This country is definitely going to take more than one blog. I mean I hiked in the Amazon for crying out loud. But I wanted to give you the general overview and then we will get down to the nitty gritty in a bit.
A couple things the World Race really want us to grow in and try to cultivate for us is surrender and being present. One, not always fun, way of doing this is by not revealing our location or ministry plans for the upcoming months until a week or two before we get there. And even then, it’s often limited information. *I want to stop and say there is so much prayer and purpose behind this. Not knowing allows you to be fully invested where you are without trying to rush through the month. It also allows you to give every moment and ounce of control back to God. Regardless, it’s hard sometimes!* So two weeks before Bolivia, all I knew was that my team would be visiting multiple remote villages, hiking to at least one of them.
To say the least, I was terrified. Before I left for the Race many people spoke Psalm 91, a testament of the Lord’s protection, over me. Speaking those words were a testament and a defense against physical and spiritual things. I had even talked to a guy who had previously done the Race and shared stories of God’s protection from his journey. He told me, “you will never be safer than anywhere you go in the will of God.” Which is true, but definitely a little harder to remember when you’ve just been told your team will spend the month trekking the jungle mountains.
Immediately my team and I were daily praying Psalm 91 and the armor of God over ourselves. But to be honest, I was angry. I was angry a little at God but mostly the World Race for thinking I was capable or that it was safe enough to go. Wherever it was I was even going…
The only real detail that we had was that we would be pretty separated from society and all communication for a while. Our host let us take the first couple days to explore the salt flats because he knew we wouldn’t really have time for that later. Then we headed to his house in La Paz for a day before we headed up to Apolo; our actual home for the month. When we arrived in Apolo, we weren’t 100% sure they knew we were coming. Our pastor didn’t speak English but I tried to use the Spanish I knew to ask about some expectations he had of us for the month. It was a struggle. So he brought us to the ONE person in the town who could translate; Sarah.
Sarah’s entire family ended up being a God-sent, literally. Her brother who spent years studying and pastoring in the US, his wife who is from the US, and their kids welcomed us into their family so openly. They actually live in La Paz, 13 hours away, but happened to be spending the month of December visiting his mother and sister in Apolo. Thank. You. Lord. Juan ended up translating for us constantly with the pastor and helped us plan out the month of ministry. The infamous trek to the village of Mojos wouldn’t be until the end of the month. So in the time being we got to love on our pastor and the little town of Apolo we would come to love SO dearly.
We painted a room attached to the church used for ministry training and visited another small village Pastor Froilan grew up in – Huratumo. Both of these ministries spoke so much deeper to me than I expected. I think sometimes we look to small towns like Apolo and think, “wow they are so disconnected. What could they know?” THEY ARE TRAINING PEOPLE TO BECOME PASTORS Y’ALL! I’m so impressed and overwhelmed with the fire inside our pastor and the other Christians in remote Bolvia. This building we painted is used for discipleship, mentoring, are growing the kingdom. They are using every resource and connection they have, and it may not look like Campbellsville University, but life change is still happening. Even in the villages. Pastor has such a heart for his people and speaks truth and love to them as often as possible.
In these few tasks the Lord was already showing me He would meet me here in Bolivia. He would show up and soften my heart. If I would surrender my fears to Him, I wouldn’t have to just suffer through them, but be able to rejoice in the delight He would bring me even there. I got to truly test that out in the weeks following, but you’ll have to stick around for the next few blogs to find out how..
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*Side note. It’s super interesting to be reliving this season of the Race right now, because I leave for Africa the day after tomorrow and I’m currently experiencing a lot of the same fear; the unknown, safety, food. Please pray that these blogs would be a way for me to build an altar to the Lord- something tangible of His faithfulness. To look back and say thank you, I trust you to be the same God to me the next three months as you were the first three.
