Highlights- Week 3

Ok, so it's Wednesday and I haven't updated yet.  This will probably be my only post this week because having teams is CRAZY!  So, here are pictures with labels:

I stayed in my first hostel in a mountain town not far from my city.  It was very cute!

View of the city from a beautiful garden!

Tea that was part of a delicious meal at same garden

Cute and FREEZING breakfast at cute hostel.

We went to a refuge for abandoned animals and had monkeys sit on us!

I took a picture with a pig because the monkeys weren't behaving.  :)

For the US Independence Day we had a North American celebration with brats!

Then I tried my hand at making Bolivian food for a special goodbye service that the church had for me and one other boy who was leaving.  This is the beginning of Sonzo, which is a Bolivian appetizer with yuca and cheese.

This is the worship team I have been a part of all year!  I will miss these wonderful people!

People came up front and said words of encouragement (the way I am most loved!) to Steven and I.  I was very blessed by this time.

So, overall, last week was the calm in-between the storms.  I rested, I enjoyed time with friends, and I was able to begin ending my time here well.  


This week things are crazy, but God is being very good to me.

My Big Sister

My cousin Anton came down to visit us in January.  He made an amazing documentary of Heather’s work here in Bolivia, which can be seen on his Vimeo site.  I’ll let the video speak for itself.

Chiropractic On Mission from Anton Seim on Vimeo.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

- Isaiah 52:7

Culture

One of my minors in college was Intercultural Studies.  I love observing culture, being a part of it, trying to fit in (however strangely) in different cultures, and looking at cultures from a biblical perspective. 

 

Recently I’ve been writing some of my observations down and posting them on this new page in my blog.  I hope to continue adding to it in my last few weeks in Bolivia and then as I return to my “home” country.  I think that after my year in Latin America I will never really “fit in” in the US again. I am so glad that our eternal home is in heaven.

Twenty-three Places

As I transition from school teacher and worship team singer to dish washer and camp counselor, I am feeling pulled in a million directions.  No part of me wants to be vulnerable with all the new people who are going to be coming into my life in the next four months.  Massive transition


June: Discipleship camp
July: Work team/travel with friends
August: Home with family in WI
September: New life in MN


To use Matt Wertz's album title, I feel pulled in twenty-three places.  His song "Falling Off the Face of the Earth" fits my mood today.


Stay away from me
Cause I'll be gone soon
It's just so hard to let go once we've grabbed hold
It's nothing that you've done
You're not the only one
I'm just learning to be in twenty-three places

And I'm falling off the face of the earth
Crashing into bridges I burn
And I'm falling off the face of the earth
But I'll be home soon

Is this how the story goes
When rubber meets the road
Waving goodbye is so hard without hello

And I'm falling off the face of the earth
Crashing into bridges I burn
And I'm falling off the face of the earth
But I'll be home soon

I keep forgetting to
Keep you an arms length aways

Because I'm falling off the face of the earth
Crashing into bridges I burn
And I'm falling off the face of the earth
But I'll be home soon


I'm homesick for heaven

Coming Back

School got out a week ago last Wednesday, and I have pretty much taken a break since then. Sure, I’ve applied for jobs, cleaned out my classroom, and spent time with the girls I discipled this year, but mainly I:

 

- read Mansfield Park

- spent time with Heather

- hung out with other teachers

- hung out with some teachers

- visited some orphanages

I have not written in my blog since the night school got out.  Maybe it was a mental block, maybe it was laziness, I don’t know.

 

However, after finding out that my grandma passed away on Saturday, I decided that writing helps me process, and I need to get back to blogging. I’m still finding it hard to write, so I thought I’d just start with some pictures.

This is the final social studies project my students did—Highlights of the Western Hemisphere

 

Graduation!  I met for discipleship with the two girls on the top.  Bottom left is my student with his graduating sister.  Bottom right has David who went to Arrowhead last year and Steven who goes to my church.

 

Bolivian Mother’s Day celebration at my church.  Special performances, a MARIACHI band, two good friends, and the cakes that Heather and I were in charge of making.

