Back home

I woke up this morning back in my bed, but felt very strange and lonely. I needed to be filled again with the love of Christ and prayer and quiet time has helped me remember God’s love and presence is still with me. In Bolivia, every morning started with the wonderful sound of fellow brothers in Christ praying in Spanish and worship music. I was getting used to waking up with my brothers and start my day surrounded by God’s presence. The Holy Spirit unifying us in Jesus Christ filled our mornings with joy and peace. Each morning, our English village was filled with brothers and sisters in Christ having quiet time getting ready for the day. It was very important for our mornings to start with the quiet time with the Lord. One of the missionary said, “You cannot pour from the empty cup”. Our mornings with the Lord have helped us to be unified as a body of Christ sharing his love. We were a big family of Christ starting our day together and sharing meals together. After breakfast we had our team members and students sharing devotion. Each morning we were encouraged by their love for Jesus Christ. Our team member Riah led our worship time in Bolivia. We worshiped together singing songs like Pure and Holy passion and In your name. After that our days were full with the English village students learning language acquisition skills and sessions after sessions of studying and communicating in English. Our time during Bolivia has brought us so close that 11 days in Bolivia felt like a month. I was very encouraged by everyone’s love for the Lord and their desire to follow God’s will for their lives. Miss you all from the English Village! Even when we are far apart, our presences are unified by the Holy Spirit. As we go on with our lives, just remember that our God's holy spirit has been with us always! Love you all in Christ!

We're Doing Great!

Hello from Bolivia!

It’s been a while – not because we don’t love you – but because we don’t have WiFi at English Village. Right now we’re at the local SAM missionary base called El Atrio. We’re here this afternoon for a prayer meeting and dinner with missionaries from the area.

Thank you so much for your prayers over these past few days! Several people on the team (including local missionaries who are also working at English Village) contracted what seemed to be a virus. We’re so thankful everyone is healing and feeling so much better! They’ve still got a little ways to go to be back to 100 percent health, so please continue to pray. I’m doing pretty well. The food is amazing! I’m loving all the rice. ;)

It’s important you also pray for English Village – the teachers, students, cook and technology. Our days are long. They start at 8 a.m. with breakfast and go until 9 or 9:30 p.m. after dinner. Each tutor has two or three students who came from around South America. We spend several hours throughout the day in groups practicing the language acquisition techniques using English. Students aren’t able to speak in any language but English in order to practice total immersion. It’s very draining for them, but they’ve been doing a great job!

That’s all the time I have right now for this blog. I’m sorry this is such a cryptic message, but students are arriving, and we need to begin setting up for the prayer meeting. Thanks again for all your prayers!

I may or may not be able to post another update. It probably won’t be until we’re flying out next week. 

Take care!

Riah

P.S. For those of you who are wondering (aka my family), Bolivia doesn't remind me that much of Peru. It might be closer to Lima since we're in the city here in Bolivia, but I don't remember a ton from Lima so I don't know if they're very similar. There are a few students from Peru, so it's been fun to talk with them.

Boots on the Ground!!!

How you respond to circumstances is a good reflection of your foundation...of how you view the world around you and your place in it.  We have learned that over the past 48 hours, as we have experienced less than ideal situations in arriving to Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

