Visitors

 

Visitors- 

 

Anticipation:

There have been several moment marking experiences during the past year.

August – Arrival

September – New SMs arriving

October – Verification trip to La Paz

November – FIRES

December – Christmas away from home

January – SM vacation!

February – Dengue…and parents visit!

March – Volunteers from Southern!

 

We made it to our final moment marker of my year in Bolivia. Back in November, we learned that one of Southern Adventist Universities “Vision Trips” would be coming to Familia Feliz. I was beyond excited about this because it meant a whole new group of people would have the opportunity to live the life that we are currently experiencing. Plus, there would be a chance to get to know other students from my university a bit better.

However, that was back in November...there was still 4 whole months till that time would come. So, we went through each day as if nothing special was coming. The more I would anticipate something fun happening, the less “in the moment” I would become. Therefore, as my monthly checklist continued to get crossed off, the time slowly approached!

One of the student missionaries (SMs) from last year (Sierra Andersen) seemed to have taken the role of “student leader” of this vision trip. We would occasionally talk about different projects that needed to be completed in an effort to prepare for their arrival.

Our kids have been anticipating this event for months. At the moment there are *more or less* 13 full time volunteers that live on the campus of Familia Feliz. When you tell the kids that 23 EXTRA people will be coming to campus specifically to be with each kid, they are rather excited! All of my boys were quite literally counting down the days for a whole month before the volunteers arrived.

Something that I have been made aware of during my time in the mission field is the difference you have in the length of a mission trips. There are so many ways to serve as a missionary. Going on a week long mission trip is a great way to be a part of a community that cares about service. We were able to plan several projects to prepare for the time that Southern students were here. Some included completing the drop ceiling of our church, re-screening each window on campus, plumbing issues, and paining jobs. All of these would be impossible without the additional manpower provided by the missionaries.

The next level is an extended mission trip…like a mission year. I think its important to note that you don’t just have to be a student to do extended mission trips. Even at Familia Feliz, we have a volunteer that is dedicating 4 months of her life in service to these kids. It is a true mission experience. During an extended mission trip, you get a perspective of a permanent missionary without the permanent stay. The connections you make grow roots and become much more firm then they would on a short term mission trip. My job is to make sure the day to day operations of my house go well. This job is quite literally a 5:30am to 9:30pm job each day. Due to the crazy schedule of a house parent, the odd jobs of re-screening homes and replacing ceilings on a church just slip my mind. However, what does occur to me is the fact that the 23 extra volunteers need a place to eat, sleep and feel at “home” (as much as possible). The perspective a extended-term missionary has is a bit different.

Then…there is a permanent missionary. I’ve learned to have deep respect for anyone who is willing to take up the task of being a permanent missionary. It seems to me that a big part a being permanent missionary is to facilitate the coming-and-going nature of other missionaries. Being the one in charge of helping facilitate other people's mission moments can create a lot of pressure that others may not understand.

Even thought the students from Southern were only here a week the difference they made will be felt for years to come. The kids continually talk about the moments of soccer, football, projects and other times that happened during the volunteers time here. And for me having the chance to connect with new people…have adult conversations again…and just be connected to a larger community of people felt great while they were here.  But alas all things must come to an end, and I was really sad to see them go. I do have to say it was interesting to see others experience what I had experienced when I first arrived...the exhaustion,  joy, frustration, heat, and realization of what true missions feels like.

From what I have seen, Adventist Missions can be rather luxurious. We have such a structured and polished system, that it seems difficult to find a place where it is physically and mentally difficult. That is why I am so glad we have had the chance to be in a place like Rurrenabaque, Bolivia.

 

Surprises:

One of the things that made this week special was that Alysson Coa (my brother’s fiancé) would be on coming with the group. We also had several other family and friends of the other SMs coming as well. Carlo Lenor (a past SM), Olivia Slabbert (Sean’s Sister), Steven (Southern’s SM director), and several other prospective SMs joined us as well.