 

Well, I hope that posts will be coming much more frequently from now on.  Later this week teams will be coming from the US, and I’ll be with them until the middle of July.  Expect twice-weekly updates!

Thankful for- Heather!

Who has the best big sister?  I do!

For keeping me sane, for doing devos in my classroom almost EVERY SINGLE WEEK, for loving me in spite of my often-bad attitude towards teaching.  For the thousands of papers graded!  Thank you!

I couldn’t have made it through this year without her.

Toborochi

A beautiful tree in bloom here.

Thankful for- Other Teachers

Pictures of thankfulness!

From left to right:
To Emilee, who corrects my Spelling books every Wednesday and is always popping in to make sure I’m making it through the day.  I have appreciated your help and kindness this semester more than you.  If God sent you to Bolivia just to help me make it through, I think it was worth it (although He has sent you for so much more).

To DPo, my lunch buddy and person I can always vent to.  Thank you for being there to talk, thank you for being so tranquila.  Thanks for letting me make fun of your Spanish.  Thanks for letting me invite myself over to hang out.  Gracias por buen tiempos!

To Ally, literacy specialist and good friend.  I love looking at your painting that is in my room, remembering that God has me right where He called me and that He will take me to right where He wants me.  Thank you for sitting with me and figuring out how I can help my kids.  Thank  you for listening to me and giving me suggestions about helping myself.  I have loved seeing your passion this year and look forward to serving with you this summer.

And finally, to Laura, the world’s best principal.  Thank you for Peanut Butter M&Ms when life is hard.  Thank you for always listening.  Thank you for being for me.  You made teaching so enjoyable for me.  Your wisdom kept me from losing my mind.  Your peace in my storms has kept me going.  Your godly example with my kids has made me smile so many times.  I respect you so very much, and I hope God makes me more like you, His servant.  Thank you especially for holding my hand in my first weeks and months of teaching.  I needed it so much.  You shine as a principal.  You should be one next year! 

Last one:  Thank you Ellen.  Thank you for listening to my fears, thank you for the work that you put into my classroom before we even knew who my students were.  Thank you for giving me advice, for understanding what I was going through.  Thank you for Skyping with me weekly, encouraging me with your words and your stories.  I can’t wait to see you face-to-face soon!

So, this is not my typical thank you post, but I wanted to recognize these wonderful people. 

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

- Philippians 1:3-4

Thankful for- Supporters

They couldn’t properly prepare for this.  I was not the missionary who was able to come, set up a little table at eight different churches, and give a little presentation wearing traditional clothing and bringing a cute little Bolivian guitar to entertain the kiddies.  No one got taken out to coffee to talk with me about the possibility of “coming alongside” my ministry.

 

They just got the news that I had stayed.  They maybe read my letter, or my emails, or just maybe they heard me talk nearly three months after the fact.  But my supporters, they obeyed God’s call in coming alongside me anyway.  I am very grateful to God for the people who have supported me financially this year.

 

It’s been a good year of trusting.  I have not always known where my food and housing money for the next months were going to come from, but God has been providing through people faithful to His call at just the right moments all year.  He has had a plan all along, and I have learned a lot about waiting to see what that plan is.

 

If you have supported me this year- thank you!  God has used you to meet a very real need.  I would not be here without His provision, which came through you.  Through your gifts, you have impacted not only my life but the lives of twenty fifth graders.  He is faithful.

 

And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

- Philippians 4:19

Thankful for- Random Hours of Service

When I started typing this post, I realized that it truly has taken an army (or at least that number of people) to get me through this year.  Here are some of the people who have spent time in my classroom or outside of it helping with teaching things.

- Heather has come in once a week to do devotion and spent many hours correcting.  She gets her own post later.

- Adreana (my roommate) came in for two days last semester to help control my kids and subbed for me this semester while I was at camp.  She taught me how to be firm but fun!

- Amy came and taught my class a writing lesson, and taught me how to be a better teacher.

- Danielle and her mom Lisa came and offered their services in October.

- Emily has been faithfully correcting my Spelling workbooks each week.

