There was much screaming and great joy in our house on Tuesday night last week. Was there a cockroach, you may ask? Was Brad Pitt at our door? Did we find another batch of ants attacking our kitchen? The answer to all the questions is no, tho 2 of them are fairly probable. What happened is this: I brought home something very special after a visit to our Canadian neighbors´ house. It was something we have not seen for many months, something that people of all ages, shapes, sizes and tastes generally enjoy: sweet corn! Bethany and I literally jumped for joy at the sight of it and we were all very thankful that the Kehler´s work with the German Mennonite colonies down here.
On Friday, my classroom expressed the same emotions as stated above: suprise, happiness, and excitement, but not due to the sight of sweet corn. This time it was due to some special visitors we had in our room at about lunch time. These visitors were Julie´s 2 monkeys. Since they arrived at about the same time as the food did, the other teacher and I really had our hands full trying to keep the monkeys out of the kids´ food, keep the kids sitting down, and get the monkeys out of the room. I think the last part was the hardest because the monkeys were really enjoying swinging around on the curtains and running across the room and into the little playhouse we have for the 2-year olds I work with. We finally got both of them out and shut the windows on one side of the room and took a deep breath in victory, only to turn around about 2 mintues later and see that they had come back in through the other windows. The scoundrels ran around the other side of the building! Not to worry, we got them out once again after numerous attempts and this time closed ALL the windows. Afterwards I felt like our little excapade would have made a great movie: The Day the Monkeys Came to Class!
-Rachel
P.S. If you are looking at our pictures don´t forget to look on the next page and the one after that as well cuz there´s a lot of new ones!!
Praises:
Jessica is feeling and looking much better
We all were safe in our camps during the Carnaval festivities in the city
We all love our classes at the Guaderia, though they are much work and make us very tired
The sun has been out for the past 3 days! I can´t remember the last time that has happened because we´ve been getting so much rain
Prayer Requests:
For my (Rachel´s) health as it appears I am coming down with a cold or allergies
For energy and health for all of us as we work at the daycare
For us to be able to wisely disciple one of our friends from SASS training
For our coordinators Chuck and Cindy, as they move this week from their house near ours to the Children´s Home
For our relationships with the children and people we encounter everyday inside and out of the daycare, that they would see Christ in us and be saved
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
Unexpected flight
Rachel and Jess made an unexpected airplane trip back to Santa Cruz because of Jess's sudden illness. In Santa Cruz we found out it was an ameoba. She is taking a powerful medicine, but is a whole lot better now!
Girls Ministry afternoon!
Kenia ministers to Lluvia during our teenage girls ministry night in Sucre. God worked a lot, and many of the girls learned for thhe first time what their identity in Christ really is (we based it on scripture).
Kids Ministry in Sucre
We also led Vacation Bible School for the kids in Sucre. It was a beautiful time, and Jesus Christ touched a lot of their lives.
Youth Ministry!!
Here is a picture of some of the Youth in Sucre. We had to lead Youth group every Saturday we were there and also teach their Sunday School class.Well...we worked too!
Alli and Bethany help pait the canchita(soccer field) while Jess waits for a paintbrush!
2 Beautiful girls
So, some of us definitely HAD to go thru the replica of dinosaur teeth while we were at the park. Rachel and Bethany thought it was fun! :)
Alli gets scared...a little!
Here is Alli at the Dinosaur park getting "chased" by a random carnivorous dinosaur...it was pretty freaky!Thursday, February 15, 2007
The Dino Wall
This is an incredible sight to see in Sucre. It is a wall that was formed when two plate tectonics smashed together and it contains footprints of many different species of dinosaurs. It is the longest trail and the most types of dinosaur footprints in the world. You can kinda see a trail off to the left.
Happy birthday!
Pastor Alejandro and his wife Natalia and all the other church leaders gather round to blow out the candles.
Cakes galore!
Here´s all but one of the cakes we consumed for the church´s anniversary. We each had one piece after lunch, one for supper, and one after the evening service that Sunday. After the 2nd piece we all decided we didn´t want to eat cake again for a very long time. Jess and Bethany said they would wait till their weddings!New friends
These are some of the lovely ladies we met in Sucre. We had a special gathering just for them on our last Saturday in Sucre and told them all how beatiful they are and their identity in Christ. It was very special!The big feast
This is the feast we were fed our first Sunday in Sucre. Unfortuanely for us, the sauce was pretty spicy and we couldn´t finish it all. The feast was due to it being the church´s 9th anniversary. We think that all the churches in Bolivia celebrate their anniversary every year.Singin´ on the bed
Jess and Bethany take a little time to regale us with some special music in our room in Sucre. They thought their pens made pretty good microphones.The view from the roof
El Rio
No, this is not a river we´re driving thru, this is what the dirt roads look like after it rains a lot, which is has been doing quite frequently since we got here in November.
