Bolivia

Happy Monday! I think I'm really on the mend. I made it to church yesterday and then hubby and I left town for a date. I did have to leave mid-way through the movie cause I got a crazy cough that wouldn't stop, but we had fun anyway.
 I wanted to share a few photos about my mission trip to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. If you have been reading my blog long, you may remember my trip to Guatemala. MSI uses the same format for each city they go to. My experience this time was so much different than my trip last year, partly due to the sheer population of the city we were in.
This year I was asked to be a team leader, which I accepted. I had no idea we'd be speaking to schools with hundreds of kids! It was a little frightening, but also challenging and exciting!

We did make it to a few smaller schools/daycares which were perfect for handing out dresses, clothing, food and school supplies.

 Most of the schools we went to, like this one, were public schools, that had these massive courtyards with classrooms upstairs. We went to many of them and they were all built the same.

School is mandatory and these kids pay about $5 month to go. Most public schools in Santa Cruz do not provide a good education. 

Depending on the number and age of kids and the time we had, we did a drama presentation about how the world pulls on us with many things that lead us down the wrong path, the wordless book in shirts and personal stories about how Jesus has transformed our lives. The bottom line is we offer them hope when their future may look very hopeless. As team leader it was up to me to decide what we would present and who would present it.

Huge courtyard

Washing and drinking station

This is a pretty typical front door to a school, that is kept locked. 

Here was the team I had assigned to me. There were 11 total serve team , one guide (who knew the city and was the contact for the schools) and 3 interpreters. See the school to the left with the wire? Our guide was seeing if they were ready for us.

 We also went to some private schools. These cost the families about $50 month to attend, which is a huge sacrifice.

 Looking at that may kids was intimidating! They were all pretty well behaved and listened intently.

We also handed out flyers for the 2 night free festival, which I can only say is very similar to a Billy Graham crusade with rock music!

 Even security guards were invited!

 Typical scene in the city.

This kid reminded me of Zacchaeus in the tree Bible story. He just wanted to get a good view!

 We went to a village a ways away from the city. It was so hot and the sand, like beach sand, was blowing like crazy. Despite the weather, I loved this stop! The younger kids walk 30 minutes to school and the some of the older kids walk 1 hour!  Can you imagine?

 Look closely to the right of the photo along the grass and you'll see a lizard of some type, about 2-3 feet long!

We also had the honor of raising money for a much needed well for a school and community.

We partnered with Bridges of Hope to make this a reality.

 We take so much for granted, including water! I'm so thankful for the great water I drink just by opening my faucet.
And two of my favorite photos:

 We were leaving for the sandy village and we saw these two kids on the meridian of a busy highway begging.  One in our group was trying to get the window open so we could hand them something from the van, but the light turned green and we moved on. Not even one minute later I got a phone call to return to the hotel to pick up some more things.
It was then we realized we would be going by these precious children again! We were ready for them.

 Here they are with hands full after our second drive by! it wasn't much, but it was something.

Thanks for your support, financially and morally and all your kind words of encouragement.
I look forward to be used again next September!