So.Many.Bugs.

9-23-11

This morning is our second morning with the kids.  We moved into our new living area two days ago.  Our hut isn’t made to be a house, I think it was originally a school classroom.  There are no bathrooms, showers or kitchen. Just the boys room and the room Erin and I are living in. In the boys room there is a table and benches that we use to eat.  There are 4 sets of bunk beds in their room. We were originally told 6 or 7 but we were asked to add another little boy to the family.  He is only 5, younger than all the other children but so far he has been pretty easy to manage.  The hard part is he doesn’t go to school so we have him 24/7. The rest of the kids go to school only in the morning, so from about 11:30 am on we have the kids. In the morning we are supposed to wake the boys up at 5 or 5:30 am, read them a worship story, sing with them, have them make their beds, sweep the floor, fold their clothes, have breakfast, wash their faces and brush their teeth before school. School starts at 7:30 am.  Most of the kids start trickling back home around 11:30 to 11:45 a.m. This afternoon Erin and I are planning on having a cleaning bee with the kids, we are going to have them pull out all their dressers, sort all their clothes and things, wash everything out and put it back neatly beside their beds. We already scrubbed down the tables and benches and got a new table cloth from town so the table is looking better.  We want to scrub the mud off the walls in the boys room too.  There are a lot of projects to be done.  Erin and I want to build a fire place that the kids can sit around, sing and we can use to cook.  We also are planning to plant a garden outside our side of the house, plant vegetables and put some flowers right by our door if we can find any flower seeds.  Last night we discovered that we are in need of a clothesline as well, Erin and I had our first laundry adventure after the boys went to bed.  We discovered the kids clothesline to be covered with little ants… which could potentially mean ants in the pants. Still thinking about how to keep the ants away from the clothesline we are going to make.  Our room is still in need of a lot of work.  Our bags are just stacked by the walls, taking up way too much room because we don’t have shelves yet to put things on.  We don’t have bed frames so our mats are against one side of the room. I’ve realized the best policy in this little house is to just leave the mosquito net on all the time.  Bugs still manage to be crawling on my bed even with this policy so I don’t want to explore other options.  Last night when I was in bed, close to sleep, I was all the sudden completely awake when I saw the biggest ant I’ve ever seen in my life crawling up the bed beside me.  I don’t think ant is really the name for the creature, but it looked like a ginormous ant with a pincher on the front and a behind that stings like a bee. Outside of my mosquito net were unending other noisy moth type animals, beetles, little bugs and cockroaches.  I was too worried about letting all those animals in I didn’t know how to get the massive ant out of my bed. I started trying to direct it down my bed with my headlamp, I think the light scared it because it started pinching and stinging the bed. I felt like a caged animal hiding inside my mosquito net trying to get rid of an unwanted creature inside the cage.  Mosquito net FAIL!  I was so thankful when Erin finally returned from the big house because she knocked off the hefty green beetle attached to my mosquito net with our hammer.  Yes, we have a hammer by our beds ready to smash any unwanted visitors. When at all possible we designate the boys to be our bug killers, but when they’re sleeping we fall back on the hammer. The noises here in the jungle are SO loud at night, now I understand why – there are bugs everywhere! 

