginning to study James. What a huge blessing to have fellowship with sisters in Christ!

Tuesday I went to my SIM Life Group (I think this is a monthly Bible study). It is nice to get to know some other missionary families and study the Bible together.

This was a pretty crazy week, despite the fact that I was not teaching yet (though I am picking up little classroom routines here and there).

Okay, now for the story of the week:

On Wednesday all of the teachers arrived at CCS, but by the end of our morning staff meeting, we discovered that there was a bloqueo (blockade in English), which means that a road was blocked, and in this case it was the main road that leads to CCS. Therefore, the school buses could not get through. The "principal" (though that's not the title we use for him here) cancelled classes for the day, so the buses turned around and dropped the students back off at their homes, and the students who had managed to get to school because they don't live on the blockaded side were sent home. The teachers were not able to leave because most of us live on the blockaded side of the road, so we ended up staying at school until about 12:00 in the afternoon. Basically a bloqueo is when people block off a road (or more), sort of like a demonstration or protest, until they get what they want. In this case, the people wanted the road to be paved, so they blockaded it until action would be taken. (Later that night an agreement was reached that when there is a sunny day, construction will begin.)

Eventually we were able to leave on the "teacher van" (the vehicle the school graciously supplies for us to safely get to and from school every day). However, we had to take an alternate route, resulting in an hour long trip, rather than the usual 25 minutes. It actually ended up being pretty neat because I got to see a whole other part of Bolivia that I have not seen. It was basically like the "countryside" of Cochabamba, with farms and fields and animals and such. It was beautiful (but smelly and muddy). Here are a few pictures from a friend's camera:

Here we are about to go over a one way bridge to a one way road

Here's part of the road

A farm house (the animals are tied to a stake in the ground)

The woman in the background is wearing an "aguayo", a brightly colored-woven cloth that they use to carry bundles of goods or babies

Well, on Wednesday we also learned that the president decided to declare a national holiday on Friday, in honor of the new Bolivian name and his swearing in (or whatever it is called).

So, we had two days off of school this week, which was nice, but that means I won't begin teaching until Tuesday (Math). Here I go!

Thanks for all your prayers! I love hearing from you!

KP

A Little Jaunt

Today has been great so far! I had breakfast with the lady from Peru again, and managed to understand a little. She was so patient with me :)

I also ate lunch with Beth, accross the street in her apartment. It was nice to spend some time with someone else, rather then being cooped up in my room all aftrnoon. We had a very American lunch, with turkey and cheese sandwiches and apples. We soaked the apples to clean them of course, because much of the fresh produce is grown in the ground... which is not so good for foreigners' stomachs (let's just say that the sewage irrigation system isn't so great).

After lunch, Tim and Liz, a couple from Australia, kindly invited me to come with them to visit the "Cristo de La Concordia", a huge statue of Jesus.

It was pretty amazing, because no only was the statue ginormous, but th views of the surrounding city and mountains was hermosa (beautiful).

We rode up and down the mountain in a gondola-type thing, and we were even able to climb up into the statue and see out through little holes in the walls. We climbed up and down I think 9 twirly staircases!

I think that was the highlight of my time so far, simply because I love mountains and the sky, and as you can see in the picture, both were amazing!

Tonight some of us were invited to another SIM family's house for dinner. Everyone is so kind and helpful! I guess it really is true that everyone functions as a family :) We do all belong to the family of God, after all!

Well, I'm off to try to get a bit of work done before dinner! Hope you all are doing well.


Here is my favorite picture from the day. Precious little sisters!

Love KP

His Love Has Lifted Me

Upon request, here is the verse that is on the tiny picture above. If I knew how to make pictures larger, I would, sorry!

"He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord."

Psalm 40:2-3


As a bonus, I read Psalm 92 this morning, and would like to share some of it with you:

"It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night...

For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord;
I sing for joy at the works of your hands.
How great are your works, O Lord,
how profound your thoughts!"

