Whole Lotta Little

To start my blog, I'd like to apologize for the long delay. I usually try to do a blog at least every two weeks, but this is the third week since my last blog. Last week I wrote a blog, and then the website glitched and deleted all of my work. Consequently, I could not upload a blog until my next day off, which is today. Since I have three weeks to cover in this blog, it will be a bit of a speed round full of stories and life updates since I last wrote a blog. Hope you enjoy!

Below: Bolivia is so beautiful!

For three weeks in total I was still majorly recovering from Dengue. I became quite discouraged for a while because although the biggest danger was passed, I still couldn't even climb out of bed without getting out of breath. For a while, I just seemed to not be getting better, and in some ways, I was getting worse. I was feeling very achy and had a headache for several days. I have been amazed at how many after-effects Dengue has.

One Sabbath while I was still stuck in bed, I felt so discouraged as I lay there wondering when I would finally get better enough to be up and around. I decided to read some notes that my church members from Virginia and Oklahoma wrote me to read over my SM year. One of them was a verse from Joshua talking about how God will fight and overcome your enemies for you. I realized that Dengue was an enemy that I needed to let God fight for me. Tears came to my eyes as I read the promise of God fighting my enemy for me and overcoming it. I then prayed and felt such peace that God would overcome Dengue for me in His time.

Finally one day, there was a turning point and I was finally able to get out of bed and work some. Since then, it has often been necessary for me to take a midday siesta in order to keep working the rest of the day. I also have dealt with symptoms similar to arthritis with a lot of joint pain, but I have already gained so much strength back and am so thankful for God's healing! I’m also so thankful for supportive church family members who have written me notes of encouragement. They are truly a blessing.

Below: a photo of the garden. The plants covering the ground are cowpeas for ground cover and soil improvement. I know they look like weeds at first glance but they’re not. :)

It was so exciting when I got to see the kids again after being in bed for so long! One reunion in particular was extra sweet. I was walking across the soccer field to the Leones house shortly after I was finally able to be up and around. Alvaro is one of the little six-year-olds from their house who loves to run up and hug me when he sees me. He also loves to play thumb wars when I eat lunch at his house. He was playing soccer and as I walked by he looked up at me and it took a moment to register who I was since he hadn't seen me since before I got Dengue. As soon as he noticed who I was, he gave me a huge hug and giggled so happily. When I tried to ask him how he was, he didn't respond, only grinned up at me and giggled so happy to see me again. Later that night when I saw him again, he still couldn't get any words out, but just snuggled up beside me on a bench and grinned and giggled at me. Since then, he has found his words again, but I thought that was such a sweet moment.

Below: a rather dark picture at sundown worship with Emir, one of the Leones, and Alex who was sleeping on my lap.

That same evening, Sophia and I were feeling very unmotivated about cooking supper. At times we get tired of trying to decide what to make since we have such limited ingredients and spices. There's only so many things you can make with potatoes before you get a bit tired of them. So we came up with a plan: I would go with her on her rounds to the houses to check up on everyone's medical needs. We planned to try to stop by the Leones' house at a convenient time right around supper in hopes of being offered food. It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but I guess we were a bit desperate haha. So we went to the Leones house, but unfortunately we miss-timed it and arrived before supper.

After Sophia finished her rounds there, we went to the Guerreros house and I enjoyed sitting with the boys while she worked on a boy's hurt foot. The boys in that house are so much fun, and we enjoyed talking about everything from where tornados happen in the US to how to say all the colors in English. Finally, we left the Guerreros and still had no supper. By then, the Leones were eating supper and we were thinking of asking if they happened to have any extras. However, as we stood outside in indecision, one of the little boys saw us, pointed us out to everyone, and Hermana Emi immediately offered us some bread and corn drink. In the end we were happy we got some food, and I had really enjoyed all of the socialization we had gotten to experience in the meantime.

I have enjoyed helping out at the Flores house nearly every Sabbath afternoon and often a few times during the week. One Sabbath, I was sitting watching the girls color when our 12-year-old, Fabiola, motioned for me to come talk to her upstairs. I went upstairs and she asked me to sit on the edge of her bed. Once I was situated as she liked, she started crying and talking to me about a variety of things. Poor thing just cried and cried until she fell asleep with me patting and scratching her back while she laid there sadly. As I sat there while she was asleep with her arm resting on my lap, Kelsey told me a bit more about Fabiola's story. Once Kelsey went back downstairs, a few tears rolled down my cheeks as I looked at the sweet girl beside me. She's been through so much unimaginably difficult stuff in life already, and she's only 12. I started praying for her, and as I left the Flores house that night, I prayed and prayed that Jesus would come back soon to make everything right again. I have never longed so much for Heaven as when I realize how difficult life on Earth often is. I can't wait till Fabiola gets to go to Heaven where Jesus can personally wipe the tears from her eyes. What a day of rejoicing that will be!