Another cool surprise was that about a month ago a great friend of mine, Braden Badger, had called me to tell me that he would not be able to go on the trip. Unbeknownst to me several spaces had opened up, which enabled Braden and another good friend, Joey Cirigliano, to surprise me at FF! The funny part is they kept it a secret from me, even though I was rather suspicious, until the bus/truck arrived!

 

Arrival:

The feeling of seeing the truck arrive on campus with 23 extra volunteers standing in the back was so strange. I was used to seeing many kids in the truck, or tons of gas tanks. However, this was the first time I saw a large group of foreign college students enter our campus. I was in the middle of cooking lunch for my house, which made me unable to do much upon their arrival. However, as soon as I had a moment to spare I ran over to the unloading station and greeted everyone.

This was the first time in several months that I was surrounded by a large group of people that spoke English. It honestly took me by surprise! I was not at all prepared to be around a ton of people my age. Usually it's just the 3 of us...Zoro, Sean and possibly Beth. No longer having any sort of language barrier between the people I am communicating with was also strange!

We brought the guys to their house and the girls to their upstairs quarters in the Harding house. It was about now that the heat started to get to all of the volunteers. Seeing people who desperately wanted to be of service…but also be exhausted, was definitely a reminder of my arrival here last August.

Week of work:

There was a LOT to do in the time that the Southern students were here at Familia Feliz. It is an understatement to say that they made a difference on our campus. While they physically improved our campus with they physical labor they did, they also made a difference in our kids.

One of the volunteers named Yumin told the boys his name was “Senor Benidicto”. I'm not sure why, but it stuck, even after they figured out what his real name was. He played games with the kids on a daily basis. After he left the boys play the games he showed them quite literally…all the time. The games had no name when they were first played, so all they say now is “Vamos a jugar Benidicto!” (let’s go play Benidicto!) His name is now the game they play.

Almost all of the volunteers made a similar impact. Whether it was a game they played, song they learned, shirt that was left, or memory made; an impact was felt.

Week in photos!

Upon arrival I had to get a selfie with Alysson and Braden! They had just spent 32 hours in a very lengthy process to arrive at Familia Feliz. It is not the easiest mission field to access, but such a unique one. It was at this moment that the heat started to hit everyone.

The guys brought an American football! We had lost ours a couple months back, so the kids were very happy to see another one! You can see Leonardo is more then excited to have new people to play with.

About an hour after arriving, several of the guys were very tired. After traveling all that time and then ending up in a place that is 100 degrees is not all that easy. We tried our best to explain that they need to rest, but everyone learns that with time.

Alysson’s main job was our babies! We recently received a set of 3 month old twins…yea…that’s young. The current volunteer we have to take care of them has many kids to take care of, which can be overwhelming. This set of volunteers came at a perfect time to give a needed break.

I took this picture when because I had a moment to go visit Alysson. When I entered the room, I sat with her and finally had the chance to talk to an “outsider” in person. The baby's room is so quite! This was the most peaceful my life had been in a month or so.

Since they arrived on a Friday, there was vespers that night. For all the worship services over the next week, the volunteers were in charge! It was fun to see how a new group of people did worship! Here is Joey walking some his assigned house’s kids to vespers.

It is always a surprise to see that we have two Macaws on campus! The kids like to run up and put them on new volunteer's shoulders. You can see that Hudson doesn’t know exactly what to think yet.

Worship by our volunteers

A tradition after church at Familia Feliz is to walk out of the church and say “Feliz Sabado” to every person who attended the service. We shake hands and continue to make Sabbath lunch at our houses.

Easily the longest I’ve ever seen the line.

Kenneth doing vespers on Saturday night!

Sunday morning began early because our pathfinder club was going to complete their swimming badge! Here are the boys attempting to cook breakfast.

The hour trip to our swimming hole “Leguna Verde”…the green lagoon. 

