Spring Fun..

...and even the not-so-fun.

That's right.
This is going to be a "massive" recap of my life in the southern hemisphere season of SPRING!

First, my fiance and I completed the first stage of PAPERWORK for his visa to come to the states...to marry me! Who knew that being engaged to a foreigner and bringing them to the states was such a big deal? The Proposal might come to mind....yep, like that.... except that those interviews are apart of the 3rd stage:)!

Here are the stacks of proof that Esteban and I met each other in person and are legitimately in love! Now that's something else to prove!

After sending the fatty packet to The Department of Homeland Security...yeah, you read it right...I was ready for a little vacation! Thankfully, we had a day off of school soon after so some girlfriends and I headed to Cochabamba for a weekend of sun, pool and food!

Cochabamba is about a 5 hour drive southeast of La Paz. It is seated at a much lower elevation so, consequently, the city is known for its nice "spring" weather all year round. Cocha is also known for its used clothing "canchas" that some Bolivians refer to as Saks 5th Ave!

The weekend was so nice and all aspects were enjoyed...including my FIRST domestic flight (that was SUPER cheap!!) that allowed us to arrive in La Paz in a half hour instead of the 7ish hour bus ride that we took last time!!

My poolside chair with all I needed to enjoy my afternoon:)...thank you to ALL of my sweet friends and mom who sent me some wedding mags to help in the planning of the big day!

Here are the sweet friends I traveled with: Alana, Stephanie, me and Molly!

After the trip, Esteban and I had a "cartoon" costume party to attend. Guess who we came as..

A few weeks later, in honor of the approaching season, Highlands had the annual Spring Festival where we were able to earn money for the school. Even though the weather was NOT very springy, I still enjoyed all of the festivities and my new "job" of paitning faces. Here's one of the "victims" of my ATTEMPT at facepainting... sweet Natty Miser, a precious 2 year-old that helps me when I'm missing my own niece and nephew, along with her mom (Lisa) and dad (Scotty) who have both become special to Esteban and me...

Here is the entire middle school dressed up in anticpation for the Spring Festival! Don't we look awesome?!

To end this catch-up post, I would like to share few pictures from one of our 5 community service trips up to the Word Made Flesh facility that works with prostitutes that are now earning a living by making these awesome purses. It is a neat minstry and I was happy to be able to take some of our middle schoolers and high schoolers to be able to serve these people.

Zion's Treasure..

Recently I shared at staff devotions a verse that has come to be more applicable to us than I thought.
Both for me and the staff of Highlands.

Isaiah 33:6 -

..and He will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.

God is our stability...
even when there is more sickness in one week than there was all last year.
even when there is death and hurt.

God is our abundance of salvation....
even when we feel that so many things have been taken away from us.

God is our wisdom....
even when we feel overwhelmed and inadequate.

God is our knowledge....
even when we feel confused.

God is our treasure.
And we do fear His name and praise Him for His sovereignty.

Please continue to pray for the Highlands' staff and students.
These past few weeks have been tough for various reasons.

Yet, still we hold on to our Treasure....and lean on His strength.
I invite you do join us....

Please Pray...

...for Diego de la Quintana.


He is a sweet HIS high school student who just lost his mom to cancer this morning.
His father is not really involved in his life, and he was very close to his mother.
As a community we are mourning with and praying for Quintana.
I would ask you to do the same.

Pray for his relationship with the Lord....that God would bring him to Himself during this hard time.
Pray that God would surround him with people to comfort and encourage him.

Thank you for your support of dear Diego.

ENGAGED!

That's right.
Megan Speicher.
MISS Speicher for who knows HOW long is ENGAGED!
GETTING MARRIED.
GOING TO HAVE A HUSBAND.

Here is how it happened!

Saturday afternoon my boy comes to pick me up. Now I know the plan is to go 4-wheeling outside of the city, but I didn't expect him to pick me UP in one! First surprise of the day. I grab my stuff and obliviously jump onto the 4-wheeler and off we go!

We're gone for a while, driving through little neighborhoods in the countryside. On our way back to La Paz we get off of the main road to enjoy some of the scenery and to experience the official trail...or so I thought! We are riding next to these awesome rock/sand formations and go down this fairly steep path. When we get to the bottom I'm ready to enjoy the view and get off the loud 4-wheeler. Esteban "agrees" but ends up pushing to get back up the path. Not realizing the REAL reason why he's ready to go back up, I quickly comply and dont think much of it.