Below: Me sitting with Fabiola, and other moments at the Flores house.

Below far right: Pinkie fell asleep on the laundry sink. She must’ve been tired!

Another thing I have done the past two weeks is teaching! I found out that Teacher Jafet was going on a trip and needed a substitute for his Religion and English high school classes the day before I had to start teaching. Thankfully it has been going smoothly. However, since I have been teaching without a translator, it takes me even longer to lesson plan since I have to be prepared to say everything in Spanish. The students are so fun, and we have had a lot of good times in class. Being on the teacher-end of the classroom experience, I now have much more sympathy for my high school teachers that had to deal with me talking too much in their classes!

Below: my classroom view!

I have sung several Spanish songs with the students in Religion class, but each time I start singing with the lyrics I translated or found online, the students have started singing with different lyrics, and I have realized that I have the incorrect lyrics. To my slight dismay, I still have yet to come prepared with the correct lyrics for whatever Spanish worship song I plan to sing with them. I have also been teaching an Agriculture class for the students. I am hoping that they will end this year having the skills they need to start their own garden if they ever want/need to. Your prayers for that class would be appreciated!

We have had our first harvests from the garden in the past few weeks! Scalloped summer squash and cucumber harvest are in full swing now, and it is so exciting to see and taste the fruit of our labor. The kids love harvesting cucumbers and as we are getting over 50 ever couple days, and as the number is continuing to rise until the peak of harvest, we have plenty of work for the excited kids to take part in.

Below: moments in the garden!

Last week on our day off, we took a boat day tour down the Amazon. It was such a cool experience and so beautiful too! We hiked, made sugar cane juice, swam in a spring alongside the river, went through a narrow rock canyon, and saw such cool foliage and even some wildlife. The hike made me realize how much endurance I lost since having Dengue as I huffed and puffed my way quite exhausted to the top of our hike. I was sore for days and days after that hike, but it was sure fun!

Below: a collage of photos from our river trip.

A huge highlight last week was that my sister, Sierra, got to visit briefly! It was so wonderful to have her here. She also brought a lot of kindly donated seeds for the garden, as well as some much desired Taki chips for me. It was so special to get to spend time with her while she was here.

Below: So nice to have Sierra visit!

Sierra was visiting to help us plan for some future changes happening soon at Familia Feliz. She is the president of Familia Feliz's non-profit organization. In the new year, we will be looking at a change in directors as well as several other changes with administration and other details. I would like to solicit your prayers as we are all looking at some new changes coming in the middle of our SM year. We can really see God leading in the new plans and ideas, and are praying very much for God to lead us as we move forward.

This week, I did a lot of weeding and planting with the kids. We got potatoes, corn, cowpeas, butternut squash, zucchini, collard greens, and honeydew melon all planted this week.

Below: Sometimes we have little visitors come to the garden. :)

I also had the privilege of attending Joanna and Raica's birthday party. They are twins in the Flores house who were understandably very excited about their cake, pizza, and presents. (One asked me to give her bandaids for her birthday because she loves them so much.)

Below: Me with Pinkie and Raica, one of the twins, at church.

Another exciting thing is that my friend, Hope, arrived to volunteer here until June. I'm super excited to have her here.

There's a song I like that is called "Whole Lotta Little". It has lyrics that say, "We ain't got a whole lot, but we got a lotta little, and a little suits me just fine." In this blog, I've shared with you a whole lot of the little things we experience at Familia Feliz. The student missionaries and kids here don't have that much, but all of the little things we have are so precious. The small experiences of hugging kids, picking cucumbers with them, and laughing with fellow SM's in our meetings mean so much. God is helping me learn to appreciate the "whole lotta little" He has blessed us with here at Familia Feliz.

P.S. -- I forgot to mention previously that Jayden opened two cans of Big Franks he had brought from the US for our Friday night get-together. We thoroughly enjoyed homemade hot dog buns, American ketchup packets, and Big Franks roasted over a campfire for our Friday night celebration. What a feast!

Below: Me and baby Santi with yogurt on his face.