Catch-Up!

April 26^th….ooops!

Yeah…not a lot to say except that I’m sorry it’s been sooo long since I have updated you on my Bolivian life.

In light of the fact that a lot has happened since then, and a lot is going to happen over the next month and a half, I am now going to attempt to fill you in on my life starting from April 26th and ending at the present. May this collage of pictures and snippits succeed in making you feel a part of my life and up to date with it's crazniess!

School:

-As is typical for most schools, a lot of big events were crammed into the last couple of months of the year making it an exciting yet somewhat whirlwindish end!

To celebrate the culture of our “home” country, HIS puts on an annual Bolivia Day where students are able to showcase a traditional Bolivian dance while donning a typical costume. I have to say, my middle schoolers had by FAR the best dance and costumes!

However, like most Highlands events, the teachers also participated, and boy was it a participation! We practiced after school for a few weeks and then beautied ourselves up and attempted to honor Bolivia through our dance. I honestly don't know how well we did out there on that dance floor, but the parents and students were excited to see us dance and we were happy to be a part of the fun!

- I have really come to love my 6th and 7th graders this year! They have a passion for life that spills into all that they do and I see them as a gift to me from the Lord. Therefore, because we love them, the other middle school teachers and I decided to have a little campout/sleepover! It was a night of games (in the dark...always fun), campfire time complete with hot dogs and marshmallows as well as encourage someone else time, and the classic film, The Sandlot! The students seemed to have a BLAST and all of us teachers were touched by their sweet words to one another. So, even though it took me a while to recover from a night of I-love-slumber-parties-and-have-too-much-energy-to-all-asleep-now middle schoolers, it was definitely a highlight of the year for everyone!

- **Do you see the small tree that was used for roasting?!

- As a fundraiser for our newly launched student council, we organized a school-wide talent show. We didn't really know what to expect but were thrilled to see so much participation and YES, some of my middle schoolers won the grand prize:)! They were pretty precious if I do say so myself.

Travel:
Even amidst the busy school schedule, some girlfriends and I were able to get away for some r&r in a city about 6 (bus) hours away from La Paz. Cochabamba is a beautiful city with "spring weather all year round" where we were able to see some sites and enjoy a pool!

- Right after school ended, Steph and I decided to take a 3-day trip to some Bolivian sight while we waited for her friend from the states to arrive! We decided to visit the biggest salt flats in the world, the Salar. Rumor has it that when Neil Armstrong was taking his "one small step" he was enamored by this white glow coming from his far away planet and vowed to visit that location when he was back on land. And that white glow was none other than the Salt Flats in Bolivia!

Life:
- To end my update, I would like to now share another reason why I have been a "bad blogger." I am dating someone!

Esteban Del Castillo and I have been in same circle of friends ever since I've been in Bolivia but just recently started dating. You will be seeing more pictures of him since he will be traveling to the states this summer! So get excited.....I know I am:).

SUCCESS!

So, it has been SUCH a long time since I have last posted, and I apologize!
The last time I blogged, I asked for your prayers while 25(ish) H.I.S. staff and students ventured into los Yungas.
As you have probably guessed, or previously heard, we successfully made it back and thoroughly enjoyed our time!

Here are a few pictures to highlight the trip that left me covered in bug-bites (as I had predicted) and really appreciating the students God has brought to our school (as I had hoped)!

Enjoying a bird's-eye-view of the awesome Bolivian jungle! Notice the ski mask...

Getting ready for the service where spanish songs were sung, silent skits were performed and a devotional was given...
Passing out tracts at a school...

Trying to stay warm on the first day of the trip....
**Notice all of my life group girls oh how I love them!

Posing next to the repairs we made on a washed away part of our "road"...one of the many roadblocks (literally) we overcame this trip!

One of my favorite parts of this trip was being able to see and experience the remote places and people of Bolivia.


I live in a beautiful country and truly enjoyed the chance I had to see it through the eyes of the high schoolers!

SB 10!

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am spending my spring break in the jungles of Bolivia with about 15 high school students and about 5 other teachers!
We will be led by a "Bolivian" at heart....Papa Phil. He is a U.S. citizen who grew up in the jungles of Bolivia, spent some time as the mayor of somewhere, and now does a variety of things including leading various medical mission trips all over Bolivia.
Here are 2 pictures I found from one of his past trips.....



Are you excited...or nervous for me?!

Be excited! It should be a neat time filled with many stories.
Below is what my life is going to be come Sunday....or so I predict:

Sunday....leave La Paz bright-eyed and bushy tailed, ready for an adventure and drive about 5 hours to Caranavi.

Monday....get back in the cars anxious to laugh about our puppet-show mishaps and drive to our 2nd stop, Guanay, about 6 hours away.

Tuesday....still in awe with the breath-taking scenery we find ourselves surrounded by, we are back in the cars heading approximately 6 hours into the jungle to stay in Mapiri for the day.