We're about half-way up and he stops. Before I know it he says he has a little gift for me and I start freaking out inside! However, before I can let my imagination run wild, I see a bigger box and I quickly realize my "mistake"....he's not going to propose NOW! It's only August.

We walk over to a little spot next to some taller formations and sit down. He opens the box and asks me if know what "today" is. As usual, I guess wrong and he reminds me that we met a year ago...exactly. Second surprise of the day...I really didn't know!

With that in mind, I open the box to find his computer with a DVD ready to play. I watch the video he made that shares all of the reasons why he loves me...complete with hilarious pictures of me "being" the qualities/characteristics that are important to him. I close the computer still laughing at some of the ridiculous pictures he found of me.....and then things start happening.

A toy helicopter with an indecipherable message attached starts flying above us.
A couple of fireworks go off in front of us.
Some more behind us.
He tells me to stand.
He gets on one knee and has a ring in his hand....
THIRD (and best) SURPRISE OF THE DAY!


And the rest is history!!!!

Here we are minutes after it happened. My dear friend Lisa Miser was gathered enough to suggest a picture!
Since I had to babysit that night and he had to film something, we celebrated the next day!


CHEERS!
Sometimes I feel so blessed when I think of how God has brought us together....and sometimes I'm just shocked:)! But everytime I think of "our story," I am reminded of God's faithfulness and sovereignty!
Thanks for being excited with me:)!

From Summer to Winter

Yes.
My summer is already over.
Hard to believe.
Sorry I didn't blog much....or at all!
But now I'm ready to catch you up with some pictures and snippets of the many adventures had.
Hope you feel a part of my life again.

Seeing my family.....especially my NIECE AND NEPHEW (nothing against the other members) was a highlight of the summer!

"Little" baby Ian is QUITE the chunker now.
Love it....

Ella is SUPER precious and has stolen my heart all over again....

After Charlotte, I flew to California to meet up with the family AND the boy.
After attending my cousin's wedding, we all squished into 2 trucks pulling 2 trailers and headed to YOSEMITE!
Enjoying this beautiful National Park with the whole family was a bit reminiscent of the "old days" when the Speicher family would go on their annual family vacation. Only this time there were a few more additions to the Speicher clan that made it even more exciting...


The newly engaged couple (CONGRATS sister Laura) joined Esteban and I on the awesome "Mist Trail" ....yes that is the mist that made us so wet!!

After California where basically every family member was seen (lucky Esteban), we made it back to Idaho safely to enjoy the sites and sounds of Twin Falls....

...the bridge...

and the falls....

and that's it!

Then we hopped on a plane to head east to enjoy some DEAR Indiana friends and to celebrate!

After enjoying my 3rd (his 2nd) peice of wedding cake this summer, we headed even farther east to the beautiful and deathly humid state of Maryland!

Here we saw Esteban's brother Marcelo and his wife Sarah. Sadly my camera's battery died (are you shocked Jenny Hunt?!) so I have no pictures right now to document our time there (hopefully I'll get some e-mailed soon). However, it was so fun meeting another family member (and maybe just as nice finally being on the meeting end and not the introducing one...that can be exhausting!) and enjoying 2 days in the great city of D.C.

The end of my summer found me back in Idaho for 2 weeks.
In that time I helped Jenny move (which means we packed, packed, packed...you get the idea) and had SUCH a relaxing time camping with just the mom!!

Then I packed up all of my "treasures" and boarded a few more planes and wound up back in the cold, yet full-of-life city of La Paz....my home right now!

**Sorry for a lack of pictures at the end of this post....the internet is SUPER RIDICULOUS tonight so I was forced to focus on the "snippets" part toward the end.

The Wedding

From the minute I walked off the plane into the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, I've been reminded of how special the city and people of Charlotte are to me!
Therefore, my time here and the chance to be a part of my friend's wedding has been such a blessing to me.
Since arriving, I have been able to do a variety of things:

a.) attend a shower for her along with other dear, dear friends....


b.) help tie and alphabetize the place cards (with a little bit of help from the classic, ABC song!!)...

and c.) take off the place settings on the tables the day of the wedding only to put a new table cloth on and put the place settings back on each table! But we got it done and the place looked sooo nice!

TADA!

Here's me with the beautiful bride and my friend Brittany! You'll see Britt again soon since we both get to be in another friend's wedding on July 10th!

What Taylor wedding would be complete without a picture of all the guests that graduated from TU?! Love it:)!
Congratulations Paul and Devan! It was soooo great seeing you both and being able to celebrate your happy day together!

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:).