...written on our hearts...: March (...and a bit of April)

Some friends and I as we visit pre-Incan ruins during Easter Break

I sit only two months out from returning home from Bolivia. It is incredible the things that God has done in the past 8 months to change me, challenge me, and give me a bigger view of himself.

Daily I am both challenged and filled with joy as I teach my 16 precious second graders. They can sure test my patience and push my limits of energy, but at the end of the day I can say that it truly has been a privilege to encourage them onwards in life.
Here are few of our class highlights from the past month:

Friendship Day
In response to some unfriendly behavior in class, I decided to forgo much academic learning one day in lieu of some team-building activities, lessons on forgiveness, and role-plays on conflict-resolution. Although "Friendship Day" didn't solve all of our problems, it did open some eyes and brought to light some of the issues between friends.

The kids picked several Bible verses on friendship to put up in the class; here they are making posters of them.

Chapel
Grade 2 performed their last chapel of the year. We chose to dramatize Psalm 23.
Here Celeste and Rodney pose in their sheep costumes.

One of the lessons we learned form Psalm 23 was that as sheep in Jesus' flock, we can always trust our Shepherd to take us to good places.

Field Days
Just before Easter Break the entire school participated in Track and Field Days events. We had two fabulous days in the sun running and jumping and throwing. I helped to measure and judge the long jump. And even with all my practicing between measuring and raking the sand pit, I couldn't even beat the 12/13 age girls record (something over 4 meters)!

Here is me with some of my boys as they wait their turn to run one of the races.

Two second-grade girls won second and third place overall in their age bracket!

Sunday School Through Skype
On Easter Sunday (churches could not have normal Easter services here because elections were scheduled for April 4th, and during election days no cars are allowed to travel) I was able to Skype the Sunday School class at Woodridge and tell them a bit about being a missionary here in Bolivia, and to challenge them to think about missions for themselves.
It was a lot of fun to have a bit of a "live" connection to home.

The Conclusion
Amidst the struggle of decision-making I have felt God calling me home for this next season of life. I will be very sad to leave Bolivia, and the people and country I have come to love in so many ways, but I am also excited to see how and where and what God has planned next.

As I look towards my return home I am praying that God will open up some opportunities where I can live in inner-city Milwaukee and engage in the neighborhood around me. Please pray with me that God will go before me to prepare a place to live and a community of people to work with.

Bolivian food!