One day at a time!

Hola! :)

One day at a time. That´s something I tell myself very often! If I worry about tomorrow or the next couple months I miss what the Lord wants me to do TODAY. It's helped a lot!

Last night Angela, Macedonia (Geto´s wife. Geto is one of the Pastors here. They have a 4 month old son who is adorable.) and I talked for a long time. It was so encouraging being able to get to know Maci better. She is in her late 20's and is really sweet and fun to be around. We talked about Bolivians, the culture, how people think here, the youth, how the kids camp went, etc. I learned a lot more about the people here in Entre Rios. It helps me understand them more and helps me in how to pray for them. We were talking about some of the kids that came to the camp from some of the more remote villages (Las Abras, San Josicito). There is such a difference in how they act from the "city kids." They are almost expressionless. Maci said it's because they do not receive affection at home from their parents. It was so sad. We tried to love on them as much as we could. Some of them broke down because they have never felt loved. Wednesday night we took all the kids to the midweek church service. There is something about hearing Bolivian kids sing worship songs. Gets me like nothing else. :)

*side note* Sorry if my writing is hard to understand. I´m sure my mom and sisters are cringing at my grammar and how I am writing :). For one, it actually feels weird writing in English. I am constantly surrounded by Spanish. Two, I don't have a lot of time so I'm writing pretty fast. I hope you can understand what I am trying to say and this goes for all my posts to come. Oh, and for some reason the spell check isn´t working. SO sorry about that. :)

This morning Angela and I went into town to buy things to make pancakes. In America we would call what we made ...oh man, I just forgot. Pancakes are thick compared to what we made. The ones we made were thin and we rolled homemade peach jam in them. Crapes? Lol I know I spelled that wrong.

Angela and I just washed our clothes. They wash them by hand in a tub and them hang them on the line to dry. It took about an hour. I enjoyed it.

I think were going to go to the river today. It's the thing to do here this time of year. The water is clean, and people go swimming in it. I think we are going to go with Abby and Joas :) :).

Tonight we are going to try and make tacos and burritos! YES!!!!!! I'm bringing the Mexican to Bolivia ;). We have had rice, potatoes and chicken every meal. During the kids camp, that's all they make because it is simple to make in bulk. I have peeled so many potatoes and onions, oh my. I haven't really had an appetite this past week, but I am making myself eat because I don´t want to get sick. Everyone in the kitchen was laughing at me because while I was cutting the onions, tears were streaming down my face. I couldn't stop them. Then they tried talking to me in Spanish and I was trying to understand and respond while I couldn´t see. It was pretty funny.
Can you please lift up the following two things in prayer? One is huge, and the other is very small. The first would be a new constitution that will be voted on *this* Sunday. Pepe just preached to the congregation about it, telling them to vote NO on it. It would change a lot of things here in Bolivia, making it a lot more like Cuba. Some of the things it will change: Right now, Catholicism is the official religion in Bolivia. They teach it to the kids in school. The constitution will take that away and make the official religion one derived from the Incas. If the constitution passes, it will probably prohibit going to villages and preaching. This would be forcing religion. The mission goes to about 7 different villages, so I'm not sure what it would look like. It would legalize abortion (Even though it is illegal right now, a lot of abortions take place here by witch doctors). It would legalize homosexuality. It would recognize 12 year olds and up as "adults" (mainly for sexual choices). They can do whatever they want, they do not have to listen to their parents. You can only imagine... Angela said the effects probably won't be seen for a couple years but it would be a huge step in the wrong direction. She said just like the vote for the president, even though the majority might vote no, it might be rigged. Please be in prayer!! This is HUGE for Bolivia!

The second thing, it seems so small but I´m going to ask anyway. I have really bad bug bites. They are huge (like welts)! I can handle the pain, it's not that bad but they are definitely uncomfortable. Please pray they would go away quickly and that I would not be stupid and put bug spray on in the future! ;) Thanks!!

Love you all.
Miss you,
Julia

P.S. I will post pictures soon.