The Adventure Begins

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog, or my attempt at one anyway. My goal for this blog is to share my experiences with friends and family back home but also to record my memories, so I don't forget about this beautiful place or the amazing people here. May the Lord bless my efforts and use this humble blog to bless all who read it.

I'll begin by giving some background as to how I got to this point...

How I became an SM at Familia Feliz

I can't pinpoint an exact time when I decided to do a student mission year, but ever since junior year of high school or so, I just accepted the idea of serving abroad for a year in college. So during the first semester of my freshman year at Southern Adventist University, I began thinking about what year would be the best for student missions. I was deciding between the 2024-2025 school year and the 2025-2026 school year. It ended up being an easy decision because my sister's first year at Southern will be 2025-2026, and I wasn't about to leave Southern right when she will get there. So one question had been answered: when? The next question I had to answer was where? Deciding where to serve was a much more difficult task. Towards the end of first semester, my dad sent me a blog post by a student missionary who served at a place called Familia Feliz in Bolivia. I looked it over and put that location in the back of my mind as a possible location. During the first few months of second semester, I did some research on Familia Feliz and other locations around the world, but for some reason, I felt a strange draw to Familia Feliz. I told God that I would go wherever He wanted me to go, and I meant that, but in the back of my mind, I had three criteria for the location that I was really hoping He would meet. 1) Somewhere where I could learn Spanish, 2) where I wouldn't be teaching, and 3) where I would be going with a good-sized group of other SMs. Familia Feliz met all of those criteria. It's in Bolivia, so I would learn Spanish, I would be house-parenting there and not teaching, and at least seven other people were going that I knew of at the time. However, those were my criteria and not necessarily God's, so I did my best not to latch onto that location. I ended up struggling with the idea for about two months. It wasn't until mid-April that I got my answer. At the end of every school year, the student missions program at Southern has a special retreat for all the students planning to serve the next year. On that first night of the retreat, everyone split up according to their chosen location. I went with the Familia Feliz group, even though I hadn't committed to that location yet. When I looked around the circle of people who had made the decision to serve at Familia Feliz, I knew it was the place for me. Some of them I was already friends with, while others I had only seen in passing, but I could tell that all of them were passionate about serving God. So right then, I made the decision in my heart to go to Familia Feliz, and almost instantly, I had this amazing sense of peace and reassurance that I was doing the right thing. Everything after that just kind of fell into place. And before I knew it, I was on a plane to Bolivia.

The Trip Here

The trip to Familia Feliz was an adventure in and of itself. The beginning of the trip was definitely the hardest. Saying goodbye to my family knowing I wouldn't see them again for eight months was really, really tough. I can't say I was prepared for it. We walked up the stairs in the Greenville airport, I saw the line for TSA, and the realization hit me that this was it. The next time I would see my amazing family again would be in that very airport eight months later. But God is so good! I knew it was His will for me to go to Bolivia, and I had peace knowing that He would reunite us again. 

After a total of five flights, eleven hours of layovers, constant checking of our baggage, and a surprisingly smooth process through customs, we arrived in Rurrenabaque, Beni. It was a tiring trip, but we and all our bags were safe, and that's all that mattered. We spent some time in Rurre eating some lunch and getting some bedding for those who needed it before heading to Familia Feliz. After a 20-minute ride standing up in the back of a truck with all our luggage (it was pretty fun actually), we arrived at our new home for the next eight months.

Welcome to Bolivia!

Safely in Rurrenabaque

First meal in Bolivia!

Our ride from Rurrenabaque to Familia Feliz

What is Familia Feliz?

Familia Feliz is a home and school for Bolivian kids who come from less-than-ideal home situations, to put it mildly. The campus consists of five houses that serve as living quarters for the kids and staff, a small medical clinic building, a church, and a small school complex. It is located twenty minutes from Rurrenabaque, a small town in central Bolivia.

Life at Familia Feliz

I have been here for two weeks now, and somehow life already feels so normal. I have been so blessed to have the experiences of the SMs who came before me to help prepare me for this huge change. The adjustment hasn't been easy, but it has been smoother than I was anticipating, and I can only thank God for that. 

So I wear a lot of hats at Familia Feliz. My first hat is as a house parent with a guy I went to high school with named Justin. We are in la casa de los Leones, which is the house for the younger boys. There are a total of thirteen boys in our house. However, our role as house parents is a bit different than the other houses. The other houses are run by two SMs each, but there is a Bolivian family that works full-time at Familia Feliz as the house parents for the Leones. That makes Justin and I more like assistants to the Bolivian house parents. We become full-time house parents every Monday evening, Thursday evening, and all of Sunday because the full-time house parents go to town, run errands, etc. This means we have more free time during the week than some of the other SMs, hence the reason I have more than one job at Familia Feliz. I am also "the maintenance man," which means I go around fixing and repairing all kinds of things, like ripped windowscreens, non-functioning lights, plumbing issues, etc. My third job is working at the farm. One of Familia Feliz's goals for this year is to start and maintain a vegetable garden to produce fresh vegetables for each house. I work for two hours in the afternoon supervising some of the older boys who work in the garden. I can't say I was expecting to wear this many hats, but I appreciate the variety. 

