I (Kalyn) was pretty nervous about Bolivia, to be honest I was expecting pretty hard living conditions and for no one to know English. It was probably one of the last places I was looking forward to. Guess what? Jesus likes to give surprises. Bolivia was one of my favorite months. My team ended up getting placed with Campus Crusade for Christ or CRU and we traveled to 3 different towns in Bolivia. We had 3 different hosts and really 3 different types of ministry even though it was all still considered CRU.
Sucre, Bolivia was our first stop so let me tell you about it. When we first got there we were picked up by 3 different people and none of them knew English. They took us to a not so nice hotel in a not so nice part of town. As soon we got there Matt and I just had a bad feeling in our gut. The hotel was over our budget and we didn’t have a good feeling about staying there, so we contacted our leaders and the main leader of CRU and asked if it would be ok if we found our own housing. They both approved. Jesus loves me. We were able to get a hostel really close to the town with our own bedroom! The hostel was filled with people traveling from all over the world. We got to have some great conversations with the people there, some of the team was able to take some really cheap Spanish lessons and they gave us the best breakfast we have had all year. Our ministry here was to go to the college campus…3 specifically and do Soularium. This is a method that CRU uses through pictures to get to know the students by asking questions through pictures and sharing the gospel at the end. I have always thought Soularium was a beautiful tool to use to get to know people from my CRU days,so I was really excited about it! The first day we went out my group had someone that was so hungry for the word of God. We talked to him for about 2 hours. The conversations continued on from there for the two weeks that we were in Sucre. So many different moments that we know God himself had went before us and planned. Isn’t it a beautiful thing to know that the Lord goes before us?
“We are Gods handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepares in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10
I was really sad to leave Sucre because we had really gotten in a groove there and I didn’t know what the next place would be like.
Tarija, Bolivia which was about a 10 hour bus ride away did not disappoint. Our host there, Rodrigo was amazing. He was a 35 year old man working for CRU and he helped us for the 10 days we were there. He was hilarious, and such a beautiful servant of the Lord. Our ministry in Tarija was a little different in the fact that here, at the universities we got to actually speak in the classrooms and share the gospel. We would have different topics to share about like, finances or study habits and then we would either share or testimony or the good news. It was really cool to be able to talk to 40 plus students at one time! One of my favorite memories from Tarija was getting to share with all the CRU student leaders on campus about spiritual multiplication. The soaked it up and so many of them said it was something they really needed to hear. The women who translated the message for me was an English teacher. She came up to me after and told me that God was speaking through me to her even though she wasn’t a part of CRU. We were able to have such a beautiful conversation after and I got to spend a lot more time with her! We helped her with her English study group which was held at a Coffee shop ran by a Canadian missionary. Tarija blue my expectations out of the water. God did so many amazing things there. Did I mention they had salad bars for about .75 cents?!?!?!?!
Lastly we went to Yacuiba which was a 5 hour bus ride away and right along the Argentine border. As with all our other places we were in Bolivia, we worked with a Universtity, but this time was a little different. When we arrived we went to the Universtity to meet with the Dean of the Universtity and the Director of Career Development. We met with them to discuss Matt’s “Financial Strategy Conference.” Yes, you heard that right. Matt was given 3 HOURS to share in front of 400+ students about financial strategy and how to use what you are given well. He did great! We are all a bit surprised at the attention of the students all the way through. At the end he was able to share the gospel with all of them and so many accepted Jesus Christ and placed their faith not in money or the hope that money promises, but in the love of God who died in their place for eternal life. They all filled out follow up cards so that the leaders their can connect with them. Such a great time.
But in all of this God was working on “the one.” A few weeks before our we were to arrive in Yacuiba, the leaders of Cru were searching for a translator for us. They found a young English Professor at the local language school. He was so excited to translate for us and his English was amazing. We found out a day or two after we started that he was not yet a fully devoted follower of Jesus! We lit up! He HAD to translate and speak the truth over and over and we knew God was going to touch him with the truth. At the end we talked to him and he was saying how much he learned in this time and how he is leaving his time with us spending so much more time in prayer and wanting more of God in his life!! WOOOOOO! Here we also helped teach English at an English school. At the end of our time there, the teachers cooked a giant Carne Asada which is like an American BBQ. Steak, sausage, potatoes, salads, risotto. We we couldn’t believe it! We were only with these people for 5 days and they treated us like royalty with food and gifts! Again, Jesus loves me.
Bolivia was amazing. Matt and I can definitely see ourselves going back there! Our visas last 10 years so we will see.
Stay tuned for our next blog about Peru…and how Matt stayed over night in the hospital in Cusco!
