This is the final blog that I will write like this- at least on this Race, and as I sat down to write this is, I thought about the reason why I originally set out to do this kind of blog. It’s because I wanted to honor the places that I visited. It’s because I wanted to highlight the good and beautiful things about the people, places, and cultures that I encountered and I wanted to talk about what ministry looked like for me and how the country had impacted me personally. I’m not sure how good of a job I’ve done, but I know that the times when I get to sit down and reflect over the whole month has been so beneficial for me personally. It’s crazy to think that this is the last time I will be doing that on my Race.
Cru
This is the third month in a row that I’ve gotten to work with Cru, an international campus ministry that focuses heavily on evangelism. These past three months have been challenging and have stretched my faith in new and crazy ways. At the beginning of the Race I asked God to grow me in boldness and willingness to share my faith, and He certainly has. Cru in each country looked a little different, but their drive and passion for the student that they serve was the same, and their focus and dedication to prayer unequal. One of my teammates said somethings super profound that has stuck with me during these past few months especially. She said that we aren’t just proclaiming the gospel to the people that we encounter but also to ourselves, telling someone about the gospel and meditating on it brings freedom and joy, always. I think thats a really great picture of what working with Cru has been for me- and opportunity to meditate on what God has done for me and then take that and turn it outwards.
Santa Cruz
My team actually lived and worked in two different cities this month, the first of which, was Santa Cruz. The university that we worked with was massive, nearly the size of ones that you would find in the states. During our time there we were able to meet so many sweet people who loved and welcomed us, and we also able to see God move in a lot of cool ways! Multiple times during evangelism, God answer specific prayers. We prayed to meet Christians, boom-we met Christians. We prayed for multiplication, boom- the group of 4 people we were talking with turned into 11. It was amazing and we were all a little sad that we weren’t able to stay longer.
Paula and Brenda
During our time in Santa Cruz, my team was living in separate host houses. My teammate Summer and I lived with Brenda, her Mother, and Paula, her aunt (Paula was our contact with Cru in Santa Cruz). These are three of the sweetest people that I have ever met in my life. They cared for us in such tangible ways and invited us into their family with so much grace and love. During our stay with them it was Bolivia’s Mother’s Day, and Summer and I got to celebrate with their family! It also happened to be the matriarch of the family’s 75th birthday and we got to hang out and enjoy the festivities with them! When it was hard to communicate they never gave up trying. They are full of great questions and they didn’t just want to serve along side of us, they wanted to know us. I learned so much about Bolivia and the Bolivian culture from my time with them.
Sucre
After leaving Santa Cruz, my team came to Bolivia’s capital, Sucre, where we stayed for most colder here (much to my dismay). During our time here in Sucre my team got to dive even deeper into evangelism on the college campuses here. We also started hosting different events for students, which was an awesome way to incorporate the various talents of my teammates into the ministry that we are doing. Sucre is a beautiful city, filled with a lot of culture and generous people. We also got to work with some of the Cru staff from Sucre which was really fun too!
Wallyball
One of the events that my team helped with during our time in Sucre (and my personal favorite), was Wallyball, or ‘wally’ as it is called here. Walleyball is basically volleyball played in a racquetball court. It’s fun and different and confusing and hard to get used to and I loved it. It was a great time of just hanging out with students and the Cru staff here while also doing something that I love. Language barriers don’t matter as much on the court and that was a blessing for me (in case you didn’t know, I still speak ZERO Spanish…). This was my favorite part of ministry this month for sure.
Salt flats
For our adventure day, my team got to go to Uyuni to visit the Bolivian Salt Flats- it was amazing. Probably the most beautiful place I’ve been so far on the Race. My team and I had such a good time and we made lot so new friends on our tour, one of which was kind enough to have a photoshoot with me! We were able to watch the sunset on the flats and honestly I have never been more in awe of God creation than I was in that moment. Words cannot describe it, and pictures don’t do it justice. Guys, God is so cool.
Marcos
Marcos was my interpreter this month. He worked with us in Santa Cruz, then came to Sucre with us. Everyday Marcos, Regan, and I would evangelize together- and it was great. On the first day that we evangelized together Marcos and I realized that we have one very important thing in common- a similar taste is snacks (Donuts). This month we were able to hang out and get to know each other more, while also becoming an amazing evangelistic team. During our time in Sucre we were also able to celebrate Marcos’ birthday and hear about his upcoming long term mission trip to Peru to partner with Cru.
Cold
(I’m wearing like 3 sweaters in this picture because the Salt Flats were COLD) For months before we got here, everyone kept telling me: ‘Bolivia is going to be cold.’ I would get squad emails relating to how cold Bolivia was going to be and honestly I was SUPER nervous. But guess what: Santa Cruz was pretty dang warm! It was wonderful! Then we went to Sucre, and it was less warm, but it was manageable, for which I am forever thankful. God really blessed my socks off this month (and honestly the whole Race) with the weather. My team is headed to La Paz soon, which IS actually freezing, so we will see how that goes…
Mountains
Bolivia has a butt ton of mountains. La Paz, the city where I will be spending my final week on the Race, is the highest city in all of South America (or something like that). It sits at about 12,000 feet. That’s terrifying. This month everyone on my Squad go to pick which ministry we wanted to go to and our leadership built the teams from there. Originally I picked the ministry in La Paz- but I was placed in Santa Cruz/Sucre instead, which was honestly more than I could have asked for. Santa Cruz is a very comfortable warm, flat, low-lying city, and I loved it. Sucre is a less warm, less flat, and not as low-lying, but still doable and I have still loved it. All in all, God has helped me avoid too many mountains this month, which was another final blessing to send me home on a good note. I never imagined or intended on writing about mountains so much in all of these blogs, but I think that mountains served as a way for me to see and experience the goodness and majesty of God in new ways, which is why I came on the Race in the first place.
This month was tough for me, but also such a blessing. I am thankful for the time that I have gotten here and the people who helped make this month so memorable. In the back of my mind I always had this fear that I wouldn’t ‘end the Race strong’, but now, sitting at the end of month 11, I don’t fear that anymore, because I do feel like I am ending here on a good note. I feel like I have been able to put into action so many of the things that I have learned. I am grateful for this month, this ministry, my team, and for Jesus.
Much Love,
Morgan
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