International dinner
Those of us from countries other than Bolivia in the PROJUSE/SASS training were asked to
prepare special meal our last night at camp. This is our friend from Switzerland, Carolina,
and our friend
Sylvia from El Salvador. They cooked up some really good pasta and an amazing
chef salad.
prepare special meal our last night at camp. This is our friend from Switzerland, Carolina,
and our friend
Sylvia from El Salvador. They cooked up some really good pasta and an amazingchef salad.
Apple pie/crisp thing
Ta da! This is what the finished product looked like. It tasted pretty darn good even considering that someone put too much sugar in and we had to use this ginormous pan for the oven.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
More Sucre Adventures by Jess
Bolivia Team newletter #7
Jessica Dening
February 1, 2007
The last time you all heard from us we had just arrived in Sucre and our time there hadn't become too eventful yet, but as the days wore on we were able to add more and more to our list of things to write about. After our day of rest, the Pastor of the church met us at the hotel around noon and we packed all of our stuff in a taxi to head to the church. The thing about Sucre though is that it is very hilly, and when I say hilly I mean steap hills, and finding a flat street may be impossible, now that we have established just how hilly Sucre is I will continue on to say that there were a few times when I wondered if the five person taxi would make it up some of the hills with the six of us and all of our luggage. Each time to my amazement it did, and then we reached the steep downhill leading to the church. As each of us looked down the hill and realized that the taxi driver was acctually going to try and attempt this we all began to silently pray and God answered our prayers and we did make it safely. As we drug our bags into the church and home of the pastor and his family we were unsure of where we would be sleeping or what we would be sleeping on. To our relief there was a small room with two single beds and a straw mattress on the floor. So Bethany and our SASS leader Kenia shared on bed, Rachel and I the other and Alli recieved the floor since she tends to kick and none of us wanted to wake up injured. Not very long after we decided that we needed to use the bathroom, but there was no door, there was one propped up against the wall but we were unaware that you needed to pull the door shut behind you until we observed how the family there did it. The next question was how to flush the toilet, we thought we had determined that you can't until like the door ordeal we saw one of the daughters take a watering can and fill it with water then dump it down the toilet. Then had lunch and decided to rest, it didn't take us long to realize that the beds were a bit like a slab of stone in terms of comfort but we were just thankful that we had beds instead of the concrete floor of the church. That night we recieved our first taste of Qechua, the language of the indigenous people of the region, the words are extremely large, it sounds nothing like spanish, and I'm still trying to figure out what sound a j and k make together and q and an h. We then realized we would not be singing the worship songs that we learned in the campamento during the church service.
After that first day we began to settle in and get used to our very busy schedule which involved leading youth group, giving testemonies, making home visits to church members, conducting bible school for local children and preaching, all of this in spanish, with some upset stomachs due to new food and climate. Things were going well and our first sunday it was an all day event at the church to celebrate the church's birthday. We then experienced just how spicy many in Sucre eat their food as we down glass upon glass of juice and even ask for more rice to prevent our mouths from burning off, but we knew that we had cake to look forward to later so as we waited for cake we chatted with some of the youth who were very welcoming and friendly. Then we had the second service of the day as we gazed at the ten cakes on the table in front of us. Then at the end of the service we finally recieved a piece of one of the beautiful cakes. Little did we know that we were also going to having cake for dinner and again at night, and these were big pieces of cake, Bethany and I have determined that we may never eat cake again until our weddings.
