We are all safe and sound in Bolivia. We have had a difficult time with the internet connection at our hotel so, unfortunately, we have not been able to put up a blog post earlier. For now, we have to wait until we get to the church and find time to upload our pictures and our blogs while still engaging with the people here. It has proved a bit more difficult this year but God is good and it is all part of the adventure.
Our flight was delayed a bit while on the runway in Miami so we arrived here in Santa Cruz about an hour or so later than we anticipated yesterday morning. We slept intermittently on the flight and arrived a bit tired and a lot hungry. Thankfully, when we walked out of customs, Pastor Ruben and Pastor Isabel were there to greet us with warm hugs and smiles and we were taken to the bus to head to the hotel. Once at the hotel, the manager, as promised, had the daily breakfast still out waiting for us and we were able to get in a late breakfast before we even checked into our rooms. Little things, like a meal when you are hungry, are sometimes the biggest blessings.
There is one funny story to share that happened before we left the airport in Santa Cruz. As some of you know, Brandy, a member of our team, sells LuLaRoe clothing. It is predominately for women only and has colorful leggings, dresses, shirts and skirts. Some lovely people on Brandy’s team donated a great deal of clothing for us to take with us on the trip. We will be able to bless some of the ladies at the church here with gifts of some really beautiful clothes. We packed those clothes in various “team” suitcases. Each team member got to pack one suitcase of their own personal items and a second suitcase was designated for items we needed to bring down for team use. We packed some of the team suitcases full of LuLaRoe and various team members were responsible for carrying those suitcases through customs and immigration and to the hotel where we could organize them for the correct time to distribute them where they need to go.
At customs in the airport, we fill out the normal customs forms as we do in the United States with “Nothing to Declare” but the difference here is that once you clear the customs officer, they have you push a button and a light will either shine red or green. It reminds us of the old game show, “Press Your Luck.” You push the button and say, “No whammies, no whammies, no whammies,” hoping for that green light. If the light turns green, you get to leave customs and go out to our Bolivian friends. If the light turns red, you have to have every one of your bags searched by a customs officer. It’s completely random how the searches are done and, as usual, several of us had our bags searched, myself included. The humorous part was that one of the team bags full of lovely leggings and dresses was being carried by Rich…and wouldn’t you know that his bag got searched. The customs officer didn’t seemed phased at all but we were all giggling in the background as the officer went through the bright leggings and dresses in Rich’s team suitcase.
Once we finished breakfast at the hotel, we checked in, ran to the grocery store to purchase drinking water for our rooms, and we were able to take a little bit of time to sleep before we got ready for evening services. We met late in the afternoon to go get a quick bite to eat and then headed to the church for the young adult service. This service is full of life and fun and we were asked to bring a word to the young people.
We prayed a great deal about what to share with them and felt strongly that the Lord wanted a specific word spoken. Brandy and Patricia both shared and their stories, while different, were similar in their foundational truths. God is good, even in hard times. He is faithful and is to be trusted. He gives strength to the weak and His promises are true. He is still a miracle working God. You would have been so proud of these women as God used them as they shared their testimonies. As each one shared vulnerably about what they have lived through, God wove a thread through their stories and Jim was able to bring a closing word at the end to pull it all together. We as a team were able to surround young people in the service to pray with them. Many stood for prayer and it was a sweet, precious time with the Bolivian young people and with the Lord. We closed out our part of the evening with two songs in Spanish, one sung by Genelle and one by Andrew declaring God’s goodness and that He is a God of miracles. God is so good to use various people and different stories all to create one service that has the same theme and can touch the lives of people. It is such a blessing for us to be here with this Bolivian church family as we serve the same God and are brothers and sisters in the Lord. God continues to knit our hearts together with them and with each visit He brings us an even greater love for the people here.
At the end of the young adult service, we got to join in on the fun as the young people brought up their first time visitors, pulled names for prizes (Patricia won a bar of chocolate and Genelle won a whole cooked chicken!), and then we got to witness an engagement as one of the young men proposed to his now fiancé. It was such a sweet, fun time and it is such a joy to be reunited with so many people we love.
We know that God has great things planned for this week and this is only the beginning. We cannot wait to see what He is going to do. He has orchestrated this trip and this relationship so beautifully, as only He can and we are so honored to get to be a part of what He is doing in this country. His love for the Bolivian people is unmeasurable and we all get a front row seat to see what He is doing in this country. What a joy it is.