Miracles still happen!

Hi everybody! Sorry for not keeping you up to date but I've been pretty busy with my classes AND working with the group from Germany. I've been on the construction site several times and when I couldn't afford to spent the whole morning painting windows and doing other exciting stuff (like collecting trash all around the church), I helped in the kitchen. It was actually fun baking my own bread, but I didn't forget about my promise to tell you about my experience in prison. The group is leaving on Sunday =( but it'll give me more time for myself - and writing blogs - again.

Today I just wanted to tell you a short miracle story from the construction site.
The day before we went to Santa Cruz, this young man in the picture fell off the roof while he was working up there, BUT it wasn't one of the one-floor churches we usually build. This church has two floors!! Furthermore, the spot where he fell was the very spot where he normally cut the bricks. It wasn't just some nice lawn! I wasn't there when he fell, but they told me, that the Bolivian workers carried him to a car on a tarp and immediately drove him to the hospital. In the evening, when the group came back, they were very worried. They hadn't heard anyhthing from the hospital yet and feared the worst (wheel chair, death...). Eufronio didn't feel like eating supper. He said that they had never had some bad accident like that one while he had been in charge of the church construction program of the Bolivian Union.

We started to pray for Joachim in small groups and just when we were about to finish, the door opened and somebody told us that a miracle had happened. Joachim was ok. He could move everything, had absolutely NO external injuries and was just a little bit sore. They kept him in the hospital for a day but couldn't find anything. I met him on the construction site on Wednesday and he said that his back was still hurting a little bit but nothing else. On Thursday, they took him back to the hospital for a check-up and said he wouldn't have to come again if he had no further problems. Today, I took this picture. He was back to work, smiling his timid smile.

He is a WALKING miracle. Considering the circumstances, he could/should be in a weel chair right now (...or still in hospital with at least some broken bones and serious injuries). We are praising the Lord that this is not the case. Tomorrow, we'll have the inauguration of both churches - and he'll be there on his very own feet, smiling and giving testimony just by his presence that we have a good and almighty God.

Miracles still happen. Don't be too timid too pray for the impossible because God is the God of the impossible!

Happy Sabbath to everybody!
maria

Weekend of freedom

Hi! I`m about to fly to Santa Cruz with the group from Germany. 4 days without any crazy rules. I never knew how precious freedom is!!! Well, now I know!
Yeah, I feel really great. Survived my 4th diarrhea attack and right now I`m enjoying complete health. I wish all of you a great weekend. We`ll visit the prison in Santa Cruz on Sabbath. If you want to pray for my save return - would be great. It`s a bit scary to go in there, especially the part for men, but I`v already been there twice and I know what a joy it is for this people to celebrate church with foreigners in a place where even their own countrymen don`t visit them voluntarily. So this weekend is all about freedom and not being free and I just advice you to appreciate you freedom and fight for it if necessary!

I`ll tell you about the prison and Santa Cruz afterwards!

God bles,
maria

Eventful week

Wow. So much has happened this past week, I didn’t even manage to write an entry. Well, to cut a long story short: I survived my first week of the semester and I actually really love my classes. I don’t need any credits so I don’t have any stress. I can work at my own pace and decide which assignments I want to do and for which ones I don’t have time. Furthermore, it’s really nice to have a Christian perspective on education for at least one semester. I’ve always wished that something like “bible class” would belong to my curriculum. Now it does. I feel a bit old though because I’m the grandma out of 40 (only “Grandpa” is older) but that’s ok. Concerning denomination, our class is mixed. I guess half of it is Catholic, some are different kinds of Protestants and the rest is Adventist. Nobody claimed to be an Atheist though. I’ve never been in a class like that. Germany is somehow different…

On Monday, I was told that somebody was looking for me but they couldn’t find me. I thought it was some guy who wanted to spend time with me so I didn’t care, but an hour later they called me again. EUFRONIO!!!! I was so happy to see him again. He had been in Europe with his family and they had just returned on Sunday. They live in Quillacollo (that means just around the corner…) and he was the responsible person for the construction sides all the years I had been the cook (and many more) of the German group that builds 2 churches here in Bolivia every year. He is smaller than me, but a godly man full of energy who seems not to know any problems. At least whenever I had a problem (with the refrigerator or whatever), he knew how to fix it. And his big genuine smile can fix the worst mood anyways. His wife Cira helped me a lot in the kitchen in 2003 and 2005. I really love her, too! They invited me to visit them whenever I feel like it. I guess I’ve found my family in Bolivia. Leanny (19) and Abraham (20) are great siblings anyways. Thank you Lord for giving me a family far away from my own!

