*Behold, I am making all things new* :) Revelation 21

We got back late last night from our third time to Las Abras. :)

"The pleasure of travelling *****" (five star!)

Driver taking a quick nap before leaving

To get to San Jocesito you have to take two buses. Our first bus left us off at the stop and after waiting an hour the second bus finally came except it was packed full. We couldn't stay there all night seeing it was just Angela and I, so we had to resort to getting in the back of this thing (below) for the remaining two hour trip... :)

There were about 15 of us back there. The truck started off and all of us slid to the other side. I'm a very vocal person and I laugh really loud when I'm nervous but I didn't want to embarrass Angela so I tried to act like it was an everyday commute, nothing scary about the back tires going a little off the side of the mountain!!!! We got there fine :) Beautiful view crossing the bridge early in the morning. This is at Abuela's house. She is the grandmother and greatgrandmother to most of the kids in Las Abras. She's catching one of her chickens here for our lunch.

We had a kids meeting Saturday afternoon and that night we had one for the adults. Sunday morning we had a meeting for both. I shared Saturday night the message I gave in San Josecito on loving others, including your enemies. In Las Abras, families are always fighting with each other. Someone's pigs got into someone's corn, someone stole someone's chicken.... It's hard for the adults to grow there because they do not know how to read and can't read the Bible.
The kids love the puppets!! They don't know yet that it's actually us. Angela does an amazing job!! Playing in the field after the kids meeting Santiego's grandson. He's 7 but so small! He has no teeth either but is the cutest kid ever!

Here he is after crossing a stream with us..his pants all rolled up :)

They feed you good in the country! After a bowl of chicken soup, a plate of rice, potatoes and spicy chicken, they gave us each a huge piece of watermellon. Amazing!!

Aleida :)
Rosie!!

I was thinking about three months ago when we first went to Las Abras and how things have changed since then. My first time there I tried to shelter myself so much. I would inspect the kids' heads for lice before picking them up. I would scan the grass before sitting down making sure there were no spiders. I would look at their hands, hesitating before holding them because they had warts on them. Most of the kids have scabies. I would wince when a mother handed me her baby that didn't have a diaper because a lot of the kids have worms there. I was very fearful. Yes, there is wisdom in being careful with such things but it was hindering me so much! A little kid falls and cries so you want to rock them, you can't worry about their lice. To become their friends and share Jesus with them you have to play with them, hold their hands, kiss them, show them affection. So you just pray!! Lord, please protect me from all this things!! :)
We have been to Las Abras three times, and I have learned so much and enjoyed each time. Hiking makes you think a lot. This hike back I was thinking a lot about heaven. Mainly because each time I go to Las Abras I am so affected by Santiego (the man who has one arm and who has a crippled leg).

I always break down when I see him worshiping with his one arm. There are a lot of disabled people in Las Abras. "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away" Revelation 21:4. One day, Santiego will have no pain. :) He will be able to worship with both hands! To think of all those who are blind, what a sight they will see! Those who are mute or deaf! Think about it for a minute...it's overwhelming to think of them entering heaven!! I hope I can stand at the gate and watch people enter. I came back and read notes from one of Spurgeon's sermons on suffering... Be encouraged!!

No Tears in Heaven
August 6th, 1865
C. H. Spurgeon(1834-1892)

"The night is dark, but the morning comes. Over the hills of darkness the day breaks forth. It may be that the road is rough, but its end is almost in view, you have been climbing up the steep sides of the mountain, and from the top of it you can view your glorious inheritance. True the grave is still before you, but your Lord has snatched the sting from death, and the victory from the grave. Do not, O burdened spirit, limit yourself to the confining miseries of the present hour, but let your eye gaze with fondness on the enjoyment of the past, and view with equal love the infinite blessings of eternity past, when you did not exist, but when God chose you for himself, and wrote your name in his book of life; and then let your glance flash forward to eternity future, to see the mercies which will be yours even here on earth, and the glories which are stored up for you beyond the skies."

Love Spurgeon! Have a wonderful week!

Love, Julia

*Mah-Tay*

Hola! :)

For those of you who have been to Bolivia you are sure to know what Mate is! Mate (pronounced Mah-Tay) is the national drink of Bolivia (also Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, and Chile). It´s a tea-like beverage derived from Yerba Mate tree leaves. Drinking it is HUGE here...a big part of the culture. You always drink it with friends...while sharing your soul (that´s what they say here :) I wish I had some pictures of us actually drinking it but I don't...so here are some pictures from Google so you can see what it looks like. :)

Monday & Wednesday night Guido, Maci, Uba, Beto, Angela, Lideo, Maria Angela, Pepe, and I all stayed up till about midnight talking, telling jokes, singing, playing the guitar and of course drinking mate! Fun times!!

