Letting God Do His ‘Thing’

I apologize for not writing the last couple months and I know I said for my 6^th month anniversary, I was going to answer any questions you guys sent me through my email or Facebook but unfortunately I only received two. I was hoping for more, hence this is one of the reasons why I didn’t write for the past months but there is still time to send me questions. When I receive enough I will answer them but for now, I will just keep writing my blogs just as I was before.

Ok…I want to be HONEST with you all, so here goes…These last couple of months have been very challenging for me, this is also the reason why I stopped writing my blog for a bit. In all honesty, I just wasn’t in the mood to write. I didn’t feel like there was anything good to share even though there was. I’ve been going through a roller coaster of emotions and events. I won’t go into detail, because I don’t think it’s right if I do, but let’s just say that I’ve been struggling with letting God take control of everything that is happening in my life, here and back home. It’s like I am fine with letting God do His thing but then sometimes, I’m like, woah woah woah, what just happened here? This wasn’t supposed to happen God? Especially when it hurts emotionally. Things that I never expected to happen or wanted to happen for that matter, happened. And what I dislike the most is that there is nothing that I can do about it, not anymore at least, just let it be, and let time heal everything. I’ll be honest and say, that the waiting part is the most difficult, I just want the pain to go away and fast but the reality is, is that it can’t and it won’t, so I’m stuck with dealing with myself right now. But besides all this I know that in the end, everything is going to be alright, because it always is and I will be a stronger, wiser and better person that has overcome a great challenge. This is the hardest lesson and test God has given me thus far and I want you all to know that I am grateful for it. And I’m letting God do His ‘thing’…lol.

Well, enough of that, it’s not all bad, just know that missionary work is not all rainbows and unicorns…haha… and it’s not suppose to be, right? All in all, I am still so glad and happy to be here in Bolivia. For the first time in my life, I am so sure about something, and that is that I’ve made the right decision on coming here, no matter how hard it’s been, no matter how many times I’ve wanted to give up, no matter the sacrifices I’ve had to make and no matter the blood, sweat and tears I’ve shed (…and I mean this in the literal sense…). I know God wants me here right now, and I’m going to try my very best to make these last few months the best ever!

So much has happened here. In March we celebrated Steph’s birthday! We made her cake and celebrated her day at the sisters’ house with dinner. She really enjoyed it; I think her favorite part was when all the kids sang her Happy Birthday! Also, Adam Rudin, our program director, came to visit us. It was really great seeing him again! In March we also got to experience Holy Week. We had adoration and did the Stations of the Cross out in Okinawa’s only paved road. It was pretty neat but our Easter Vigil mass was my favorite. I will never forget all those candles being lit up and how beautiful the church looked. It was wonderful.

In April, we were asked by Sor Ely (she is the high school principal) if we could join her and the senior class of San Francisco Xavier for mission week. Mission week, consisted of splitting up into three groups and travelling about 3 to 4 hours to get to three, very rural little communities. I was in the first group alongside Judy and a professor from the high school. We were in charge of 14 students. The teens had to work at the school with the kids of the community. They played games with them, sang songs and taught them in the classroom. It was a great experience for the senior class. They learned to give back and make a difference. I had a great time with them but it wasn’t easy. There were no beds so we slept on the floor and the amount of mosquitos was unbearable. The most interesting part of this whole experience was bathing in an outhouse (which smelled really, really bad). There were no showers, so the only thing we had was a white bucket, which we filled up with cold water, (that’s all there is) took it into the outhouse for privacy and used a bowl to scoop up the water. Boy, was that an experience. I will never forget that, and also the fact that we almost didn’t make it back home. There was a huge storm and all that rain caused the roads (dirt roads) to become slippery and dangerous. So it took us 9 hours to go back home instead of 4. Luckily we got home safely.

We recently finished our first trimester here in school. OMG! Was that something? I now have complete respect for all my teachers and for any one who is a teacher right now. GRADES ARE A PAIN IN THE…you know what! And I don’t know if Bolivia makes it that much harder…lol. Finding out how we were supposed to do grades was like pulling teeth… every teacher was telling us something different. They grade out of 70 here…idk why but that’s just how it is…but getting them to tell us exactly how they wanted them was just confusing…I mean even our principal didn’t exactly know, the only thing she cared about was if the font size and font type was the same…WHAT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! You can careless about the content and the grades, but when the font and the outline is not exactly the way you want it, it has to be redone?! Oh lord…(Culture Clash Alert: this is somewhat of how Bolivian culture is…there are so many other things that really confuse me though, and I don’t think I’ll ever understand but I’ve just learned to accept them, can’t do anything else). Anyway…we got them done, one way or another…and we are really glad that’s over with. Now we know what to expect next time.

These last couple of months I also got to experience…LICE! The most uncomfortable experience EVER! (How I got them…we will never know…I just know that I have to be careful whenever the kids hug me. =/) It’s already bad enough having to deal with the lice on my head and that extreme itchiness that is just unbearable but the thought of being contagious was not fun. This was when I really missed my washing machine and dryer =(. I had to wash EVERYTHING by hand! Also, to get rid of lice you have to wash with hot water. In Bolivia only cold water comes out of the faucet, no hot water like back home. So I had to boil the water every time. Washing took FOREVER! Also it took me about a week to get rid of the lice on my head. I truly appreciate having site partners. Poor Judy and Steph had to check my head for nits twice a day; I know it wasn’t fun for them. I felt like a child. Luckily, they didn’t get any lice, and I hope they don’t either. I am now paranoid with any little itch on my head. I no longer use my hairbrush, instead I use a lice comb everyday. I don’t want to go through that again.

