Even though I am on an 11 month mission trip, since we are only staying in each country for about a month, we are still on a short term mission trip. Usually we work with one ministry a month. When we were in Bolivia last month, we had a new ministry each week.
We stayed on the YWAM (Youth With a Mission) base, even though we didn’t actually do any ministry with YWAM. But they shared the space with us and we had meals together.
For the first week we worked at Los Preciosos, where we took care of kids with special needs. It was heartbreaking to hear the stories of their abandonment, but it was beautiful to see their joy, despite the fact that many were blind or couldn’t walk or talk.
They received a lot of donated clothing, so one day I spent helping sort the clothes based on age.
The following week, we went to a school and had an hour and a half with each class. We acted out bible stories, told our testimonies, discussed where we find our value. And then the next class would come in and we would do it all again.
We also sang Making Melodies for the younger kids 😀
Then for the third and final week, we went to a girl’s home and basically spent time with the girls there. These are girls that were voluntarily staying at this home, in order to escape life on the streets, but any moment they could leave if they wanted to. We did anything from telling our testimonies to playing volleyball to arts and crafts.
Finally, though this wasn’t part of the three different ministries per se, we attended a wedding held on the base and helped with serving food and clean up afterward.
That’s what our month in Bolivia looked like. We spent a few days in Peru before making our way to our last country, Ecuador, where I have one more week of ministry left and 12 more days before returning home!
Jessica
