It has been a long time since I last wrote! So much has happened. Last Monday, mine and Katie-Jane's families flew into Rurrenabaque. We were so excited to see them! They were huge helps at Familia Feliz. My mom organized the clinic and put away the new supplies. I am so, so grateful for the much needed supplies many of you bought and sent with them. They have already been an incredible blessing! Thank you. My dad quickly started working on cars, fixing trunks, steering, tires, etc. My sister took on the job of campus plumber and fixed countless toilets, sinks, and showers. They were a very multitalented group of visitors!
Traveling Bolivia-style
Rain-avoidance
They also brought gifts from all of the student missionary's families and passed them out Monday evening. After we said goodnight to them, our sm family sat on the floor until late, listening to Christmas music, talking, opening the gifts, smelling the one candle that Emilianne's mom sent, and drinking peppermint hot chocolate. It was such a fun Christmasy memory together.
On Tuesday, I went to town with my family and took them grocery shopping for Thanksgiving! It was the perfect way to show them the town. We went all over from store to store, picking up various ingredients. I also took Carlo's stitches out, which was exciting! He cut his hand open while doing some construction work two weeks ago and I had to put 6 stitches in it.
Exploring town with Ellie
We had been told on Monday that a group of government social workers were going to come to do a home study at Familia Feliz on Wednesday and Thursday. We were going to hold a program for them along with nice refreshments that would be cooked Wednesday morning by my mom. However, at 10pm on Tuesday night, we found out they were coming at 8am. Emilianne, Treson, and Zoro started making tortillas as quickly as they could. We needed 150! My mom, dad, and I started getting the ingredients for a potato taco filling and coffee cake. At around 11, I went and relieved Emilianne of tortilla making. Soon Carlo joined and He, Treson, Zoro, and I were frying tortillas until 2:30am! We were exhausted, but the food was well on its way to being ready.
First stage of tortilla making
Wednesday morning came bright and very early as we got up and rushed around, decorating, cleaning, dressing children, and baking food. My mom had worked nearly all night preparing the food and decorations. The program went very well! Carlo and I sang for it, and each house sang a song as well. Afterward, nearly everyone on campus went to bed.
It was with much excitement that Thanksgiving came the next day. My mom, me, and the other sm's spent all of Thursday afternoon cooking together, which was so much fun. It took us until 10 pm to have the food ready, but it was delicious! My mom had brought two bags of fresh cranberries from the states along with Panera's tomato basil bread for stuffing. When we finally gathered around the table, I could help but think about how incredibly blessed I was to be surrounded by my family who took so much time and money out of a busy season to come and work alongside me, and my student missionary family, who have stuck together through thick and thin over the last three months. God is so good.
My Family
My SM Family
The food
The people
We also held VBS all of last week. It was exhausting, but also so fun for the kids and us too. They were so excited about the crafts, skits, and songs!
The daily adventure of keeping the Leones in their places at VBS
Ellie and Maribel
A sleepy VBS participant
New sunglasses!
Early Friday morning, Melissa heard that her mother was not doing well. She has been undergoing cancer treatment in Santa Cruz for the last few months. Melissa got on a flight immediately and we were left to run Familia Feliz.
After a chaotic morning of groceries, sick kids, and little ones missing their mom, my family and I went into town for a few hours of time together. It was so nice to have time to sit and talk, along with show them one of my favorite restaurants!
Again, traveling Bolivia style!
Ellie and me
Lisiane organized a Thanksgiving potluck for all of Familia Feliz on Friday night, and it was a beautiful picnic all together on the lawn! What followed was a peaceful Sabbath of VBS and spending time together. My dad preached, which was nice! Carlo and I had special music again, and this time my dad got to perform with us, which was so much fun!
Special music
Sunday was a bit different, because my mom and sister were there to entertain the little boys as well. My dad was around too, but also was finishing up much needed car repairs. In the morning, we decided to put up the tree and Christmas decorations with the kids. They were so excited and we spent several hours decorating, singing, and dancing to Christmas music with them!
Ready to decorate!
Post-decorating tiredness
Sunday story time
...And Sunday climbing time!
In the afternoon, I had a community member come to me for medical treatment of her leg. It was the first time I had a patient from outside of Familia Feliz. The evening ended with me going to the house where my parents were staying and talking as they packed up. Their visit had flown by so fast!
The next morning, Emilianne, Carlo, Katie-Jane, and I went to their airport with our two families. It was a sad goodbye, but only for a short time, as I’m coming home for Christmas in 10 days! I’m so grateful they got to see what life is like here and for the incredible amount of work that they did.
Another family picture!
Saying goodbye to the Lilas
Us and Teacher Abi
After waving goodbye, Carlo and I went to town in search of Christmas gifts for our boys and the older ones, the Guerreros. It was so fun picking out shoes, Sabbath shirts, watches, and toys for the various little ones! We went home feeling very accomplished and excited to give them their gifts.
