2.5 Weeks Left

Buenas Dias!

It has been awhile since my last update. Things are still busy here and it is hard to believe that I only have 2.5 weeks left. I will fly back to the States on May 18th. I will be going straight to my sisters Graduation in Colorado and will be back in New Hampshire May 30th.

Where has the time gone? How is it May already? These are some thoughts that are going through my mind as I think about wrapping things up and leaving. This year has been an incredible growing year. With the help of the lady I am meeting with, I have learned a lot about myself and have grown in a lot of ways. I have also learned a lot about what it means to be in full-time ministry. I have seen myself grow as a teacher as well. So while at times this year has been extremely tough, I also know that I can look back at this year and know that I have learned so much.

School is continuing to go well. I am teaching Charlotte's Web to my class, which has been so fun. I enjoyed this book when I was young and was excited when I found out that I could teach this in my class. It has been fun to see my students pick their favorite character( Charlotte was the favorite) , to write as if they were one of the animals on the farm when Wilbur started getting all the attention, and to want to read different pages of the book in class. I have also had my students draw pictures for different parts of the book, and it has been so neat to see my students artistic ability.

In Math we have been doing division facts and seeing the relationship between multiplication and division. It has been neat to see my students grasp these concepts and to see the connection between what we have learned before and what we are learning now.

I am continuing to enjoy teaching 6th grade Bible. It has been fun to be able to teach these students about Paul as we go through his letters. My students have been asking great questions and we have had some neat discussion. This past week we read through Philemon and talked about his relationship with Onesimus. It was neat to be able to talk through this relationship and discuss the concept of forgiveness.

Basketball is continuing to go well. Our girls have won all their games within the league, which has been really fun. It has been neat to see the girls mesh as a team as the season has gone on and to get to know the girls better. At the beginning of the April our school competed in a tournament with 3 other schools. Our girls team came in second to a team from La Paz. The girls played really well, I was encouraged to see their good attitudes throughout the 3 days. One really encouraging thing happened at the beginning of our Championship games. The girls were warming up and we all got together right before the game started, when one of the girls asked if we could pray before we started. It was so encouraging to hear these girls ask for this and to be able to pray as a team together.

I am continuing to be so thankful for the friends that I have made here. When I think of leaving, the bittersweet feelings come in when I think about leaving my friends here. We have all become really close over the year and they have been such a huge encouragement to me. It will definitely be weird to not see them everyday.

As I think about leaving soon, it leads me to think about the future. I will be heading home to New Hampshire for the summer to work and continue to look for a full time teaching job. I have applied to several jobs and am just waiting on the Lord to see where he wants me. I am not fearful about it, which has been a huge area of growth. I am just applying to jobs that I find and trusting God.

Adios!! - Rachel

5.5 weeks

Buenas Noches,

It is so hard to believe that I only have 5,5 weeks left. Where has the time gone. It seems just like yesterday that I was so worried about coming to Bolivia and not knowing what this whole experience was going to be like and before I know it I will be going back to the US.

I have been completely blown away by God's faithfulness over the past 8 months. This year of teaching in Bolivia has been a very hard experience but God has remained faithful throughout the whole process. Here are some examples.

1. Teaching has been hard. It is my first year of teaching and I have a pretty difficult class. Even with it being my first year of teaching and having these students there have been so many good things that have come out of this. God has given me some really fun times with my class, times where we can all laugh together and have fun. Times where I might have said something funny by accident and it allows all of us to be silly. God has given me so much encouragement through other teachers at the school. There have been days where I get discouraged and feel like I am doing something wrong and God will bring friends around me to tell me that I am doing a good job. So while this year has been a challenging one in the classroom, I can now say that I will miss my class.

2. I have fought with being sick off an on during my whole time in Bolivia which has not been fun. But even through the sickness I have only missed 1.5 days of school. God has given me the strength that I need and the ability to continue teaching.

