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

God's Sovereignty

Buenos Dias!

As I sit here and think about the fact that I only have 3 months left in Bolivia, I am reminded of some of the important things that God has been teaching me throughout my time here.

One of the most recent things that God has been teaching me about is that fact that he is Sovereign. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am a part of a study that is studying the book of Daniel. I vividly remember a few weeks ago when we were studying that passage where Shadrach, Meshach and Abendego are going to be put in the furnace for not bowing down to the statue in Daniel, Chapter 3. In verses 17 and 18, the three men respond to the Kings threat of being thrown into the furnace with " If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know. O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." As you know God did save them when they were in the flame, but what I found interesting is that even if they were not saved they would not stray from him. They knew that God is sovereign not matter what the outcome. This reminded me that God is sovereign no matter what. Even if God's plan is vastly different than what we would want( I am sure what happened in Daniel 3 was not what these men would have called their perfect plan), God is still perfectly sovereign and during these hard times our faith can be built, refined and perfected.

As I think of what has happened over the past 6 months in Bolivia I have seen God's sovereignty in many ways. One of the first and most evident ways that I have seen God's sovereignty is through illness. Within the first two months of being in Bolivia I came down with parasites and E.coli and I have not fully recuperated since then. Of course, this was not my plan when I came down to Bolivia.. I knew that this could be an option, but I thought that I would be immuned from it. Alas, God had other plans. However, amidst feeling off a lot of the time I have been able to continue teaching, coach basketball, hang out with new friends and learn that God is indeed in control of my health.

I have also seen God's sovereignty in being lonely or homesick. One of the biggest hesitations for me before coming to Bolivia was the fact that I would be away from home for 9 months. As many of you know, I hate change. I HATE, HATE, HATE it. I know, I know you are probably thinking why would I move to a foreign country for 9 months if I hate change, the answer is because God called me here. As I have learned following God's call is not always easy and this time it was extra hard because I would be away from friends and family for 9 months. Before I left there were many times I considered backing out because I thought the pain of being away from my friends and family would be to hard. With help from friends and family I came and God has blessed me with some incredible friends. Friends who get what you are going through, because they are going through the same things. Friends that let you be yourself, and are themselves around you. Friends who want to grow in their walks with God just as much as you do. Friends who are there to encourage you and listen to you after a day at school that makes you question whether you really want to be a teacher. Friends whom you can not wait to see after being away for 2 weeks. God has shown he is sovereign yet again by giving me friends who have been like family these past few months.

I think one of the hardest things that I have experienced since being down here and a way that God's sovereignty has been really apparent is in my teaching. From as far back as I can remember, I have wanted to be a teacher. I would play school with my stuff animals when I was young and when it came time to figure out what to study in college it was a no-brainer, I wanted to study education. I thought about trying other fields of work, but I always went back to education. Grad School went fairly smoothly because I had great mentor teachers and felt that I was actually doing what I really wanted to. So I thought I was prepared for what my first teaching job would bring. Of course I knew there would be challenging parts to it, but I thought I was all set. Boy was I wrong. I came down to Bolivia to find out that my third grade class, was the hardest class in Elementary and that it had some pretty "strong" students in it. It did not take long for me to feel like I had no idea what I was doing. Everything I was doing did not seem to be working, it was not long before I had parents down my throat, and students who seemed to not want to listen to me no matter what. It did not take long for me to question if this is really what I should be doing with my life. This may sound drastic, but I had been humbled pretty quickly, but no matter how tough the previous day was, God gave me strength to go back and do it again. God also used people in my life to encourage me and get me through. He brought other teachers to reassure me that what I was doing was right, but it was just a hard class. He used people from home to encourage me through prayer and verses. He used my personal time with him( as I have been going through some of the Psalms) to encourage me from his word. It has been amazing to see how Sovereign God has been and what he has taught me about himself during this time. Teaching this class has been anything but easy, but I am continually reminded that God loves me and that he will give me the strength to get through and that as I mentioned before, my faith is being built.

To end I want to share some of the verses that have encouraged me through my learning experience:

Psalm 28:7-8 " The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for Joy and I will give thanks to him in song. The Lord is the strength of his people a fortress of salvation for his anointed one"

Psalm 62

⁵ Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.

⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

⁷ My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.

Psalm 30:11-12 " You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord I will give you thanks forever"

Psalm 33:4 " For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does"

Psalm 34:4" O sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears"

Psalm 34:18 " The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit"

2 Corinthians 4:7-9, 16-18 " But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hared pressed on every side, but not crushed; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed. 16 " Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inward we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal"

Thank you for being on this journey with me and thank you for your continued support! Remember God is Sovereign no matter what the circumstance!

Adios! - Rachel

A Long Awaited Update

Hello Everyone ( Update that was sent out on Feb 2)

Sorry for the delayed update. It has been a busy few weeks and our internet has been less than reliable.

It is hard to believe that it has been three weeks since we started back at school. My students seem to be finally settling into a rhythm. I do have one classroom situation that I could use prayer for. I have a student who often finds herself frustrated in class and begins to throw a fit. As you can imagine this can cause quite a raucous in class and disturb the other children. She has had several of these fits in the past two weeks. Please continue to pray for wisdom and patience as I continue to deal with her and other hard students in my class.

As you know, my Mom came to visit me at the beginning of January. We had a great time together. It was really fun to be able to have her here and to show here around where I have been living for the past 6 months. She was able to come to School and help me in my classroom and meet all of my friends as well, which was a lot of fun.

With a new semester come some new opportunities. Sarah and I have agreed to help coach the High School Girls Basketball Team. A Father is the head coach but Sarah and I are there to help where needed. We had our first practice last week and it was a lot of fun. Our jobs were to inbound the ball during a drill haha. I look forward to getting to know the girls on the team better and to learn more about coaching a sport.

A new semester also means a new Bible Study. I am with the same group of women, but we have started a Beth Moore Bible Study. We are currently studying the book of Daniel. I really like the book of Daniel and I have heard that Beth Moore is a good speaker so I was excited to start. We are three weeks into the study and it has been really good so far. It is fun to go through the book of Daniel and find ways that It can relate to our lives now. Through the first three weeks I have been reminded that we are living in our own kind of Babylon and we need to resolve like Daniel did. I am excited to see what else I can learn in the next 8 weeks.

In third grade we are continuing to study Folk Tales and the kiddos are getting very good at comparing and contrasting different items. In Math we are started the dreadful topic, Multiplication. We are taking it very easy at the beginning and will soon start to learn the facts. It is fun to teach my students these critical math facts, but also a little nerve racking at the same time.

Well I hope you are all doing well! Thank you for your continued support through my experience here in Bolivia. It really means a lot. It is hard to believe that I only have 3.5 months left.

Until Next Time – Rachel

Happy New Year!

Buenos Tardes!

Well we are back from our Vacation. In an earlier email I shared that Sarah and I were going to La Paz and Copacabana, but things did not work out for us to go there, so we changed our plans and went to Sucre instead. There are a few Missionaries in Sucre, so we contacted them and we were able to stay at the Guest House in Sucre. The Guest House was a two bedroom apartment, so Sarah and I were able to get groceries and make a lot of our own meals which was nice. We enjoyed 6 days of relaxing, reading, watching movies and playing card games. Along with hanging out around the Apartment, we were able to get out and see some of the sights in and around Sucre.

On our first full day( Wednesday), we went to a Park that had real preserved dinosaur footprints. We were able to see the footprints from a distance but it was still an incredible sight to see. From the research that has been done, the park found that there were 4 different types of dinosaurs that roamed the land in the area. They were able to make casts of these footprints and we were able to see them up close. The park also has a lot of real life scales of different dinosaurs which were fun to see. At the end of our time there we visited the gift shop and got two dinosaur posters for two little boys that we have befriended. When we told them that we were going to the Dinosaur Park they were jealous, so we though a little gift would help brighten up their day!

On our second day( Thursday) in the city we went up to the “recoletta” area where we were able to see an amazing view of the city. On our taxi ride up to the recoletta we could tell that we were going to be pretty high up, but I was not expecting the kind of view that we saw. We had a fun time taking pictures and enjoyed a nice lunch at the café that was up there. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the apartment.

