"Poco a Poco"

"Poco a poco" is a phrase we have grown accustomed to saying as we describe our life and the current stage we are in. "Little by little" has come to characterize the progress we are making in many areas, as well as the perspective we need to take each day. "Poco a poco" we are learning Spanish, "poco a poco" we are cultivating relationships, "poco a poco" we are growing our ministry here, and "poco a poco" we inch closer to the end of the school year.

Officially done June 10th and flying back to the United States on June 11th, we battle each day, little by little, to make progress in every aspect of our lives, knowing that each step towards growth is all due to the grace of God shown us. We are anxious to do more here, but recognize that anything and everything is at the hand of the Father, and right now we must strive daily to pursue Him and answer the call He has placed on our lives to grow at a "poco a poco" pace. Although challenging at times, we try to focus on the growth that is being gained and the blessings that God continues to pour out upon us. We spent time reflecting over the past year as we celebrated our first year of marriage by taking an anniversary trip to the tropical jungle town of Coroico.

The warm weather in Coroico was a nice change of pace as winter begins to roll in, and La Paz is getting colder and colder. We were very thankful for the opportunity to take the weekend trip to Coroico and explore a smaller town in the Yungas Mountains and reflect on the year of blessings. We continue to take Spanish classes five days a week and often when we travel it is a great opportunity to put what we are learning into practice. Every opportunity outside of the Highlands school community allows us to get a better taste for the culture and the language of Bolivia. Recently churches have opened back up in person, and we have had the opportunity to attend a couple of different churches, all in Spanish.

Today we had lunch with the pastor of the church to which we have attended the last two weeks, and we look forward to connecting more with the church community as there seems to be many opportunities to plug in and serve. Community has been a prayer for us and little by little we are starting to cultivate relationships and plant our roots both in La Paz and within the Highlands community. The ability to go to school and visit with other teachers has been really helpful, and within the past month we have started a tradition of playing a different sport after school every Friday. We have played things ranging from ultimate frisbee, to soccer, to kickball. It has been a great way to build community within the staff. Most recently this past Friday we were able to have all the seniors on campus and it was the first time they were able to be together on campus since March 12th, 2020, before the pandemic shut everything down. They came to take graduation pictures, eat some pizza, and then we played soccer, kickball, basketball, and spikeball until the sun went down. It was so good for Mark to see his students together again in-person. We both eagerly await next school year when we can hopefully have students back on campus with in-person classes. We still await government approval, although vaccinations have finally begun.

Ministry has been on our minds and our hearts as we continue to grow our street ministry and our relationship with David. We have started reaching out to many of the kids we see on the streets who seem to be ignored or left to entertain themselves as their parents work. We have also invited other teachers to join us and that has helped bolster our abilities to love on those we come in contact with. Whether throwing the frisbee or coloring, we are hoping to love on these kids and show them the love of Christ. On our last outing we were able to give away our last five Bibles as well. We continue to meet many Venezuelan refugees who struggle to make a living on the streets, and often we try to communicate the hope and the refuge that can be found by putting their faith in Christ.

We are now in need of locating more Bibles to hand out, as the thirty that we had at the start of the semester were all donated by the school and now are gone. This is a prayer request we have as we prepare for more ministry here. We also continue to stay in contact with David, and on our last visit with him we were blessed by an incredible gift that he gave us. Pictured here is a hand carved statue of a shoe shiner that he made and gave us. It blew us away as we felt so undeserving. He is a very kind man and one we hope we can continue to build a relationship with and encourage. We keep it in our apartment as a reminder to pray for David every time we see it. Little by little we hope to be more effective in our ministry here. We want so badly to be used by God to further His kingdom as much as possible. We recognize constantly that everything will be according to God's will and plan, and not ours. So we patiently seek to do all we can with what He has given us, and we trust He continues to work through broken vessels like ourselves. Poco a poco we grow, trusting in the process that is our ministry here.