Arrived! To see that it was closed…after Melissa called the owners, they let us in and we began our swimming trials.

Here’s our swimming hole! Most of the volunteers were very cautious at first, but that went away after the kids decided to splash all of them.

There were so many people in the truck this time that Jayden and Hudson decided to hop on the back doors. Very safe out here!

I was still recovering from a severe lack of sleep for the past few weeks. Braden and Kenneth graciously volunteered to make dinner for my house. More then happy to eat some other college student's cooking for once!

During the heat of the day, Alysson found that the volunteer's rooms had fans, so she ended up sitting with a fan for a while. During these times, it was so nice to have the other guy volunteers watch the kids. It meant a guaranteed nap would happen for the SMs every day!

Team meeting! I wasn’t welcome :(

Zoro and all our work machetes 

Work began on the ceiling! The progress was fun to watch.

Each night of the week, the volunteers had planned VBS for our kids. It gave the SMs a good break and time to let the kids have some fun!

Day off! We left campus at 7:00am to make it to our day boat tour. 

I had been wanting to do one of these the entire time I have lived in Rurre. When Sierra asked if I wanted to join…the answer was yes for sure.

Foggy morning made for some sketchy boat times.

Went on a hike through the amazon jungle! You can imagine how many bugs and weird plants we saw.

Ended up at this awesome area that seemed straight out of a movie.

There ended up being a snake somewhere in here…I didn’t get a picture because I was much more focused on getting past him. But he ended up joining our tour.

We ended up at a sugar cane farm. We picked our own cane to use. Joey and Braden did SO much of the work.

We squeezed the juice into a huge bucket which was then served to use in coconuts! Very fitting for our area.

We hopped off and on the boats several times, each time creating a long line along muddy areas of the riverside. Each one of us had a fun time slipping down these steep areas.

There was a fresh semi-clean waterfall I had to dunk my head in, but it required me to walk through quicksand to get to it.

The entire vision trip group picture in front of our RURRENABAQUE sign.

Took a group to Roots! The owner, Rojelio, was very excited to get 15 people served at his business. He is one of my friends in town.

Next day was laundry day! I am not sure if any of the volunteers had done laundry by hand before arriving here.

Kenneth, Alysson, and Sophia as a part of a skit! The kids loved seeing them act.

I didn’t get a single picture of Steven during his time here, however he was such a blessing to our house. He makes INCREDIBLE food. Best of all…he makes bread that is to die for. He even taught me how to make cinnamon rolls. Updates coming on my version soon.

Progress on the ceiling!

Alysson spent quite a bit of time with these babies.

The next job was to re-screen all the houses. There are a LOT of screens to replace, so they couldn't replace them all. However, all the ones that were needed were done correctly.

Health examinations were conducted on most kids. Especially the children that needed it. We had several nurses and pre-med students, so everyone was very equipped to help out.

Alysson and more babies.

The ceiling is complete!

Alysson and I made empanadas for the kids! They were extremely excited.

Joey and Caleb!

Sabbath school for the little kids.

Kenneth, Joey, Braden and I after church!

This was a day before everyone headed out. It was beginning to hit me that their time was coming to a close.

Hudson, Yumin, Jayden were the guys in my house! The kids loved having them for the week. I did too!

The whole group.

Steven’s final batch of cinnamon rolls.

Sunday the cars were supposed to leave at 5:00am, however one driver forgot to come and delayed everyone 2 hours.

That meant I had some final time with everyone!

The final goodbye!

After something exciting like this happens…there is a transition period. To be honest, the first day (Sunday) was rather difficult. Not only for the kids, but for me as well. They constantly asked me about how the volunteers were doing and where they were. The problem was, I had the same questions. I had just built connections to MANY different people and had unforgettable experiences that I will treasure forever. All the people I had just lived a bit of my life with were no longer here.

I clearly remember Southern and what the fun college experience was like. Knowing that was the experience that the volunteers were going back to was a hard reality.

