Hey, hope you are enjoying or have enjoyed a blessed Christmas period,
and this gives an insight into what I have been up to in Bolivia.
I have been in Bolivia for almost 1 month and it has absolutely flown
by. The majority of my time has been spent settling into life in Cochabamba
(which is a beautiful city in the centre of Bolivia) and beginning my Spanish
studies. I am attending a school that is very near to my house and normally I
have four one-on-one classes a day. My three teachers are exceptional and very
different from one another. My classes are enjoyable and the idea of becoming
fluent in Spanish now seems possible. The regular language confusion in both
English and Spanish can be very amusing.
It has also been a joy and a privilege to reunite with friends across
Bolivia in Santa Cruz, La Paz and here in Cochabamba. It is such a reassurance
and blessing to have this beautiful family across the country. It has made
settling in so much easier and I have loved praying with and catching up with
them. I am so glad that I can continue to strengthen these friendships over the
next couple of years.
Starting new friendships has also been fun, and a challenge with my
limited Spanish. I am looking forward to having even more Bolivian friends.
Although my Spanish teachers keep tell me not to use google translate, I think it
is wonderful. As it has allowed me to start to form friendships, including with
some of the guys I will be volunteering alongside in Oruro. This morning I also
found out that when a girl asks you how old you think she is it is still
dangerous to answer in Bolivia.
I also had the opportunity to attend a three-day camp in Oruro for 37
children of prisoners. The campsite was basic, but this was a beautiful experience.
It was amazing to get to know these children in a small way and exchange a few
words in Spanish and English. I am excited to work more with these children and
to really get to know them. It was also reassuring to know that the same things
cause amusement and astonishment in Bolivia as in Scotland: my height; the size
of my feet; the size of my Adam's apple and my laugh. With random small
Bolivian girls running up to me and saying ‘haha haha’ then laughing with me.
One small Bolivian boy in Santa Cruz did astound me with his kindness by saying
I look 20 years old and suit my spots. I am looking forward to future
interactions with more Bolivian children. God is also challenging me on
how I love every single individual that I encounter and I hope to grow in this.
It has been incredible to see how friendships and relationships can
begin in spite of the lack of a shared language. However, it is a huge
motivator for me in my Spanish learning to know that deeper relationships
require fluency.
It is also a blessed reassurance to know God is alongside me and remains
the same.
Love and blessings,
Andrew
Please Pray For
- A
continued focus and reliance upon God
- Me
to continually attempt to view every person in the same way that God
does
- Progress
in language learning
- The
development of deeper relationships
- The
children I worked with in Oruro
The Word became
flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the
one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
