Today is Friday, February 27th...

84 days gone
42 days here
42 days till i´m home

I´m halfway!*

One of my friends asked me the other day what was one thing the Lord has taught me while here. I have learned that absolutely nothing can separate me from the love of Christ.

Romans 8:28-39

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I have had to get past a lot of fears here, go through some hard times but the Lord has never left my side. I was thinking last night about my first week here. It was terrible! But it drew me so close to God. I prayed ALL the time, had to rely on him constantly for strength to get through the day. Last night I was thinking about how in a weird way I wanted that back. I think it sounds ridiculous because it was the hardest week of my life. But I felt so near to the Lord that week. You can be in the desert but the Lord leads you through it. What a comfort to know for the rest of my life that wherever He leads me, whatever He has me do...no matter how hard it is, I can do it because He will give me the strength to do it. AND he will comfort me. :)

Psalm 23:4 ...
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

It was hard to learn but I am so grateful because I know this will serve me for the rest of my life.

It reminds me of a song I love...

Out of the depths, O Lord, I cry to You

When I am tempted to despair.

And though I have failed to trust Your promises

You never fail to hear my prayer.

And, if you judge my sin, I'd never stand again.

But, I see mercy in Your hands.

So, more than watchmen for the morning,

I will wait for you, my God.

When my fears come with no warning,

In Your Word I put my trust.

When the harvest time is over,

and I still see no fruit,I will wait.

I will wait for You.

The secret mysteries belong to You.

We only know what You reveal.

And all my questions are unresolved

Don't change the wisdom of Your will.

In every trial and loss,

My hope is in the cross -

Where Your compassions never fail.

So, more than watchmen for the morning,

I will wait for you, my God.

When my fears come with no warning,

In Your Word I put my trust.

When the harvest time is over,

and I still see no fruit,

I will wait. I will wait for You.

(from the Psalms CD, Sovereign Grace Music)

Thanks for your prayers! I´m still sick. I had to get some anti-inflammatory pills from the hospital yesterday which have helped some. If I don´t get well soon I will go back and get a penicillin shot in case it´s strep. Please keep praying that I will be able to get everything done even though I´m not feeling well. You all are wonderful! Thank you!

Love, Julia

My best friends today....

Halls & Agua Pura!

I´m sick again! I wasn´t able to go to Naranjos with everyone yesterday. I woke up without a voice and with a terrible sore throat. I´m very thankful nothing has been serious...everything goes away within a day or two. I would be so grateful for your prayers! Thanks everyone! :)

Love, Julia

"It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness" Spurgeon

Hey everyone! It´s been a couple days...and I MISS YOU! :) I now have three English classes which are keeping me busy -- two classes a day Monday-Friday and three classes on Monday and Thursday. I love walking through town and having people say "Hi, teacher!" I went to "worship team rehearsal" last night :) It was a lot of fun. This week I'm going to practice "Open the eyes of my heart Lord, Open the eyes of my heart I want to see You" and "Come, now is the time to worship...." for next Sunday! It's kinda become a regular practice at night after church meetings for Angela, Lideo, and I go to into Guido´s and Maci´s room and make cookies or bread and watch a movie. They put English subtitles on for me. We watched some Christy last night. :) Not quite the same when they have Spanish voices but it was still great. On Sunday, there is Sunday school for the kids at 9 & 10:30am. The regular church service isn't until 4pm. Here are some pictures from the last couple days...

I LOVE this picture! Abby & Joas with their grandma :)

goofing off in Sunday School

Aleida, Nana, & Juanai´s mom holding Matias, the cutest little boy ever

Guido and Saphie walking back to the mission.

Isn't Guido and Maci´s stroller so cute! I can't get over it...lol.

It rained really hard last night so it´s nice and cold today. Because of the rain, all the bugs decided to come into my room so last night I killed 5 spiders (5!!!!!!!!) before I went to bed. And I slept with the light on...somehow I think that makes them go away.

Tomorrow the whole church is going to Naranjos for the day, kinda like a church picnic... It's about 20 minutes away by car. We're meeting at the church building at 7am and are going to walk there. The church here in Entre Rios kinda partners with the church there since it's so close. Sometimes their whole church comes to our service and they come to our worship team rehearsal. Their pastor preached here yesterday. We'll probably swim in the river, play basketball and soccer, make food...and walk back sometime after dinner. Should be fun!

It's been great hearing from all of you!

Love, Julia

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"
Isaiah 52:7

English classes, basketball, pigs, and pictures...