Recently I’ve been thinking about how physically uncomfortable it is to be here. I mean, we deal with mosquitos every single day (I get bitten everyday), then there is lice (not fun), two days ago I found a tick on my ankle (luckily I caught it before it bit me…at least, I think it didn’t bite me…I can’t tell the difference between bites anymore, I always just assume it’s a mosquito…maybe I should start being more aware…heh…), then there’s amoebas in your stomach (which …I should probably get checked again, my stomach hasn’t been feeling peachy lately…). I recently found out there is this really, really tiny insect that falls from the trees and bites you (don’t worry, these aren’t dangerous), I caught a bunch of them on me while I was outside looking for nits on my head. I kept feeling bites, and I thought it was probably mosquitos but whenever I looked at where I felt the bite, nothing was there, until I looked closer. The thought of having insects that tiny biting my skin makes me reeeeally uncomfortable. Sometimes I wonder what else is out there that we don’t know about…eeeeek.

(Oh…and we recently saw a tarantula in our yard…a BIG one! …We ran! Life in Bolivia is never dull…we joke around saying that our life here would make a really good sitcom…)

Besides all that…I still like it here =)

In May, I got to celebrate my birthday! It was so wonderful! The kids at Colegio San Francisco Xavier are amazing. The whole school sang Happy Birthday and I was given a rosary, which was perfect for the month of Mary! I got hugs left and right! =) My site partners made me enchiladas (They were amazing!) and gave me my own Bolivian version of a TIGGER! =) The sisters made me a cake and sang Happy Birthday as well, and gave me a cute Bolivian wallet! I had a great birthday, it was simple, but perfect. I felt the love pouring left and right! As you all know, this month is also Mary’s month and so the little town of Okinawa prays the rosary everyday at 5:15am. Different groups lead the rosary on different days, and we’ve led it a couple of times already. Luckily there’s only been one time where we had to wake up at 4:30am and put some megaphones on the truck and drive around Okinawa waking up people to come to the rosary. Other groups do this every morning. Even though the hard part is waking up, I love participating in it once I’m there. We walk from one end of the road and from there we head to church while praying the rosary and carrying our Blessed Mother. It’s really neat. Right now, the whole school is preparing for the big day, May 24^th. I can’t wait to see what surprises are in store that day =).

Well…that’s that. I know it’s long…but I just had a lot to say. Tomorrow I will be here 8 months, which means, I only have 4 months left. =( I’m going to make the most of it. I am excited for the next upcoming months especially because I’m going to Brazil in July for WYD! WOOT! Two firsts, I’ve never been to Brazil and this will be my first time going to WYD! I’m so excited! And I’m going to see our new Pope! Pope Francis! I feel so blessed!

Being here can be difficult at times, but there are so many times when each day is a blessing! I’ve learned to be thankful for what I do have rather than complain about what I don’t have (Or about what’s crawling on me…lol). I am also learning to be patient with God. Most of the time I don’t understand His plan but I’m teaching myself to just go with the flow. (let me tell ya…it’s not easy…) All I know is that every challenge I’m going through right now, I am learning from it…and I think that’s how God wants it to be.

Praying for you all.

God bless,

Lorena

Almost Half-Way…almost. February Blog

And I am down to 5 months. I am almost half way there. Almost. It’s weird to say that I only have 8 months left in Bolivia, and it’s even weirder to say that I will be leaving this place in October. When ever I tell my kids and the people here of Okinawa that I am leaving in October, they all say, “Noooo, but why?” or “Really, so soon?” “Why are you with us for such a short time?” when for me, October feels so far away, lol, maybe it’s because I miss home. There are times when October does feel far but then there are times when it feels close. It’s really hard to explain to others, I think it’s something only the other SLMs and I will only really understand.

This month I got to experience what it’s like to teach in a classroom. In casa you didn’t read my last blog, I am teaching English to Kindergarten, 2^nd, 4^th and 5^th grade. The kids are great, but so energetic, it’s really hard to keep order in a Bolivian classroom. Children here are so different. They really don’t understand that they have to remain seated, remain silent while the teacher is teaching, and raise their hand whenever they need anything. They are always doing the exact opposite and I have to constantly remind them to stay quiet, stay seated and raise their hand. It’s quite a challenge. My most challenging class is the Kindergarteners. Oh my word, are those children insane, but they are the cutest kids you’ll ever meet. It’s really difficult to get them quiet, seated (because they are always running around the classroom, or outside thinking that’s it’s recess time), or asking them to raise their hand, they all end up raising their hand, together. Lol. But I will always love it when I enter their classroom, and they all (all 30 of them) run up to me and hug me, TOGETHER! Everytime! And usually (which is all the time) I can’t move, or they seriously will probably knock me down someday. It hasn’t happened yet, but I feel it might someday…lol. It’s something you don’t get to see everyday in the states, or get to experience everyday. And I can’t get enough of them calling my “Profe Teacher Lore.” They call me that all the time. I’m like, wow, that’s a lot of names. Haha. It’s fun.