• Friday, July 4th @ 11:30 a.m. - Arrived at Charlotte.  The ticket machine would not print our boarding or luggage tags, so they had to be done manually.
• Friday, July 4th @ 1:45 p.m. - Arrived to our gate to find that our 2:25 flight had been delayed until 3:30 p.m., meaning we would miss our connecting flight in Miami
• Friday, July 4th @ 4:00 p.m. - Took off from Charlotte for Miami
• Friday, July 4th @ 6:00 p.m. - Landed in Miami after a very bumpy descent (we basically figured we got free tickets to Carowinds with as much excitement as we got :))
• Friday, July 4th @ 11:45 p.m. - Having boarded our plane in Miami, we were informed that the window wipers were non-functional and that we would need to board another plane
• Saturday, July 5th @ 2:00 a.m. - Took off from Miami for Lima, Peru
• Saturday, July 5th @ 7:30 a.m. - Arrived in Lima after a fairly smooth overnight flight
• Saturday, July 5th @ 10:20 a.m. - Took off from Lima for our final destination of Santa Cruz, Bolivia
• Saturday, July 5th @ 1:30 p.m. - More than 24 hours after meet as a team in Charlotte, we put boots on the ground in Bolivia for the first time
• Saturday, July 5th @ 3:00 p.m. - After going through Customs, we found out that our luggage did not make it with us to Santa Cruz.  We still have heard no word on our luggage.  Please pray that we will receive our luggage in a timely manner.

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons why our team could be disappointed and at wit's end.  However, as we have been discussing as a group, we are choosing joy.  We are choosing contentment.  We are choosing to believe, as Paul so eloquently stated, that His strength is made perfect in weakness.  Though we are all physically exhausted and without 7 pieces of luggage, God is still reigning...He is still in control...He is still good!  He can be nothing besides!

After leaving Viru Viru International, we had the pleasure of eating some traditional Bolivia food, including sonsos (fried yucca and cheese), yucca and potato chips, and empanadas at the Base (SO GOOD!!!).  At 6:00 p.m. this evening our group headed to a Campus Crusade for Christ meeting in which we had the opportunity to worship, give an encouraging message (Dan), lead worship (Riah and Bethany), and share testimonies (Riah and Bethany).  Each of us had opportunities to mingle with the approximately 30 Bolivian students who came out for the special night.  Dan and I had the blessed opportunity of seeing some students from last year's English Village (Marcos, Antonio O (single Antonio :)), and Betty).  Though Marcos has moved on to serve as a leader for CRU in Trinidad, Bolivia, it was so encouraging to see three young men stepping up to the plate in leadership within the Santa Cruz CRU program.  To speak with other brothers and sisters in Christ from Bolivia was a mutual encouragement as well, and we also pray that much seed was scatter on fertile soil there tonight...that the CRU leaders and others would till and water the soil, and that God would produce the growth!

It has been a wonderful start to the GO Bolivia 2014 trip thus far (including even the above-mentioned issues, as they have shown to prove our weaknesses and reliance upon God).  We will have the opportunity to attend a local Bolivian church tomorrow morning, followed by a delicious lunch at the well-known Casa del Camba (an authentic Bolivia family style restaurant).  Registration for English Village also begins tomorrow afternoon.  Please be praying for all of the travel, for logistics, for health, against spiritual warfare, for unity, and above all else, that Jesus would be honored!  We appreciate your prayers and thank God for you!

:Dan :Park

Hello! My name is Dan Park and I love Jesus Christ. I moved to the USA back in 2001 from South Korea. I was raised in "Christian home" where our family went to church and thought that we were Christians from going to church every Sunday. In college, I did whatever I wanted to do and I thought I was happy. I realized that my life and decisions I have made came with consequences and bad results. Sin always has consequence and my life was in total mess. I was in a dark place and only ray of hope was Jesus Christ. One of the college group member Sean from Calvary invited me to Passion 2013. I decided to go and let myself go and give everything to Jesus Christ. In the midst of worship and praying, I cried out to God for help and I wanted to meet him and love him more. I experienced something that I never experienced and it was the overwhelming love of God. I never cried as much as I did that day or never more happier and alive. When God's love touched my heart, he gave me this desire to share his love with the rest of the world. I wanted to be a pastor so that I can share God's great love with people. I never thought about missions because I thought that USA need to turn back to God. In summer of 2013, there came an opportunity for mission trip to Bolivia. I went to Bolivia last year because I wanted to have a clearer picture of what God wanted my life to be shaped. I was clear that I want to become a pastor, but I was still debating which undergraduate major would help me out the most serving the Lord. (It was like knowing steps A and C, but not B) I prayed that God would give me a clear picture of what I should do for my undergrad and God did answer my prayer though Go Bolivia 2013. I had such a great fellowship time with fellow brothers/sisters in Christ of the Latin nations, and even when I didn't speak fluent Spanish, our hearts were already connected through the love of Jesus Christ. God gave great joy in my heart meeting God's children around the world! I wanted to serve our heavenly father by being a missionary pastor serving wherever God wanted me to go. When I came back from Go Bolivia 2013, I changed my major to Elementary Education, and minor in English for Second Language. I am currently attending UNC Charlotte as a junior in Elementary education/ESL. This summer I was praying that God will guide shape my summer and he gave me another opportunity for Go Bolivia 2014. Through this mission trip, I pray that the love of Christ illuminates in our team member. Love is a universal language that God gave us through his precious son Jesus Christ. We might speak the different language and have a different culture, but in Christ we are one. 

