Simply Spectacular

When I think of November in the US my mind drifts to cool fall mornings, pumpkin lattes and hiking through flame colored hillsides of changing leaves. When I think of November in Bolivia, I envision rainstorms, blooming flowers and mud covered kids coming in from recess. Rainy season is upon us. 

As I write, I find myself with nothing "spectacular" to report, but the simple happenings of every day life. Which, given the brevity and beauty of life, I actually think is pretty spectacular.

Spring Flowers

We recently just finished up our first quarter at HIS. The old adage "time flies" stands true. We've had a lot of visitors this past quarter. A large team from Texas spent 10 days with us, ministering to our students and to our staff. During their time with us we saw 6 students make decisions to follow Jesus and several others recommit to following Jesus (I take back what I said before-this is spectacular)! After this visit, we had several staff members from the NICS Memphis home office join us in La Paz. It's always good to reconnect with these folks; I even got to share a meal and an evening with Missy Parks, our "Member Care Coordinator". She basically makes sure all our staff, in all our 21 schools around the World are doing okay and are remaining physically, mentally and spiritually healthy-no big deal, right? :)  It was a tremendous blessing to get to spend an evening with her one on one and was a tangible reminder of God's love for me. (Now that I reflect on it, I wonder if I should be concerned that the woman in charge of correcting personnel and intervening when there's a need, took an evening out to spend with just me... ) J

My 15 students are doing well. They are learning and growing and they continue to bring me so much joy. Last week we went on our first field trip to a large bag factory in El Alto, where a student's Dad works; we ate saltenas, played with the guard dogs and learned all about the materials and machines used to make market bags. Though I loved seeing a new place and learning more about La Paz, my favorite part was probably spending time with my students on the bus. It was so great to just be together, with no agenda other than talking, singing, laughing and admiring the spectacular views of the Andes mountains from the bus window.

Super Selfie. Peace signs are universally cool. :)

Got to chat with this little guy all the way to the bag factory!

My girls

My boys (missing one)

In a past blog, I mentioned that my roommates and I were considering getting a kitten...well, we did it! Little Tucker is a fur ball of energy and crazy and even though we find ourselves daily pulling our hair out because he's either chewed through a new cord or forgotten to use the litter box, we love him and have enjoyed the fun that a kitten brings!  In his short life, Tucker has already gone through 3 names. It went something like this:

"She's definitely a girl, let's name her Molly!"
3 days later...
"I googled how to tell the sex of a kitten and I'm pretty sure she's a boy. How about Oliver?"
3 more days later...
"Oliver just doesn't fit. Do you all agree? Okay, how about Tucker?"

Thankfully, "Tucker" stuck. :)

This is when we called him "Molly". :)

Tuck and me.

We recently welcomed a new baby into our community! Janet and her husband Leo have worked at our school for many years and are a vital part of our ministry. I happened to be walking with a friend today after a much needed coffee catch up date (today is a national holiday-All Saints Day) and we ran into Leo outside of the hospital; he took us in and we got to meet his newest daughter. I have never seen so much hair on a baby in my life; she is so precious! What a tangible reminder of the joy found in new life.

All bundled up in the beautiful sweater Mom made for her. 

I pray this finds you well and holding firmly to the hope we have been given.

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory." Ephesians 3:20-21

Setting Stones

It’s amazing what can trigger a memory-a scent, a sight, a sound, and suddenly you find yourself in a different place and a different time. It can take a moment or two to grasp the memory, as your mind filters through different experiences and grapples to land on the right one, but instantly you do, and for a split second, it’s like you are really there, living again the memory held so dear, yet filed so deeply away, you had forgotten it was there.

A couple of evenings ago, our landlord and his family had my roommates and myself over for dinner. They are originally from Lebanon, but have lived in Bolivia for the past 24 years. The father speaks 4 languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and French. They served us a delicious Arabic meal-I would love to recount the names of each delectable dish, but only one sticks out: sarma. It was introduced to us by another name, but the tightly wrapped grape leaves, the center filling of rice, meat and spices, were unmistakable; it was sarma. And suddenly I was whisked away to 2005, happily eating lunch with my friends in our Mhrivode apartment, overlooking snow covered Sarajevo. Vaska was in the kitchen, cleaning up, while a group of hungry Americans devoured the delicious sarma she had prepared for us.