8 Little Chicos

9/19/11

            It is 6:36 on Monday morning, our first school day and normal week day since we got to Familia Feliz.  I feel totally overwhelmed… we were told last night that today we are moving into one of the cabins (huts) to be house parents for 6 or 7 little boys.  They are around the ages of 6-9.  Basically we are responsible for the kids no matter what.  There are a few hours in the morning that they are at school, but other than that we are expected to take care of them.  I am so thankful that Erin and I are going to be together.  It’s going to be especially difficult at first because we don’t have a good handle on the language yet.  At first they didn’t want to switch us into the house with the little boys because they said “there are only 9 weeks left in the school year” and it’s hard for the kids to transition from one house parent to another.  That was like a reality check to me – “only” 9 weeks is longer than a whole summer at Big Lake… and camping at Big Lake doesn’t come even close to living here.  These orphans have a whole different way of life, it’s so very different and difficult to adjust to because it doesn’t follow any of the natural habits we have learned our whole lives in the states.  We’ve been given some tips on how to be good “house mom’s” but ultimately we are going to have to jump in and do our best to learn as we go.  Yes, I’ve grown up with ten siblings, 7 younger siblings, which I am thankful for and I hope will help me some with this responsibility … but my little brothers and sisters have not lived lives full of abuse, live in the poverty of Bolivia or speak a language I do not know.  I feel inadequate and unprepared for this responsibility, yet as I write I hear the children singing outside and it reminds me the reason I’m here.  To love these kids.  This is a huge opportunity to make a real impact on their lives.  I pray that I will have the courage and strength to be a witness and a loving “mom” to them.