Psalm 92:1-2, 4-5

Estoy Seguro

Hello dear friends and family! If you have not heard by now, I am safe (which is the title of my blog post in spanish :) I arrived in Cochabamba safely around 9:30 Monday morning... after almost a full day of travel. I am praising God for safe and smooth travels, especially considering the 3 layovers (Akron-Charlotte-Miami-Santa Cruz-Cochabamba). The flight to Santa Cruz was overnight, but I managed to snatch a few hours of sleep :).

There was a host of SIM people to greet me (and Beth, a fellow worker at the school). They were so kind and understanding and helped me get settled in my temporary room at the Guest House. I will be staying in the house probably until next Thursday, when I will be moving into an apartment (the complex houses other single teachers from the school as well), conveniently right accross the street.

Yesterday seemed quite long, but it was not too overwhelming. After dropping of my things and freshening up Beth and I headed to lunch at a local restaurante (which is safe for foreigners stomachs, ha) with Amallia. There we ate a traditional 4 course meal - "salad" bar items, soup (with pumpkin! delic.) meat (I had beef) with rice or noodles ... or in our case, potatoes, and then dessert (warm pinneaple, yum). Then we took a taxi (called taxi trufis, I believe) to a supermarket, with many American-type foods. Needless to say, it was somewhat of a humbling experience... for those of you who have gone shopping with me in an American store, just imagine me shopping in a store where I have to think about how there are 7 bolivianos to 1 US dollar... and I don't really know how to cook! You would have had a laugh, I'm sure :) BUT, I will learn!

After shopping I took a long nap, and then we were invited to dinner at an SIM family's house, which was delicious.

After a good night's sleep (eight hours!) I ate breakfast with a woman from Peru. I only speak a very little Spanish, and she only speaks a very little English... so here is what I gathered from our 1/2 an hour -45 min. meal:
-her name (I know how to say that! "Me llamo..." = my name is...)
-she is from Peru
-she works at a university there, but is not a professor
-she has lived there for 22 years
-she is travelling
-she has no family there
-she is leaving on Viernes (which I had to look up later becuase I forgot that it means "Friday")

I'm sorry to say that she probably did not learn very much about me.... maybe only this:
-that I can't speak spanish very well, and can understand only ever 7th word, ha
-I will be teaching at a school
-I will be teaching children in primary school
-I am staying here until April
-I visited Lima, Peru last April

O boy... I have so much to learn!! I wish I could understand so much more! Hopefully that will happen over the course of the next four months.

One thing I learned yesterday about my first grade students is that many of them are still learning to speak English. I am excited to learn about how to teach these students, and it will be a good experience for both me and the students (I hope).

Well, this entry has been entirely too long, and probably full of details you didn't want to know, but there you go. I have no idea yet what I am doing today (it's 12:23 right now), so I am trying to stay occupied :)

I hope that you all are doing well, especially those of you who just headed back to school yesterday (or today)!

Adios,
KP

Saddle Up Your Horses... I've got a trail to blaze!

Well friends... Here I go!

I leave for Bolivia in two days. I know, pretty crazy. Sometimes I find it hard to believe myself. The other day I had the thought that I don't know if I would have decided to do this at the beginning if I knew all that I know now... but that won't even be compared to what I will know when I get there (which is not very much right how, ha!). But then, I think I probably would have. I have had the wonderful opportunity to trust God and see a little glimpse into the amazing way that He works... like only He can!

And this is just the beginning.

The old Steven Curtis Chapman song popped into my head the other day:

"Saddle up your horses we've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other - this is The Great Adventure"

Come to think of it, this describes life pretty well. The "glorious unknown" doesn't always seem so glorious, but following the Leader in His grace will always result in a "Great Adventure".

So, anyway... I have to finish packing and making sure that I have everything that I need... and leave behind everything that I don't :)

Lord willing, I will arrive in Bolivia Monday morning after a day and night of travel... hopefully with some sleep thrown in there.

Here we go... the big adventure!

Back soon with an update on Bolivian life, I hope :)

KP