Hey everyone! My first English class was Monday night and it went very well! Anytime you have two different languages trying to communicate you have a lot of fun. The students are all around 14-17 years old and have had English classes with Angela for several years. In their past classes Angela let them pick an "American" name to be called during class. They were all asking me for ideas and I named all my friends so a lot of them are named after you! I will have that class every Monday & Thursday night we are here. I'm also teaching a class to Guido, Maci and Raquel. Our first one was this morning and it was a lot of fun. We will have that every morning everyone is available. The last several days we have been resting and just hanging out.

Last night and Monday night, Andreas, Angela, Uba (Ubalita!) & Sebastian (Abby & Joas´s parents), Miguel & I played basketball. It´s so nice to actually feel like an amazing basketball player. haha. :) We're going to play Friday night as well.

Last night I got to see Aleida! The first time I came to Entre Rios (2005) I met her and ever since we have kept in contact through e-mail. We saw her when we were here in 2007 as well. I am so glad I was able to see her! She is studying (Pre Med) in Sucre and had a couple weeks off so she is here visiting her family.

We have no traveling plans for at least a week. Pepe and several others are traveling to La Paz for a retreat so we staying here. The next week will consist of English classes, cooking, church meetings, visiting people, making lemonade probably ...;) Since I have time this week, I'm going to post pictures and share a little about each village we have gone to.

Here are some pictures of Entre Rios to help you get a better picture of where I´m living and who I get to spend my time with!....Enjoy!

Pepe (Pastor), Raquel and kids (Alita, Hani, Gabe, and Saphi)

Guido (Pastor), Macedonia (*Maci*) and baby Matias (5 months)

The church

Looking up at the mission from the basketball court

beautiful Saphie :)

Saturday, everyone here at the mission went to La Vilca, a beautiful village about an hour & a half away. The pastor (Tim Matayo) and his family invited us over because they had killed one of their pigs and were going to have a roast. This is a big occasion (kind of like a Thanksgiving) that only happens once or twice a year. When I heard a pig roast I was thinking of a little pig on a stick over a fire...maybe with some pineapple.. ya know? haha. jk about the pineapple...but I was a little sad because I've always wanted to be a Charlotte and take care of a little pig. Well the little pig was HUGE! Here are some pictures...

Not so adorable and I´m glad I saw this *after* I ate lunch :)

Pepe was teasing Andreas "which one are you?"....they do look a little alike here lol.

Church in La Vilca

Sitting waiting for the food to be ready....

Marcos! (Tim Matayo´s son)

I'm off to lunch...

Miss you all so much! Love, Julia

*lemons & lemonade:::trial & triumph*

So you´ve heard the saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"...well it totally works! Since we have been gone so much lately, the last couple days and the next couple days we are laying low and not traveling. Even though it´s nice to rest, it´s very easy to become homesick when you aren´t doing too much. Today has been a homesick day :) So I decided to go to the market and buy lemons and make lemonade. In my case, because of the bad water, I had to boil it before making it. You might not feel like you have what you need to turn deafeat into victory. Some of you may have no sugar. Others might not have a juicer. It´s hard to find the good in trying circumstances. But we don´t and can´t do it on our own. Remembering these verses has helped me....

Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

James 1:2-6 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Phillipians 4:11 "...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances."

...if you are having a bad day, make some lemonade... You´ll feel better, I promise. :)

Hey yáll (ahh that sounds nice...you don´t hear that here) :) Well I´ve been in bed sick since Saturday night throwing up and all that gross stuff. I´m starting to feel better this morning. Please pray I will be back to normal before tonight... I have my first english class! Love you all!
Julia

"You´re gonna miss this...You´re gonna want this back...You´re gonna wish these days...Hadn´t gone by so fast!!"