On our third day( Friday), we spent the morning visiting two museums off of the Main Plaza. The first museum that we visited was the Casa de Libertad. This was the place where the Declaration of Independence was signed. There was also a room that held pictures of every president that Bolivia has had. This was a really interesting place to go. On our tour we were able to learn a lot about Bolivia’s history and got to see some interesting artifacts. Next, we made our way to the Museum of the Cathedral on the Main Plaza. This Museum had a lot of old church relics which were nice to see and we were even able to go into the Cathedral which was really beautiful. After our tour of the museums we spent the rest of the day reading and hanging out at our apartment. As you know Friday was also New Years Eve, so we stayed up until midnight to help ring in the New Year. Sucre celebrated with a nice show of fireworks all across the city. We enjoyed watching them out our window. It was definitely an unique way to spend New Year’s Eve.

The next day was New Years Day and we stayed in our Apartment because most things would be closed. I enjoyed sleeping in late, reading and watching some movies. Sunday brought about our last full day in Sucre. We went out for Lunch one last time and spent the day reading and cleaning up the apartment. We flew out of Sucre Monday morning and returned to Cochabamba. It was nice to come back to Cochabamba, it definitely felt like coming back home. Overall it was a nice vacation. I was able to get a lot of rest and read almost 5 books!

We came home to find that we had no internet, due to a change in the company. So sorry about the delay in getting this out, no internet kind of throws a wrench into the plans :) .

My Mom came on Thursday and it has been really nice to see her and spend time with her. We have been doing some stuff locally and are planning on seeing some sights today before school starts on Monday.

I hope you were all able to enjoy a great Holiday Season with your family!

Our Christmas ended up being nice. A few days before Christmas a group of us got together to exchange “Secret Santa” gifts and to have a nice dinner. It was a lot of fun, and it was great to be able to celebrate Christmas with our family in Bolivia. It is amazing how God uses people wherever you are to feel like family, that is definitely what my friends in Bolivia are to me.

On Christmas Day Sarah and I went to a family’s house for part of the day. It was fun to be able to spend Christmas with a family. We were able to play with the kids and their new Christmas toys and enjoyed a British Christmas Dinner. Again God blessed us with great friends who treated us like Family that day.

Here is a link to my pictures from the Christmas Vacation... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=9133492&aid=2526647

Adios! - Rachel

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad!

Hi everyone, it is time for another update! Sorry it has been awhile, it has been a busy last couple of days.

Well the Christmas season is upon us, even though it does not look like it here. We have had steady temperatures in the 80ish, so the song " It is Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" does not really apply here. However, we are very excited for Christmas.

This past week was pretty crazy at Carachipampa Christian School. Grades were due this week and we had our Christmas Program on Thursday Night. Grades had to be in on Monday, so this weekend was spent calculating grades and figuring out comments. This week was filled with practice for the program, Christmas Music, Christmas Crafts and Christmas Goodies. The kids were very crazy all this week, but it was fun to see them excited for Christmas. The Christmas Program went really well. The kids did a great job and they were very cute. On Friday we had a Christmas Party and watched " The Best Christmas Pageant Ever".

It was very strange to say goodbye to my students and to think that I will not see them for 3 weeks. Granted I am excited for the break and for some peace and quiet, but I have gotten use to seeing these kids every week.

This week also brought about the end of our first half of our teaching in Bolivia. It is crazy to think that we are about halfway done. Overall, it has been a pretty good semester. It has been full of ups and downs, but it is making me a better teacher and it has helped me draw closer to God. I knew that coming down here would teach me a lot and it has. I have continued to learn that being a teacher means that you are a therapist, a counselor, a mom and a teacher. I have also learned that even though you feel called to teach, it does not always mean that it is easy. One passage that has really helped me through the hard times of this job is 2 Corinthians 4:7-10,16-18. These verses talk about how we have power from God to help us get through the hard times and that we will face hard times but they will not destroy us. My mom reminded me of these verses when I was having a rough week about a month ago and they have been brought to my mind often since them. I would encourage you to read these verses and hopefully they will be an encouragement to you!

