Month FIVE. My new team and I are in Uyuni, Bolivia this month working with a small, but growing, church. Getting to this beautiful, very cold, unique town was quite an experience. In the middle of our 48-hour bus ride, our squad crossed the Chile/Bolivia border at 19,000 feet with several pukers (altitude sickness is REAL). Several problems led to us arriving to our ministry site late, leaving us with only two and half weeks here in Uyuni. We have been spending our time here working alongside the kids ministry leaders, performing skits, songs, and youth events. It’s amazing how much fun you can have with construction paper, popcorn, and make up (no face paint available). This month my team is also helping with construction on the church and working in a school.
I am loving my new team and really enjoying this month even with all of the chaos! We have met some amazing people, learned some incredible lessons, and shared some powerful messages. Even though there is no air here and we are all cold and sick, we are making the very best of our time. We are getting in some great quality time with a few of our leaders who will head back to the states at the end of this month. God has been so, so good to our squad; their leadership and love has been such a blessing.
This month I’ve really started missing home. I miss my pup, my church, English, Poptarts, my friends, and my stomping grounds. I miss driving. I miss my garage and everything in it. I miss making cookies and bringing plates to everyone I know. I miss the background noise the non-stop football on TV offered and fighting for leftovers at breakfast. I miss Tiki Friday’s, fires, and yard games.
I am recognizing the difference we’ve made, are making, and will make doing the things we are doing. I am also recognizing areas where we can all, on the field or not, improve our influence as believers. I may or may not be giving myself a hard time about all of this. I’ve come to the conclusion it’s all still worth it, what we’re doing. There’s no way we can mess up God’s plans; how arrogant of me to think otherwise. We will just continue to do the best we can.
Earlier this week, my team and I set aside time to ask the Lord what he saw in each of our hearts. A little while into the exercise the Lord reminded me of the story of Barabbas. How easily we forget that He died for all of us because WE ARE WORTH IT to Him. The reality is, we all walked away free with Barabbas, because He sees us as worthy. How easily we forget.
I am sending a few more postcards out to you all this month! Some of you may get lucky and receive a coffee scented one 😉 Don’t be nervous when you receive a discolored postcard- just a little spilt coffee! #texture
[The following idea stolen from Lila Capps]
I laughed when… I crawled into my sleeping bag and four cookie wrappers fell out
I cried when… My person (Lindsey Argue) was taken off my team
I was grossed out when… My teammate showed me her boogers because she was impressed with how big they were
I am currently reading… When Helping Hurts