First Days at Familia Feliz

9/17/11

            My first full day at Familia Feliz is winding down.  It was an enjoyable, relaxing Sabbath day.  Yesterday around 3:30 p.m. we flew into the little airport in Rurrenabaque on the 7-person mission plane.  It was the smallest plane I have ever ridden in! We had it so packed with bags that we couldn’t even see each other.  Erin, Joy Harding and Jordan sat in the back, Jamie in the middle and I sat in the front with the pilot.  I got pretty sick on the first half of the trip before we stopped in Trinidad, then after Trinidad I felt good for the most part. Despite getting sick I am glad we were able to take that plane because it only cost $80 instead of $180 to take a commercial flight, or take an 18 hour bus ride on bad roads! It was neat to meet the pilot Hermon, he is a volunteer pilot for Gospel Ministries International, originally from Michigan he has been here serving for 8 months. It’s inspiring to meet so many selfless people. It’s true what everyone had been telling us about Rurrenabaque, it is a very hot place. As soon as we got off the plane we were hit with some intense heat.  I am worried about getting adjusted to this heat, but hopefully I will adjust quickly.  We were met at the airport by Dave Harding, the director at the orphanage and several other Familia Feliz staff.  Stephanie is the director of the school and also a house mom, she is such a sweet and happy person! Edwin is the assistant director of the orphanage and also a house father, his wife Racquel I haven’t really met because she went back on the plane to Santa Cruz.  Edwin drove us to Rurre and let us get smoothies at the ice cream shop before we headed to Familia Feliz.  It was so nice to get something to eat because we hadn’t really eaten all day.  I really like Edwin! It was really fun to talk to him on the way to the orphanage, he knows some English so we could talk and he helped us learn more Spanish too.  Driving into the orphanage yesterday afternoon was touching… and a little overwhelming.  It’s definitely a different perspective coming to a place like this with the mindset of staying for a long period of time, rather than like Ethiopia just planning on staying a couple weeks.  Life is so so different here! Basic every day necessities that I take for granted at home are hard to come by here.  There are about 16 of us who are living in the upper area of the big house right now, all sharing one bathroom and shower.  There isn’t always toilet paper, the showers often don’t work and we have to go outside and bring in buckets of water to shower.  Last night when we got here after walking around and being introduced to people, exploring the campus a bit, we gathered for Friday night worship.  A cute little girl sat on my lap during worship and many children kept eyeing us curiously and smiling.  After worship was a special Friday night tradition – pizza.  It was strange tasting, it had a weird salsa for sauce.  After dinner Erin and I went to find Mr. Harding to see when we should be up the next day ect because we were tired and wanting to head to bed soon.  We ended up talking to Mr. and Mrs. Harding for a long time, later into the evening.  Jordan, Jonathan and Jamie came and talked with them too. It was a really good, eye opening talk.  I have a better feel for their mission and goals now and a better idea of what kind of people they are.  I really admire them for what they’re doing here.  They’ve given up their home elsewhere and are moving here to live at Familia Feliz permanently.  Their goal with education here at Familia Feliz is salvation for these kids above all else, it’s inspiring.  Mr. Harding also talked to us about where he thinks he wants to put us.  Apparently a lot of volunteers left near the same time, leaving a lot of holes to fill.  It sounds like he wants Erin and I to move into a house with 6 or 7 little boys to be their house moms.  Wow! That wasn’t what we were expecting!  It’s a bet overwhelming, but I think it could be a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these kids. It was so sad to hear Mr. Harding talk about the percentage of kids here who have been sexually abused.  He said 80-90% of the kids have been abused and is shows.  He said they can never sleep together, go to the bathroom together or run off alone by themselves.  He said they will actually rape each other sometimes.  It’s so sad to think that such young, innocent kids have been  so horribly mistreated that they would behave like that.  I want so much to help them somehow!  Hopefully I can make a positive impact on their little hearts.  I want to love on them as much as I can! We also talked about what we can do to stay safe here, life is so different and sanitation we are used to back home is almost non-existent here.  It was disappointing to hear Mr. Harding talk about it as if, whatever we do, we’re bound to get sick.  He has gotten Salmonella twice, Dengue Fever, Staph infection and random other things.  Despite what he said, I still really want to try to avoid everything I can that would make me sick and just try to stay well! This year is going to be rough… a lot to get used to! And so different from home.  The kids are absolutely precious though, I love them! This morning we slept in and then went to church, it got pretty hot but it was a nice little service.  After church we helped make lunch and after lunch we piled into the old truck to go to the river! It took to trips to get everyone down there, about 5 or 6 miles down the road to the river.  It was nice, we spent all afternoon playing in the river with almost all of the kids.  It was really muddy, but we walked upstream a ways and less mud was spread through the water.  I sat in the water and talked with several adorable, sweet little girls.  One of my favorites, I met her today and her name is Liz! Couldn’t help but think of my wonderful friend at home that I’ve been missing.  Belsebet and Kailee are two other girls I played with a lot at the river.  They are such fun and sweet girls! It’s going to be nice to talk to them once I actually learn how to speak Spanish better, there’s a lot of guessing and funny looks during this stage of communication.  Before we came back to Familia Feliz we gathered around in the sandy area and sang songs together to close the Sabbath.  It was festive coming back from the river, lots of us started walking back while as many people as possible piled into the back of the truck.  Once the truck started driving past all us walkers, some of us (including me) jumped onto the truck so we didn’t have to walk the whole way.  The kids sang the whole ride back, it was fun to listen to them.  Erin had fun running back with a couple of the boys.  I felt really dirty and gross when I got back from the river. Sadly the showers didn’t have any water so I had probably one of the worst showers I’ve ever taken.  There was just a tiny bit of water in the bottom of some of the buckets in the bathroom and I had to use them to splash water on myself and quickly try to get enough shampoo through my hair and body wash all over my body.  Ohh the things you take for granted at home!  We had bread and hot tea/herbal drink for dinner and now a lot of the kids are outside playing games around the fire.  Erin and the other student missionaries are out there.  I was just talking to our friend Sarah, she got here a day before us and is from England. She has been traveling through South America for about 4 months now!! Sadly she will only be here for 5 weeks.  I wish she was staying longer!  She is really fun and sweetJ Hopefully tomorrow we will get to go into town and get internet and buy some things we need.  I need to get a mosquito net, flip flops, and adapter for my charger and snacks!  Right now I still feel overwhelmed, nervous, out of place, uncomfortable and overall not at home here… but I know it will take some time to get adjusted!

On to Bolivia!

Today is a day of mixed feelings. It is my 21st birthday and my last day in the United States before I take off on my year as a student missionary in Bolivia! I am nervous about all the unknowns this journey will bring, yet excited to see where it will take us! I am thankful to be going with my wonderful friend Erin Messinger, we're in this together! Thank you to all my family and friends who continually support and encourage me. I will miss you! Goal: to make a real impact and positive difference in the lives of the Bolivian people.