 

OFF WE GO! :D

                                                                 HERE WE GO!!

God is so good! It has been an eventful day to say the least. We are yet to leave the U.S. after several bumps on our adventure. We started off the day with complications during check-in. Some of us were able to get our boarding passes and some of us couldn't. None of us however were getting passes for our luggage. After about an hour waiting at the counter for an answer, the lady who was helping us, manually had to enter the information for each of our bags. She was super sweet and we are very grateful to have had her helping us. At this point we thought the worst had come; since everyone around us took maybe 10 minutes to check their bags. We went through security and had a great what we thought would be our "final" american meal before leaving the U.S. However, God likes to keep us on our toes. As we walked to our terminal we noticed the time had changed for our departure. Sean quickly went to the desk to see if the information being displayed on the screens was accurate. Turns out the weather from the previous day had backed up several flights and ours happened to be one of them. For many travelers an hour delay wouldn't really affect their whole flight plan, but for us it would! We sat in the Charlotte airport waiting patiently for our now super delayed flight to finally take off. We are blessed however, we were able to find another flight out of Miami tonight since we missed our connector flight with the hour delay. We are now waiting out a 6 hour layover in the airport enjoying as a team listening to music, a nice meal, and watching fireworks from our terminal. We are scheduled to take off from Miami here at 11:55 to Lima, Peru. Since we had to change that connector as well we will be enjoying another 6 hour layover in Peru before departing for our final destination to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. 

We greatly appreciate your continued prayers. As we sat in the airport in Charlotte after finding out about the flight delay (knowing we would now not be able to catch our connector flight) we prayed that the Lord would continue to bring us peace. No matter how long it takes us we are going to do His will in Bolivia. Pray that we as a team will be able to find some sleep either on the plane to Peru or in the airport since we are losing the extra morning we had planned to catch up on rest before starting our pack filled schedule. We would also greatly appreciate your prayers that our luggage will arrive with us. Since we had to manually enter the information in we were given bar-codes to scan along with our boarding passes. Not quite sure why? But we've been told if we forget to scan those than our luggage will not transfer correctly (or something to that degree). Thankfully we all have packed at least 4 days worth of clothes to wear in our carry-on's. It's always good to think ahead! :D

It hasn't been all that bad even with all the hurdles we had to overcome; we are enjoying spending time together as a team making adventures and memories that will last a lifetime. I am sure we will have many more stories to tell once we actually arrive in Bolivia. 

 

I wish you all the best 4th of July with all your family and friends! God Bless America

Follow us on instagram #gobolivia2014

STAY TUNED and keep us in your prayers! :D 

Who is Bethany?

For those of you who don't know me my name is Bethany. I grew up in Santa Clarita California and just recently moved to Charlotte with my family. I have never been on a missions trip or been anywhere outside the U.S. So for me this trip will be filled with lots of firsts. 