Saturday Night was our Christmas Party with SIM. We had a version of a White Elephant Exchange and I ended up with the DVDs UP and Terminal. We also had a time of singing Christmas Carols and the kids had a present swap. It was so fun to see how excited the little kids were about their gifts. After the party, some of us went to a friends apartment and watched Elf. It was all in all a fun night.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week a group of 5 of us went to a cabin that SIM owns, which is about 45 minutes outside of Coch. We enjoyed two days of relaxing, chatting, barbecuing, reading, singing/listening to music, making smores, and watching a movie. This morning we even took the canoe out and got caught in some rain. Overall it was a fun two days!

Well I hope that you are all enjoying the Holiday Season with your loved ones.

I am excited to celebrate with friends here, but I am also going to miss being home for Christmas! Please pray for contentment over the Holidays as I will be away from home and wishing that I am with my family.

3 months down, 6 months to go

Buenas Tardes,

Greetings from Bolivia. It is hard to believe that we have been here for over three months now. I officially have less than 6 months left.

These past couple of weeks have been pretty good overall, but busy. I started teaching 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade PE two weeks ago, and that has been an adventure and a half. As some of you may know, I am not the most athletic person in the world. I love to watch sports on TV and in person, but me playing them is a totally different story. I have no hand eye coordination, and am not really competitive. How did I get myself into this you ask? Well our PE teacher had to leave in the middle of November, and we did not have anyone to cover for him, so different teachers had to fill in. Since I am only teaching in the morning, I was asked to teach the elementary PE classes in the afternoon, and I reluctantly said YES! But it is all for the kids right :)

My class is still going well. I have had a few issues with students and their parents recently, but I have been able to receive a lot of support from the other teachers at the school which has been a huge blessing. Through all this I am learning what it takes to become a better teacher and how to handle challenging situations with grace. Please be praying that I would continue to have wisdom to approach these situations and know how to teach these specific students.

The Christmas program is coming up in a few weeks, and my students have been practicing their parts in music class and in our classroom. All the elementary teachers got a copy of the Christmas music on CD to play in our classes. We have been listening to it a lot, and I think the students have fully memorized their song. They are going to sing "Good Christian Men Rejoice" and they will be attempting to do Irish step dancing along with it! I am excited to see how it turns out.

In math we have started a new chapter about time. Math is a hard subject for a lot of my students, so I am hoping that this will go well! In our reading curriculum this past week, we read a story about baseball. This was especially fun because some of my students had not heard of baseball before. I was able to teach them about the different positions on the field and the different rules, and we were even able to play some baseball in P.E. ( the perks of being the gym teacher and the classroom teacher :) ). Next week's story is from the Ramona series. I use to love reading the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary when I was little, so I think this will be a fun week!

Of course, this past week was Thanksgiving! It did not feel like Thanksgiving with the warm weather, working all week long and not being with my family. However, we were able to have a really fun Thanksgiving! Most of the teachers at the school were invited to a family's house for Thanksgiving dinner. All of us brought a side dish, and we were able to share in a feast together. It was so much fun and made me so THANKFUL for the family that I have found here. Here are some things that I am thankful for this Thanksgiving season!

T- Thankful for all of you who have made it possible for me to be here

H- Health, I am thankful for good health, and I hope I will be feeling back to normal soon :)

A- Adventures, I am thankful for the adventures I have had here and those I will have during the rest of my stay in Bolivia

N- New Friends- Thankful for the great friends that I have made here

K- Kids, I am thankful for the students in my class and the impact that I can have on them

F- Food- I am thankful for the yummy Bolivian food that I have been able to eat

U- Unconditional Love- I am thankful for the Unconditional Love that God gives me, even though I do not deserve it!

L- Learning- I am thankful for all that I am learning about myself, God and other cultures while I am here

It is hard to believe that we have only 3 more weeks before Christmas vacation. Christmas vacation will bring about the halfway point of our time in Bolivia. We are starting to think about our Christmas break plans, which is really exciting. We think we will go to La Paz and spend some time at a really pretty lake called Lake Titicaca.

Other Exciting News is that my Mom will be here to visit in January. I am really looking forward to seeing her!!

Hope you are all doing well!

Adios!! - Rachel

Buenas Tardes!