As the week wore on we were able to tour the beautiful and white city of Sucre and get to know the people of the church better and better since there was a service almost every night. This was truely a blessing since we had such a limited amount of time there. We did discover that there is a little trouble within the church since many of the older people don't speak spanish and have the sermon translated for them into qechua in about five minutes so they don't hear everything and the pastor is having some difficulty understanding all of those in the church so if we could keep them in our prayers that would be great. We felt very blessed though that God was using us to speak to the church and give the pastor a break. At times we felt the stress of having to write everything out in spanish before speaking to the congregation but it was all worth it seeing how grateful all the people in the church were. This past Monday was when we were supposed to leave but my stomach decided otherwise. I woke up in the night feeling terrible and as the other girls went downtown to use the internet I stayed in the room feeling terrible. They came back and decided that I needed to see a doctor but unfortunately that meant dragging me around the city to find out that I needed to have a blood test when I got back to Santa Cruz, even though we were pretty sure that it was ghiardia. This meant that I couldn't take the bus the 14 hours it took to go home and that Rachel and I would have to fly the next day. Luckly the medicine the doctor gave me calmed my stomach I was able to fly the next day feeling fairly well and the flight was only about 25 minutes. Chuck and Alex picked us up at the airport and took us to get our blood tested, Rachel found out she doesn't have the bacteria that causes gastritis, but unfornately I didn't find out anything, so I have to have a few more tests and if they can't find anything Elaine Kehler, who is our neighbor, knows of a pill that will take care of parisites and ameobas so hopefully that we will find out something very soon. Also, we are all moved into our new beautiful house and are beginning work at the guarderia tomorrow, so we are all pretty content now and just trying to get and stay healthy.
Pray requests:
1. The church Luz y Vida in Sucre
2. My health issues
3. Work at the guaderia (daycare)
Praises:
1. We made it back from Sucre safely
2. We in our new house with great missionary neighbors from Canada that look out for us (the Kehler family)
3. Rachel doesn't have the bacteria that causes gastritis, so she can each chocolate
Jessica Dening
February 1, 2007
The last time you all heard from us we had just arrived in Sucre and our time there hadn't become too eventful yet, but as the days wore on we were able to add more and more to our list of things to write about. After our day of rest, the Pastor of the church met us at the hotel around noon and we packed all of our stuff in a taxi to head to the church. The thing about Sucre though is that it is very hilly, and when I say hilly I mean steap hills, and finding a flat street may be impossible, now that we have established just how hilly Sucre is I will continue on to say that there were a few times when I wondered if the five person taxi would make it up some of the hills with the six of us and all of our luggage. Each time to my amazement it did, and then we reached the steep downhill leading to the church. As each of us looked down the hill and realized that the taxi driver was acctually going to try and attempt this we all began to silently pray and God answered our prayers and we did make it safely. As we drug our bags into the church and home of the pastor and his family we were unsure of where we would be sleeping or what we would be sleeping on. To our relief there was a small room with two single beds and a straw mattress on the floor. So Bethany and our SASS leader Kenia shared on bed, Rachel and I the other and Alli recieved the floor since she tends to kick and none of us wanted to wake up injured. Not very long after we decided that we needed to use the bathroom, but there was no door, there was one propped up against the wall but we were unaware that you needed to pull the door shut behind you until we observed how the family there did it. The next question was how to flush the toilet, we thought we had determined that you can't until like the door ordeal we saw one of the daughters take a watering can and fill it with water then dump it down the toilet. Then had lunch and decided to rest, it didn't take us long to realize that the beds were a bit like a slab of stone in terms of comfort but we were just thankful that we had beds instead of the concrete floor of the church. That night we recieved our first taste of Qechua, the language of the indigenous people of the region, the words are extremely large, it sounds nothing like spanish, and I'm still trying to figure out what sound a j and k make together and q and an h. We then realized we would not be singing the worship songs that we learned in the campamento during the church service.
After that first day we began to settle in and get used to our very busy schedule which involved leading youth group, giving testemonies, making home visits to church members, conducting bible school for local children and preaching, all of this in spanish, with some upset stomachs due to new food and climate. Things were going well and our first sunday it was an all day event at the church to celebrate the church's birthday. We then experienced just how spicy many in Sucre eat their food as we down glass upon glass of juice and even ask for more rice to prevent our mouths from burning off, but we knew that we had cake to look forward to later so as we waited for cake we chatted with some of the youth who were very welcoming and friendly. Then we had the second service of the day as we gazed at the ten cakes on the table in front of us. Then at the end of the service we finally recieved a piece of one of the beautiful cakes. Little did we know that we were also going to having cake for dinner and again at night, and these were big pieces of cake, Bethany and I have determined that we may never eat cake again until our weddings.