Besides having my first teaching experience this month, I got to see what Bolivians do here for Carnival. It’s for four days, before Ash Wednesday, and people go outside and get each other wet, throw paint at one another, or mud. I will be honest that I decided to stay inside because the mud here in Okinawa is so gross. Besides dirt and water, who knows what else is in that mud. Call me a wimp, and I’m sure my fellow Camp St. Francis counselors would probably be disappointed with me because we do something similar every Crazy Wednesday, except with water and flour, and here, I didn’t want to catch anything or get bitten by something. You just never know here. Anyhow, I did see a lot of people covered in mud, and Steph and Marcos weren’t so lucky and ended up being attacked by some kids. Glad I wasn’t with them ^_^!

Recently this past month, I received a visit from Fr. Tom Juarez, SDB. It was great seeing a familiar face from back home. It’s like a little piece of home was brought over. The sisters were so happy with his presence and so were the other SLM’s and the kids and teens loved him. =) I knew everybody would. Fr. Tom just has a great personality that just makes him lovable. It was great having him here with us. I was sad seeing him head home, partially because I wanted him to stay, and because I wanted him to take me with him…lol. But I know I can’t go home just yet.

I want to be honest with you all. I am almost halfway there, I say almost because it’s been 5 months since I’ve been here and not 6. At the SLM orientation back in August, they told us, there would come a time when you felt like you just had enough of your year in mission. When you say to yourself, “Ok, this was nice and all, but is it time to go home yet?” or “I’m over it.” Every month is different. This month, I’ve had a couple of instances when I’ve woken up and just wished it was October already. I want to honestly let you know, that I am coming to that point in this journey and I want to ask you to please pray for me. Pray for me to get over this hump and finish my mission until the very end. Know that, I am not having any plans on heading back home anytime soon. I want to finish my year and I know I will, but there are just some days when you’ve had enough and just want to curl up and stay in bed or curl up and cry because everything becomes so overwhelming (and let me tell you, we still have more work ahead of us these next couple of weeks), or you just miss home (and everybody in it, like my mom, Michael, my family, all of my friends, my dog, my house, my bed with out a net, not having to worry about having insects crawling on your bed while sleeping and so much more) so DARN much! I have a fear. I sometimes fear that everyone I love back home will just get so use to being without me and that they won’t miss me, or need me anymore when I get back. Which I know it sounds ridiculous, but I’m just trying to express what we (SLM’s) feel sometimes while on mission. This is really hard, and I know no one, (except those who have been on mission for a long period of time) will ever understand. But please know one thing, even though I feel this way, know that, I do not regret this experience one bit. Know that this is benefiting me for the rest of my life. Know that I am definitely becoming a better person for it, because this is supposed to be hard and I am actually happy that IT IS HARD! I want to be able to get back home at the end of the year and look at myself in the mirror and say, “I’m proud of you, because you actually achieved what you set out to do. I’m proud of you because you made this decision and never regretted it. I’m proud of you because you’ve touched so many lives, but they’ve also touched yours so profoundly. I’m proud of you because you got through the hardships and have learned from them. I’m proud of you because you’ve become a better woman and a better Christian. I’m proud of what you’ve done and of what you’ve become. Lorena I AM PROUD OF YOU!”

God is always with me…and I know with Him, I will not falter.

Peace,

Lorena

PS. I want to try something new for my next blog. I saw this done by another SLM, Tom Kelly, who is South Sudan, and Tom, if you are reading this, I hope you don’t mind me stealing you idea =). I want to give you, the reader, a chance to ask me any question you like. Anything having to do with my mission here in Bolivia, for example: “What is the weirdest thing I’ve seen?” “Weirdest thing I’ve eaten?” or some more serious questions, and I will answer them honestly. You can send them to me at: lorena.zamora21@gmail.com or FB me. =) Thanks and God Bless. 

Backpacking Around Bolivia

I now have only 9 months left here in Bolivia; I’ve been here 4 months already. A lot of people tell me; “wow it feels like you’ve been gone forever, almost for the whole year” well it’s not the whole year just yet, guys and gals, but it sure does feel like it’s been going really fast for me. In the beginning I must admit, I was kind of skeptical if I would survive the whole year and I was having trouble adjusting, but now I can’t see myself anywhere else but here. There is no way I can leave home just yet.  Right now we are preparing for the new school year. We start our classes on Monday, Feb. 4^th, 2013. As Salesian Lay Missioners we teach English to the elementary school students at Colegio San Francisco Xavier. I will be teaching for grades K, 2^nd, 4^th, and 5^th. I will admit that I am a bit nervous being that I’ve never taught a class in my life. I mean, I’ve done retreats but being a teacher and a retreat facilitator our completely two different things. I will agree that both are educators, and that’s what I know how to do. I am also excited to finally have my own kids because when I was at the retreat center where I worked before coming to Bolivia, I would only get to know the group of kids for just one day and sometimes you can’t really have a relationship as much as when you have your own group of students. So I am both excited and nervous.

