Progress

Feeling progress is a rewarding but rare feeling. Often our efforts don't show their worth until much later, but that should not deter us from applying effort to all we do. The past four weeks we have made progress in many things, even if that progress is just getting started. As we attempt to make more progress with our Spanish and our ministry here, we have found great joy in the pursuit. Any progress we are able to make is all due to the Father's goodness. Seeking to give Him our best and have him work through the broken vessels we are, we set out to do more ministry and be more proactive with our Spanish.

On a Sunday morning, accompanied by some superb coffee and strawberry french toast, we each felt the Lord calling us to do more in pursuit of ministry here. (God can speak through anything and that includes breakfast) We were reminded that God works through imperfect and broken people all the time. So we decided to pursue a monthly street ministry here in the city. On a Saturday morning we ventured out on the streets of La Paz with food and Bibles ready to give away to anyone we felt the Spirit lead us to. Many of the people we met and spoke with were Venezuelan refugees seeking to make a living on the streets, and many of them had families. In our broken Spanish we did our best to speak a message of hope and encouragement to everyone we came across. Within the Bibles we had a brief gospel message, some key scriptures written on a notecard, and attached a small monetary gift. We pray God works through these things, and know full well He can.

This Saturday, the 27th, we will seek to go out again, and we ask for prayers and for God to work. With starting a street ministry comes a reminder of our linguistic inadequacies, hence our new concerted effort to improve our Spanish. Audrey has been taking online classes 3 days a week through a company in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Mark has continued his tutoring with Francisco, but will transition to the same online classes Audrey is taking starting in March. We have also decided to take classes 5 days a week to really further our progress. Please keep this in your prayers as grasping Spanish continues to be a key to doing more ministry and getting more plugged in here. Mark has also made some new connections through basketball and playing with a group of Bolivians throughout the week. A couple of the guys are Christians and extremely friendly and helpful. It seems by accident that Mark stumbled upon this group of basketballers, but we feel God's timing was at play here.

Outside of the norm, both of us got a chance to recharge our batteries and explore more of Bolivia during our four day break for Carnival. Alongside three other teachers, we overnight bussed it to the salt flats for 3 days to explore the Salar de Uyuni. While the weather was too windy to get the reflection pictures that Mark got last year, we were able to explore new places with new people and get outside of La Paz. Celebrating Audrey's birthday (Feb. 20th) was also a fun detour from the norm, and we were grateful to celebrate it with bowling, arcade games, friends, and food. Below are pictures from the salt flats, including our "Salt Hotel" and Audrey's birthday.

Please keep our continued efforts in your prayers as we seek to make further process here and for His kingdom. Please feel free to also reach out and let us know how we can be praying for you. God Bless.