As the week wore on we were able to tour the beautiful and white city of Sucre and get to know the people of the church better and better since there was a service almost every night. This was truely a blessing since we had such a limited amount of time there. We did discover that there is a little trouble within the church since many of the older people don't speak spanish and have the sermon translated for them into qechua in about five minutes so they don't hear everything and the pastor is having some difficulty understanding all of those in the church so if we could keep them in our prayers that would be great. We felt very blessed though that God was using us to speak to the church and give the pastor a break. At times we felt the stress of having to write everything out in spanish before speaking to the congregation but it was all worth it seeing how grateful all the people in the church were. This past Monday was when we were supposed to leave but my stomach decided otherwise. I woke up in the night feeling terrible and as the other girls went downtown to use the internet I stayed in the room feeling terrible. They came back and decided that I needed to see a doctor but unfortunately that meant dragging me around the city to find out that I needed to have a blood test when I got back to Santa Cruz, even though we were pretty sure that it was ghiardia. This meant that I couldn't take the bus the 14 hours it took to go home and that Rachel and I would have to fly the next day. Luckly the medicine the doctor gave me calmed my stomach I was able to fly the next day feeling fairly well and the flight was only about 25 minutes. Chuck and Alex picked us up at the airport and took us to get our blood tested, Rachel found out she doesn't have the bacteria that causes gastritis, but unfornately I didn't find out anything, so I have to have a few more tests and if they can't find anything Elaine Kehler, who is our neighbor, knows of a pill that will take care of parisites and ameobas so hopefully that we will find out something very soon. Also, we are all moved into our new beautiful house and are beginning work at the guarderia tomorrow, so we are all pretty content now and just trying to get and stay healthy.
Pray requests:
1. The church Luz y Vida in Sucre
2. My health issues
3. Work at the guaderia (daycare)
Praises:
1. We made it back from Sucre safely
2. We in our new house with great missionary neighbors from Canada that look out for us (the Kehler family)
3. Rachel doesn't have the bacteria that causes gastritis, so she can each chocolate
Adventures in Sucre by Alli
Dear Friends and Family,
Well, here I am again writing from Bolivia, but this time in the cold city of Sucre. It isn't freezing, but it is like fall weather all of the time, which quite frankly is a lot differet from Santa Cruz's scorching heat and humidity. I am writing on a really cranky keyboard at an internet cafe, which is a lot different than my luxury of my host family's computer. So if I make some interesting mistakes, it is becasue the computer keys are sticking.
Well, we have said goodbye to our host familys, celebrated New Years (by staying up all night) and completed the training period of SASS/PROJUSE. Our training was rigorous in terms of the ammount of material crammed into one week, but it was worth it. All of us were encouraged and learned things from God. I, for one learned about my giftings in leadership and healing. Also, my spiritual walk got very encouraged by some of the leaders and speakers.
Another amazing thing my team got to do was help lead a friend from SASS/PROJUSE training deeper into her spiritual walk with God, listen to her, and help her see (thanks to God) that she is loved by God despite a really rough, abusive childhood. God really worked in her, and now she is on her way to an amazing relationship with HIM! It ceartainly wasn't us. It was all God. All we did was listen, ask forgiveness, and show her love! Please pray for her continued growth in the Lord.
Now, I am sure you want to hear about how we are doing as a team + how we got to Sucre etc. Well, after terminating our training period, we traveled by bus to Sucre from Santa Cruz. The bus station looked like a small airport and it also provided micro, and train services. So it was a 3 way terminal. I knew it would be a rough ride, but I sure had forgotten what my last experience on South American busses was like. We traveled arround 14 hours with about 3 breaks on windy dirt roads (with lots of pot holes) arround hairpin curves with a few thousand ft drop off the clif if the driver went of the road. Jess and Bethany noticed the drop offs more than me. So, needless to say it was not the most comfortable evening for us. The worst part was that the bus (even though it was a coach bus) did not have a bathroom. So, I once had to wait 3 hrs until I could go to the bathroom.
Well, anyway, thanks to God we got there in one piece the following morning. By the way, we are here in Sucre, with an amazing on fire Christian named Kenia Vasquez Nuñez. She is an amazing encouragemet and knows Sucre well. She was also one of the leaders of the SASS/PROJUSE training.Getting off the bus, we went with the pastor of the church here to a nice hotel to adjust to the altitude and sleep. We are about 13,000 meters above sea level, if I heard correctly. The hotel was nice, and we were able to go shopping in Sucre that day and the following one, before heading to the "Luz y Vida" church where we are working.