Here is a Summary from my Ministry Exposure Trip/Vacation we took last week:

We left on the overnight bus to Santa Cruz on Friday night. We left around 10:00 and it was a pretty uneventful trip. We traveled in a Buscama, which means that the seats recline and you have a nice foot rest. So it was a very comfortable trip, even for someone that is 6'2. We were all able to sleep pretty well and we arrived in Santa Cruz about 7:30 am. We then were on a search to find a bus that would take us to San Ramon( where we would be visiting the Missionaries). We were able to find a bus that left at 9:00am, so we bought our tickets and then waited until it was time to leave. We got on the bus around 9am and then had a 3 hour bus ride to San Ramon.

In San Ramon we met up with The Nelsons, a couple that has been in Bolivia for 26 years. They spent two of those years in Cochabamba, about 15 years in Santa Cruz and they have been in San Ramon for about 8 years. In San Ramon, The Nelsons minister to the Quechua people in the local churches there. They are focusing on Discipleship and helping grow leaders in the church. Don provides Seminary Classes for the men in the churches and Doreen focuses on Woman's Ministry. We were able to attend a church service at one of the churches that they minister at. It was a small gathering, but full of people who loved God and wanted to learn. Don gave the sermon in Spanish( which I was able to understand!) and he spoke about the life of Moses. I enjoyed my experience at this church, everyone was very welcoming and it was great to see what God is doing there.

The rest of our time in San Ramon, was spent visiting different sites and hanging out with the Nelsons. We took several long drives to see the beautiful landscape. It is quite different than Cochabamba out there. We were basically in the Jungle. There were palm trees mixed with regular deciduous trees, there were a lot of cows and lots of different rivers. One day we took a drive to a river that flows into the Amazon. There we were able to hear a lot of different types of birds and see fish in the river. It was fun to be there, because my kids just stopped learning about the Rain-forest in my classroom.

One morning we were able to visit a Christian School in the next town over. This school is open for both Primary and Secondary Students. We were able to meet with the director of the school to learn more about the school and what is going on. Throughout our conversation we learned that they are in a pretty big financial crisis. We heard about the needs they had and then were able to walk around the school and meet some of the kids. Even though there such a big financial problem all of the kids and the teachers were full of life and had a smile on their face. Please be praying for this school, that they would be able to get the financial help they need and that God would continue to work there.

On Our last day in San Ramon we traveled about an hour to a town called San Javier. San Javier used to be a location for a Jesuit Mission back in the 1700's. The Temple and part of the Mission are still there, so it was fun to be able to see the old structures and to learn more about the Jesuits. After walking around the Mission, we went to lunch at a place that is owned by a friend of the Nelsons, where we had delicious Fettuccine Alfredo and were able to swim in his swimming pool for the afternoon. It was definitely a fun way to end the trip!

On Wednesday morning we took a taxi back to Santa Cruz, where we stayed in a Hotel for the next two days. It was nice to be able to relax in an air conditioned room and swim in a nice pool! We were also able to meet up with some SIM missionaries in Santa Cruz, that we had meet about a month ago. We had a fun time going to dinner and ice cream with them and catching up with them.

On Friday Morning, we boarded a bus for a 10 hour ride back to Cochabamba. We arrived safely at 7pm and enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend!

We started classes again yesterday morning, which went well. The kids were a little crazy, but all in all it went well!

Hope you are all doing well!

Here is a link to the pictures from my trip: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2510123&id=9133492

Adios! - Rachel

Bolivia week 9

Buenos Noches!

Well it is the start of a new week in Bolivia. I hope you had a good week last week.

This past week for me was pretty busy, but good.

Monday was a big day at Carachipampa, because this was the day the first Report Cards were handed out. I had a lot of nervous students come up to me Monday morning asking me what their grades were like. I tried to reassure them that everything would be ok and that they would have to wait until the end of the day to see their grades. Report Cards were handed out that afternoon and Tuesday brought some students asking me about their grades, but all in all it was not too bad.

This whole process made me think back to when I anxiously awaited my report cards, to see what my grades would be. I can say that I am glad that I am done with tests and getting grades.

