Two days after arriving in Uyuni we began ministry and our first day started off bright and early with manual labor! Our job, to clear the church yard of rocks, bricks, wood, paper, and thousand, yes, you read correctly, THOUSANDS of plastic bottles buried under said dirt, rocks, bricks? some of the papers found were dated back to the 90s!
The before picture!
Working hard!
End of Day 1! Feeling like bosses!
End of Day 1!
Bottles recovered? from the ground to 6 ft high!
All the wood uncovered!
End of Day 1!
End of Day 1!
After manual labor we had lunch and then came back to church to teach English from 3-4:30. We teach English every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for any kids and adults in the community interested. I, of course, love this ministry best. The kids truly appreciate the attention and affection of saying, “perfecto!” whenever they say a word right in English! Our whole group told me after our first day of English that it was so sweet how I would get so excited talking to the kids and just interacting with them. I really didn’t think I was any different than I always am? but I realized it is because kids just light up my life! I truly love them so much! Everyone kept telling me I need to be a teacher, something I have honestly NEVER thought of before! Why not? I have no idea! I love teaching, I LOVE talking, we know this? and I love kids! So it really makes sense? but I guess in college I chose Public Relations because I figured the money is better than teaching? but I have always loved the thought that teachers have Summers off? I know I have 10 months before this journey is over and I have to think about my next move career wise but I also believe God uses people to point out things in ourselves we don’t see? The only thing is? I can see myself being a teacher, but not in the States necessarily? just a thought.. don’t freak out yet Mama! I will come home before my next world tour! But I am at a place where I am saying, “God, you lead me! You led me here and I love it so much! Lead me on this next 10 months after this and wherever you have me next? somewhere across the pond from the States or back home? where you lead me I will go? but please make it warm and on the water! The cold in Uyuni is not for this Southern girl! But you lead, Lord, you lead!” 🙂
The student/teacher ratio was perfect!
Our teachers, Chris and Chrislyn, the cutest married couple, who are also real teachers in the States!
I was the writer! Loved doing this! You know, thinking back to when I was little? I wanted to be a teacher! I had “Mrs. Greenway” posted on my bedroom door (my classroom door) when I was about 8 or 9 because the boy I liked then Tyler Greenway was obviously who I was going to marry, so my name was sure to be Mrs. Greenway? Yes, I have always been boy crazy! I blame it on growing up with 3 magnificent brothers who made me appreciate men being men, boys being boys!
If this isn’t a sign that you are never too old to learn something new, I don’t know what is! This is Gabriela! She is 76 years old. We truly believe she is an angel. She shows up for everything! Here in Uyuni we have church 4 days a week and she is always there. Also, she shows up anytime we have ministry! She even came to help us with manual labor one day and put us all to shame when she started lifting heavy rocks! We didn’t let her help for long but we told her how appreciative we were of her servant heart, which she clearly has and shows daily! She is a special lady! The first time I saw her was right when we arrived in Uyuni and we went straight to church only a couple of hours upon arrival. She was in the very front of the church dancing, singing, even JUMPING to the music, praising God! I teared up immediately, just imagining her dancing at the feet of Jesus! I truly know she has taught us all how to love Jesus with all our hearts and how to serve like Jesus too!
One of my favorite kids, Rodrigo! He is a little rascal! He is very smart and knows a lot of English and therefore goes ahead of the class to show what he knows! It makes me giggle every time even though it is inappropriate and he should follow along with the class, I appreciate his knowledge of English and his willingness to share!
Our next ministry was hospital ministry! We met with pregnant ladies who were bedridden months before their due dates. We brought them snacks, asked about them, shared Jesus with them, prayed for them and even sang for them upon request. It was such a blessing to us to visit these ladies.
Back to manual labor?
End of Day 2! (Above)
End of Day 4!
Finished! I can honestly say I have never worked so hard in my life! Shoveling a mix of dirt, rock, and bricks and using a pick ax to break up what we couldn’t move with the shovel for hours at a time is tough work! I could feel it in my back, abs, arms.. and would get winded only after a few shovels! We all joke that once we get back down from 14,000 ft? we will be in the best shape of our lives after working hard and walking miles a day at this altitude! Haha!
Now the men (above) will finish working on the 4 tables and benches for the kids to use now that the ground is level and clear of rocks, bricks, wood, bottles, clothing, bones (yes, we found bones!) and all the other miscellaneaous items we found in our days of digging and clearing!
On Wednesday nights we break into our two teams, my team stays at our house and the other team goes to another house and one of us preaches from each team. We all sing songs in both English and Spanish. It has been a wonderful opportunity to break us out of our shell of sharing the gospel. From our group Meagan and Casey have already preached and done a fantastic job! Very encouraging and inspiring truths they both brought from the Word of God! I have started preparing my lesson for when it is my turn to preach, maybe next week! I am looking up all the references of love from the Bible and sharing how much God loves us and how the Bible says we should love our God and others! Are you shocked I would speak on love? It is my favorite word and I believe God’s greatest gift to us and our greatest gift we can give to others! It is also the greatest commandment!
On Thursday evenings after English class we go to the center of Uyuni and do street evangelism. We are working on a a play for next Thursday, covering the Good Samaritan, where one of our fluent Spanish speakers (Christina or Mary Chandler) will read the Good Samaritan from The Bible and we will act it out. We’ve been handing out fliers for the kids to come to VBS style afternoon activities with music and games that we host between two houses and our two teams and handing out information about the church we are working with.
The church we are working with!
Inside the church!
That is a little bit about the ministry we are doing! I think it is safe to say that we are all falling more and more in love with the people of Uyuni and Uyuni itself every single day. And I think we are actually getting used to the cold more too! I can’t believe in only 10 or so more days we will be traveling to Peru! We will take a total of 36 hours of bus rides from here to Peru! But once we get to Peru we will be in warmer weather and close to the beach! That will be exciting! I am not wishing away my time here, as we have been so blessed by our Pastor Rolando, who genuinely cares for us and keeps us busy with ministry to keep us focused on Jesus and being the hands and feet of Him by serving this community in so many ways! I definitely want to come back here one day, it is a special place!
Also, as we minister to this community, we minister to each other by having “Team Time” every night where we reconnect and recharge with each other about the day. We also give each other Positive and/or Constructive Feedback based on what we saw from each other during the day! It really helps us to pick up our Cross daily and die to our self to be more like Jesus and treat each other accordingly. This aspect grows up and it is amazing what God is doing to heal old wounds from the past and constructing the person He made each of us to be! I am so thankful the World Race thinks of all these things to help us become more like Him. It is also my favorite part of the day where I really feel close to everyone!
This is what “Team Time” looks like with both teams together:
Stay tuned for more of my adventures in Bolivia! My next post will show what our off days look like (Salt Flats, Hot Springs, and just relaxing) and some of my favorite things about Uyuni and Bolivia in general! Thank you for your continual love and support! You don’t know how much every comment, Facebook message, iMessage, email, etc are SO encouraging and mean so much to me! I truly appreciate all the love!
Until next time? please keep praying for our health, safety, and ministries! That we will truly lose ourselves to be The Gospel!
All my love!!!
XOXOXO
Whitney