Wednesday.....itching our somewhat raw bug-bites, we are back in the cars heading approximately 6 hours into the jungle to stay in Consata.

Thursday....weary from lack of sleep and somwhat reluctant to get back in the cars that we've spent so much time in, we head ANOTHER 6 HOURS to Aucupata.

Friday....realizing the end is near, we fully enjoy our "eventful" drive to Charazani and play ultimate frisbee with the kids of the pueblito until dark.

Saturday.....with lots of laughter as stories are recounted from the week, we roll into La Paz with a stench of dirt and grime following us!

**Please be praying for safe travels and an impactful time for both our students and the Bolivians we'll be minstering to. My hope is that the students will not only give others an opportunity to tangibly experience God's love, but that they themselves will also be able to experience His unconditional love in a unique way this week!

I will let you know WHEN I safely return and how accurate my predictions were:)!

A Window

This post is designed to give you a window into my daily life and explain the reason(s) why I have not posted for a while...sorry!

Here are a few highlights from this past week....
Sunday: After church I had lunch at a local cafe with a new friend, Lisa Miser and her adorable little girl, Natty.
Here is a picture I found of them...but if you're interested in seeing more pictuers and knowing about THIER missionary life here in La Paz, check out my link below to Scotty and Lisa's Big Fat Blog!
Monday: After school, Steph, Jill and I reluctantly lugged our bookbags and selves to our 1 1/2 hour spanish class. This usually happens twice a week....and even though it's NOT my favorite part of the day, it's what I NEED and, slowly but surely, it's helping me!
Later that evening I went to choir practice where we reviewed all of our "old" songs from the start of our choir, about 6 months ago, and then learned some new ones in spanish..yay:)!

Tuesday: Staff meeting after school found us talking all about the BIG accreditation visit happening next Friday (pray) and all of the class observations that were going to happen...CMS deja vu!
Life group this week was actually dinner/tea at a cute cafe with all of our girls.
It has been great continuing to build relationships with each of them, and I am really excited that they along with other high schoolers (including the boys in the picture below) will be joining Steph and I on the HIGH SCHOOL SPRING BREAK MISSION TRIP TO THE JUNGLE (more info on that on Wednesday)!
Wednesday: After school I learned more about the jungle bugs and rural pueblos we'll be visiting on the Spring Break Mission Trip (March 28th - April 3rd) and then ran back to my room to tutor one of my middle schoolers.
I ended my busy day with some of the female teachers at a Bible study in the book of Romans with Amy Kolar...a wonderful mom/volunteer/board member of HIS. Below is a random pic of her daughter, Abby Kolar, on Dr. Seuss day...isn't she adorable??!!
Thursday: Steph and I (who will hopefully be joined by some of our small group girls next time) volunteered at an orphange in La Paz, Gota de Leche (Drop of Milk), and found ourselves flying the kids around the play room and then stuffing them full of corn gruel (I enjoyed the former more than the latter!).
Right afterward we headed to a nearby Mexican restaurant to catch up with a Bolivian friend who we've been trying to get together with since last year...better late than never is my motto lately!

Friday: Community Service Friday was a nice treat after all of the observations. My group went to the children's hospital where we drew mariposas (butterflies) and played with Emperor's New Groove action figures brought in by an 8th grader:)!
Steph and I ended the long week by having dinner at some of our students' house. They are a Bolivian/Ecuadorian missionary family that lived in Guatemala for a while before moving here. We enjoyed an awesome meal and funny stories...but were glad to go to head home, even if it was at 11:30!

Saturday: The final day of this week found me rearranging my kitchen to make room for our NEW CABINET!!!!
Steph and I are soo excited for the addition of this new peice of furniture that is sure to make our little casita a cleaner, more organized place!!
In the evening I went to a Jovenes Group (young adults from my church) and braced myself for a good yet challenging book study in spanish!

Thanks for making it through my week...I know I was glad to!

My first Carnaval...

...and I loved it!
First of all, we started this Bolivian holiday with a water-themed team day.

I thoroughly enjoyed taking my awesome Blue team to all of their various stations, which seemed to make them progressively more and more wet...it was GREAT!
But, for some reason, I wasn't all about the culminating event where we teachers stationed ourselves in the middle of the field, surrounded by our students, and attempted in vain to dodge the 90-mile-an-hour bullets that were hurled at us from all sides!!!! It's a Bolivian tradition to throw water balloons during Carnaval at anyone and everyone who seems too dry whether they're walking on the sidewalk or riding in a car. Therefore, this grand finale was a quick way for me to determine which students had grown up in Bolivia and had a more accurate and rapid throw than I. Were it not for my, rather awesome if I do say so myself, wellies and swim cap, I might not have made it out alive!!! Sorry there aren't any pictures to document this time......it wasn't safe to bring a camera out.

