This is a blog that I have honestly been struggling to write for the past two weeks. I wanted to talk about my time in Bolivia, but I just haven’t been able to find the words to say.
I will just start by saying that Bolivia was by far the hardest month I’ve had so far on the Race. At the end of Chile we had team changes where I acquired six new team members. While all of these new people were amazing, I wasn’t particularly close to any of them. Though I knew this could be hard, I went into the month with the mindset that I was going to make the best of any situation I came to.
It’s funny how when you make your mind up about having a great attitude, things get thrown your way to test that. My first test came in the form of me losing my passport six hours into a forty-eight hour bus ride from Valpariso, Chile to La Paz Bolivia. Because of this, I ended up staying in Chile for several extra days until the bus line could locate my passport. Even when I had my frustrated moments, I tried to look on the bright side as much as I could. As soon as I had my passport, I hopped on a bus to Bolivia. This is where test two happened.
If you’ve never been to a high altitude, let me be the first person to say, IT”S NOT WORTH IT! (Unless you have medicine which I did not.) On my way to Bolivia my bus reached an altitude of 19,300 feet. To put that into perspective, it’s like going from sea level to the tip of Mount Kilimanjaro in less than five hours. Needless to say I got altitude sickness like you wouldn’t believe. People think I’m exaggerating when I say this, but no lie, I’ve never felt like I was dying more. It was like having a migraine, an asthma attack, and a nasty stomach virus all at the same time.
Our ministry in Bolivia was to pioneer a new teaching route to some of the most unreached areas in the country. The month was filled with dirt roads where if our bus had made one wrong move we would have been over a cliff. Some of the roads we traveled were a part of a road called “Death Road”. The month was filled with over 120 blood fly bites. It was filled with straw mattresses, cockroaches, and stinky bathrooms. And it was filled with ungodly amounts of white rice. I was pretty miserable and because of this I probably had one of the worst attitudes I’ve ever had.
But what I failed to see at the time was the beauty the month was filled with. Because I had the blinders of a “woe is me” mentality, I was unable to see the beauty that was around me. Looking back I can see that the Lord had surrounded me with the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen and one of the richest cultures I have ever experienced. He had prepared a banquet of beauty for me and I was unable to feast because of my own discontent.
At the beginning of this blog I said, “I went into the month with the mindset that I was going to make the best of any situation I came to.” Keyword: “I” -What if I had gone into the month with the prayer, “Lord, let me see through your eyes. Whatever situation I come into, help me to have your mindset and an attitude that glorifies you.”?
I can’t go back and relive last month in Bolivia, but I can go into the next five and a half months asking Him to show me what he sees. It’s impossible to have a bad attitude when you have the eyes of Christ.
In contrast to last month, Bulgaria has been one of the most wonderful places I’ve ever been to. There has been so much redemption from last month. We have worked with two amazing hosts, one in Dupnitsa and the other in Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria. Please continue to keep my team in your prayers as we finish out this month and head into next month working with Syrian Refugees in Greece.
Love to all!