*Hola!*

Well the 6 hours (really 9) to the Tapiete tribe turned into a day and a half! Life in Bolivia! It rained (!) so the dirt roads were a mess. We had been driving three hours when we reached a land slide which blocked the road. A worker said that a bulldozer wouldn't be clearing the road till the next morning so we turned around and stopped to eat dinner in village close by to decide what to do. We decided to go a different way (longer) to get to the Tapiete tribe instead of going back to Entre Rios. We had to stop several times for Andreas to get out and roll big rocks out of the way (see picture). At about 11pm, Andreas made a small wrong turn (haha) and we ended up on very soft ground. We found out that the Land Rover (aka beast on 4 wheels :) actually can't do everything. We got stuck in the mud. We all "hopped out" of the car, which was pretty funny. We were sliding all over the place, mud everywhere. Somehow I got it on my face? Thankfully, everyone here has such great attitudes when things go wrong so we were all laughing and having quite a fun time standing in the rain and mud and cold and late and not knowing what we were going to do and...:). Our group of 12 adults and 2 kids took two cars. In our car we had Andreas, Maci (and baby Mattias), Raquel (and Saphie), Angela, and me. Pepe's car with Guido, Loriana, Antonia, Ivan, and Rebecka was behind us somewhere. Since we had made a slight wrong turn off of the right road, Raquel and I ran to where the right road was hoping they would see us. We were about 10 seconds too late and they passed the spot not seeing us. That is where we met our drunk friend. Absolutley harmless mom and dad, he tried helping us by running after Pepe´s car. He slipped because of the mud and of course we didn't laugh at all. Angela tried calling Pepe on the cell phone, hoping we would catch them before they left the small town (cell phone range). She was able to get a hold of them and they turned around! YES! The next hour consisted of us girls huddled together praying and watching while the guys shoveled mud away from the tires and found rocks to lay in the mud. They were trying so hard not to get mad at the drunk guy who kept trying to help by yelling "STOP!! OK GO!!" They did a great job. After about an hour we got out of the mud and continued on! We stayed the night at a friend´s church and the next morning after a good breakfast we left. About 5 hours later we at last pull into the tapiete tribe!

Definitely my favorite village! It´s very small, about 2o kids and 10 adults. When we arrived, we visited with everyone for a couple hours. We all gathered under a big tree and Raquel led a time of sharing with the women and encouraging them. Andreas led a brief worship time and then the guys set up the tents while Angela and I made dinner. Making dinner there was quite the experience. The first step...finding firewood. I was grumbling to myself that girls should not have to get firewood to cook dinner. O well, I got over myself and tried to cheerfully find dry firewood to pull back to the village. The main reason why I was having a hard time was because I am scared to death of ticks and Angela told me that there were a lot of ticks there. The two big things I was scared about this trip was getting lice and getting ticks. Well, I am proud to say I got one out of the way. Our firewood trip gave me two ticks. :) happy happy happy. So Angela made a fire and we cooked rice, potatoes, and sardines for dinner. We were all hungry and it was warm so it was amazing! We showed a film "Light of the World" on the projector that night. The next day we did crafts and songs with the kids! It's weird to think that none of them know what they look like. I took a picture of each kid and showed it to them. They got a huge kick out of that. Some of them just stared at it, not knowing what it was. They also freaked out when they saw the bubbles! *Thanks Mrs. Griffith!!* They all ran around trying to catch them and eat them. I was really blessed by the kids there.

*side note* Andrew and Micah, that boy in the bottom right corner in the red looked and acted so much like you two. I miss you boys! And Nay Nay, I saw a girl that looked just like you today (dark hair, dark eyes, dimples) and I almost started crying. Miss you! and I miss you too, BEN! Ok everyone! haha..**

Antonia, Raquel and I cut every ones hair! All the younger girls got pixie cuts (so cute). It was a lot of fun. I feel bad for the first girl, I did a terrible job! O well. :) I didn't know how to tell her to look ahead and not move suddenly in Spanish... Some of the older girls wanted layers. I tried. It looked fine when I was done but their hair was wet. Hopefully they won't wake up in the morning upset. ..but then again they don't have mirrors! The perfect place to practice cutting hair!! :) I thought of you Hannah and JJ!

It started to rain in the afternoon, actually POUR! It rains there twice a year! I'm glad we were there when it rained because it wasn't hot at all! We played in the rain for a while and then packed up and left. The way home took just as long because of the roads being blocked. We were within half an hour of Entre Rios when we had to stop for an hour because a huge rock had fallen in the middle of the road. Despite all the delays we all had fun being together!

I've been here almost a month. It´s hard to believe it's been that long but it also seems like it's been a year or two! Sometime soon I hope to post pictures and updates about each village we have gone too. Miss you all! I love hearing from all of you!

*Tomorrow Angela and I are going to Tarija (5 hours by bus) to make copies for Sunday school materials and English classes.*

I'll end with a quote my mom sent me the other day. It's really good and makes you think! :)

*My name is Pride. I am a cheater.

I cheat you of your God-given destiny...because you demand your own way.

I cheat you of contentment...because you "deserve better than this."

I cheat you of knowledge...because you already know it all.

I cheat you of healing...because you're too full of me to forgive.

I cheat you of holiness...because you refuse to admit when you're wrong.

I cheat you of vision...because you'd rather look in the mirror than out a window.

I cheat you of genuine friendship...because nobody's going to know the real you.

I cheat you of love...because real romance demands sacrifice.