This past month, Marcos, Stephanie, Vivian (she is another SLM from Montero, which is 45 minutes away from Okinawa) and I travelled around Bolivia. We got to see so many different things, and some were pretty amazing. First of all, I will say that travelling around Bolivia requires, courage, patience, energy and lots of faith in God that you will get to your destination safely. It really is something else. You ride big charter buses, that here in Bolivia they call “flotas” and some of them look somewhat legit (hence the ‘somewhat’) and others, well, not so much.

For our first trip we headed out to the beautiful white city of Sucre to meet Judy. Judy is one my site partners here in Okinawa. She had gone to Sucre to take Spanish courses so that she can improve her language skills. She was there for about 5 weeks. Heading to Sucre was an adventure. We went to the bus terminal in Santa Cruz to find bus tickets from Santa Cruz to Cochabamba (we decided to take the long way because heading straight to Sucre is rather treacherous, which we later found out for ourselves). We couldn’t find any tickets what so ever from Santa Cruz to Cochabamba, so we tried Santa Cruz to Sucre, but no luck as well. We ended up taking a Trufi car from Santa Cruz to Yapacani ( a city in the department of Santa Cruz) from there we found tickets to Cochabamba. Most all buses here in Bolivia travel at night. We got to Cochabamba at around 4:00am and the bus station didn’t open until 5:30am, so we had to wait on the bus until it opened. Once the doors were opened we raced inside to find tickets to Sucre, but again no luck, so we had to buy tickets for a bus to Oruro, about 4 hours away. When we arrived to Oruro, we stopped to eat some breakfast because for one, we were starving, and two, the height was affecting us (especially Steph and I, she got a headache and I was having trouble breathing). We were having trouble (again) finding tickets to Sucre; finally we got lucky and found some at around 11am. The bus line was one that we did not know so we took a chance. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very good choice, the bus kept breaking down every couple of miles and the driver kept on stopping for gas. It took twice as long to get to Sucre than it should. We were joking around saying we were going to kiss the ground once we arrived to Sucre.  We finally arrived and stayed in the house Judy was staying at. The family that owned the house was the sweetest family I’ve ever met so far in Bolivia. You could tell they were a type of middle class family; they had a beautiful home, 3 stories high, with a beautiful view of Sucre’s hills and they fed us breakfast and lunch everyday, it was great!

Sucre is such a gorgeous city!!! I absolutely fell in love with it! It was one of my favorite places in Bolivia. While in the city we went to a castle that was owned by a Bolivian prince and a Bolivian princess, they were made royalty by the pope because they adopted 50 orphans from the local areas around Bolivia. The castle was pretty neat. My favorite though was when we went to a restaurant called “Origenes” (Origins), we had dinner there and the best part is that they also have dancers that dance Bolivian folklore, OMG, it was so gorgeous!!! Bolivian ‘danza’ (dance) is so beautiful! So much culture and tradition! It’s an experience I won’t forget! Now, travelling back home from Sucre to Santa Cruz was interesting. Steph and I had an appointment to get our ‘carnets’ (identification card, the absolute last step of our Visa process) in Santa Cruz so we had to head back as soon as possible.  At this point, we didn’t want to risk what happened to us heading to Sucre, so we had to take the treacherous rode from Sucre to Santa Cruz. It was mostly all cliff, one lane and worst off; it was not paved so it was a very bumpy ride. I did not enjoy that ride back home one bit; I was praying the whole time. Luckily, we did arrive safely to Santa Cruz at around 5:00am.

We stayed in Santa Cruz for about two days before travelling around some more. Sor Nora invited us to go the Yungas (where she is from) in La Paz. We had to first get a bus to Cochabamba again and then from there to La Paz. From La Paz, we took a little van to the Yungas to a little town called Yanacachi. The rode was even sketchier than the rode from Sucre to Santa Cruz and much higher. I saw my life flash before my eyes. Oh man! It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before. While driving up there, besides being dangerous, it was such a beautiful place and sight to see. It was like driving up to the clouds. The mountains are so high up you can almost touch the clouds. And there are little waterfalls everywhere you look. They all lead down a huge beautiful river but besides its beauty, I did see a car and a bus that you could tell had fallen off the cliff we were taking. SCARY! That seriously made me even more nervous. I couldn’t see down after that.

Young man playing some beautiful Bolivian tunes and with his Tinku outfit...I wanted to steal the outfit. 

In the Isla del Sol

Salar de Uyuni, my favorite

The Yungas...that's me.

