Finding Friends and Water, By: Bethany

March 20, 2007
Greetings to all from the sunny land of Bolivia! This past weekend, we had an amazing time attending a conference held right here in Santa Cruz called the Global Discipleship Training (GDT) Alliance, where representatives from all over the Americas (North, Central, and South) have come to attend this meeting to compare notes, encourage one another, and figure out new ways to evangelize and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. This has been a very encouraging time for our team, and we are excited to attend the closing program tomorrow to spend time together withour brothers and sisters from all over the world!
Our time here continues to grow more and more interesting...for example this past Saturday, Jess and I woke up to find that we had absolutely no water in our house, and we realized that in order to clean, make breakfast and shower, we were going to have to find water. So, we decided that the best thing to do was go ask one of our neighbors, which just so happened to be Jess´s aunt here in Bolivia, if they too were out of water. Well, when we realized that not just us, but in fact the whole neighborhood was out of water, we decided that some action must be taken, and seeing as we were the first ones up that morning, we would rescue the other girls on the team and find water to make breakfast! Being the great thinkers that we are, we realized that the hogar de niños has a separate well from the city, and would therefore have water, so we went over there to lug home a big 5 gallon bucket of water, only to discover that the other girls were up, had breakfast made, and in fact were using water out of the faucet that had just been spitting out air 15 minutes ago! So, we ended up not rescuing our team, but if ever we should be in a shortage of water in the future, Jess and I have a whole rescue plan made up, and will be right on the job in minutes!
Work at the daycare has been keeping us hopping and on our toes, and we are constantly asking the Lord for patience and strength daily, but He is always faithful to meet our needs and lift us up when we fall. I personally am beginning to really learn what it means to make the joy of the Lord my strength, and He continues to be our constant source of hope, strength and joy! I pray that the Lord would continue to pour out His blessing in your lives as you continue to serve Him with all your heart!
Things to keep in prayer:
-Strength and patience for each and every day as we work with the kids, that we would see them as Christ sees them and show them His love in everything we do and say
-All of our backs as we are constantly bending over the whole day and lifting kids around
-Our Spanish language as we learn more and more, that the Lord would continue to open our minds and allow us to communicate easily with all the people that we have come to love so much here
Praises:
-The overall health of the team has returned, and although some of us have a little bit of a cold, our stomachs are doing a lot better
-We have had an amazing time meeting brothers and sisters from all over the Americas, and it has been very encouraging for our spiritual lives
-We have discovered amazing Spanish worship music here, and have all fallen in love with this beautiful music which is such an encouragement after a long day of work
¡Dios les bendiga!