Sarma

Dinner with the Goriabs

In the Old Testament, the Israelites set stone monuments to commemorate when God moved so that in years ahead they could look back and remember what He did and be reminded of His character. Some of my memories feel like “setting stones”. During the year I lived in Sarajevo, Bosnia; through people, through experiences, through His voice, God taught me so much about who He is and He shared His heart for the nations with me. It was a turning point of which I can’t go back, nor would I want to.

What “stones” have been set in your life? What significant moments can you recall where God taught you something, where God moved, where God revealed more of Himself to you? My guess is sometimes these beautiful moments might be accompanied by the difficult. Though I look on my year in Bosnia with deep fondness, it was not an easy season. I think God is so gracious to use difficult times and circumstances to produce something beautiful in us and to reveal more of Himself and His glory to us.

In the book of Joshua, the story of the Israelites crossing into the Promised Land is recounted. After over four hundreds of year of slavery and forty years of struggling (an understatement) in the wilderness the Israelites are about to enter into what God has promised them. Their original leader, Moses, has since passed away and their newly anointed leader, Joshua, is guiding them. The only thing that stands in their way is the Jordan River. Once again, God intervenes and parts the waters so that His people may cross.

 “Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. The priests…stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground…No sooner had they [the priests] set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.” (Joshua 3:15 & 17; 4:18).

After the nation had passed through the waters, the Lord commanded Joshua to choose twelve men to each pick up one stone from the middle of the Jordan where the priests stood, and carry them to the place they were staying.

“So Joshua called together the 12 men he had appointed and said to them, ‘Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up on a stone on his shoulder…to serve as a sign among you'…These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever…Joshua set up the twelve stones... And they are there to this day.” (Joshua 4:4-5 & 9).

These stones served as a reminder of God’s faithfulness, provision and miraculous power. But years later, when the Israelites gazed at them and they were whisked back to a different time and place, I’m willing to bet it was not without also remembering the difficulty, the pain and the suffering. “Take up 12 stones and carry them over with you”. The stones were burdensome; they were heavy. But. The richness of God’s glory overshadowed this.

“He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord you God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan just what He did to the Red Sea when He dried it up before we had all crossed over. He did this so that all peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and that you might always fear the Lord your God.” (Joshua 4:21 & 24).

God desires to make Himself known; He desires that all people will love and fear Him. In His goodness, He uses our “setting stone” moments to bring about this purpose. Let us look back, let us remember, how our God has fought for us, how our God has protected us, how our God has loved us.

Crying Over Spilled Salt

They were right. Everyone who told me third grade is the dream grade to teach was right. I have fifteen beautiful eight and nine year olds who tell me daily they love me and give me huge, sweaty hugs after recess.  I could do without the sweat, but thanks to intense futbol matches in the high La Paz sun, I’m realizing it’s a package deal, so I’ll take it.  The first few weeks of school were BUSY. It felt a little bit like a first year again as I prepared new materials for a new grade and tried to wrap my mind around a new curriculum. I think we are finally starting to get into a pretty good rhythm. Of course, as any teacher knows, there are always “to do lists” of things I could improve or implement or create. Teaching is messy. Life is messy. I like things black and white and organized.  And then I moved to Bolivia. J But I’m learning to be okay in the messy and the gray (in school and in life).

First day of school; waiting for the taxi.

Kiddos hard at work on the first day of class.

Some of my sweet students.

Our team has been adjusting well to our new administration and with the transition many great changes have come to our school. We are grateful to have a team of administrators that run our school as a ministry first, and a school second, and care for and love the people they lead.

Staff photo-the crazy one!