Heading back home to Santa Cruz from Uyuni was an adventure. We really got to see what people go through here when they travel. It can be very frustrating and it can make you really annoyed. We bought a ticket from Uyuni to Oruro so that from there we can take a bus to Cochabamba and from there straight to Santa Cruz (it is a long trip any way, even without the annoyance that we went through). Our bus was scheduled to leave Uyuni at around 10pm. We arrived to the bus station and the lady who works there told us that the ride had been cancelled because the bus had broken down. We were stuck for another night in Uyuni, and we had just checked out of our hotel and by that time it was going to be hard to find a hostel or a hotel to stay at. There was another option, taking the train to Uyuni, but we didn’t know at the time how lucky we would get to find tickets. We had to wait until midnight to even buy tickets and the train left at 1am. Eventually, we were able to find tickets and we headed to Oruro on a train. It was pretty neat, but the seats were so uncomfortable and it was freezing in there (Note: Uyuni is colder than Santa Cruz, most other departments have a much cooler climate than Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is just drastically hot!). We finally arrived to Oruro. We took a taxi to the bus station. Once we got there we began looking for tickets to Cochabamba. We found tickets, but unfortunately (again) when it was time for us to leave, the bus was cancelled because there was a “bloqueo” (blockade, Bolivia is famous for these, it’s usually the peoples way of protesting, and these happen all the time. They can last for hours and hours, sometimes days, they can be really annoying when you’re travelling.) Now we had to figure out a different way to get to Cochabamba, we ended up taking a Trufi over, which can be a bit more dangerous. Thieves can easily stop the Trufi and steal from us and it was much more expensive because the driver goes around the blockade. In the end, when we arrived to Cochabamba, we did find tickets to Santa Cruz, and finally got home.

At the end of the month, we headed back to Cochabamba, this time, not to pass through but to actually stay. All the SLMs, that are in Bolivia (mostly girls, and just Marcos) had a retreat in Cochabamba in the orphanage that some of the SLMs work at. It was so good to be altogether again, and especially on retreat. We prepared our own talks, activities and meals. It was so spiritually fulfilling. I loved seeing everyone, and it just was a good way to reflect on why I decided to become a missionary.

After that, it was nice to get back to Okinawa (I was beginning to miss the place, not the climate though, just the people). The people around here said they missed us, and to be honest, I missed them too, especially the kids. I love walking around here and everyone wishes you hello, and the kids run up to you and hug you. It’s the little things like that, that really make my day and my work so much easier. Those kids have no idea how much they really affect me in a positive way and I hope I am affecting them too. I have fallen in love with these kids so much =). (They warned me that was going to happen =)).

Even though I’ve never taught a class in my life, I know I have one talent, and that is to love and care for these kids. I want to have a positive impact in their lives, and loving them like Don Bosco loved his boys, is the way to go. Only because they are young…=)

I love you all back home, and I miss you dearly. I will continue to pray for you all while on my journey. Take care and God bless.

Lorena

P.S. If you would like to send me anything, like letters and/or packages (this would make me smile) you can send them to:

                                               

                                                Atte: Lorena Zamora, Voluntaria

                                                Hogar Sagrado Corazon

                                                Casilla #4

                                                Montero, Santa Cruz, Bolivia

                                                South America

If they are packages, wrap them up really well with duct tape!!

Uber Busy December and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

My 3rd month in Bolivia, and I must say, it was a very busy one, and a very fast one at that. 

It is getting harder and harder to write these. But I'm still trying...so much has happened this month, here goes...

We said goodbye to our wonderful Katie in the beginning of the month. It was so sad to see her go and we are definitely missing her like no other but I know she is happy to be back home in the states, but also missing Bolivia. Judy also left us for Sucre (a city in Bolivia) that same day to take Spanish classes for several weeks, but she will be back, though she is being terribly missed. Marcos, Steph and I joked around saying that we felt like we were abandoned haha but the three of us ended up bonding more this past month.

December in Bolivia is a very interesting month. The weather gets even hotter, even more humid, we have big thunderstorms so everything gets really wet and muddy. And...the mosquitos you ask?...well, they've overpassed worst!!! Steph and I get attacked by a swarm of them every time we go in and out of our house. I have never seen anything like it. Sure did not feel like Christmas weather...Steph kept saying how much she missed the snow. I will say this, even though I absolutely hate the cold, Bolivia (Santa Cruz, Bolivia, that is...) really made me miss winter in Los Angeles, shoot, even snow, and it doesn't even snow in LA!!! But I did miss seeing all the snow on the mountains. With that said, even though I missed my typical Christmas weather, it was awesome to experience something so unique, a really hot and humid Christmas while dripping with sweat =) and with a beautiful clear blue sky with big white fluffy clouds...such a gorgeous sight to see which I will only ever get to see here, and I loved it!!! 

This month, I got to experience my first Bolivian high school graduation. It was really fun. We were invited by Doña Mery because her daughter was graduating, she likes to call herself our Bolivian mom, and she loves taking care of us and feeding us cake all the time...=) We love her. The ceremony started late, like any typical Bolivian event lol, but it was a very long one. They have a really nice tradition here, instead of the graduates just walking up by themselves and receiving their diploma, they walk a red carpet while being accompanied by a loved one carrying a rose. =) It's such a sweet tradition =). I enjoyed watching each student walk up and receiving their diploma. 

After the ceremony, Doña Mery invited us to her house to have brunch. Later in the evening we were invited to the actual graduation party, which reminded me sort of like prom, because the girls wear long elegant gowns to the party, the only difference is that family and friends are invited to the party as well. The party didn't begin until 11pm, and Bolivians know how to party. There was dancing all night long all the way until morning. Marcos, Steph and I left like around 3am, and the party still felt like it was just starting...lol. We don't know at what time it actually finished but I'm pretty sure they finished until sunrise. 

