Friday, January 31, 2014

Photo Friday

First off... Today is Kellton's birthday!  We couldn't be more proud of him and the skills and interests he is developing.


Happy Birthday Kellton.




I had the honor of facilitating a meeting with another missions agency operating here in Bolivia that has a school as part of its mission and has a number of difficult decisions to make around this ministry.

Once again, it's interesting to see where skills learned in previous jobs have come back to be very helpful.  Thanks MSU Extension!

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Photo Friday

Today I spent all day at the Baptist Seminary for the 1st Bolivian Baptist Missions conference.

My friend Dan Collins led the opening Devotional.

And various classes were led by individuals from Bolivia, Brazil, and beyond.


Tuesday, January 14, 2014

"Surprise!" by Dana

When you live in a developing world, you learn to adjust your expectations that things will just be a bit more difficult. That’s healthy in many ways.  There are many more unpredictable things to manage, and being flexible with a few less expectations is a good way to keep a positive attitude.


One area of our new life I have been dreading, just knowing it would be beyond difficult, was medical appointments.  First it’s hard for me to make the appointment over the phone, asking the receptionists to repeat themselves a few times, so I understand their Spanish.  And hoping I am not botching my communication too much.  Then there’s the inevitable new location to find and so on.  Many of my worries stemmed from Kellton and Astoria’s fears of medical professionals and procedures.  Simply say “dentist” and Astoria would burst into tears.  A few months of shots and things to get ready for Bolivia took my kids off the doctor’s fan club roster.
But I knew I could not put off the dentist and eye doctor appointments any longer.  The dread and fear had sure set in, but we just had to take the plunge.  We were in for a real surprise.
First of all, the Dentista is a friend of a friend, so that began the appointment on a happy note.  Turns out, she spoke English quite well and has a heart for children’s ministry.  Kellton passed his cleaning with flying colors, and immediately asked for another appointment right away.  Astoria had the beginnings of a cavity and even happily sat through the drilling.  Are these my children?!  Plus the fee was less than I anticipated…who knew?  We were out the door with two delightful Christian children’s books the dentist had written herself, and I was completely in (happy) shock.
Next round was the eye doctor.  Elated from their dentist appointments, they were pretty relaxed.  Kellton had been wearing an eye patch to cover his stronger eye, for about 2 hours a day, every day (that his parents remembered to torture him with it).  Lo and behold, his eye sight had improved, and he no longer needs to wear a patch, and no longer needs to wear glasses all day.  And at Astoria’s last appointment in Montana, we were told she’d need glasses by this time in Bolivia.  Quite the contrary…the doctor said no glasses are needed and she doesn’t need to come back for 2 years.  Again…is this happening to us?!  And Kellton’s new, weaker prescription wasn’t too expensive and they were happy to use his old frames.
For the sake of guarding one’s heart against disappointment, at times it’s easy to slide into a mentality that “things just won’t work out.”  We all know this can be very true many times, and yet God calls us to take in His wonder, and to be ready for His surprises.  Even today we had another gift from God.  Kellton who is very careful with his money, had decided he wanted to pay for a motorcycle game at an arcade near the grocery store.  I told him I’d take him, as long as he was pleasant the whole grocery store outing (hard duty for a 6 year old boy, mind you).  He had a great attitude, but was quickly crushed with the arcade wasn’t open.

On the way home, we spotted (how could you not?) this crazy turtle vehicle.  For 5 Bolivianos, you can get a ride around the park.  I said we could go, but Kellton only brought 2 Bolivianos, the amount he needed for the arcade.  Astoria to the rescue, offered to pay for all of us.  I had even forgotten my money!  So off we were in the turtle.  Bummed I forgot my camera, another family on the ride had a camera and offered to take a photo and email it to us.  Perfect!
So while there will be unpredictable hardships of course, I am thankful for the way God weaves in surprises.  He has unexpected grace and joy for days begun with worry at the doctor or disappointment at the arcade.  He is Lord of the good surprise.

So, friends, take a firm stand, feet on the ground and head high. Keep a tight grip on what you were taught, whether in personal conversation or by our letter. May Jesus himself and God our Father, who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, put a fresh heart in you, invigorate your work, enliven your speech.