Samaipata vacation

April 14,2007
Allison Weaver = the writer
Dear Friends and Family of the Bolivia YES team,
Greetings from a very windy Santa Cruz, where lizards and geckos enjoy the sun and birds sing melodies strange to the North American ear. As a team we are especially happy this weekend because we get to rest, and next week is our vacation to Samaipata, a very beautiful place just outside of Santa Cruz. It should be a good time to relax with our team, and grow closer to our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ!!!!
Our vacation will be a welcome break from a busy schedule and hard work load. Each person that we meet here challenges us to be a light for Christ, especially with work where we see and interact with children from poor, hurting families. One example of a situation making me more aware of the hurt in my students' lives is George Luis. George is a boy of about 5 or so years of age. Besides rotting teeth, and a skin disease called Caracha (I am not sure of the name in English), I noticed something more in his eyes. I saw a lot of hurt and pain. When I gave him a bath the other day, I saw a large cut that looked like it was healing on his cheast. I asked him what it was from. He said that someone beat him up. I don't know if it was a knife wound, but it definitely looked bad to my unprofessional eyes. Things like that make me realize the blessings I do have, and resolve to show them as much love as I can.
Besides working really hard, drinking coffee and tea , and chilling with friends we have gotten involved with our church, Centro Familiar Cristiana Las Missiones. Bethany, Rachel, and Jess are regular members of the worship team, we attend youth group, and both church services on Sunday. Through our church, we have gotten to know people and become part of their family. Also, we have become increasingly involved with Stansberry Children's home and have gotten to know many of the kids, volunteer staff, and teens there.
Easter was amazing especially because of the sunrise service at Tahuichi Aguilera, the local professional soccer stadium. All of the evangelical Christian churches met together to welcome in Easter with a prayer vigil, and service lasting from 11:30PM-6:00 AM! It was incredible to see the sheer volume of Christians present and worship God with such a multitude of people! There were arround 40,000 people crowded into the stadium! It may seem small to the North American ear, but to me it was huge!! Then I went to church for breakfast and a service. Afterword we slept, and woke up with enough time to go to another service!
I really don't know what else to tell you all about...well, I suppose I could tell you about my birthday. I must thank all of you who remembered it, because you made it very special! My team was really nice and took me out to eat with a bunch of friends. We had a very fun day!
Well, here are the praises and prayers!
Praises
-Good health
-increased friendships
-God's grace for us as a team as we work
- Worship music in Spanish
- Good team relationships
Prayer requests
-Strength, patience and love while working with our kids at the daycare
-Safety as we travel
-Bethany, Jess, and Rachel's backs
- The Country of Bolvia
- Reknewed passion to reach out to our kids even when we are tired
-A third teacher for Alli's class...( I work with one other teacher in a class of 25 kids. We will be getting 30 children soon.)
I guess that is about it! May God Bless you tons, and give you peace!!!
Thanks for your prayers!
-Allison for the team