Ok, so you know how in the states we have summer camp around summer vacation, well here, because summer vacation is during the months of December and January, we have, get this: CHRISTMAS CAMP!!! "Villa Feliz" is what we called it. Some of you probably saw on FB how stoked I was about this =). My two favorite seasons all rolled up into one...woot! It was two weeks of fun and most importantly two weeks of preparing for the birth of baby Jesus! I was in charge of theater. I prepared my group of kids for a Christmas pageant. It was so much fun and somewhat challenging getting them all together to practice but in the end they gave a wonderful performance and I was just so very proud of them =). It was a great two weeks and I got to meet more kids and become a lot closer to them as well. They all loved holding my hand, sometimes it got a little out of control because they would pull me, fighting for my hand. I swear I had like five kids on each arm...no joke. It almost felt like they'd end up fighting for my legs too...lol. Which I've had kids hug me by the leg while walking before...and climbed me as if I were a tree. lol. But I love it! 

This month I also got to hang out with Padre Ivan, a wonderful Salesian priest I met in the Interamerica Salesian Youth Movement Encuentro in Cumbaya, Ecuador. It was great seeing him again, he took us out for lunch and around Santa Cruz. We got to see some of the sites he works at and I got to visit Casa Main. An Hogar (orphanage) run by the Salesian Sisters. The sisters there are very sweet. This is the hogar that Thea, who some of you know, volunteered for 6 months. The girls had left to the plaza, so I couldn't really hang out with them, but I will be going back this week to get to know them =). 

Also, this month, Steph and I decided to go on a baking spree and we baked a lot of cookies for the people that we know around Okinawa. We baked sugar cookies and peanut butter blossoms, and didn't go to sleep until 3am. We delivered them on Christmas Eve, it was a good walk, though the sun was really burning that day and some of the cookies were melting along the way...lol. But we brought a little of an American tradition to the people of our little town...=) they loved the cookies....

After delivering cookies, we went back home and got ready for Christmas Eve dinner alongside the sisters and a very poor family that the sisters chose to invite into their house for Christmas dinner. We had roasted chicken, with rice, salad, and a banana. A very simple dinner, but I know it made the family happy. The family was somewhat shy, but appreciative, the kids were so adorable, especially one of the littlest ones, he was enjoying himself running around everywhere =). They all got presents and food to take back home. I really hope they enjoyed their dinner. After that, we went to Christmas Eve mass. The gospel was turned into a play by some of our kids, and the baby who played baby Jesus, was the sweetest thing. So calm and so serene, he played the part perfectly! Some of the kids danced for baby Jesus and Marcos (dressed up as Santa) gave out candy at the end of mass. After mass, we went back to the sisters house and waited for midnight, we toasted, and then went outside to look at all the fireworks the people of Okinawa light up right when it's midnight. Sor Nora bought some for us to light up, so we joined in on all the fun. It was nice. 

On Christmas Day, it is tradition for the volunteers to make Christmas breakfast for the sisters at our little house. We had pancakes and eggs. We enjoyed having the sisters over and they enjoyed the pancakes. It was like our own little family. It was great! In the afternoon, we headed out to the Hogar (orphanage) in Montero, to help out the SLMs there pass out presents to all the girls in the Hogar. It was lots of fun helping them out. Marcos dressed up as Santa Claus again and passed out the presents, while Steph and I ran up and down the stairs bringing down the girls presents =) losing the calories from all the Christmas sweets...haha. I loved seeing the girls faces as they lit up when receiving their gifts. After that, Marcos, Steph and I headed back home, bought our Christmas dinner, took it home and ate it while watching "The Nativity" after that, we opened the presents we got for each other, very small, simple gifts, but fun all the same =). I got a tiny notebook from Judy, chocolates from Marcos, and a pair of pink earrings and a pair of socks with a cute frog on them from Steph. =) After opening our presents, we enjoyed another movie "The Family Stone." Such a great end to a special day with our little family, just the three of us.  =)

Christmas really felt like what Christmas is suppose to feel like. Even though I missed home, my family, boyfriend, friends and Rambo =), I never had a Christmas like the one I did here. It was so simple, yet so special. You could really feel that Christmas was about baby Jesus and not about the presents and consumerism. People don't decorate all extravagantly like in the states, it's all very simple, but nativity scenes are seen everywhere. And Christmas songs are sung everyday, preparing for the birth of baby Jesus. Every night before Christmas Eve, the other SLMs and I accompanied Sor Nora and Sor Ely in church for a novena. It was so spiritually filling. I really got to remember what Christmas was all about. I wasn't asking for much this Christmas, just for the Lord to take care of my loved ones back home, and solve some family problems that are just ridiculous to me, and...I know this might sound silly...but recently I've been asking the Lord to cure my mother, take her diabetes away or at least lower it down or something, we all know there is no cure for diabetes, but nothing is impossible for God, so I thought I'd try and ask, especially on this faith journey I'm on...this is the perfect time to ask..." ask and you shall receive" so I will keep asking and hoping that God will make this miracle happen, I mean, what have I got to lose...

I didn't need much to make this Christmas perfect, just enjoying where I am, who I am with, and serving others makes it perfect!!!