- Hannah corrected some papers and gave me good teaching advice.

- Beth covered my class the week I was in the United States doing visa stuff.

- Sarah and Naomi came in just this week to take some of my kids out for special testing.

- Samantha comes in sometimes to do whatever I ask her to- correcting, hanging posters, organizing).

I’m sure that I’ve forgotten some of the wonderful people who kept me from total burnout this year, so if you didn’t make the list and you helped- THANK YOU! 

Love one another with brotherly affection… Contribute to the needs of the saints.

-Romans 12:10,13

Penpals

My class has teamed up with the sixth grade classroom (of a woman I really respect) in the U.S. this year.  They are email penpals.  It turns out that half my students know more about computers than I do and half of them don't know how use Google.  


I love the things they are sharing about culture, their faith, and life in general.  Let me share with you some of the things my students find important to share with their peers (Please enjoy their ESL English):


"We have six computers. We don’t live in huts."


 "I’m bilingual, that means I know two languages. I know Yura and Spanish. Do you know any other languages besides English? Have you ever heard about yura? Do you have any indian
blood in you?"


" I am in a Christian school, we believe that GOD came to earth to
save us from are sins. Which belief do you believe? I think that GOD is
very good."

"I get [along] better with my mom, than with my father. I have a little sister. O

she is such a taller tiller [tattletale]."


"My fathers are still married (In Spanish padres means mother and father)."


"I have a question for  you, how is you teacher? Is she Crazy like
mine? HaHaHa (You wouldn't believe how many of these comments there were)"

"My grand father was at world war two in the german side. His name is
Manfred he is already dead he died because his heart stopped beating."

"I am an American but I am a missionary here. I preach with my parents Christianity (I love that he calls himself a missionary.  It's so true!)."

Just wanted you to get to know my students a little better.

Happy Birthday, Sister!

My older sister has served here for ten years.  Ten birthdays of giving chiropractic care to orphans, discipling girls leaving orphanages, providing healthcare for the poorest of the poor here in Bolivia.  All glory goes to God for the work He has done in and through her during these years.


Have a good one, hermana.

Surprise bowling party!

I am blessed to get to spend Heather's birthday with her here.

Just when I think I'm really doing well here.  I have intentional friendships with Bolivians and missionaries.  Teaching has been much more than bearable the last few weeks.  I have been so immersed in life here in Bolivia. 


And yet I spent another evening soaking my pillow with tears.  Homesickness:  A package that can't come.  The realization that I didn't get to see my nieces and nephew over the computer while my sister was home.  Worry that my friendships which were so strong when I left in July will be forgotten when I go back.  Frustration at my own selfishness.


A year must be the hardest amount of time to serve cross-culturally.  I'm barely halfway through, I've just been able to really make myself be here, and I already need to start applying for jobs back home.  Lifetime missionaries are hesitant (with reason) to rely on you because you'll be leaving long before they will.  I hate the self-pity that is rising in me right now, but I don't know how to beat it back down.


Tonight I finished reading Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper.  If God has called me to teach 5th grade in Dusty, Hot City, Bolivia, then anything else would be wasting my life.  However, to live without roots for this long doesn't always feel great.  Not wasting life can hurt.


So, this post is extremely "angsty" as my cousin once called my homesick ponderings.  However, it's reality.  May someone read this, think twice before they obey God's call, and then obey it anyway.

Thursday, Friday, Weekend

Quick recap of my last two days:


Thursday:
6:50 a.m.       Leave for school
7:55 a.m.       School starts
3:00 p.m.       Plan/correct
4:30 p.m.       Leave to tutor/help a 5 yr. old with her speech
6:00 p.m.       Get talked into staying for supper (which was great and fun)
8:45 p.m.       Supper actually gets done
9:00 p.m.       Go pray for friend who flies off to a little town in the middle of nowhere
11:00 p.m.     Get home, finish school stuff, sleep


Friday:

6:50 a.m.       Leave for school

7:55 a.m.       School starts

3:00 p.m.       Plan/correct

4:30 p.m.       Go get blood tested to donate

6:30 p.m.       School fundraiser/planning/correcting

10:00 p.m.     Ride along to give rides to students

11:00 p.m.     Get home, pack, clean, sleep

Looking ahead

Saturday:

7:15 a.m.     Take suitcases along and go give blood

10:30 a.m.    Go to post office (big deal here)

12:30 a.m.    Leave for camp (without returning home)

Tuesday:

Get home from camp

Some day I will probably be married and have kids and stay home with them for days at a time.  I write this schedule for posterity's sake.  There probably come a day when I wish I had a schedule, when I wish I could just get out of the house.  Those days are not today.  They are not tomorrow.  They will probably not come at all in 2011.  

Thank you, Lord, for where you have me today.

Building Up a 5th Grader

This week we are starting something new in my classroom.  With just over eleven weeks left until summer break, I've been getting to know my students for over six months now.  I have seen their strengths and weaknesses, and I'm sure that they've seen mine.


Back in the very beginning of October, when I had known them for under two months, I chose a phrase to pray for each of my students over the year.  During Christmas break (just over the four month mark), I chose a Bible passage to go with the phrase I had chosen.  You can see those here if you're interested.

So today I brought my students into it.  Each day during morning devotions, one student comes up to the front where their classmates can tell him or her how they see God at work in his or her life.  Then, I share the phrase and verse I've been praying all year and we pray for that student as a class.  Building one another up is my goal (Eph. 4:29).


Natalia went today (Gospel Understanding, 1 Cor 15:1-6).  Our class came together (if only for 10 min.), and I think God was glorified.  I am excited about this new way He is at work in my classroom.


ENCOURAGE is my word for this year, and I'm trying to apply it the classroom as well as other areas of my life.

Long Time Coming

I apologize for the absence.  I was teaching and a part of my mission's conference last week, so there was not time to write.  This weekend I was so overwhelmed with things that I wanted to say that nothing came out at all.  So, I'll do highlights of the last week or so, then I'll pick a few things that I really want to say and post longer posts about those, maybe even tonight.  I feel as though I could write forever right now.


- I feel like God has given me some direction for my future!  Not an exact path, maybe, but some fog may be clearing.
- Teaching has not been easy since I last posted, but God is sustaining me with joy and hope by the power of His Spirit (Romans 15:13) daily.
- I have decided to make Romans 15:13 the theme of my year.  See above for why.
- I gave my students valentines, and saw how if I were not single this year God could not have used me in the same ways that He has.
- I have been very encouraged from home.  Dr. Storm sent me Missing-the-Snow medication, a family from my camp made me a wonderful video, and my mom and dad both have been so supportive all year that I really just want to hug them repeatedly.
- God reminded me why I am so passionate about all nations hearing His good news.  
- The Packers WON THE SUPERBOWL!  I cried through the first quarter because I missed my dad and tradition, but then was blissfully distracted by activity around me.  I am blessed to have been able to watch it.
- After a wonderful Christmas break of kicking my coffee habit, I have grudgingly returned to daily doses.  One day last week I had three cups in one day (so terrible for me!).  I will be trying for more sleep and less coffee.


So much more to say, so little time.  Joyfully serving God here in Bolivia!

If You Can't Say Anything Nice

The title of this post is definitely what kept me from posting earlier this week.  Monday through Wednesday was a hard stretch for me.  Heather left on Monday to go back to our home in Wisconsin for six weeks.  Now, six weeks does not sound that long to me.  But six months does.  And I miss my family A LOT.  That's how long I have to wait to see them.  Knowing that my sister got to see my little sister in her new apartment couldn't mean anything other than lots of tears.


So I was not ready to write anything nice.  I was just pretty weepy.  And pitying myself.  Who has to go an entire year without seeing their incredibly sweet and adorable six year-old twin nieces?  Why would God do that to a person?


God would do that to a person He wants to show His glory and joy to.  Teaching fifth grade here has probably been the hardest six months of my life.  Learning curve.  New culture.  Mix of cultures in my classroom.  Searching for acceptance and finding that it doesn't satisfy.  Leaving the closest friendships I have known in my life.