My roommates and I are doing well and things at Calle 12 (Street 12) are also beginning to settle into a routine. We were recently given a TV (much better than crowding around a laptop to watch a movie) and are seriously contemplating getting a kitten. A family at the school has a little orange tabby they are hoping to get rid of and we would be more than happy to take it off their hands. I’ll keep you posted…

The roomies and me at school

My past two years in La Paz my roommate and I lead a Bible Study with 2 of our high school students.  It was incredible to build a relationship with them and watch them grow; we said a bittersweet goodbye last year as they graduated and moved to the States to attend university. This year, a friend and I will begin leading a group for our 9^th grade girls.  I pray this will be an authentic time of growth, sharing and learning more about God’s love for us and the world around us.

I continue to enjoy being involved in “Tuesday Gathering” a weekly meeting of worship, prayer and Bible study with friends from around the city. Many members of this group are ex-pats and due to the mobile nature of those living abroad, it’s amazing to see how the group has changed since I’ve been involved. I was looking around the other day and realized that at two years, I was one of the “veterans”.

November 22^nd.  Lord willing, this will be the day I run my first half marathon in Bolivia. In the past I’ve done a 10k here but have yet to achieve 13.1 miles that, at 14,000 feet will probably be the toughest 13.1 miles I’ve ever ran! Training is going well and I’m praying for the endurance to continue. A group of friends will be running the race with me-running is so much better with friends. I recently learned that my running partner has a foot injury; praying that it is nothing serious.

In the midst of busy, there has also been some time for a few random, fun adventures!

(Pictures of random, fun adventures below)

Occasionally, it snows here. But only in the highest parts of La Paz. We drove up to "La Cumbre" a
few weeks ago to experience the beauty of the snow capped Andes.

On a 4 wheeling trip with friends. We stopped in this little village for the amazing views of Mt. Illimani.

Each year I have lived in La Paz has been different from the other, and this third year is no exception. At the risk of being vulnerable, I must say, this seems to be one of the lonelier seasons of my life. I feel blessed to have deep friendships here and a loving community that supports me, but I have found that even in the midst of that, loneliness can exist. The Lord has reminded me that I am never truly alone because He is always with me. I believe that growth will come out of this season as I cleave to the Lord to be my all in all. But I must admit, it has not been easy to cling to Him. There are many other sources of comfort one can run to in life and my wondering heart seems to turn too often to these things other than my Lord. I would love your prayers that I would turn to Him in all things.

Last Tuesday was a rough day. Really for no reason in particular, other than that a lot of the things that had been troubling me, but that I hadn’t yet taken the time to process, kind of caught up with me in a swirl of emotions. After school I went to Cross Fit with a friend (yes, they have Cross Fit even in Bolivia and no, I’m not really a Cross Fitter-that was my first time) and then came home to fix a quick dinner before heading to Tuesday Gathering. In my haste, I dropped the saltshaker. No big deal, right? Right. Usually. But sometimes the most minute thing is the straw that breaks the camel's back. Apparently my “straw” is a porcelain, owl shaped saltshaker, painstakingly picked out and brought from the US to Bolivia as a reminder and comfort of home. And then it shattered in what seemed to be a million tiny pieces and the salt spilled out everywhere. I’m sure there are a lot of analogies there. In that moment, rather than reflecting on the life lesson I could be learning, I stomped off, yelled, and then came back five minutes later and swept the mess up, crying the whole time. If you’re thinking I’m crazy, you’re not alone; I think my roommates had the same reaction. Time they got to know the real Jill, anyway. J 

In later reflection, however, I was reminded of 2 Corinthians 4:7, where it says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us.” Isn’t that what we all are? Fragile jars of clay that are broken, that break, that need the Potter to put us back together. As I watched salt spill out all over the ground, I remembered when Paul talks about being “poured out like a drink offering” (Philippians 2:17 and 2 Timothy 4:6) before the people he serves and before the Lord. Maybe when we’re “broken” before the Lord, that brokenness is actually a sweet offering of surrender that allows Him to shine through.  "For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body" 2 Corinthians 4:11. May we allow Him to make beauty out of the brokenness.

Love and Blessings to each of you.