This past week was different for Justin and me because the full-time house parents left on an eight-day vacation. They left last Sabbath evening (8/24/24) and got back this past Sunday evening (9/1/24). That meant Justin and I became full-time caretakers for thirteen boys, ages 5 to 11. I have to say, I was rather terrified at the beginning. Having to get thirteen kids ready for school every morning, feed them three meals a day, get them to do their chores, and keep them from fighting with each other, was a daunting task. When the full-time house parents are here the boys are very well behaved most of the time. When it was just us, however, they began to test our limits and boundaries. It's like they were completely different kids bent on testing our patience  But God came through again. He came through big time! First, Sierra Anderson, who served at Familia Feliz two years ago and who had come to help us get situated here, helped Justin and me for the first three days. Having her help was the biggest blessing because she could speak Spanish and she knew how to cook for thirteen kids. So for those three days, Justin and I were essentially Sierra's helpers. But the day came for her to head back to the U.S., and before we knew it, we were on our own...or so we thought. God had another blessing in store for us. Some of the other SMs came over and would help us cook or watch the kids, and they were lifesavers. We wouldn't have been able to manage without them. To illustrate this, on Wednesday night, one of the kids was refusing to shower, so we ended up having to give him a shower ourselves. Thankfully, two other SMs, Ellie and Sophia, were there because it took three of us to shower him and get him in clean clothes because he was doing everything in his power to get away from us. And then the next day, we had help from another SM, Alayna. She literally saved the day. I had a low-grade fever and was feeling horrible, but her being there to help allowed me to take a much-needed nap. She also single-handedly made a delicious supper of garlic bread and pasta for all of us, so Justin and I could manage the kids. She even went one step further and cleaned our kitchen, so I could go to bed. I remember crying that night because I felt so unworthy of the help and generosity I received that day. I couldn't have chosen a better group of SMs to serve at Familia Feliz with. God continued to bless and before we knew it, the Bolivian family had returned. It was crazy seeing how the kids instantly changed when they got back. The kids were quieter, they did a deep clean of the house without complaining, and none of them threw a single punch that night (something that happened quite often when it was just Justin and I). It just goes to show how much respect the kids have for their Bolivian house parents and how much respect we still have to earn. That will come in time. For now, I am just so relieved to have the Bolivian family back home and the kids behaving normally. Now I can focus on loving them and getting to know them better instead of making sure they're not fighting all the time. They really are amazing kids. Sure, they can be pretty hostile towards each other and towards Justin and me, but with the horrific experiences they have endured in their pasts, how can I expect them to be little angels all the time? As naughty as they can be sometimes, they are equally as sweet and helpful and affectionate. They will help with meal prep, they will sometimes do their chores without asking, and they have even started giving me hugs at night after I pray with them. Already, I'm realizing how hard it is going to be to say goodbye when the time comes to leave. It's time to make the most of the time I have with these precious kids!

 

Picture time!

Blue, our pet macaw

Selim, one of the cutest kids on campus
if you ask me

They discovered that they could hear
my heartbeat if they put their ear
on my chest

Teacher Justin's Birthday!

Yes, there are tarantulas here.

Friday night worship

The biggest beetle I've ever seen!

What cooking for 16 people looks like.

Pancakes for breakfast = happy kids

On our day off a week ago, while eating supper at a restaurant,
a random cat jumped in my lap and promptly laid down
on my laptop as I was trying to write this post. So weird
but kinda cool.

The youngest boy in my house, Emir. He's 5

We're matching!

I pulled this out of my elbow yesterday. The wasp
 stings here hurt just as much as at home.

My house, La Casa de los Leones

These people are absolutely amazing!!

Thank You!

I want to thank all of my friends and family who have supported me emotionally and financially in this decision to serve as a student missionary. I never could have done this on my own. I especially want to thank you, Mom and Dad, for your unwavering support in my decision. It means the world to me to have your approval. Finally, I would like to thank all those who helped Justin and me in the Leones house (Sierra, Ellie, Sophia, and Alayna). You all took so much stress off my shoulders and made my responsibilities much more bearable, so from the very bottom of my heart, thank you!

These next few months are going to be some of the hardest months of my life, but all the hardship will be worth it because I have an incredible opportunity to show the love of Jesus to these kids. That's why I named this blog Vale la Pena. It translates to It's Worth It. The sickness, the bugs, the overwhelming heat, the cold showers, the constant busyness, and the homesickness are all worth it because this is where God wants me to be. I take so much comfort from this verse found in Mark 5:36, "Do not be afraid; only believe." Why should I fear when I have Jesus by my side? I can't wait to see what God has in store during these next months. Let the adventure begin!