The next very important event was Wednesday night the arrival of exactly this German church building group. I’ve been the cook of this group in 2003, 2004 and 2005 and it was great to see familiar faces again. They’re a small group this time (17 people) but it doesn’t matter. I finally got some real bread and don’t have to eat rice twice a day for at least 2 weeks! I addition to that, I got the permission to leave campus without a permission as long as I’m with the group. Since the three couples of the group live in guest rooms in the girls dorm, I don’t even have a problem anymore to get into the dorm when the doors are locked (since they have keys). I feel just great. I feel free! On Friday, I went to the construction side with them since I only have classes from Monday till Thursday and yesterday, we went for a hike in the mountains (see picture). The majority of the group drove back, but Eufronio and Leanny asked if anyone wanted to walk back with them… =) I really enjoyed that Sabbath!

My body didn’t get used to Bolivia yet though. On Friday during lunch on the construction side, my stomach already felt strange. Since I had promised to buy some food stuff for some people of the group, I went to Quillacollo after lunch. Somehow I managed to find everything and to even carry all the bags to the bus, but some hundred metres away from the main entrance of the university, someone got off the bus… and I jumped out, too, and breakfast and lunch found their way back outside… After I got off the bus, I threw up again, but felt a lot better afterwards. Diarrhea followed. Well… I’m so happy, that all the 5 times I’ve been to Bolivia before, I’ve never had any serious health problems. This time is the first time I’m not responsible for anything so I can afford being sick once in a while. I immediately drowned the diarrhea with my cola-charcoal mix though and I’m already fine again.

Yeah, that was a short summary of the past week. The best one here so far =) I feel blessed, thankful and free. I hope many more like this one will follow, but for now I have to dedicate my time to some ordinary jobs like washing clothes by hand and doing homework…

Wish you all the best wherever you are,
maria

All things work together for good...

Wow. Looking back on this weekend, God’s timing was just perfect. It might sound strange to you and it didn’t feel great at all yesterday either, but everything was perfect!

I’m about to rewrite this blog entry though because I realized that I was (again) more writing about how awfully terrible yesterday was than about how everything worked out for the (…my!) good. Yep, I was sick. It started Friday night with a sore throat and after church on Sabbath my head felt like exploding and I think I had a bit of a fever, too, since my eyes were burning. I had already skipped supper on Friday and decided I was better off also skipping lunch on Sabbath. God (had) provided a perfect meal for me though. On Friday, I had bought some food (granola, herbal tea, apple juice, crackers…) for the first time I’m here, but they didn’t have fruit in the little shop across the street. So going home from church on Sabbath, I decided I would just stick to tea and apple juice. When I entered our room, the grandmother of my roommate Daniela was there and gave me a whole bag of apples and peaches. I was so thankful!

Being sick, I was also able to skip Sabbath afternoon and evening activities without terribly complicated explanations. The dean was so nice to just ask me if I needed anything and then accepted my assurance that I had everything I needed and that I didn’t need any pills or a doctor. Actually, I would have loved to join the others. They were going on a hike in the mountains and the weather was beautiful, but I had my reasons why I preferred not to go this hike… When the girls had finally left around 3pm, I just enjoyed the silence. I cooked some more tea, used it for giving my face a steam bath since my nose started to act up, slept, drank tea and water and around 5pm, I had the idea to take my (Therm-a-rest air) mattress and my sleeping bag and to sleep outside in the patio (see pic).