Parent/Teacher Conferences took place this Friday. I was a little nervous going into them, because I did not know how some parents would react. I was also nervous because I knew that we needed to have a couple of tough conversations with some parents. I was able to do the conferences with my co-teacher which was a real blessing. She has had more experience with these kinds of parents and she is a parent herself, so she can add a lot. The interviews went really well overall. God gave us the words to say and we were able to share what we felt needed to be shared. I was talking with my roommates later on that night and I mentioned how I felt that I had to be extra professional during my interviews. One of my roommates responded by saying, well of course. I said that I knew I had to be, but it was just weird to think of myself as a professional. The things you learn as you get older!

Here is a sweet story for you! Every week we have a chapel on Thursday mornings. This means that each grade takes turns doing some skits and doing a time of worship. It is a fun time each week where parents can come to see what their child has been learning in Bible Class. This week the sixth grade class focused on how Jesus Washed The Disciples Feet and sang some fun worship songs. One of these songs was Blessed Be Your Name. Later on the the afternoon I was working in the first grade classroom with a student that has some severe learning disabilities. We were working on learning different shapes( figuras geometricas), when all of the sudden he starts singing the chorus of Blessed Be Your Name. It was such a sweet sight to experience. Here is a kid who has a hard time remembering the difference between a square and a triangle, but he remembered the song from chapel that morning and wanted to sing. I joined in with him and we both started to sing together. It is the little moments like this that make me so thankful to be a teacher and to be working where I am working.

The weekend was a very relaxing weekend full of hanging out with friends, reading, and sleeping.

This week is our last week before a week of Vacation. Sarah, our friend Rebekah and I are going to be traveling to another part of Bolivia during this week to visit other SIM missionaries. We are excited about this opportunity to get out of Cochabamba to see a different part of Bolivia. We will be taking an overnight bus to Santa Cruz on Friday night and then we will have to take a 3 hour bus ride to San Ramon, where the missionaries live.

I am looking forward to a week off and look forward to updating you on how it goes!

Adios!! - Rachel

Two Months in Bolivia

Buenos Tardes!

It is hard to believe that we have hit the two month mark of being in Bolivia. At times it has flown by and at times it has not. I think this is pretty typical for being away from home and dealing with that adjustment.

The past two weeks in the classroom have gone pretty well. I must say I feel very accomplished having a quarter of teaching under my belt. Teaching at Carachipampa has definitely been a good first teaching experience. The staff has been so supportive of me as I have spent these first two months learning the ropes of teaching at a new place and getting into a routine. I am excited to see what the second quarter brings. I am excited to continue to help my kids succeed and work to their best potential. I am excited to further relationships with the other teachers in the school and with students in different grades.

These past few weeks I have also been working in the first grade classroom, while their teacher is in the States. This has made for long days, but I have really enjoyed working with the children and getting to know them. I have a cute little story about one of my first graders. The theme for our camp a few weeks ago was the Fruits of the Spirit ( Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control). This idea was talked about a lot during the week of camp, so the students are familiar with this. The other day I told one of my students that he was not being kind and I told him that he needed to be kind to his friends. He responded by telling me that he did not eat that kind of fruit. I had to stop myself from laughing in response. I went on to tell him that we need to be nice to our friends and we had a little chat. I thought that it was funny that he remembered what we talked about, but did not want to apply it.

This past weekend we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving at our house. There are several people from Canada here, so we celebrated in honor of them. The day of our dinner was hectic to say the least. We arrived home from church to find that our water was not working. We looked into our "well" and there was plenty of water in there, but nothing was working. We went to go ask our landlord about the problem and we soon found out that he was not home. His wife was though and she told us that something had happened with the electricity that went with the water. So at this point we were one hour away from having 30 people over and we had no water. We proceeded to use a bucket and the dog leash( yes.. this is all we had) to get water from the well. We filled up several containers full of water and we were ready to make the most of it. Soon people started to arrive and we quickly informed them of the situation. As people were showing up, a man came to look at the water situation. We were all very skeptical that he knew what he was doing, but after about 45 minutes of him looking around, turning the electricity on and off, WE HAD WATER!! Let's just say it was a huge answer to prayer and we were very happy campers.

