Amazing Family, Week 1

There is a family on this team that has really blown me away. They all have such gentle spirits but they aren't at all weak or emotional or followers. Their gentleness seems equally matched with a strength in their relationships with each other. God has shown himself so clearly to me through them this week, through Dad's hoarse confessions of sin and selfishness as he poured his testimony out, through Mom's tears as she pieces together the horrors experienced by the boys and the miraculous healing that she is now playing a role in, and through Daughter's constant play and protection of the boys that endured with big sisterly ease long after the rest of the team and myself had sought quiet places to rest. At the pizza party I took a "family picture" of them with the two boys that they started sponsoring this week. A third boy jumped into the picture and didn't want to leave. I couldn't blame him; I would like to be a part of their family too! They live near me in Florida, and I really hope that I continue to see them after the summer. God is just so clear in them.

Surprise

Sandra never ceases to amaze me. Whether she is giggling and telling me about a text message from the guy she likes or dispersing Biblical truths on the trials that we weather as Christians, she has such a grace and beauty and peace about her. She often says, "God will surprise you" and I am beginning to see just how true that is.

Back in Bolivia for the Summer

I am so happy to be back in Bolivia!! After the easiest airport check-in and flight that I have ever experienced, I slept through the flight and woke up to this beautiful country. Gerson, Sergio, and Pastor David met the other hosts and I at the airport. I was so happy I was literally jumping up and down. Sergio drove the girls and I to the Life Center and we arrived a few minutes ahead of Gerson, the boys, and the luggage. We couldn't drive through the front gate because of work that they are doing there, so we walked through the side gate. The boys weren't expecting this, but it only took a few seconds before we were spotted. My smile was so big that it hurt as little boys from all over the property yelled "Tia Anna!" and began racing my way. I was tackled right there on the soccer field :)

The Smallest Things

If we could follow our conversations....I wonder what amazing things we would see. I got to be the deliverer of someone else's story the other day. John, my director, went to visit with a church that sent a group to Bolivia last summer. A young man there, Alex, told John about a conversation he had had with Nick, one of the hosts from last summer. Nick had mentioned to Alex that he was studying religion. At the time, Alex thought he was crazy. Now, nearly a year later, Alex was sharing with John how the trip to Bolivia had changed his life and made him redefine his spirituality. Alex is now a religion major. I got to pass that story on to Nick. Such a casual conversation. But where will Alex go in the future as a result?

It makes me wonder what I am saying in my daily conversations. Not the deep, sharing from the bottom of my soul conversations, just the "hey what do you do?" ones. Where will my words lead others?

Conversion and Re-education Camp

We were able to share dinner with some of Mark's friends that he used to work with and then were invited to join them in their home for more conversation. Their stories were amazing.

When Chom and her family first came to the states, they were supposed to arrive in LA, but when the plane landed, they were not allowed off. The plane continued on to Tampa, FL where they knew no one. Her family lived there and she married there. When her family was finally able to move to LA and rejoin the rest of the family, she stayed in Tampa with her husband but cried every day because she had never been away from them. She and her husband drove from Tampa to LA to rejoin them. Chom was the first person in her family to convert from Buddhism to Christianity. One by one, every member of her family converted. She spoke about the day she talked to her older sister, the last one in the family that remained Buddhist, about the love of God while they were driving in the car. Chom said that she wished she could live that day over and over because of how happy she was when her sister finally gave her life to the Lord and she knew they would all be together for eternity.

Long and Thu were married in Vietnam. They were from Christian families and sent to re-education camps. They tried to escape and were caught. They were separated. Long eventually did escape and went to a refugee camp in Egypt. There he happened to run into Thu, who had also managed to escape and ended up in the exact same refugee camp in Egypt!! They spoke of their story so humbly, yet to all of us in the room both old friends and new, the hand of God in their lives was obvious.

Cultural Plunge

I went to LA for a conference but traveled with some PBA staff and students who went out early for a cultural plunge. Mark is the Director of Campus Ministries and Missions and he used to live in LA and work for an organization relocating refugees. So he took us to all things different from our usual. We went to a Hindu Temple, a Buddhist Temple, an Islamic Mosque, and a Temple for some religion that I had never heard of before and can't pronounce. We went to the observatory and looked through the "most looked through" telescope. I ate snails and Pazookie and used chopsticks. We had Pho with a crowd of Vietnamese, chum chum in little India, French-dipped sandwiches from Philipe's, walked the market in little Mexico, and tagged the wall by Muscle Beach to name a few. When it was time for me to fly home, I really did feel like I was re-entering the USA. But I never left.

In the Beginning

Initially I just wanted to write a letter once a month to let my friends and family know what God was doing through the ministry organization that I am now a part of. But there is so much more going on than I could ever possibly fit into that one letter! Today I heard a handful of stories about what God is doing, and it was not an unusual day.
I think that it is important, not just to talk about this organization, but to tell the stories of what God is doing around the world today in and through ordinary people. These aren't great and powerful people or the super rich. My stories are about my friends. People that I have relationships with. And the great God that we know.