But I have learned more in the last six months than I can yet put into words.  I can't even put it all into thoughts yet.  I mostly learned things that I knew in my head but clearly hadn't learned in my heart.


I still have to learn to live where I am.  My heart still aches for the places that I call home, the family I love in Wisconsin and the life that I was so looking forward to in Minneapolis.  But God is teaching me moment by moment how to find joy in Him.  Even when I stand in front of twenty eleven year-olds feeling like a failure He is my portion.


And so I no longer have nothing nice to say.  I can say that I am grateful for all that I'm learning.  I am grateful to be able to attempt to glorify God in front of young students.  I am grateful to get to preach the Gospel to them.  


And while I'm very excited about the future, I'm going to try my very best to live in the present.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

- Hebrews 10:23-24

The Faith and Helplessness Required in Accepting God's Provision

I am in the middle of writing thank you notes to supporters to send home with my sister, who leaves in just two days for the US.  With each new card I take out to write on, I am amazed again at the way that God has provided for me while I've been here. 


Although a few of my supporters are consistent monthly, I didn't really have time to ask for people to commit to giving to me while I was here.  Most of my gifts are one-time donations, and I continue to be blown away at the way that God knows exactly what my needs are and provides for them through His body.  In my first six months here, I have never been without the funds to pay for basic necessities-- food, rent, utilities, even internet and transportation.


That said, I am learning a lot because, sometimes, God leaves me waiting to see how my needs will be provided for.  I am in a place of faith that I've never been in before.  I feel helpless at times, not knowing where next month's money will come from.  I'm learning to trust that the same God who has brought me here sustains me.  I'm even learning to love the way that He does it.  


One of my favorite examples:  In my first month of being here I wasn't yet able to ask for any support because my application to work with my mission was still being processed.  I was already teaching at the school and living at my current house, but my first month's rent was almost due and, although I had sufficient funds in my account, I hadn't even brought my bank card with me from the States to withdraw anything (only planning on being here two weeks).  In the crazy rush of the first three weeks of teaching, I didn't even have time to think about needing money.  But God was thinking.


I opened my desk drawer at the end of my third week of teaching and found an envelope with my name on it.  Opening it up, I found the exact amount needed to cover rent, utilities, and transportation for the month.  There was no note enclosed, no signature, no name except mine. I still have no idea where the money came from, but that envelope was the beginning of my trusting in God's provision.


I'm thankful to those people from my church back home and my friends who are supporting me here, and I am thankful to God for the lessons He is teaching me.  I am unworthy of His grace, but unbelievably thankful to share in it.

Prayer Works

Heather and I have the privilege of having our cousin, Anton, visit us from Texas.  He's here for about two weeks shooting a documentary about Heather's work here, and it has been amazingly encouraging to have a visit from "home."  

Taking Anton and our friend Sammy to the zoo!

Today, he reminded me of a verse that I try to live in light of, although the exact words are not always in my mind.  James 4:2 says, "You do not have, because you do not ask." It is true, true, true that God answers prayer.  He doesn't tell us to pray to Him only because He wants to hear from us or only so that He receives our praise (although those things are both important).  He also tell us to go to Him and make our requests known (Phil 4:6-7).


Thank you for making your requests know to God for my class!  God has been answering your prayers!  Are my students perfect?  Not quite.  But I see ways that God has answered directly some of the specific things that I asked prayer for about my individual students.  I also have felt prayers in that I am more peaceful and joyful about the upcoming four months. Please keep those prayers coming!  These cute kids thank you!

Faithful for the Long Haul

One week in.


The difference between going into my first week of teaching second semester versus first semester is unbelievable.  I actually know what a teacher is supposed to do.  I know what's expected of me.  I know what my kids are like.


I still have things that I'm facing this semester that sometimes make me want to go hide my head in the sand.  But this I know.  The God who was faithful to me last semester is going to be faithful to me this semester.  His compassions never fail.


Working hard.  Glad to be Miss M.