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.