On a side note, this weekend we go on our first trip, we are heading out to SAMAIPATA, it's suppose to be a real nice place, really excited to see it, and the upcoming month we will be traveling around. We are heading to Sucre, where Judy is...and La Paz, where Sor Nora is from, as well as Cochabamba and many other places =). So be looking out for my next blog which will probably be about my travels. 

Again I apologize for my horrible writing, and for how long it is, but as my friend Jesse Ortega (Chuy for those that know him) would say, "Too Bad, So Sad, Get Over it!" lol.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, have a wonderful New Years...Love you all, and God Bless.

PS. Just had a strange craving for some Flaming Hot Cheetos, send me some over, please??? LOL CHAU CHAU (Bolivian goodbye)

Lorena

And We're Down Two!

Month Numero Dos!

And we're down to two...YEAH! So much has happened this month. First of all I want to apologize for not writing sooner, it's just really getting harder and harder. I am also trying to limit myself from being on the internet so much. I don't want it to be a distraction, keeping me away from falling in love with the people and children, which I have to admit, some have already stolen my heart, =) two little boys, brothers, Erlei and Rafael, from a community in the outskirts of Okinawa. <3 The cutest little things, both of them didn't want to let go of my hand when we were out in their community. So I had two on both sides. =)

On another note, I was diagnosed with amoebas in my stomach which was bound to happen. I'm ok now, took my medicine as directed but this doesn't mean that they won't be coming back. Let's hope not soon. Other than that, I am ok.

For the first time this month, and for the first time in my life, I rode on a motorcycle. I have to say, it was very nerve racking. I didn't enjoy it as much as others might, but motorcycles are the biggest form of transportation they have here, so I will be riding those very often.

This month was also the end of the school year for kids here. We ended classes on November 15th. So kids and teens alike are happy to be out for their summer vacation. Unlike in the states, summer here is from December through February, so Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas here in Bolivia, but only when it comes to the weather. Unfortunately, this month we also found out the heartbreaking news that one of our 4th grade students passed away. It was all so very sudden and shocking to the community here. It broke our hearts finding out who she was and that she was there with us, just the week before. She was just so very young. I still don't understand why the Lord took her, these are things that can never be explained, but I know that the Lord has His reasons.

Well the rainy season has officially started. We have great thunderstorms in Okinawa. The only downer about thunderstorms here is the mosquitos, with the rainy season comes mosquito season. I thought when I first got here there was a lot of mosquitos already, but o boy, there is a lot more now. While at mass I have clusters of them flying around me. This is not a joke! And they get through my jeans and pants. I have no idea how they do it. They are vicious little things. You should see the amount of scars I have from scratching, I know it's bad, and I had promised myself I wouldn't do it, but OMG it is so, so very hard not to scratch. They seem to like my elbows and knees a lot, those are really hard places to scratch and uncomfortable too.

Steph and I, who are really still the newcomers here in Oki, went to the city of Santa Cruz for the first time by ourselves without Judy, Marcos and Katie, who know their way around here more than Steph and I do. We went into the city to go into the immigration office to see if our Visas were ready. We were able to find the office by ourselves! And just finding our way around the city. We were so proud of ourselves for not getting lost and riding the taxis and Truffi cars all our on own. For some of you this might sound ridiculous, but let me tell you, when you're in a different country that obviously is not your home, and you get stared at for being different everywhere you go, (oh yes...I get stared at too even though I am Latina, some ppl don't know what to make of me, they obviously know I'm not Bolivian, but they can totally see that I am different, and when I open my mouth they can hear that I am different.) and you're a female in a male dominated world, that is also very corrupt, it is very nerve racking for two gringas (yes, I just called myself a gringa, because I am considered a gringa to the ppl here) who are still learning about the place to be all by themselves. So I am not ashamed to say that I am very proud of us both!!! We even caught one of the Truffi drivers not giving us our correct change. We confronted him about it. He gave us our correct change and later apologized. That's right! Just cause we're different doesn't mean you can take advantage of us! We got this! =)

On a side note: Our Visas aren't ready yet...pssshhhtt... >:(

I really want to say that Bolivia is really not a very easy country to live in but besides all the hardship people face and we as missioners face, I am so glad to be here. (BTW...There is nothing like a Bolivian sky! The sky here looks so beautiful and amazing! I've never seen anything like it in my life!!) It's taken me some getting use to, it's not easy, but I'm getting there and I'm falling in love little by little. I am so proud of myself for making this decision, I wouldn't change it for the world and I don't regret it one bit! I know I am making a difference somehow and experiences and people alike are making a huge positive impact in my life. It's also making me really appreciate home and the people I left behind so much more. But besides all that, I feel like Bolivia is really revealing to me how strong and brave I really am. I know I have a lot more courage now, than I did before coming here. Of course, I still have a lot more to learn about myself, and a lot more to grow, but I am getting there. I know I will be facing a lot more challenges in the year to come, but I can't wait to overcome them! With God by my side, everything is possible. I am so happy to be doing His work, with a Salesian heart as well.

And for my Salesian family back home (SUO) I am Don Bosco today! ;) #iamsalesian. (I get what it means to be Don Bosco today!) <3 Love you all. You are all in my prayers.