For me this trip couldn't have come at a better time. I took a year off from college to gain my residency here in Charlotte. I will be going back to school in the fall (August) to get my business administrations major. My focus is going to be on photography. I really look forward; being a photographer to the opportunity in Bolivia seeing all that God has created all over the world. I have been blessed to grow up in such a great home with the best parents a girl could ask for as a role model. It is definitely going to be hard leaving them at home. I would greatly appreciate your prayers that God would continue to give me peace about leaving them behind. Being a close nit family it will be different not being able to communicate as easily as here in the states.

God really put this trip on my mind last year when I had just moved to Charlotte and the Go Bolivia 2013 team had just returned. After hearing their stories about the trip and the great opportunities in Bolivia to serve I was drawn to go. I got really busy with work at the start of this year and the trip really went on the back-burner. I really hadn't ever seen myself going on a missions trip or spending my only vacation time for work outside the U.S. However, God had a different plan and helped orchestrate everything that needed to come together for me to be apart of this team. I was able to get the time off of work and find the funds to afford the trip. The rest is history.

As we continue to prepare for the trip please keep us in your prayers. We all are super excited about the trip but still are continuing to diligently pray for team unity. Pray that we would all be spiritually, mentally, and physically prepared for the trip. For me I would greatly appreciate your prayers that I would be able to adjust to the new culture (their food in particular). As well as being able to actively communicate with the students we will be teaching.

~John 4:35 "Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest."

STAY TUNED TO BE APART OF OUR "ADVENTURE"!!

A Little About Sean

Traveling abroad for the first time in my life and doing it solo...that's where I found myself in May of 2012 during my first missions trip to Bolivia. Back then, I knew little about this big world in which we live. I knew little about Bolivia and hardly anything about the people of Bolivia. I knew I served a great God, but I did not quite understand how great and good and beautiful and perfect He and His eternal purposes were.

Fast forward two years, and I am writing a blog post less than 10 days away from my THIRD trip to Bolivia! Through missions trips to Bolivia in 2012 and 2013, not only have I learned a great deal about the culture and land of Bolivia and South America, but I have developed a great love for the people of this nation and continent. The words and stories of many South American brothers and sisters in Christ have challenged and encouraged me in my walk with the Lord, and the beautiful thing is that the sharpening is mutual. My perspective of God's mission among the nations has grown wider and higher than I ever imagined two years ago, and I find myself praying often about what burdens God has placed on my heart for global missions and how I can be a part of His purposes across the world.

As this summer approached, my initial plans were not necessarily to return to Bolivia. I had been praying about going on another missions trip - perhaps to Asia or Africa - so that I could get a glimpse of what God was doing there and prayerfully consider how He might be calling me among the people of those nations. But, as with everyone on this year's team, God had other plans. If you ask anyone on our team about how they got to the point of committing to follow God to Bolivia this summer, you'll hear the same story: "I had planned I would likely be doing something else, but certain things happened, and God put this trip on my heart." I do not know what God is wanting to do through each of us, individually and collectively, but I do know that He has wonderful plans and that He is able to do immeasurably more than all that we can even ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21).  

As I embark upon my third trip to Bolivia on the Fourth of July, 2014, your prayers would be incredibly appreciated. Please pray that our group would experience a level of boldness, love and unity that can only be explained by the Holy Spirit's working among us. Please pray that all barriers (whether language, age, culture, etc.) that exist between the tutors (the North Americans) and the students (the South Americans) would be destroyed in Jesus's Name! Please pray that EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. at English Village would be granted eyes to see others the way that He sees them and that our hearts would beat for the same burdens that God's heart beats for. Please pray that every person would return home shining brighter, having encountered God in a clear and personal way during the trip - that truly we would return with a loftier perspective and purer vision of God and His eternal purposes. 

Personally, please pray that I would gain further clarity of how God has formed me and that I would more fully surrender to His will in all areas of life...I want more than anything in life to be a vessel, willing to be molded by the perfect hands of an all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God. Please pray that all distractions of things back home would fade to the wayside...I want to see Jesus and the clear ways He answers prayers. We serve a mighty God, and it is a joy to come alongside you all in prayer for what He would have us to learn and pass on!

