my crazy coworkers

Here is my lovely staff at Highlands International School. HIS is the acronym, so we tried to be creative and spell it out...you can kind of see it. (That's me in the front with the gray pants and shoes.)

And here we are being a bit weirder,
which is probably more typical. I hope to post some pictures of my students soon, but for those interested, this gives you an idea of who my new friends are! Thank you, Lord, for family that I'm getting to know here in La Paz.

pictures just don't do it justice

Just in case you haven't seen my Facebook photo updates, I thought I'd highlight some pictures here from my first couple weeks in La Paz. I have yet to take pictures of my third week with my students, but here are some of my favorites from my first bit of exploring. They are still not as beautiful as the real thing:


My school...Highlands International. It used to be a brick factory. You're looking at the computer lab behind part of the playground. (On a side note, if anyone feels compelled to donate $5,000 for new playground equipment, that'd be great!) This is also where I went to church this morning for a Spanish service. A church plant is temporarily meeting in the cafeteria.

I walk out of my classroom to this view all around. Incredible, isn't it?


Don't worry, they're not boys-in-training for the military. This was a school parade of some very talented, young musicians to celebrate Bolivia's Independence Day.

A Cathedral in San Francisco (La Paz, that is). This is where a lot of the market-style shops sell things for cheap, including my scarf, hat, and market bag. The Center, or El Centro, is also where most of the tourists go to shop, stay in the hostels, and book adventurous trips like biking the Death Road and hiking a 19,000 foot mountain. Doesn't that sound exciting? Who wants to come visit?

I'll try to be dilligent about taking and posting more photos. Even though it is difficult for me to be so far away from home, one of the hardest things is not having friends and family here to experience what I'm experiencing. I'll attempt to share as much as I can, but I think there will always be a sadness in me, knowing that people I love won't fully know what life is like here. However, there IS an extra room in our apartment, and food is cheap here. And those frequent flyer miles add up nicely...

so i KNOW they can dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdvlHItURqA (If you have a minute, watch this!)

I'm not one to sucked into tv shows, especially reality ones. But there is one that I absolutely love because of its amazing choreography and dancers. "So You Think You Can Dance" was a show I never missed this season, even after moving to Bolivia, thanks to a fellow teacher here in La Paz who downloaded the final episodes. Some of the staff and I watched them together on a laptop, which was wonderful since I missed watching them with my and brother-in-law and sister (who, by the way, is so into the show that she joined the online discussion forum...love you, Kel). We just watched the final show tonight (without finding out beforehand who'd won, amazingly enough), and I wanna give major props to my boy Joshua (pictured above). He, along with the other guy contestant, had practically no dance training, yet they were both "brilliant." So Twitch, I'm sorry you didn't win, friend; it could have been either of you. Joshua, congrats; you deserve it. Katee, you were stunning (and probably should've won based on ability), but I'm glad you still got the surprise 50 grand. All three of you had my vote, although I never actually voted at all. But alas, the celebration is over and I must say goodbye to my one and only reality show. So long, SYTYCD. I will honestly miss you. See you next summer.

opposites

This is one of the first things in English Language Arts I will teach my sweet first graders, a couple of whom I met today at my school's open house. It's something I'm experiencing here in Bolivia with seasons that are opposite of the U.S. (It's the middle of winter, so I'm sitting in my apartment with my fleece and a scarf on...I never thought I'd see the day when I'd miss NC's heat and humidity.) It's also something the Lord is teaching me about the Christian life. It is so opposite for me to depend on him when I, by default, think it's all up to me. Rather than choose the strongest and wisest, God chooses the opposites, the weak and the foolish. Whoever wants to be great should not lord his power over others, but do the opposite--become a humble and selfless servant. God loves to show me his opposites: When I am weak he is strong, when I am faithless he is faithful, when I am unlovable he is love, when I am tired he does not grow weary.

