May 17th, 2014

May 17, 2014

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.  The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.  The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.  It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.”  Lamentations 3:22-26

Daniel, Fermin and Sammy got into the charcoal.  :)

When I think of all that has happened in these last two weeks since my last blog entry, these verses come to mind.  I am so thankful that the Lord’s mercies are renewed everyday.  He has an endless supply available to each of His children, with an extra portion of great faithfulness and He willingly and lovingly gives it every day.  What an amazing and loving God we serve!  

The future site of our orchard!  

So, let me catch you up on what’s been going on on our “neck of jungle”.  :)  Last week, we had a scare on campus.  Dorca, one of the volunteers, fell down a flight of stairs when coming out of the girls’ dorm.  He hurt her back and leg a bit, but said that she felt pretty good…that she just needed to lay down and rest some.  Two days later, however, she woke up and had lost some of her vision. Everything was blurry and was flashing in and out.  She had a bad headache and was vomiting.  We took her to the doctor who ran some tests and examined her.  He concluded that she was suffering from a  migraine as a result of the trauma from the fall and gave her some medicine for that.  He said that she didn’t have any nerve or bone damage and that she should be back to normal within a couple of days.  That was a relief to hear, from Dorca and for the rest of us.  We gave her the medicine and the next day, she woke up perfectly fine…no headache, vision was fine, balance was good.  The only thing that bothered her was the muscle that she fell on on her back.  Since then, she's had no more trouble whatsoever.  She is walking fine and the pain in her back has subsided.  Praise God!  We are so glad that she is fine and that the situation wasn’t worse.  

We went to the sugar cane place this last week to get some fresh cane juice.  Here we are "juicing" the cane.

Last Sabbath, six of the soldiers accompanied us to church!  That was a indeed a blessing!  They thoroughly enjoyed it and assured us that they would be back.  The church members also got to  meet and talk with them and did a good job at making them feel welcomed.  We had two really good Bible studies with them last week and this week as well.  Attendance is still high and they love to participate.  They are still racing each other to read the Bible verses aloud.  :)  Their enthusiasm is simply contagious.  Both times, we’ve gone with all of the children and staff from Familia Feliz and it has proved to be a blessing to everyone.  The children absolutely love going and interacting with the soldiers.  They’ve done special music, help the soldiers look up the verses, lead out in prayer, etc.  I couldn’t be prouder of their role in these meetings and the example they are showing to these young men!

Some of the kids leading song service.

On a sadder note, my dear buddy Sammy left to head back to Venezuela this week.  He decided it is time to move on and to continue his studies.  He left on this past Monday morning.  Sunday night we had a going away party for him.  We had cake, laughter and stroll down memory lane with the aid of a slideshow of many pictures we’ve taken with him and the rest of us during his year and a half here.  He then spoke to the kids, thanking them for all that they have taught him and asking their forgiveness if he had ever failed to represent Christ as he should have.  I was very proud of him.  Later, he gave each student a picture he and the child with a personalized message on the back.  The kids really liked that.  There wasn't a dry eye in the house.  Sammy will be greatly missed, but we know that God is with Him and will continue to use him in great ways wherever he goes.  We’re praying for you Sammy!  

After the "Gowing Away" party, we had to throw Sam in the creek just one more time!  :)

Our Goodbye at the airport.

Everyone signed this shirt for Sam before he left.

Just as Sammy had told us about his plans to leave, the Lord provided someone to take his place (isn’t that just like God?!).  John Alex arrived a few days before Sammy left.  John is from Uruguay and was studying theology at the Adventist University here in Bolivia this year.  However, due to some circumstances beyond his control, he had to stop studying.  He had heard about Familia Feliz and decided to come and serve here…and he has already been a tremendous help and blessing to us!  John has an extensive knowledge about plants and trees and has been working extensively on our new orchard.  A donor has sent money for us to plant an orchard on our property (another WONDERFUL blessing the Lord has given us!) and John has just the experience we needed to get this accomplished.  We should be planting our first set of trees this coming week.  Then we’ll be working on getting more ground ready to plant more.  When all is said and done, we’ll have about 500 new fruit trees planted!  Amen!  But not only has John helped in the agriculture field, but he has fallen right into place with the kids as well.  He is serving as a dean for the younger kids, helping in the kitchen and with worships.  We are very excited to have John with us!  Welcome John!  

John preaching this Sabbath.

We had two staff birthdays this week…Jonathan and Jancy.  So the guys went out to dinner to celebrate them.  We had a really good time.  Lots of laughter and fellowship.  We also made a cake at Familia Feliz to share with the kids.  

Jonatan, Oriel, me, John and Jancy

Ori, me and John

We were finally able to register all the kids in school this week as well.  Due to all the flooding in Bolivia, the system was delayed in opening for registration.  But it opened this week and I was able to register everyone (except one student because of an error with the system…it doesn’t have us listed as teaching 1st grade...but they are working on getting that remedied.) without any problems with the system or with the Ministry of Education!  You just don’t realize how excited I was to have that happen so smoothly!  :)

One of our students, Kevin, and his family found a baby monkey last week.  So we took a little trip up the road to his house to see it.  It's a little howler monkey.  He's about a month old or so they believe.  Cute and friendly little thing.

As you can see, a lot has happened during these two weeks and the Lord has blessed us immensely…and we are so very thankful for those blessings and renewed mercies.  Aside from that which I have already mentioned, I have been blessed personally in other ways this week as well.  Another student came and told me that she wants to dedicate her life to the Lord by serving as a missionary when she finishes school.  Amen!  You just don't know what that does to my heart!  Plus, Omar led out in prayer during Sabbath School and Divine Worship today.  That may not seem like a big deal to many, but to me, it was definitely a manna moment!  Omar is very shy and reserved…and is learning Spanish.  His first language is an indigenous language called Ese Ejja.  And to see him stand before the church this morning and lead out in prayer in Spanish, not one, not two but three times did more to my heart than I can put into words here.  I was so proud of him!  Another blessing came in the form of a new friendship with John Alex.  We have spent many hours just talking since he has arrived and I am extremely grateful for this new friend.  He has taught me a lot and probably without even knowing it.  You see,John has an amazing testimony.  He is 23 years old and suffers from Parkinson’s disease.  It started when he was 16 and went undiagnosed for over 5 years because no one suspected that a teenager would be suffering from Parkinson’s.  He experienced so many different trials. It go to the point where he couldn’t walk properly, tripped and fell often, his hands bent backwards and the chair/desks that he sat it shook with his body.  People looked at his differently.  Many accused him of being a drug addict having withdrawal symptoms.  He went to doctor after doctor with no luck on a diagnosis, much less a cure.  But finally, he went to Argentina to a specialist who made the diagnosis and now his disease is very much controlled with the right combination of medication.  He can now lead a very normal life and, to be honest, I haven’t seen anyone more grateful for the second chance and with such zeal for living in a very long time!  He is an inspiration and I am very happy to have him here with us at Familia Feliz.  One more blessing…:)  I was talking with a young man this week and at the end of the conversation, he said, “I thank God that I met you.”  That meant a lot to me.  We weren't really talking about anything super important or urgent…just casually talking about life, God, plans, etc.  So many things to be thankful for…so many blessings.  We serve an Amazing God!  Make sure you take time to count the blessings God has bestowed upon you.  Your day really will be much brighter if you do!

Victoria and I.

God bless you all!

Maranatha!