Enjoying the little things

I apologize, I was really hoping to have another post written and posted for Saturday, but I got really caught up in all of the things that I was doing, so I am now posting a couple of days late. So much has happened in the past 6 days, that I can't possibly write about all of it, but I will try and cover as much as possible!

Carachimpampa school campus

Tuesday: I love little children. On Tuesday, I went to the school in Carachimpampa to help out the teacher and see what God's leading is for me there, and I ended up spending the morning helping out a little girl who is struggling with the second grade. The school was SO nice, it is an English Christian school, so they learn all of their subjects in English most of the time. What I learned that morning was a little bit more on the value of little children. No wonder Jesus treasured them so much! Although this little girl was quite academically behind, none of the other girls treated her any differently, and were just all so sweet to each other. This gesture really struck me, because I realized that the root of their behaviour was that these precious children are untainted by the status of society. They do not look at another and think that they are better than them because of social status, or academic achievement, or physical appearance, but they look at each other and see other children who need friends and who can play with them. What I would give to be able to look into the eyes of another person and not think at all of their social status, but look at them with the love that Christ would have towards them.

My new friend Maggy :)

Wednesday: I went to the language school, and made a new friend! She was so cute and fluffy, I didn't want to start class, even though she was giving me incredible rashes that quite scared my tutor. After language lessons, I didn't want to go home, so instead, I spent two hours doing my Spanish homework and reading a book in the sun, until a bird pooped on my foot. I'm almost 100% certain that they actually try and aim at people for kicks. Anyways, a nice restaurant let me wash my foot in their washroom (thankfully, my shoe was fine), and I went to Elijo la Vida. The past two days, I had been redesigning a sexual health awareness pamphlet at Elijo la Vida, so  I continued that work.

Doing my Spanish homework out in the sun, before the bird...

Some of the kids at C.D.I.

Thursday and Friday: I spent Thursday morning at a C.D.I. It is basically a children's centre run by Compassion International, that offers free programs for school age children, when they are not in school. In Cochabamba, Bolivian schools are only half day (even for high school students), so kids will spend four hours at school either in the morning or in the afternoon. C.D.I. basically runs during those times, offering free child care, activities, school help, and a lunch and snack. I sat in most of the time, but I also was able to teach a little bit of very basic English to the kids, which was fun. I tried explaining to them about Chinese and how there isn't really much of a Chinese alphabet because you can't read phonetically, but it was hard to explain because

a) I can't speak much Spanish
b) I can't speak much Chinese
All the kids were fascinated anyways, so I just drew all the Chinese characters I knew and make up choppy Chinese sentences for them to laugh at. I will be volunteering there once the school in Carachipampa ends, and I really want to use my time there wisely. I would love to be able to lead devotionals, or teach them English worship songs, and help out with homework too, so we will see.

Estas haciendo tus tareas? (Are you doing your homework?)

Our testing room

Marilyn and I

Thursday evening was really exciting at Elijo la Vida, because we went to a centre a little ways out of town to give Pap tests. There were a lot more women who came than expected, so we ended up actually having to turn some of them down, offering to come another day instead. Basically, to speed up the process (each test took no longer than five minutes), I handed Marilyn all of the materials so that she didn't have to walk around and move so much. We got a pretty good routine going by the next day. Marilyn offered to let me try one sometime, so that will certainly be an experience. We also got to talking, and what I like the most about Elijo la Vida is that it is not all about health care. The organization also spends a lot of time interacting with patients and mothers, encouraging them, and just investing in them. I do think that God has placed on my heart a desire to do a similar thing; to not only help patients, but invest in them emotionally and spiritually.

Our filled pap test bottles

Marilyn, Criss and I

Saturday: What a fun day! I think I'm going to reduce my day into point form, for simplicity's sake.
8:30-10:00- Went to the market to buy my groceries
10:00-11:00-Went to eat saltenas with my roommate and her friends
11:00-12:30- Went to a spinning class.
12:30-5:00- Went to the Cristo. On the top of one of the mountains in Cochabamba, there is a huge statue of Jesus Christ. I'm not sure what the history is behind it, to be honest, but my other roommate, her best friend and I went up to the top of the mountain in a gondala, took some pictures, and actually got to climb up in the inside of the statue! I had a blast, it is such a huge statue, you can see it from any area in Cochabamba that is not blocked by a building.

Roxana and I waiting in the teleferico, or gondola

Great view of Cochabamba and the surrounding mountains from the inside of the Cristo

Inside of the Cristo

Another view of Cochabamba from the Cristo, it's beautiful!

7:30-10:00- Went to my roommate's church for a worship service. I really enjoyed the evening, I always am so in awe when singing Spanish worship, as it reminds me of Revelations, where it speaks about all of the earth praising His name. And I get a little glimpse of that when we sing praises to Him here.

Sunday: I had coffee today with the friend that I met at church last week today, and we had such a blessed time, I am still so grateful for having met her. I'm skipping a lot of things I did today (church and a lunch at my house with my roommate's church friends), but I just really enjoyed that coffee, because Christ-centered conversation just flowed so easily between us. I was able to share about my questions concerning choosing a church, and she really reinforced the purpose of church being to glorify God, and to remember to not lose focus of that. When she said 'just remember to choose a church where the Word of God is being preached', I started to laugh, because Galvin said the exact same thing the previous day. I was just really thankful to have a friend who reminded me of my fellowship back home. The funniest thing is that we come from such different backgrounds, languages and even ages, but when it comes to Christ, we are sisters.

Prayer requests:
-Church finding; that God would lead me to a church where His Word is being preached, and where I can glorify Him.
-The Yuquis natives, we are visiting a small village next week, so to pray for God's continual hand over them.

In Christ,


Jocelyn