We also drank coca cola con leche. *yellow cups*

Beto

Ruth Abigail :)

It's been raining here a lot lately. It came late this year...it's officially fall here and it normally doesn't rain this much during this time of year but no one is complaining...the crops need it. Hopefully the roads won't be too bad because we are going to the country this weekend. We're leaving in an hour for San Josecito and Las Abras. Should be back Monday, but who knows after last trip! Sure to be an eventful weekend! :)

Hanging out in my room... Wow, I'm going to miss him.

Two weeks today and I'm back to my "home by the sea" :) That's where they say I live. I like it.

Love, Julia

"I hope you have the time of your life"...

Well, I simply love it here and am having the time of my life!! This weekend was very busy and lots of fun. Thursday was Father's Day so Raquel asked if I would make a cake for a little party at the mission. Made lunch Thursday, then the cake. Thursday night I had my youth English class. Two more students were added so it was a busy night catching them up on the lessons. After class, Lideo, Angela and I went out for icecream while the marriage meeting was going on at the mission. When we got back we had the Father's Day party.

Saturday we all went over to Naranjos for Beto's 23rd birthday! He's the worship leader there. They asked me to make a cake, so I did. Naranjos is about 20 minutes from Entre Rios. Picture the ride over: it was hysterical. Guido drove (!), the car was packed, bumpy curvey roads, cattle in the middle of the road, and I was holding a huge frosted cake! A couple close calls of the cake flying ...thankfully we all got there in one piece. Beto is the only one in his family who is a Christian so he wanted to use his birthday to reach out to them. He asked Guido to lead a time of worship and give a short message before the huge meal they always have for brithdays. There are two traditions here before eating the birthday cake. You have to make three wishes, tell two of them and keep one of them in your heart -- that's what they say here. :) One of his wishes he shared was that his whole family would come to know Christ. He shared this with his family at the table and then played for everyone a song he wrote. It was a prayer to God for his family, that they would come to know Him. It was amazing. His siblings were very affected and his sister came to church the next day! Pray for his family! The other tradition here is you have to take a bite out of the cake. Of course those around try and smash your face into it. While eating cake, they had people share with Beto an encouragement or a song.

Uba sang a song with Guido. It was so pretty! then they all started chanting my name like I was to go out there and sing in front of everyone. yeah OK! I was so nervous I wanted to throw up. I thought I was going to get away with it but then Beto asked me to sing so of course I had to go out there. Here are some pictures...

Beto in the green

Afterwards we rode his horses part of the way back to Entre Rios!

That night was the youth meeting!

Sunday, Lindanadia and I made another Father's Day cake for the church service at 4pm. She's 22 and from Argentina and is here visiting her family for a couple days. It was fun hanging out with her!

After the church service the kids put on a little song for the dads. They dressed up as animals. It was so cute! Joas was an elephant...

He got embarrased during the song and took off his costume, started bawling and ran offstage. So Guido went ahead and put it on and filled in. :) The kids forgot the words to the song, their costumes were falling off...but of course it was adorable. We all hung out after the service and had cake and soda! That night we had worship rehearsal! Here are the words to my favorite song!!!

Te Alabaré

Eres tú la única razón
De mi adoración, Oh Jesús
Eres tú, la esperanza que
Anhelé tener, Oh Jesús

Confie en ti, me has ayudado
Tu salvación me has regalado
Hoy hay gozo en mi corazón
Con mi canto te alabaré

Te alabaré
Te glorificaré
Te alabaré
Mi buen Jesús

En todo tiempo te alabaré
En todo tiempo adoraré

Here are some cute picture of Matias! He's getting so big!
A famous drink here is Coca Cola and Milk. Sounds really gross...but it's really good! And I even hate milk. Matias likes it too, as you can see...

Aww!

I have two opportunities coming up I would love for you to pray for! Next week, I'm going to have a party for the teenage girls here. Angela has been trying to talk to them about purity in their relationships so we came up with the idea to have a party and incorporate a time to talk afterwards about love and purity. Were going to start the party by watching A Walk to Remember. All of the girls here love that movie and we figured it could spark a conversation on love. The girls of the church are going to invite their friends from school who don't know Christ. Pray that they will come! And please pray for me in what to say afterwards. Pray that I would be able to capture their attention without watering down the message and my convictions. Pray that they would feel comfortable with talking and that our conversation would encouarge them to change. I'm so excited, I'm going to make invitations (thanks mom for that ribbon you sent...I was wondering what it was for...and now I know!) and were going to have food of course because what's a party without food!! :)

The second opportunity...One of the teachers in the church here asked if I can teach one of her high school classes about American culture. We haven't set the date yet for when, but I'll let you know. I'm hoping to incorporate Christianity. I will need your prayer! Thank you so much!