One month down

It’s been a month already since I’ve been here. Wow…time sure does fly here. We are always just so busy doing things, teaching, communities, confirmation, sponsorship programs, chores, visa stuff, etc…that sometimes you don’t realize the time just flying by.

This month we picked up the last of our volunteers from the airport, Marcos. The morning he was coming in to Santa Cruz, we went to help clean his room to make it a little bit more welcoming for him. After that, Judy and Steph headed to the bank, while Katie and I headed out with cleaning supplies in hand, trying to find a driver to take us to the airport to pick up Marcos. I was carrying the mop and bucket full of cleaning supplies around town, and around the school while going from place to place looking for someone to drives us to the airport, I felt like a janitor lol…We ended up finding someone to take us. The father of a store owner around town ended up helping us out. Things somehow always work out in the end for us =).

Unfortunately, his plane was delayed so we had to wait a couple of hours until he got there. I felt bad for our driver since he was doing us a favor but there was nothing we could do. We ended up hanging out around the airport, Viru Viru, and we found a Cinnabon!!! A rare treat! So of course we had to get some.

So now we have five volunteers here in Okinawa, for now at least. Katie will be ending her year and will be heading back home in December, so it’ll be four again, Judy, Marcos, Stephanie and myself. I hope for it to be a good year.

Every Sunday we help out with confirmation. I usually help Sor Ely, with her confirmation class, but it’s been two Sundays in a row where she has had other things to do and so I had to step up to the plate. Luckily, I wasn’t alone, Steph and I taught the first Sunday, and Marcos and I the second. It was interesting. Teens here are just as “excited” for confirmation as teens back home, notice the quotation marks, lol… But the confirmation program is different than home. Class is from 4-8 and they start the year in February and end it in November. By the way, this is the first year for these kids, so these kids will not be confirming until next year in November and they don’t have a Year 1 or Year 2 program like back home. So if new kids want to enter the confirmation program, they are going to have to wait until 2014. I find it so strange. But it just goes to show you how different things are here.

Last weekend we had the other SLM’s come to a pool day here in Okinawa. We had great food and then went to the pool across the street. It was so great seeing everyone again and just having a day to relax and have fun after a week of hard work. =)

This past week I was asked by Sor Nora to take over one of her High School classes. She teaches religion. I will be honest, I was nervous, because I really haven’t been on my own teaching yet, I usually help Katie with her English classes, and Katie teaches the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th graders. We don’t teach High School because you need a teacher certificate to be able to teach. So substituting on my own was nerve racking, and finding out it was High School, that made it even more nerve racking. But instead of getting anxious about it, I remembered why I was here, why I decided to come to Bolivia, and that I have been around High School students before and definitely a lot more than in a classroom, and for a lot more than just 45 minutes, so I stepped up to the plate and accepted the challenge, and just asked God and the Holy Spirit to guide me and help me. In the end it wasn’t bad at all, and it went by so fast. What I liked the most is that I got to meet a new group of teens, a new group to say hello to while walking on campus, and they were glad to meet me as well. It went well =).

Before coming to Okinawa, Marcos was a volunteer in another town called Yapacani, here in Bolivia. He said he wanted to visit on a Saturday because the kids over there have oratory every Saturday afternoon. He asked if we wanted to come and we all said yes. So we took a trip to Yapacani. It was nice to get out of Okinawa and go somewhere completely new. Yapacani is a great town. It has more of a jungle feel than Oki does. But what I loved the most is that this place has Salesian written all over it! =) Their oratory is full of kids!!!! It was so much fun meeting Marcos’ kids and just being able to play with them. You really felt the spirit of Don Bosco present in this oratory. It felt like camp!!! =) And they have this every Saturday, OMG, IT’S LIKE CAMP EVERY SATURDAY! WHAT!!?? I was in heaven! It was great. They start oratory just playing, and then they gather together and dance some songs led by their ‘animadores.’ After that they head out to the movie theater, which btw, is called, Cine Teatro DON BOSCO ^_^!!! And it’s owned by the Salesians! And it’s an actual movie theater that is also opened to the public. Jiggga whaaaaa??!! AWESOME! We watched Ice Age, I think it was the 4^th one. It was great fun being in there, even if it did feel like a furnace…lol. I had fun with the kids. The oratory is run by the teen animadores but the person in charge is a really, REALLY young Salesian sister. She was so amazing!

So far everything has been pretty good here in Bolivia. I do think about home sometimes, but I try not to because I don’t want to miss it so much, and miss everyone so much, that’ll it keep me distracted on what I need to do here. I’m still working on that. But what really keeps me going is living in the moment here in Bolivia, because that’s all you can really do. Also, praying helps me a lot. Praying for people back home, and praying for strength to keep going. The Lord is really my strength and my best friend in this journey.

Keep praying for me, so that I can keep going, and I will be praying for while I’m on this journey.

I apologize if my writing is not the greatest. I’ve never been the best writer, especially because I’ve never really enjoyed it. And I still don’t, lol. But I do hope you enjoy these blogs at least a little bit. Sometimes they are hard to write, and I really never thought they would be. But I will keep writing these just to keep you informed. Chau! And may God bless you all.