3. I was so nervous about finding friends when I came to Bolivia. I did not want to leave my family and have to met new friends. What if they did not like me? What if we did not get along?

All these fears were put to rest within the first few weeks of being here. I found friends who had the same interests as me, who understood me, who were goofy, who loved God and who wanted to hang out with me. I found life long friends. I know that the hardest part of leaving in 5 weeks is that I am going to be leaving these lovely ladies and that I will not be able to see them everyday. I get teary eyed thinking about saying goodbye to them. God has been so so faithful in his provision of such great friends!

The list can go on and on and I know that I have mentioned a lot of this before, but these are some of the thoughts that are in my head when I think about only have 5.5 weeks left.

Thanks for listening!

Adios! - Rachel

Friendship Games

Buenas Tardes!

Last week our school participated in a 3-day tournament with 3 other schools in Bolivia. Our students participated in Basketball and Soccer. Since I was a coach, I was able to miss part of school to go and help coach the Girls Basketball Team. It was a fun but very long three days. Our girls came in second in basketball and soccer. Our boys came in first in basketball and third in soccer. Overall Carachi finished second. We were all so proud of the students.

Here are some pictures from the tournament:

Alana, Christa, Sarah and I

Some of the girls on our basketball team

Sarah and I with our second place award

Yes we were proud coaches :)

Adios! - Rachel

Be Still

Buenas Noches,

I was reading in the Psalms the other day and I came across some verses that I have heard before, but they really stuck out to me the other day. I have been starting to become worried about what is going to happen next year. Will I get a Job? Where will I get a job?

I am really trying to give it all to God and lean on him. These verses that I am about to share, really helped me think about how to give this all to God.

Here they are:

Psalm 46: 1 - " God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way"

Psalm 46: 10 " " Be still and know that I am God"

This verses helped me remember that God is indeed my refuge and that I do not need to fear. This means that I do not need to fear what next year brings( where I will live, If/where I will get a job).

The second verse especially really made me think. It says for us to " Be still". How many times am I just still and let God do his work. Being still means not to worry, not to fret, not to over analyze, to get worked up. Being still means to give it all to God and to wait to see his answer. He is God, he is the ultimate worker. He works all things out for our good.

I know some of this might sound redundant, but I know that God is working in me and teaching me some really important lessons. So thanks for listening! Let's be still and let God work!

Adios! - Rachel

Pressing on!

Buenas Dias!

Sorry for the long delay in getting a new update out. The past couple weeks have been kind of chaotic. We had two weeks were we did not really have school do to some things that were happening in the country, then we had one week at school, a week off for vacation and this is our first week back.

I think we all enjoyed some extra time off during the weeks leading up to break, but we got a little stir crazy after the second week. We are all glad that things seem to be getting back to normal. This first week back has had it's ups and downs. My student who is prone to having emotional freak outs, lost it during math time on Monday. So it took a lot to get her back on track and keep the rest of the class under control. This week is also our chapel, so it has been extra busy trying to find time to practice for chapel. Our chapel is talking about the miracles of Jesus. The kiddos will be doing two skits one on the Miracle of the Blind Man and the other is about Lazarus. It is so much fun to see my students act out these stories and to see them learn more about Christ. It is a blessing to be able to teach my students about this. We also had a Basketball game on Wednesday which helped add to the busyness of the week. The girls played well and they WON! It was a lot of fun to see the girls in a game and to help encourage them along the way. This Friday is also the end of the quarter. So as you can see this has been a busy week and we are all looking forward to the weekend!

Sarah and I had a fun time in Florida during our Spring Break. It was nice to get away for a week and de-stress a little bit. It was refreshing to spend time with Sarah's family and to not worry about teaching for a week. We enjoyed sleeping in late, eating some yummy food, going shopping at Target and Walmart ( it does not take much to amuse us when we have been away for 7 months). As I was in Florida I thought about how weird it was that we were in the U.S. and it felt normal, but I knew that I would go back to Bolivia and it would also be normal. When we came back to Bolivia after being gone for 6 days, it really seemed like we were going home. It is amazing how in 7 months living in Bolivia has become normal.