Lord, as I teach my students about opposites, help me to have an opposite-the-world attitude like Christ.

a city of beauty and brokenness

I've just begun reading Henri Nouwen's Gracias!: A Latin American Journal. His observation really struck a chord with me and what little I know about the place I now call home:
"Latin America: impressive wealth and degrading poverty, splendid flowers and dusty broken roads, loving people and cruel torturers, smiling children and soldiers who kill. It is here that we have to hunt for God's treasure. I pray that my stay in Bolivia will teach me much more than Spanish."
This is my prayer as well. Yesterday one of the missionary couples here had us over for lunch, and gave us a little history of the country, including the dark rituals of the indigenous peoples that to this day practice paganism (I'll spare you some of the gruesome details). Today we visited a Catholic church in La Plaza San Francisco. At some point I will upload pictures, but it is a sight to behold. Although ornately decorated in beautiful colors, gold, and other precious metals, the statues of saints represented to me false hope for the people of La Paz. I saw such despair in a woman praying and weeping to one of the saints. I just wanted to share with her how there true hope and true grace in the One who knows her intimately and wants to help her in a way that these saints cannot. There is One has sacrificed all for her so she doesn't have to earn salvation.
It is my prayer that I learn much more than Spanish. I want to be an imitator of Christ so my students will be able to imitate me. I desire a broken heart for the people of this city and this country.

bienvenidos a bolivia

I have been in La Paz now for about 2 and a half days, and already I have fallen in love with this city. These are a couple views from my apartment that I stole from my roomie, but they hardly compare to the actual sight. Absolutely gorgeous, right?

There are so many things I could blog about now, but I'm sure there will be more posts to come, and I'll have the pictures to go with them later. Big ups to my incredible sister who has mailed my other uploader thing for my camera! Thanks, Kel! You're the bestest!

Thank you to everyone for all of your prayers, support, and encouragment. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but it brings me to tears when I think of how blessed I am to have such a great support system in the states (aka the U.S.). I believe, from the few people I have met so far, I'll also develop a wonderful group of friends here over the next couple years.

One quick and funny story of my first adventure shopping yesterday...I'm pretty sure this was one of many reminders to laugh at myself rather than get frustrated! So I was walking down the stairs at a cute little store where things are locally made and you can get them made-to-order for cheap. Well here I am taking a few steps, and the next thing I know I slip and fall down not one, not two, but the whole stinkin flight of hardwood stairs. Not only that, but it was like a Jenny earthquake of 9 on the Richter scale. Things were falling off the walls as I was uncontrollably bumping my way down the staircase. Praise God I didn't break anything and the store owner was not angry, only concerned. So I thought I'd made it okay with just a few (rather large) bruises, but then my roomie points out that I have a hole in my britches! Yep, my 12-step slide had torn right through those suckers (and my unmentionables, to be graphic). I wrapped my coat around my waist (praise God for a cover-up!) until I could find a pair of Bolivian pants big enough for me. It's kind of depressing when the sizes are twice what they are in the states! Lesson #1: Cuidado en las escaleras bolivianas. (Be careful on Bolivian stairs.)

So I'm off to a cafe for dinner and more shopping with my wonderful roommate Sarah.

Thank you, Lord, for my supportive friends and family, for a fairly easy beginning adjustment, and for opportunities to laugh at myself!

hope

1-2By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.
3-5There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! (from Romans 5, the Message)

Hope. It's been the central theme for me this year. God has provided circumstance after circumstance to allow me to evaluate where my hope lies. And with the upcoming frustrations, loneliness, and stress that will undoubtedly come with transitioning to another culture and acclamating to my first year teaching, I know there will be many times when I need to be reminded of that hope again. If I place it completely in others or myself, I'll be utterly disappointed. It must be in the hope of the Emmanuel, God with me now. It should also be in what's to come, as I remember that this life is not the whole picture. What a beautiful image of what God wants for his children--to be hemmed in with troubles, yet still standing tall in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, shouting praises we can't contain because he is worthy. Lord, allow me to grab hold of this hope in all circumstances.