Update | Week Three

The fires in Bolivia continue to rage, and only seem to be getting worse. But as He always does, God is taking what it meant for evil and using it for His good purposes.

The fires are unifying Christians. Last Sunday, the 8th of September, a call went out for all the Christians in the Concepción area to meet together and pray for rain. Many showed up, and members of different churches joined as one body, praising the Lord and crying out to Him. It was a beautiful and powerful evening, and I pray it is only the beginning of the believers here uniting to seek the Lord!

But these fires are waking up even unbelievers. This week, we had unbelievers tell us that the only way these fires will stop is if Bolivia repents and prays for rain.

Whatever the source of these fires, God is wielding them as His weapon to awaken hardened hearts. Still, I look out on the dry forest around me and can’t help but think that creation is groaning. I cannot wait for the rains to come and bring new life to the world around.

This week felt like it flew by! We went into Santa Cruz to get paperwork processed for my two year visa. Things went very well for the most part – and also made the licensing branches in the United States look good. 😉 Haha. Ultimately we were able to accomplish all that needed accomplishing – and we ate lunch at Burger King! That was something I never expected to experience in Bolivia. 😆

Friends of the Yoders also arrived this week for a visit, and brought along the science curriculum I’ll be teaching with! We’ll be studying astronomy, and I am beyond thrilled. 🌔☄️✨🌠🚀💃 The kiddos are pretty excited, too. The fun level at school is about to double, and everyone will be learning as it happens!

(Fun fact: One of my dreams is to become an astronaut, touch the moon, fly in a zero gravity space station, and infiltrate the world of space exploration with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.)

---

Ways you can be praying:

• For rain to return to northeast Bolivia, and that what remains of this drought would cause a mighty advancing of the kingdom of God in the hearts of the people, believing and unbelieving alike.
• The Yoders have been waiting for over a month for electricians to come out and hook up electricity to their home (and consequently mine, haha), and they were only supposed to have up to a 21 day wait. Pray that the electricians would come!
• For continued wisdom for me as I teach; wisdom to know how to use every subject to point back to Jesus, how to recognize and address every learning block my students come up against, how to fight spiritually for my students, and how to speak life and encouragement to them.