I am doing pretty well overall. There were times last week when I was sick when I felt pretty homesick but God really used friends to encourage me and help me through that time. Some friends sent me verses that really spoke to me, one of these was a couple verses from Psalm 62

⁵ Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.

⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

⁷ My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.

This was a great reminder that I can find rest in God during the times that I feel homesick and alone. He is my rock that I can lean on and trust in at all times. I have turned to this several times these past few weeks and it has been a great reminder and a great blessing( Thank you Shelley).

Hope you are all doing well!

Adios! - Rachel

Visiting The Simon Patino House

Buenos Dias!!

Yesterday Sarah, Bekah and I went on a tour of the Simon Patino house in Cochabamba. It is a very beautiful house with a lot of European Flair. We had a fun time walking around the gardens outside the house, and seeing all the beautiful architecture. There were times throughout the tour that I felt like we were in Europe instead of Bolivia. After the tour we ate lunch at a new restaurant.

It was a fun outing and we were very proud that we were able to do this all on our own ;)

Here are some pictures of our time there

Me and the House

The Gardens

The House

A Statue in Front of the House

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Adios! - Rachel

Sights of Bolivia

Here are some pictures of my time in Bolivia

My Classroom

Streets of Cochabamba and The Andes

The view of Cochabamba from the Cristo

6 Weeks in Bolivia!

Buenos Tardes!

6 weeks have flown by!!

Life has been pretty busy here. Last week was a normal school week and Olympic week in my classroom. We wrote "postcards" to friends about what it was like to go to an Olympic Event, we invented our own Olympic Sports, had our own version of the Opening Ceremonies, learned about some famous Olympic Athletes and learned about the very first Olympics in Greece. The kids really enjoyed learning about the Olympics. They had all sorts of questions that I tried to answer or tried to look up. It was fun to teach my students about a topic that they were really interested about.

The kids seem to be falling into a good rhythm. They have calmed down and are working hard. Last week my class also had chapel. Chapel happens once a week, and different grades take a turn leading each week. Each grade does a skit or two( based on a certain topic), sing some songs and share a little message. Our chapel was on The Calling of the 12 Disciples. The kids did a really great job. They did two skits, helped lead some songs about making fishers of men and my co-teacher gave a little message. Another fun thing about Chapel is that the parents get to come. They watch the chapel and then the kids have a little tea with them. It was fun to see the kids so proud of their work and to talk with the parents.

This week was Camp week, which means that all the kids at the school had camp! The Camps are divided into different grades with 1-3, 4-6 and 7-12. The different groups have a different length camp and different locations. I was with the 1-3 camp who had a normal week up until Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon we had a full day and then camp began in the afternoon, with a lot of games and activities. After an afternoon and night full of activities we spent the night in our classrooms. We got up Thursday morning after an interesting night of sleep and had breakfast. After breakfast we were off to an exciting afternoon of swimming, making sandcastles and playing a a retreat area. It was a fun, but very tiring week. I think all of the teachers are thankful for a day off on Friday!

Personally, I am doing pretty well. I am continuing to enjoy life here. Last weekend we went up to the Cristo, which is a huge statue of Jesus. It was quite a sight to see. We were able to take a gondola ride up to where the Cristo stands. From the top we could see a great sight of Cochabamba and we were even able to go up into the Cristo. It was a fun day!

Hope you are all doing well!

Adios!! - Rachel

Part of the Learning Process

Buenos Noches!

I have enjoyed writing to you the past couple weeks about how my teaching is going and how I am adjusting to life in Bolivia, but I wanted to take some time to tell you about what God has been teaching me throughout my time here.

1. Maybe God is Right After All- This is a name of a book that my mom gave me before I left for Bolivia. The idea that God is right is something that I have always known, but there are times in my life that I find what God thinks is right does not necessarily match up with what I think is right. One such experience happened right before I left for Bolivia. Our funding was coming in and we were preparing to leave for Bolivia when we heard that our departure would be delayed due to Visa issues. Of course that was not my plan, I wanted to be there for the start of school. However, God's plan was right. It was his plan that we would arrive in Bolivia late and that he would work all this together for his good. Having been in Bolivia for a month, I see that God was right. Everything has fallen into place and God has provided everything we have needed. He has provided a supportive staff to help us get acclimated to the school and to our jobs. He has provided great friends to help us learn our way around the city and to provide support during the hard times that have come.