We are living with a pastor and his family at the church and are helping with youth and children's ministry. We will all have to share a message and our testimony at some point before the 29th which is our departure date for Santa Cruz. We are also presenting dramas, music, helping with the Youth group, visiting people, and doing a Vacation Bible School. So, needless to say we are really busy. Tonight we have to lead Youth Group. I have to share the message, and we are doing songs, games, and mimes. Kenia is helping us majorly as well. I think that brings us up to date.
Praises: -Safe arrival, opportunity to serve the community, team unity, Holy Spirit movement, safety, time to relax, and so much more!
Prayer Requests: Political Situation in Bolivia, Bethany's back and her cold, Healing for Rachel and Jess's stomach bugs, Healing for Rachel's gastritis/bacteria, open hearts of the Youth and others while we share about Jesus here, peace for us as we are doing lots of things these next few weeks, eloquency with the language while we speak (so we don't get frustrated), safety, and increased growth spiritually + team unity.
WEll, I should probably stop because my internet time is running out and this computer is bugging me because it has sticky keys. May God Bless you all and keep you in His everlasting arms.
Well, here I am again writing from Bolivia, but this time in the cold city of Sucre. It isn't freezing, but it is like fall weather all of the time, which quite frankly is a lot differet from Santa Cruz's scorching heat and humidity. I am writing on a really cranky keyboard at an internet cafe, which is a lot different than my luxury of my host family's computer. So if I make some interesting mistakes, it is becasue the computer keys are sticking.
Well, we have said goodbye to our host familys, celebrated New Years (by staying up all night) and completed the training period of SASS/PROJUSE. Our training was rigorous in terms of the ammount of material crammed into one week, but it was worth it. All of us were encouraged and learned things from God. I, for one learned about my giftings in leadership and healing. Also, my spiritual walk got very encouraged by some of the leaders and speakers.
Another amazing thing my team got to do was help lead a friend from SASS/PROJUSE training deeper into her spiritual walk with God, listen to her, and help her see (thanks to God) that she is loved by God despite a really rough, abusive childhood. God really worked in her, and now she is on her way to an amazing relationship with HIM! It ceartainly wasn't us. It was all God. All we did was listen, ask forgiveness, and show her love! Please pray for her continued growth in the Lord.
Now, I am sure you want to hear about how we are doing as a team + how we got to Sucre etc. Well, after terminating our training period, we traveled by bus to Sucre from Santa Cruz. The bus station looked like a small airport and it also provided micro, and train services. So it was a 3 way terminal. I knew it would be a rough ride, but I sure had forgotten what my last experience on South American busses was like. We traveled arround 14 hours with about 3 breaks on windy dirt roads (with lots of pot holes) arround hairpin curves with a few thousand ft drop off the clif if the driver went of the road. Jess and Bethany noticed the drop offs more than me. So, needless to say it was not the most comfortable evening for us. The worst part was that the bus (even though it was a coach bus) did not have a bathroom. So, I once had to wait 3 hrs until I could go to the bathroom.
Well, anyway, thanks to God we got there in one piece the following morning. By the way, we are here in Sucre, with an amazing on fire Christian named Kenia Vasquez Nuñez. She is an amazing encouragemet and knows Sucre well. She was also one of the leaders of the SASS/PROJUSE training.Getting off the bus, we went with the pastor of the church here to a nice hotel to adjust to the altitude and sleep. We are about 13,000 meters above sea level, if I heard correctly. The hotel was nice, and we were able to go shopping in Sucre that day and the following one, before heading to the "Luz y Vida" church where we are working.
We are living with a pastor and his family at the church and are helping with youth and children's ministry. We will all have to share a message and our testimony at some point before the 29th which is our departure date for Santa Cruz. We are also presenting dramas, music, helping with the Youth group, visiting people, and doing a Vacation Bible School. So, needless to say we are really busy. Tonight we have to lead Youth Group. I have to share the message, and we are doing songs, games, and mimes. Kenia is helping us majorly as well. I think that brings us up to date.
Praises: -Safe arrival, opportunity to serve the community, team unity, Holy Spirit movement, safety, time to relax, and so much more!
Prayer Requests: Political Situation in Bolivia, Bethany's back and her cold, Healing for Rachel and Jess's stomach bugs, Healing for Rachel's gastritis/bacteria, open hearts of the Youth and others while we share about Jesus here, peace for us as we are doing lots of things these next few weeks, eloquency with the language while we speak (so we don't get frustrated), safety, and increased growth spiritually + team unity.
WEll, I should probably stop because my internet time is running out and this computer is bugging me because it has sticky keys. May God Bless you all and keep you in His everlasting arms.
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