After celebrating this holiday in a typical Bolivian way, we were ready to leave the festivities of La Paz and spend this crazy holiday surrounded by the serenity of the BEACH!!!

Have I ever mentioned how much I really love the beach??!!
It was a nice time to enjoy..
.... the sound of waves crashing right outside our windows,
...a t.v. complete with a news station that actually broadcast the beloved WINTER OLYMPICS,
...fun friends from school who also appreciate my above "likes,"
...and deli meat:)! For those of you who have lived in a place with less than appetizing lunch meat, you understand how AWESOME it is to have real, right out of the oven, sliced turkey breast.

Even though the mountains of La Paz are "breath-taking", I truly enjoyed the "breath-of-fresh-air" I felt as I relaxed at sea-level in Arica, Chile. This small but cute city has made it's way up to "one of my favorite vacation spots" for me and I'm sure/hope you'll read about it again in the near future!

Serving...and more!

So.
Life has been busy.
Are you surprised?
About a week and a half ago our school did our first of four "service Fridays" where the middle schoolers and high schoolers went to 4 different non-profit organizations around the area and served in some capacity.
My group went to La Casa de Esperanza up in the city of El Alto (the poorest area of La Paz). It is connected to the organization Word Made Flesh and works with the prostitues in the area.
They are in the middle of building rooms for a new sewing program they are offering to the women so they can learn a new skill. Therefore, our job was to "paint" the rooms with primer...
and clear out some of the trash that piled up from their remodeling!
We didn't completely clear the pile, but I was so proud of each student and the creative ways they decided to transport the rubble from the pile to the truck. Filling less-than-sturdy cardboard boxes, dustpans, and our own manos (hands) are a few of the many different ways the work was done!

After coming home (tired) and packing up a few of my belongings, I headed out in the rain to spend the weekend in the "country" of Bolivia making a house for a family.
Un Techo Para Mi Pais is a non-christian, college-studen targeted organization that buses up students/25+ year-olds into a community to build, basically, as many houses as possible in one weekend (or more if needed..).
As you can probably gather, it was a crazy weekend filled with lots of spanish, youngins (high schoolers and even college students seem sooo young to me!), and sore muscles! But, it was an awesome way to see a different side of Bolivia and to work (and I mean, WORK) alongside young people who are choosing to serve the poor of their country!
My 3 teammates....2 Bolivians and 1 Taiwanese who spoke English but practiced his spanish alongside me (with a pretty hilarious accent that made me feel better, if I do say so!).

65 and 75 year-old Marcelina and Benito were the thankful beneficiaries of the new house. They were both very sweet and while Benito worked alonside us, Marcelina cooked us tasty and very typical Bolivian almuerzos (lunch). Even though I was a little worried about the reoccurence of typhoid in my body, I thoroughly enjoyed trying, mostly for the first time, these homemade Bolivian dishes. I only wish they hadn't fed us so much....working after eating was that much harder!

Some of my friends who helped me make it through the cement-floor-beds and the long days of carrying wooden strutctures that wieghed more than me!
To end this post, I would like to leave you with a few of the "ooops" pictures that were taken on our last "night"(we didn't arrive back in La Paz until sometime Sunday night after midnight!) working on the house. Because, even though my camera did a pretty good job acting as a flashlight, sometimes it reverted to it's ORIGINAL PURPOSE, and took a few pictures... or 30 (literally!!).
As you can probably guess by these pictures, we were NOT able to finish the house :( !
But, the house will be finished this month by more volunteers and I was just thankful that I could help and see a new, richer side of this country I'm starting to call "home"!

Prayer and Praise

We'll start with the....

PRAISE:
I am happy to say that my typhoid is gone and I feel like normal Megan again! I started working last week and even though it wasn't a peice of cake to go from sleeping all day to waking up early and working, my body adjusted well and I have recovered from the crazy disease of typhoid!

PRAYER:
Sadly my roommate, Steph, has not recovered so quickly! She went to see a doctor yesterday and found out that her body has definitely not fully recovered and is in danger of worse symptoms. Therefore, she's had to go back to not working and eating only "white" things....the white diet is no fun! Please pray for her body and a full recovery from the typhoid fever AND ameoba combo....not a the best combination, we're coming to find out!

Also, there was a bad muslide about a week ago in an area called Bella Vista, further up from my house. This devastating effect of La Paz's rainy season has left 70 houses collapsed/covered in mud and about 140 people displaced, without any of their earthly belongings! Therefore, on Sunday a group of my friends, mainly from choir and school, brought donated clothes, food and toiletries to the people of Bella Vista.

After sorting the clothes into bags for women, men and children...

....we took the bags into the tents where many families are living for now.
It was definitely a humbling experience to be surrounded by so many who had lost so much. But I know that God is still present in this tragedy and I'm thankful to be in a country where so many people came from all over the city to share of their abundance with those in need.

God is good....and so we thank Him for what He's done and we pray for what He will do!