With the busyness of school, it is hard to believe that I only have 8 weeks left. Where has the time gone??? I remember when I came in August, I thought that I would never make it to this point. The past 7 months have flown by and I know the next 8 weeks will also. I have learned a lot in my time here and one of the main things is that being a Missionary is not for the faint of heart. To be completely honest there are some days in which I want to get on the next plane home and then the next day I get sad about leaving. Living this type of life is not easy. I have enjoyed the work I am doing and I know that God called me here for this year but it has been the most challenging year of my life. Even though the hardships I have learned a lot about who God is and have been continually reminded that I can not do this in my strength.

As I think about the next 8 weeks, I can not help but think about what will happen after I leave Bolivia, which has brought on stress of its own. I know that I want to teach and I know that I need to get a summer job, that trying to find one from here is going to be hard, but I am reminded that God is faithful and he will provide. Over the past few weeks I have let worry and anxiety take over and I start to wonder how any of this is ever going to happen. Throughout the past few days God has brought verses to mind( through friends) that have given me a lot of comfort and peace in the midst of the worry. Please pray with me that I will take to heart what these verses say and not let the worry take over.

Here are the verses, I hope they give you some encouragement:

Lamentations 3:21-25 " But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. " The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the should who seeks him"

1 Peter 5:7 " cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you"

Philippians 4:6-7 " Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus"

This verses are great reminders that God is faithful, that God cares about me, and God will help me through my worries and anxieties if I bring them to him.

Adios! - Rachel

Patience and A Good Attitude

Buenas Noches!

Today I spent some time in the Bible and was reminded of a very simple but important lesson of Patience. It has been hard lately to be patient with everyone around me and to love others like God has loved me. So I took out part of my day today to listen to Worship Music and spend some time in the word to see what the Bible says about patience.

Here is some of what I found:

Proverbs 15:18- " A hot tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel"

Romans 12:12 " Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer"

Colossians 3:12-13 " Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you"

James 1:19-20 " My dear brothers, take note of this" Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires"

1 John 4:20-21 " If anyone says " I love God:, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother"

These verses reminded me that God commands me to be patient and to love my brothers and that I need to have a change in attitude.

After I read these verses I decided that I should read my Dad's sermon from last week entitled, " Where Positive Attitudes Come From", I thought this would go along well with what I had been reading earlier. There were a lot of great points from this sermon out of Ephesians 3:1-13

My Dad talked about where Paul's Good Attitude came from. In these verses, Paul is in Prison but he was still able to have a Positive Attitude.

My Dad said that it came from three things God's Calling, God's Provision and God's Control.

Paul knew that he had a role in God's Kingdom and that it was to invest in others. So God prepared Paul for a specific role and if meant being in prison that he would take that as part of God's will and calling.

Paul knew that God would provide what he needed to help him fulfill his role and that God does not ask us to do something that he has not equipped us to do.

Lastly, Paul knew that God was in control and that God had a plan that he was working out.

This sermon was a great reminder to me as I face hard things daily. It reminded that I can still have a positive attitude amongst the not so positive things in my life because God has called me to be here, he will provide what I need to get through and he is in Control.

I hope these thoughts encouraged you and that you were able to take something away from this!

Adios! - Rachel

All the Single Ladies- Valentines Day 2011

Buenas Tardes,

As some of you know I like to call Valentines Day, Single Awareness Day. In the United States, Valentines Day is advertised as a day for couples, and almost forgets about the single crowd, so I call it Single Awareness Day because it reminds me of how I am still single... haha.

Well this year some of the single ladies decided that it would be fun to go out together for dinner on Valentines Day. We decided that we would all get gussied up and go out to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner.

Here are some of our pictures from that night. I am so thankful for great friends to celebrate with!

Hope you all had a fun Valentines Day!

Adios! - Rachel