Tuesday morning was the first time I’d had time to sit and organizing stuff in the clinic for a couple weeks! The morning flew by with a lot of things to do, and by the afternoon, chaos was building. Graduation was going to be Wednesday, and with Melissa being gone, there were 25 more children to be supervised than normal. Zoe, one of the other college-age volunteers, was desperately trying to coordinate the event. Hermana Emi was sewing graduation gowns and caps late into every night, other volunteers were cooking, still others were decorating, and others were preparing the program. And I was running around trying to take care of the sick kids, because pink eye was spreading and nearly everyone had some sort of cold or fever.
In the evening, the sm’s were charged with baking 300 cookies. They had taken our only table to decorated for the event, so we all sat on the floor making tray after tray of cookies. Carlo and I also were planning yet another special music for the event and were practicing as each batch baked. At around 1:30, we got a text saying Melissa’s mother had died. We spent some time praying for Melissa and her family and recording a song for her. Zoro, Carlo, Maddy, Elizabeth, and I finally finished baking the last batch at 3:30 am as we blankly stared at each other across the living room floor. Quite the job!
Three hours later, we were up and preparing the kids for their big day. Graduation went so well, and we were so proud of our little ones! The government officials seemed pleased too, which was a relief. Afterward, Carlo and I had to say goodbye to 4 of our boys who were leaving for summer break. I hadn’t thought much about it, and as we hugged and kissed them farewell my eyes filled up with tears. I pray that they are safe in their homes for these two months.
Special music
Juancito
Angel
Otto
Jose
Saying goodbye :(
As the other sm's, Zoe, and I cleaned up, Carolina, a local who is our academic director, mentioned something about a quinceañera for Veronica, one of the girls from the Harding house. We all froze in our tracks. THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN THURSDAY! Oh why was it so chaotic with Melissa gone? I ran to talk with Dara, another volunteer who was supposed to be in charge of the event. She didn’t have the food or program planned at all, solely the décor. I ran back to the sm’s and we exhaustedly discussed what to do. It needed to be special for Veronica, and we quickly divided up the jobs of décor, slideshow, music, games, food, cake, and set up. On top of the quinceañera, we were also in charge of the Leone’s Christmas party for the evening and Carlo and I were having a birthday for one of the Leones boys, Benjamin, in the morning. We bowed our heads and pleaded with God to give us His energy and patience as we tried to pull the three events off with nearly no sleep. I started baking as I was in charge of all the cakes. Elizabeth and Lisiane cooked for the Christmas party, Maddy planned a cookie decorating activity, Carlo and I wrapped presents, and Emilianne downloaded a movie. The party went off without a hitch, and the boys were so excited! Apparently Angel had been praying for a watch, and we had bought him one! I love seeing how God cares about the little things in our lives.
Christmas presents
Afterward, I continued making the 8 carrot cakes for the quinceañera. Elizabeth helped out a ton, and Carlo helped beat the eggs by hand for the dulce de leche birthday cake and assemble it. We finished early compared to the last few nights—around 12:30!
Thursday morning, campus was silently sleeping in when Treson went to hang up the birthday banner and I took the cake to the Leones. We all finally gathered there and sang to Benjamin and ate the special meal. Carlo and I bought him Legos and cars, which he was very pleased with.
After a short rest, we all flew into action getting ready for the quinceañera. Maddy and I spent the day decorating the cakes, which was difficult because they were supposed to be extremely fancy, but all we had was on hard spatula and a giant knife, with no powdered sugar! When we finally finished, I ran to iron Veronica’s dress. I took one look at it and realized it had come with loops for a lace-up back but had no lace. I started texting Esmeralda, a volunteer who was in town, but she didn’t have the money to pick one up. I finally found Raul, another volunteer, who said he could buy some. As I was working, Dara came in and asked, “what should we have as the program for tonight?” I looked at her confusedly. “I don’t know!” I replied. “Well what do they normally do?” she asked. I had no clue! Apparently neither of us had planned a quinceañera before! After about 15 minutes of discussion, I had written down a program and started texting those participating. As she walked out the door, Dara said, “Oh and you and Carlo can sing right?” Once again, I looked very confused. “Uh---” I paused. “We can try?” I finished the dress and ran to find Carlo and pick a song. Thankfully we found one quickly and after running through it twice, I flew to the Harding house to help Veronica.
Maddy's and my cakes!
When I arrived, Zoe stopped me and asked if the kids needed to dress up. Once again, I was completely out of my sphere of knowledge. “I suppose?” I said.
8pm came, and the event was starting. Elizabeth turned on the music, Veronica entered the gorgeously decorated church which Luz Maria, one of the older girls, had worked so hard on, and the event we quite smoothly.
Us girls with Veronica
Four hours later, it was once again my sm family, cleaning up the church and singing Christmas songs together. By God’s grace, we had made it!
At this point in my story, you probably understand the title pretty well! Melissa was missed so much this week. The volunteers learned to pull together as a team this week though too. There were plenty of tears and exhaustion, but the kids are going home feeling loved and cared for, and the government is happy with how the school is being run. As I slept in the clinic with a patient last night, I was thinking about how grateful I am for the Christ-like hearts of those around me. This morning, Melissa came home! We are looking forward to our Sabbath rest together once again.
Some watermelon smiles from the clinic yesterday!