I cheat you of greatness in heaven...because you refuse to wash another's feet on earth.

I cheat you of God's glory...because I convince you to seek your own.

My name is Pride. I am a cheater. You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you.

Untrue.

God has so much for you, I admit.

But don't worry...

If you stick with me,

you'll never know.*

Love,

Julia

ps. Look what I found! Apple juice!! ah :)

Home and off again...:)

We got back last night around 12:30 am from Tentaguazu and Nukumbia. We showed a Jesus film in both villages and held a Vacation Bible School for the kids. We put on a puppet show, showed felt stories and did crafts. ...and of course the balloon animals and bubbles! Southern Bolivia is experiencing a drought right now. It´s the rainy season and many villages haven´t seen rain in weeks. This is very bad since they live off of their crops. Many of the dads are having to go to Argentina to work. Please pray it RAINS!!! :)

We are off to the Tapeite tribe, a village about 6 hours away (which means 9 :). It is south of Entre Rios, close to Paraguay and Argentina. They say it is like going to a different world. If the Bolivians say that, I have no idea what it will be like for me! There are about 50 people that live in this village. It´s very hot, sometimes gets up to 120. There are 12 of us going. We should be back Thursday or Friday!

Until then...BYE :)
love,
julia

Las Abras: Love

Hey everyone :) Hope you are doing well!

We got back from San Josiseto and Las Abras yesterday, very tired, sore, and dirty! The hike was very challenging. It was mainly uphill and was very hot, over 100 degrees in the shade! I didn´t know if I was going to make it. The only things picking me up from staying on the ground for a couple days was the fact that we only had a couple of ounces of water left and so we had to keep going. The trip was not only physically overwhelming, it was emotionally overwhelming. At my breaking point (a couple tears were present :) about half way through the hike, I asked Angela how she did it. She said: "Love." Its seems simple. It sounds simple. It´s a short word and when we think of it we are overwhelmed with thoughts of people, laughter, happy thoughts (what we receive). The kind of love Angela was talking about is a little different. To love someone (or a people) that much is hard, almost too hard. Almost. Not one ounce of it is about yourself. It is a giving love. She said, "The Lord has called me to do this. It´s hard, but the kids are worth it, they are good earth." Wow. So we prayed aloud and then kept going with fresh strength.

While there, we held a Vacation Bible School during the afternoon for the kids, and every night we had a church service. During the day we went to each house and visited and encouraged. The kids there are so sweet. They listen to everything you have to say. They love affection.

Yesterday, after we crossed the bridge, finishing the hike, we all sat down and rested while Andreas went to get the Land Rover. While sitting there, I saw Santiego crossing the bridge. This man is from Las Abras. He lost half his arm when he was 5 in a meat grinder, and later on in his life somehow crippled his leg. He hobbles around with a stick. This man hiked the two hours just like us. He normally comes on his donkey, but it ran away that morning. He falls over and over again but he keeps going. He brought Pepe and Guido to a village an additional two hours from Las Abras one time. Why? Because the people there wanted to hear the gospel. He fell numerous times, but kept getting up saying, "Let's go, these people need to hear the gospel." Overwhelming...

* We are off this afternoon to Tentaguasu, a village a couple hours away by car. Andreas is bringing his projector and we are going to show the Jesus Film in the tribe's language. Angela and I are also going to do crafts with the kids. I´m excited about the film being shown, I can´t believe I have the opportunity to witness it. I´ve heard the response to the film is incredible. Please be praying :) We will be back Sunday.*

Love,
Julia

It´s a great day to be alive!!

I woke up this morning without a headache and feeling much better. Andreas, Angela and I are off to San Josiseto in a couple hours (2 hour drive) and in the morning we will hike the 2 hrs to Las Abras. We are going to do crafts with the kids and train some of the youth to teach Sunday school. We will be there till Thursday. Sorry so short, I can´t wait to update you in more detail. We are so busy! Thanks for your prayers :)
love, Julia

Prayer Request

Hey everyone, just a quick post with a prayer request. I'm feeling pretty sick. I'm very tired, weak and am fighting a headache. I'm hoping it will wear off with sleep and lots of water! The Vacation Bible School in Potreillos went very well! Lots of kids came and we had an awesome opportunity to minister to a smaller tribe. I will post more about it this week along with pictures. Please pray that I will feel better! Tomorrow we are either going to Tarija (5 hour bus) for the day or Las Abras (2 hour bus, 2 hour hike) for several days. Please pray I will wake up tomorrow morning feeling better and ready to go! *THANK YOU SO MUCH!*
Love, Julia