Last Couple of Days!

Whew...I finally have a few minutes to adequately describe yesterday and I´ll go ahead and do today´s email, too. We have about an hour to pack up and go to the airport b-c we are flying back to La Paz tonight. I packed most of my stuff this morning so I want to get this email done before we leave.

Yesterday we went to a park in Cochabamba and met our sponsor children. I´ve been a part of that before, and it is just so touching. Sponsored children ask about all of the things you´ve written in letters to them, carry around the pictures you´ve sent, and ask lots of questions about your family. They are always accompanied by a family member or teacher and conversations with them are usually quite enlightening. I had the opportunity to be a "surrogate sponsor," which means that I visited a child who is sponsored by another family in church. She was a little disappointed that I wasn´t her "real" sponsor, but her mother asked many questions about them and sent lots and lots of blessings and prayers. Many of the women in Bolivia carry babies on their backs with long, colorful sashes (I can´t remember what they are called) and I commented that I really liked hers. (Her one month old daughter came along.) She explained that they are traditional Bolivian garments and the people there are very proud of them. She said that the next time I visit Cochabamba, she will be sure to have one for me and will be honored to give it to me. This was no joke...she wanted to know exactly when I was coming back and when she should have it ready for me. That really touched me, especially considering the fact that I helped scavenge leftovers after lunch for her to take home to feed her family.

Sponsors and children made t shirts together after lunch and some of the things that the children put on them were quite touching. You will have to ask Denise about her t shirt...I don´t want to ¨"take" her story. : ) After the t shirts,each sponsor child received a backpack of gifts from the sponsors and many of them seemed completely overwhelmed.

After the visit, we went down the street to the Compassion International Bolivia headquarters and toured the offices. It was really interesting to see exactly how children are put in the program and the process sponsor letters go through. We also heard about the LDP program, which is for leadership development. Less than 30 Compassion students each year are enrolled in the program and it includes university studies, leadership training, and materials. Bolivia has had 3 or 4 graduating classes of LDP students and these young adults are just amazing. This year´s grads include a teacher, architect, doctor, and a lawyer. i chatted with the teacher and we shared some stories. The funny thing is, kids are the same all over the world! Part of the presentation included pictures of the LDP students now and pictures of them when they were children in the projects. Surprise surprise...I cried thru the whole thing as LDP students described how important Compassion International had been in their lives.

Noli, one of our translators for the day, was telling a couple of us about the struggles she has had throughout her life. She was unable to go into the LDP program b-c her father lost his job, one of her sisters was very sick, and she had to drop out of school for a time to help support her family. She sobbed as she told us that she wasn´t sure what was going to happen to her and what some of her dreams were. The thing is, she has since gone back to school, finished HS, and is enrolled in her first year of university. Tanya and I gave her a pep talk and told her to keep working...it will be worth it and she CAN do it. i was bawling yet again as we left. Whew....when did I get to be such a wuss? : )

Today we visited yet another project and toured the various classrooms. THe children were very happy to have us and weren´t too concerned about crafts or anything other than FUTBOL. We had a couple of games in the play yard before we had lunch. You should´ve seen the table...they had cleared out a whole classroom for us and served some sort of delicious chicken and rice dish. We went on 2 more home visits and are now at the hotel, packing for La Paz. I doubt if I get to send an email tomorrow b-c we fly out tomorrow afternoon for home.

Please pray for safe travel for us and for the people who are struggling every day here in Bolivia. Make sure you ask someone on the trip to show you pictures and tell you some personal stories when we get back. You won´t be sorry!!


amy