I really like what the author of this book ( Cynthia Heald) writes when she is talking about why we can trust that God is right. She says " It is logical to believe that since everything in the heavens and earth belongs to God, then he knows what is right and true for us. He has every right to tell us how to live. Who better to know the paths we should take than the One who created us".

It has been a great encouragement to know that God is trustworthy and that his plans are right.

2. God is my refuge and my strength- " So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" This has been a comforting verse for me over the past few weeks. I know for a fact that God has called me to serve him here in Bolivia, but that does not mean that it will always be easy. There have been times that I have felt homesick, questioned how I am going to make it through the next 8 months, not always gotten along with the people around me, but God has helped me through each of these feelings of doubt and fear. He has given me the strength to press ahead.

3. I want to impact others like Jesus did: I am a part of a Bible Study with other female teachers and we are going through a book entitled " Becoming a Woman of Influence" by Carol Kent. In our times together we talk about how we can be an influence on others and how we can use Jesus as an example. I have really enjoyed our times together so far. The idea of making an impact on others is nor foreign to me, but these conversations have made me start to think about how can I can make an impact on others here. I will have an impact on my students that I am teaching, but I would love to be able to make an impact on some girls while I am here also. I like what Carol Kent says about making an impact on others " Whether we act as lifetime mentors, friends, encouragers, or seasonal mentors, we can embrace and pass on the principles Jesus lived by". I hope to be able to befriend some girls here and pass on those principles.

I hope these learnings have encouraged you! Remember God is right, he is a source of strength and refuge and he is a great example to live by!

Adios!! - Rachel

Week 3 in Bolivia

Buenos Tardes!

Sorry it has taken me so long to update this. Things are going well here. I am enjoying teaching at the school, everyone is so nice and it is a fun environment. I am enjoying my class of third graders as well. They are hard at times but I think we are getting into a rhythm, which sure helps a lot. Here are some things that have happened over the past two weeks.

- Last week one of my students called out during the middle of the lesson( which I am usually not a fan of) and asked why I was so long. I quickly responded that it was because I ate all my vegetables when I was a kid. I do not think the students really understood what I said, but my co-teacher chuckled in the back. It is little things like that, that make me enjoy what I do.

- Last week Sarah and I took public transportation by ourselves to meet up with our roommate in town. We were both very proud of ourselves.

- Sarah and I are starting to get to know some of our roommate Julies friends. Some of them come over on Thursday nights for Bolivia night which has been fun. This is a time where we can play games and eat dinner together. Julie is friends with a couple that has two boys and last week, they were the only people that came. It did not take long for the child to come out in Sarah and I , as we spent the night playing games with these two boys. We played Twister and Uno and got beat more times than not.

- This week my students and I had a fun time talking about their favorite sports and their favorite athletes as we read our story about a girl who likes to play Basketball. A lot of my students are big soccer fans and tennis fans, so we were able to talk about the US Open and the World Cup. Next week we will be learning about the Olympics. I am excited to do a little re-enactment with my students and let them get a feel for what the Olympics are like. I am planning on having our own Olympic Torch Relay and some races. Starting this week I will be observing the first grade class in the afternoons. Starting September 22nd I will be helping out in the first grade class for a month in the afternoons because their teacher will be going to the States. I think this will be a good experience and will help me learn a lot.

-My roommates and I have enjoyed watching the US Open on TV this week. It is usually our dinner entertainment. We watched the Woman's Final last night and were bummed when the Men's Final was postponed tonight.

- We are learning what our favorite types of Bolivian food are, we are continuing to learn our way around the city and are already thinking about where we want to travel to during our breaks. The weather is getting warmer, which we are all a fan of. The mornings are becoming a little clearer and this means that we can see the mountains on our way to school. It sure is a nice sight to see at 7 in the morning!

Hope you are all doing well!

Adios!! - Rachel

Here is a link to an album of my pictures from Bolivia so far:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=2447037&id=9133492