When the girls came back, they looked at me like I was crazy, but I didn’t care. They could scream and slam doors inside the dorm; outside it was just half as bad. When they went to supper, I ate an apple and crackers, drank some apple juice and still felt a bit sick and weak but completely content. Before they returned, I crawled back into my sleeping back outside and stayed there… the whole night. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds, but God knew how much I needed that night outside so I guess he blinded the deans’ eyes when they locked all three doors. My roommate Daniela had tried to convince me to come in before (without success), but I’m so thankful she (nor anybody else) didn’t tell on me. I actually didn’t know that they would lock all three doors, but I found out one by one. God had made me taking everything I would need outside before though. Toilet paper, mp3-player, tea, a flash light, mosquito repellent… and most amazingly: that thing you get in the plane to cover your eyes with so you can sleep in spite of light.

It was a clear night and I enjoyed listening to a sermon and watching the stars at the same time. When I wanted to go back in to the bathroom, I realized that the door to the part of the high school students was locked. The middle door was locked as well, so I tried the door of the part for the university students and was happy to find it open. I tiptoed into the bathroom and crawled back into my sleeping bag. I watched the stars, talked to God and suddenly felt that my nose was completely ok. I was so happy and thankful that I didn’t mind the terrible beginning of the day anymore. It had been worth it! I felt free!! Around 4am, it started to rain. That was when I found out that they had locked the third door, too. There was one spot with kind of a roof though; just wide and long enough for my mattress. It was the spot where we do our laundry. The only problem: the terribly bright light there that you can only switch off from the inside. That was when it dawned on me why God had made me take that “cover-your-eyes” thing outside (for actually no apparent reason).

Today, it rained the whole day, too. It might sound like bad weather, but I discovered that it isn’t that bad after all since it means that nobody is outside on the soccer fields and sport facilities. I got to go on a walk there for over an hour, taking an apple, peaches, oatmeal biscuits and crackers with ketchup for lunch and listening to part 2 and 3 of the sermon series I had started last night. I almost feel completely healthy again, but even more important: blessed and strengthened to start into a new week and into the adventure of being a real student at UAB.

I wish all of you a happy and blessed new week, too. And don’t forget: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:38) Sometimes it only takes a day and we can see it. Other times, it takes (a lot) longer. But God is faithful! I’m trying to trust him. I’m getting better =)

Have a great week,
maria

Happy Birthday, Schwesterherz!

This post is not about Bolivia, but about a very important person in my life: my dear "little" sister Judit. She is one of the lucky ones that managed to escape the destiny of only having a "real" birthday every 4 years and today is her "special day": Alles alles Liebe zum Geburtstag, kleines Schwesterherz!! Miss you! I wish you all the best from the other side of the globe!

My parents were so nice to bless me with 3 siblings and I don't want to miss any of them. Sometimes it's hard though, to show the people you are living with every day, how much you love and appreciate them. My "middle" sister made a remark in her first mail I got here in Bolivia: "Do you know that the last e-mail I got from you says March 2007?" Wow. Guess she is right. I mean in Germany, we live next door within one house, use the same bathroom, kitchen, piano... but do I really let her know how much I appreciate her? Maybe I should just send her an e-mail through the wall from time to time to let her know that I love her.

Judit doesn't live at home anymore, at least most of the time. It's her forth year at a boarding academy in Austria and she'll graduate this year. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend her graduation. I'm proud of her anyways. Judit, keep going forward without comparing yourself with your older siblings all the time. I'll be always there to help you where I can, but risk going your own ways. You've already started and that is good! You've have grown into an independent young lady who knows what she wants and what not. Thank you for the fun times we had (e.g. in the States... see pic) and the talks about God, guys and goals. Thank you for sharing your sorrows as well as sharing your joy. Thank you for not just being a sister but a friend as well!

I wish you all the best for you finals and for finding the right place for the time after. I wish you a growing relationship with your heavenly Daddy and that He may guide you the right direction in all important decisions in this new year of your life. Welcome in the twenties =)

Love you!
maria

PS: For the rest of you: don't forget to let the most important people in your life know how much you appreciate them! I want to improve on it...