April Miller

Never would I have thought I would be leaving America on the best day to be American, July fourth. But here I am. And I could not be more excited about it. So how did this happen? It goes back to this past year at college, where I felt the call of duty that every child of God has to go out and spread the gospel. I had my own idea of what this would look like this summer, but God quickly closed that door. I knew He had planted a seed in my heart for evangalizing, it was just going to be His plans--not mine. So when the opportunity arose shortly afterwards for this Bolivia trip, I was excited. I don't know what I'm entirely getting myself into but I know the Lord knows and that makes me all the more thrilled.

For those of you who don't know me, I was born and raised in Waxhaw, NC and have grown up at Calvary Church. My best friends are Craig and Sharon, Stephen, and Crystal Miller--all of who also double as my family, as well as Stephen's fiancé, Abby. I'm a rising sophomore Interior Design and Architecture major at Samford University in Birmingham, AL, which has become my well loved home away from home. There in Birmingham, I have met many wonderful people, made great friends, joined the sisterhood of Phi Mu Sorority, and have gotten involved in Shades Mountain Baptist Church. In a perfect world, my ideal day would consist of crafting, baking, spending time with my family and friends, eating good food, laughing, and dancing.

Going into this trip, my prayer is that The Lord would reveal Himself to me in new ways-- that I would see Him in ways I never imagined and that I grow closer to Him in ways I did not know possible. I pray that He will break down the barriers that I consciously and subconsciously put up, taking complete reign over my body and my life.

We serve a big God and I cannot wait to see what he is doing down in Bolivia.
Thanks for all the prayer and support as we prepare and head down!

Getting to Know Riah

Two weeks ago I thought I'd be spending my July vacationing on a beach in Savannah, GA. As I was considering how much to budget for the trip, I was reminded of a mission trip I'd heard of and how I'd brushed it off without even praying God would provide a way for me to go. I stopped right then and prayed...and here I am!

It's all happened really quickly; however, I couldn't be more excited about serving in Bolivia with this awesome team. They're funny, quirky and fully committed to Christ. In my opinion, that's the best combination.

For those who don't know me, I grew up in Peru with my two older brothers as a missionary kid of Peter and Carol Lawry, missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators. We lived in Yarina, just outside of Pucallpa, until 2000 when we moved back to the states and eventually relocated to JAARS in Waxhaw, NC. After high school, I went to Asbury University in Kentucky and graduated with degrees in journalism and media communication. Currently, I'm living in Charlotte and working at a marketing and technology company called Red Ventures.

Now that you "know" me and we're past the boring stuff, here are some fun facts. =)

• Riah's favorite foods are (in order of importance): rice, avocado, papaya, tea, apples and chocolate.
• You will never see Riah eating winter squash. Never. It's not physically possible.
• Her Toyota is named Beatrice. It's appropriate.
• To Riah camping is better than a five-star hotel. 
• Riah has gotten sick in the following countries: Peru, Mexico, Guinea-Bissau and Turkey. She managed to stay healthy in the Netherlands, Kenya, Senegal and the United Kingdom. Hopefully Bolivia falls in the latter.
• Riah is a recent Crossfit convert. 
• Her two older brothers pretty much (emphasis on "pretty much") inoculated her against most reptiles and insects. Ticks are in a whole other class. Don't even mention them around her.
• Jesus is the best!

Thanks for reading my little bio. Please be praying for me and my team as we prepare to head down to Bolivia for English Village. I could use prayer that I'd get finances figured out and that I'd be spiritually prepared. Thanks!

A Glimpse of Bolivia

Please take a few minutes to view the following video to get a glimpse into the people and places we will be serving in the eastern lowlands of Bolivia!

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."  - Luke 10:2