I´m still in Guayaramerin and I most likely will finish this blog when I´m back at the university but I thought I'd start writing now so I´ll be able to keep my promise =) I also really hope, I´ll have the time to create some photo albums this weekend. I´m drowning in pics and I´m anxious to share at least some of them with you.The past week at the "Centro Educativo Tecnico Industrial Richard Gates" (basically an Adventist boarding highschool with focus on different industries run my missionaries) has been really great. I actually enjoyed my week away from university. Getting up at 5am - WITHOUT any bells =) but most of all: getting to know people and a project I wanted to get to know for some years, talking and especially praying in English and another break from routine. I know I´m here to practice Spanish, but it was great to let it go for some days and mix the languages whenever you felt like it. Especially with my two (temporary) house mates it was funny. Keila is Mexican and Tara is American. Keila asks in Spanish and Tara answers in English. They actually do this language soup all the time - on campus, in the bus, in town... I loved it. On Sabbath the three of us sang "My Jesus I love thee" together in church (see pic) - one verse in Spanish, one in English... and one in German =) But there's hope for all who don't like langugages as much as I do: monolingual heaven!
What else...?
Well, there were some people at the school that really inspired me, especially an American family with 6 kids (age 3 to 17). There was another American family with 4 kids and a very young couple with 3 little ones (youngest one 3 weeks... born right there in the jungle). Somehow, hearing the word "missionary", the first "candidates" that are crossing my mind are young people who are kind of free to go where they want. Thinking about it for 2 minutes, I might include young couples without kids and not married people in general, but a family with 6 kids? Or being pregnant in the middle of nowhere? Mmmmh... Don't know, maybe it's just me, but I was kind of thinking: travel wherever you can as long as you're single; you might never have the chance of just taking a year "off" after getting married and for sure not with toddlers! I won't forget Amanda and Miguel and their three sweet little daughters nor Jenny and her 5 younger siblings or Tony and his family. They've taught me a lesson: a life as a missionary doesn't have to be over after getting married and pregnant. If God wants you to, it can start whenever you want!
I'm back to the university, back to my Brazilian friends, but there is something else I won't forget: belonging to God's family is just great! The message that I wanted to stay at the school for a week never got through, but they welcomed me anyways. They didn't allow me to use my matress but gave me a bed and treated me like a part of the "school family" right from the beginning. I got to share my experience of the Sabbath of the jungle hike for the reception of the Sabbath there, helped out with a maths class because Tara got sick, got to go on the weekly shopping tour with the cook and carry all kind of stuff... Keila insisted on me being a guest when it came to me wanting to wash her bowl and spoon - but sometimes I was just faster... =) It is really a privilege to belong to God's world wide family and whereever you go - there's something to do for you.
God's children are actually never out of work and as long as you work for Him, he'll take care of your needs! Keila, for example, went to town on Tuesday with her last 40 Bolivianos (a little bit more than $5). She doesn't get any money from the school and as a certified teacher, she could actually find a better paid job... but there in town, writing emails and chatting with friends, somebody she isn't really close to, enters the chat, tells her that God impressed him to send her some money, asks for the information how to send her money and disappears. She said this was not the first time something like that happened and I'm sure, she doesn't want to trade these experiences for anything!
I know that not everybody is supposed to leave his/her country to serve God in a far-away mission field, but if you get a chance to do it - and even if it's just short time - don't hesitate. It will not only broaden your horizon, but strengthen your faith, teach you to live just with the basics and humble you quite a bit. It's a worthwhile experience!
Being anxious to know what God has in store for my life:
maria
What else...?
Well, there were some people at the school that really inspired me, especially an American family with 6 kids (age 3 to 17). There was another American family with 4 kids and a very young couple with 3 little ones (youngest one 3 weeks... born right there in the jungle). Somehow, hearing the word "missionary", the first "candidates" that are crossing my mind are young people who are kind of free to go where they want. Thinking about it for 2 minutes, I might include young couples without kids and not married people in general, but a family with 6 kids? Or being pregnant in the middle of nowhere? Mmmmh... Don't know, maybe it's just me, but I was kind of thinking: travel wherever you can as long as you're single; you might never have the chance of just taking a year "off" after getting married and for sure not with toddlers! I won't forget Amanda and Miguel and their three sweet little daughters nor Jenny and her 5 younger siblings or Tony and his family. They've taught me a lesson: a life as a missionary doesn't have to be over after getting married and pregnant. If God wants you to, it can start whenever you want!
I'm back to the university, back to my Brazilian friends, but there is something else I won't forget: belonging to God's family is just great! The message that I wanted to stay at the school for a week never got through, but they welcomed me anyways. They didn't allow me to use my matress but gave me a bed and treated me like a part of the "school family" right from the beginning. I got to share my experience of the Sabbath of the jungle hike for the reception of the Sabbath there, helped out with a maths class because Tara got sick, got to go on the weekly shopping tour with the cook and carry all kind of stuff... Keila insisted on me being a guest when it came to me wanting to wash her bowl and spoon - but sometimes I was just faster... =) It is really a privilege to belong to God's world wide family and whereever you go - there's something to do for you.
God's children are actually never out of work and as long as you work for Him, he'll take care of your needs! Keila, for example, went to town on Tuesday with her last 40 Bolivianos (a little bit more than $5). She doesn't get any money from the school and as a certified teacher, she could actually find a better paid job... but there in town, writing emails and chatting with friends, somebody she isn't really close to, enters the chat, tells her that God impressed him to send her some money, asks for the information how to send her money and disappears. She said this was not the first time something like that happened and I'm sure, she doesn't want to trade these experiences for anything!
I know that not everybody is supposed to leave his/her country to serve God in a far-away mission field, but if you get a chance to do it - and even if it's just short time - don't hesitate. It will not only broaden your horizon, but strengthen your faith, teach you to live just with the basics and humble you quite a bit. It's a worthwhile experience!
Being anxious to know what God has in store for my life:
maria