Looks like we will be here all week. This weekend we may go to Las Abras!!

Love, Julia
ps. 17 days!

*Life Under the South American Sun :)*

Hola! It's a beautiful, sunny day here in Entre Rios! ....Monday night was the school's 49th aniversary so there was a huge festival in the plaza with music, food, and games... So much fun! Angela and I were mobbed with little girls the whole night. Since you love them, here are some pics...

***************************************************

**************************************************These girls are so cute! They run up to you and say "Hi, teacher!" and give you a kiss on your cheek. Everyone here greets each other with a kiss on the cheek, so when I get back don't be alarmed if I do it out of habit!! ;) I'm bringing it back to Orlando...:)

Sunday, the streets by the soccer field are closed off and there is a huge market...

...with tons of empanada stands...:)

I'm off to watch Abby, Joas, and Saphie. I've been taking them every afternoon to the park and then to get ice cream! Church service tonight...

Love,
Julia

checkin in :)

**Hola!** I only have a minute but wanted to check in real quick...

I'm loving being here! I have had so much JOY lately. Thanks for all your prayers! This last week I've been super busy with English classes, watching kids, studying Spanish, cooking, and church meetings. Angela and I have also been putting some stuff together for the Mission:X medical team coming this summer. They really want to educate the people as well as provide medical care, so we are putting together some presentations and brochures on different diseases and also on drinking water, hygiene, and getting the right vitamins and nutrients from foods.

Angela and I went to Tarija on Friday. We got on the bus at 3am Friday morning and got into Tarija around 7am. We had some hot chocolate and bread at a little cafe in the freezing cold! It was so fun and I could def do that every morning!! We made some copies, stopped at the bank, met up with Loraina and had lunch. We also stopped at the immigration office to ask about my visa days. I am coming back here in July with Mission:X for two weeks (I'm so excited!!!!) so we had to make sure that I would be able to get back in. You're only allowed 90 days a year and this trip is 85 days leaving only 5 left. I was going to change my ticket which costs $200 and come back a week earlier this trip so I would have enough but we found out I didn't need to! They are going to charge me 7 bolivianos a day for the amount of days I'm over so it will only be about $7 in fees when I leave. Praise God! So I'm still coming back April 10th... :( and :)

We had worship rehearsal last night and it was amazing! I love learning songs in Spanish...

I just found out Dave Harvey is coming to Metro Life on May 3rd . I´m soo excited! He came to Metro in October and gave a message called "The Audacious Claim of the Unstoppable Gospel." It was a life changing message for me! If you have some time, I really encourage you to listen to it! He came during the time I was struggling with the decision on whether to come here. The Lord really spoke to me during the message, it was so clear that I was to GO! I listened to that message probably 10 other times in the months leading up to leaving. If you don't come to Metro, you should come visit! The service starts at 10am and it's off of Winter Park Dr. and Red Bug in Casselberry.

A couple prayer requests por favor! :)

1) There is a girl who works in one of the little stores here. I go in there a couple times a week to get things and each time I've been able to talk with her for a little bit... She's pretty snotty to a lot of people but she's always been nice to me and I really have a burden on my heart for her. I really want to share the gospel with her before I leave so please pray that I will have the chance! I know I will have the chance, so actually pray I will not be nervous and that she understands my Spanish. :) I don´t know her name (first step I should figure that out I guess, hehe) but if you could pray for her this week and whenever you remember to. Pray that the Lord would begin to soften her heart so when the gospel is shared she will receive it!

Also...

2) Please please pray for the youth of Entre Rios!! I'm not sure what I should write on here, so until I find out please just pray for them...whatever comes to mind! There have been some things involving witchcraft with some of them. Thanks so much!!!!!

Last night I hung out with 5 of the girls in the youth group. It was so fun and despite the language barrier we had a blast! Here are a couple pics. The internet is really slow right now so only two...

Taking the kids to the park...ok bye!

Love,

Julia

Country life

O. My. Goodness. What a trip! We did go to San Josecito and Las Abras and wow, I will never forget it. I kept thinking this weekend... I can't believe I am experiencing this, seeing this, doing this...

We left Entre Rios Friday afternoon at 5 and got into San Josecito around 10pm. We made our beds in the church and went to sleep so we could get up early the next morning to hike to Las Abras. We woke up around 6am, had some bread and tea at the pastors house and started hiking!

my bed :) two benches pushed together

Leaving San Josecito...White Flag=Bread! Stopped to get some....