Staying in the moment is something I truly strive to do. However, recently I have had trouble with something. Checking the calendar app. In just 5 weeks I will no longer be here. Holding in my excitement for what awaits me at home is something I continually try to push away. So, instead of constantly thinking about what I will do upon arrival, I created a note on my phone. When I think about something that makes me crave a bit of home…I simply write 2 or 3 words to get it out of my head.

This method of home-prep has been very beneficial for me. Instead of craving something that I can not have, my phone is filled with lists of “patience practice(es)” as I like to call them. They allow me to anticipate something good while staying in the moment here.

The sad feelings faded after about a day. First, we have kids to provide for and show love to. Its hard to do that when all you are thinking about is other things. I quickly got back to cooking and baking with my boys. On another note…due to several flight delays, the group of volunteers from Southern got split up and assigned to different planes. A journey that should have taken just over a day ended up taking 3! I can imagine that all of them were excited to get back to Southern.

Nevertheless, time moves on. Rounding up the kids from their week of fun was rather difficult, but we eventually got there.

Moments from after the volunteers left:

The boys got to playing with several new toys RIGHT away.

I remember writing these SAME little letters of hope to missionaries and military members quite often back in elementary school. I had completely forgotten about them until I was given a package by our director. I definitely never imagined being the recipient of these letters.

Southern packed all of Zoro and my care package into different parts of a suitcase, here was everything that was left! The boys and I have a lot of American sugar to look forward to.

A VERY much appreciated gift from Braden.

I can’t go into too much detail, but this little guy and his brother ended up leaving this week. They may come back after some paperwork is filed, but it is definitely hard to let a little one go.

My favorite thing about waking up early!

One morning, I was notified that it was Fathers Day down here in Bolivia and the school had prepared a whole program for the men on campus! I had to push washing my clothes a few more days…I couldn’t miss a program made for me.

All of the kids wrote cards, prepared gifts, sang songs and said poems about fathers and the importance they carry in ones life. Even though it feels strange to say, many of these kids see me as a their father. They were more then excited to spend the day with me and watch all of us play games. Other kids were sad that they don’t truly have a father in their life. I had a difficult time balancing how to deal with the different reactions to the holiday.

This little guy ended up leaving later that day. It's photos like this that I would seriously regret not taking.

 

Memo and Aron having a…good time….sorta…during the Father’s Day games.

What it looks like to feed 100 people!

Hope to see them soon!

One of my boys wearing a shirt that was left for him by a volunteer! He still wears it now.

All my boys on Father’s Day! It was my first time being celebrated as a father…which I wasn’t exactly expecting during my mission year.

Five more weeks to make a difference in these kids lives. Things change on a daily basis out here, so I have no idea what to expect. As our volunteers experienced several times…plans can get disrupted on a moment’s notice, and there’s nothing you can do about it. While it gets me a bit frustrated at times…I’ve learned to just let it happen.

Over the past few weeks, one of my boys has kept me up nearly every single night for hours. I averaged about 4.5 hours of sleep each night for about 3 weeks. Some of my boys had nightly terrors that reminded him of his mom. He would come to me nearly every hour on the hour to help him fall back asleep. Each time I put him to sleep was about 30-40 minutes, therefore I had a rough few week. The poor boy seemed to be going through a spiritual warfare of his won. It hurt to see his pain, and imagine what it felt like…but have no experience to relate to him with.

While the devil clearly works and is trying to hurt the lives of our kids, the work of Jesus is so much more apparent.

Sierra said something that has stuck with me since August.

“The devil doesn’t fight for what he already has.”

The devil WANTS these kids. However, as long as we have God fearing Christians who are willing to stand up and live the life of missions…Satan doesn’t stand a chance.

Romans 10:13-14

“13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord

 will be saved.

14 How then will they call on him

in whom they have not believed?

And how are they to believe in him

 of whom they have never heard?

And how shall they hear

 without a preacher?”