Big News!

October 22, 2024

Big News!

I have some big news to share with you all about changes here at Familia Feliz. I am going to do my best to explain everything accurately.

Changes, lots of changes

Sierra Anderson arrived at Familia Feliz on Friday evening. She served as an SM here two years ago, and she is now the president of a nonprofit that helps support Familia Feliz. She is very involved in everything that goes on here. On Friday night, during our weekly SM get-together, Sierra updated us about some changes that will be happening before next school year. (The next school year begins in February.)

The biggest news is that Melissa, Max, and Joy are leaving. Melissa is the lady that founded Familia Feliz 20 some years ago. Up until a few months ago, she was the director. Due to some legal complications, she had to step down as director, and her brother-in-law, Max, became the interim director. His wife, Joy, is Melissa’s sister. Joy is also heavily involved with Familia Feliz. She deals with the finances here, and she buys groceries for the entire campus every week. Knowing just how integral these three people are to Familia Feliz, it is difficult to imagine them leaving in just three months. The challenge now is figuring out how to keep Familia Feliz running in their absence. Sierra’s nonprofit, which is run completely by past student missionaries to Familia Feliz, will be stepping in as the “decision maker” and “overseer” of Familia Feliz. However, her nonprofit will only be overseeing the childcare portion of Familia Feliz. The school is going to be run by David Gates and his people. There have been some mixed feelings about this, but we feel that overall, it is going to be an improvement from the current condition of the school. As of now, the school is run by a handful of Bolivian volunteers and a non-Adventist Bolivian principal. The Bolivian volunteers are amazing people, but when it comes to teaching, most if not all of them lack professional training in education. The principal is less than ideal, to put it nicely. There’s a long story about her and the problems she has caused Familia Feliz, but I don’t know enough details to share it here. I only know that dismissing her as principal next year is a good thing. We've been told that the new principal coming in worked at another Adventist school in Bolivia and that she's really good at what she does, so we have hope that the situation with the school will improve.

Another challenge we have to face is finding and training a new director. Ideally, we want a husband and wife who speak Spanish, are business savvy, and are willing to move to Bolivia indefinitely. I know that's a tall order, but if anyone reading this blog knows anyone who would potentially be a good fit, don't hesitate to reach out to me, and I can pass along the information to Sierra. My contact information is below. Right now, we are just trying to get a list of possible people for the job. Later on, Sierra and her team will start interviewing and narrowing down the list. We only have three months to find a new director, so your prayers for that endeavor would be greatly appreciated.

When I first heard that Melissa, Joy, and Max were leaving, I immediately thought of T. Juan and T. Emi. Were they going to leave to? That is one of the scariest thoughts I have ever had. When I asked Sierra about it on Friday night, she said that she didn't know if they even knew that Melissa, Joy, and Max were leaving. I spent all of Sabbath with the thought in the back of my mind that T. Juan and T. Emi might be leaving Familia Feliz. Even though I couldn't imagine how Justin and I would survive without T. Juan and T. Emi, I had peace that God's will would be done. If they decided to leave, I knew God would give Justin and I the strength and the resources to pick up the slack. I can't say I wasn't scared though. It got worse when Sierra told me that T. Juan and T. Emi wanted to have a talk with her. I knew them leaving was a possibility, but I had no idea how likely that was. She finished talking to them right before she had another meeting with all of us SMs on Saturday night. What she told us about their conversation blew my mind! When T. Juan and T. Emi heard the news that Melissa, Joy, and Max were leaving, they assumed they would no longer be wanted at Familia Feliz, but Familia Feliz has become very dear to their hearts, so they were heartbroken. When I heard this, my heart melted. I had no reason to believe T. Juan and T. Emi weren't happy at Familia Feliz, but I didn't realize how much they loved this place. Sierra, when she heard this from them, quickly reassured them that they were very much wanted here and that they were more than welcome to stay. So T. Juan and T. Emi are officially staying! What an incredible blessing! My heart was filled with awe at the goodness of God when I heard that news. They do so much to keep Familia Feliz running smoothly, and having them here to train in the new director will be so helpful. My respect for them grows every day. I learned from Sierra that Familia Feliz is way behind in paying T. Juan and T. Emi their salary. Their salary isn't anything fancy, but it's something. Sierra said that T. Juan has kept a detailed account of everything that Familia Feliz owes him, and it dates back to 2021. I honestly don't know how they are making ends meet, and yet they never complain. They understand that Familia Feliz is supported by donations and that their salary is not at the top of the priority list. And yet they choose to stay here even though they are getting little more than housing and food for their work. I pray that when Sierra's nonprofit takes over, fundraising will go well enough that we can properly compensate T. Juan and T. Emi for their selfless labor here. I am honored to work alongside these amazing people.

Ever since Familia Feliz was founded, it operated off of donations, and that will not be changing. Sierra and her team are doing their best to boost fundraising efforts because Familia Feliz is in need of a lot of improvements. I will probably talk more about fundraising efforts in future posts, but one that I know will be getting off the ground soon is a program for people in the States to sponsor a child here at Familia Feliz. I don't know too many details yet, but I imagine it will be similar to how World Vision International and Compassion International work. Stay tuned for more details on that.

Oh, I just remembered there's something else I need to share. At Familia Feliz, there are some kids here because their parents have sent them for various reasons. But there are other kids here because social services has placed them here. Working with social services has been an incredible pain for Melissa over the years, so she has been working on phasing out the social service cases and not accepting new ones. Starting next school year, there will be no more kids here because of social services. Currently there are seven children here because of social services. Social services' plan is to put these kids into foster homes or orphanages over the summer, so unless a miracle happens, we will have to say goodbye to those seven kids forever. I don't know exactly how, but there is a slim possibility that social services would let them stay at Familia Feliz. We need prayers that God will work a miracle and allow these kids to stay in the safety of Familia Feliz. So I ask anyone reading these words to pray for these seven children and the situation they are in. Tell your friends and family to pray too. Pray for God's protection over these kids and that His will be done. I am sure that God will take care of these kids, no matter where they end up.

Lots of prayer. That's what Familia Feliz needs right now. There is so much change coming in the next few months, and we desperately need God's guidance. I want to thank all of you in advance for taking the time to lift Familia Feliz up in prayer. It means so much to everyone here.

For those of you wondering how my sermon went this past Sabbath, it went pretty well, especially if you take into account how little time I had to prepare for it. It was my first time preaching with a translator, but I had no issues with that. It was about a twenty minute sermon, which was probably a little short, but it matched the kids' attention spans pretty well, so I guess it worked out. I spoke about the importance of being thankful, even during the difficult times. In hindsight, I realized I preached a Thanksgiving sermon in the middle of October, but since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, it was fine.

Other than Sierra coming and sharing the big news with us, this week was relatively normal and relaxed. More time with the boys. A thunderstorm. Canceled school on Friday. The usual. Next week will be exciting because Lauren's mom and the new SM, Hope, are coming tomorrow. Pray for their safe travels as well. See you all next week!

Pictures

Getting five boys to look at the camera at the same time
turned out to be quite the challenge.

Alex put a belt on his head, so I told him to
strike a ninja pose.

Benjamin wanted to be a ninja too.

A cute picture of Jeremias.

And Alvaro.

And Selim.

I think this is the third time Emir fell asleep on me.
It gets better every time.
(Photo courtesy: Justin Bobo)

Daniel cranking out the push-ups. He's constantly doing
them to get attention from the other boys and especially
the girls.
(Photo courtesy: Justin Bobo)