Leaving San Josecito...crossing the river on the scary bridge!!

Crossing a stream....

We took the long way this time (6 hours) so we could stop at all the brothers' and sisters' houses to invite them and their kids to the meetings.

What a place...it's a village in the middle of the mountains where everyone calls you hermana.

Crushing peppers for our soup

I learned the best way to kill a pig and how to make tea from avocado leaves. It's a place where chicken soup for lunch is a treat. It's a place where getting your child to bed is rocking them while picking lice out of their hair. They have a school, but the teacher just left after only teaching 2 classes. I guess teaching 6 grades together is hard?! ;) All the kids are grades behind in books but they know how to make sling shots and kill birds for dinner.

Some of the kids and Angela!

Most of the men there have left to work in Argentina because the recent drought ruined all their crops. This past week the rain finally came, and it CAME! Two months worth of rain, ruining the roads and wiping away a whole town nearby. We had two kids' meetings with puppets, stories and crafts. This trip was awesome because several of the kids who are really shy opened up to us and were on our laps or holding our hands the whole weekend.

Cute little girl I was holding. No diaper on...praying she wouldn't pee on me!

This is Santiago's daughter. She is deaf and mute.

This is her son. He´s 7

Crushing corn and scraps for the dogs

Jonni...:)

Rosie...

We left Sunday afternoon, after 3 bowls of chicken soup (they keep giving you more and it´s rude to not eat what they give you). When we got back to San Josecito we were able to take a quick shower before the night meeting. The church is very big there. They actually have a worship team :) I shared with the church on loving others, even our enemies. The church was packed, people were sitting outside the doors listening.

best friends in San Josecito!

Empanada stand outside the church in San Josecito...:)

The way home from San Josecito is a whole story in itself! Our plan was to catch the bus Monday morning at 8am. Well, the bus didn't come because it rained the whole night ruining the roads, so we spent the day with the Pastor's family. A bus also leaves at 4pm, but nobody knew if it would...everybody in town had their own opinion. According to them, the driver that day was the crazy one so he probably would attempt the trip. Comforting right? :) Well, they were right, we left at 4 and had no idea what was ahead of us!

We had to stop several times to move fallen trees and rocks out of the way. We stopped around 7pm because of a land slide which blocked the road. The crazy driver didn't drive back to San Josecito, he decided he wanted to stay overnight and wait for a bulldozer to come clear the way. He knew if he turned around he wouldn't get paid. So we slept on the bus that night. Half of the people decided to walk back to San Josecito. Once they left, everyone remaining scrambled to get two seats to themselves so they could sleep better. Pretty funny! This guy kept trying to wake me up (I was pretending to sleep) so he could sit next to me...."Señora...spanish spanish spanish something" I was trying so hard not to laugh. It worked and he left and I had two seats to myself. We woke up from our great deep sleep (not!) at about 5:30am. Another group decided to leave then to walk to where the crossroad was (about 4 hours) to catch the other bus to Entre Rios. We decided to leave with that group and so we put on our hiking shoes and we left!

Leaving at 5:30am to hike the rest of the way...

We didn't have any water, only a piece of bread. I made sure we stuck with the guy who had the chicken (it was alive!). You never know!! Gotta stick with the food. :) It started to rain, the road was so soft, in parts of it you would just sink! We had to cross the river 4 times on the way. The current was so strong our whole group had to cross together, holding on to each others' arms. I SO wish I had a picture for you of it...but then again everyone stripped down to their underwear to cross because it was waist deep so I wouldnt post it...but yeah, it was a sight!! We stopped at a little house to get water but their pipes had broken because of the storm so they just had rain water to give us. We hiked about two hours and came to a bus coming our direction that couldn't go any further. That bus was turning around towards Entre Rios so we got on, muddy and wet but happy. That bus had to stop several times for several hours so everyone could get out and help repair a stream so we could cross. We finally got to Entre Rios about 5pm yesterday!

There is a leadership retreat at the mission this week (the pastors or their wives from the country come). I was really moved last night by the meeting. During the worship time, I opened my eyes and everyone had tears streaming down their face...crying out to God asking for his help. Please pray for the rest of the retreat! Pray the Lord would strengthen the weary and encourage the depressed. I need to run, I'm making soup for dinner for everyone.

One last thing... You know what I was thinking this weekend? When God tells us to do something, it's not just a "Go do that...", it's a "Come with me here..." It's like he takes our hand, and says, "Come with me, let me help you love others, let me mold you, bless you, show you." :) Pretty neat!!

Love and miss you all! Thanks for all the emails!

Julia