"Because I Live in Bolivia"

The missionaries here often hold up their hand and put up all five fingers one at a time; this is a recognized symbol signifying five words "Because I live in Bolivia". When things are taking a long time or aren't working out as they are supposed to, simply raise your five fingers and everyone is able to sympathize. I had a "because I live in Bolivia" experience this week! I was supposed to move into the apartment at the Seminary on Sunday, but when we arrived, we didn't have a key to get in the gate. After driving back to the Baptist center to get the key, we made it through the gate, but the lock to the main building had been changed. We decided to come back the next day. In the meantime, I moved into the apartment at the Baptist center. On returning the next day, we realized they still hadn’t managed to get the water working in my seminary apartment. At this point, we realized maybe it wasn’t the best choice to move into the seminary. So after all this, I am now staying in the apartment at the Baptist center. Although it was frustrating to get the run-around, I think it is best I’m staying here. I still get my own space and my own kitchen, but it is much safer and much more central.
Other than my apartment fiasco, my week has been really good! Casa and Spanish lessons every day. On Friday, the teachers were having a meeting and I was left to take care of 22 kids between the ages of 3-6 with only one other teacher. I discovered I really need to learn how to say “sit down”, “stop hitting”, “don’t climb that”, “what’s wrong?”, and “don’t climb out the window” in Spanish!
I’ve also been getting a chance to know the other missionaries with CBM here and am starting to grasp the bigger vision for Bolivia. There is so much need here but so much potential! When on a short term mission trip, it’s easy to only see the positive aspects of a different culture and become frustrated at how church back home doesn’t function in the same way. After being here for a month now, I’m starting to see that every church in every culture has it’s short comings and that the church in Bolivia can take positive models of how we do things in Canada just as much as the church in Canada can learn a lesson from the churches down here. We are all imperfect humans trying to be transformed into the image of a perfect God. Thankfully, grace and love seem to wash over all of our mistakes.
Highlights:
Moving into my own place
Getting to know the missionaries
Prayer requests:
That I will be useful to the Bolivian Church and it’s missions in the short time that I am here.
Continued health