Back in Bolivia! 🇧🇴 | Update

I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

What a blessing it has been to be once again with the people in Bolivia that I have grown to love so much. There have been several times when I’ve just paused in my soul and rejoiced in the fact that I’m here. Thank You, Jesus!

These feelings are probably stronger due to the battle I had to fight to get back. About a week before my flight I called the airline to make sure I had all the information I needed, and the first thing I learned was that the date of the flight had been changed. 🥴 That was the beginning of a long string of stressful events.

The worst was trying to get my Coronavirus test results. I tested as soon as I could and got a negative result, but the documents I got back didn’t have all the information I needed, and there was literally nothing anyone could do about it. With four days left before my flight, I had to find a different place to get tested and pray that the results came back in time!

God provided, but when my results did come back (two days before the flight), the website wouldn’t load them. I had to wait until the next day (the day before my flight) to call the clinic, and the phones to the clinic were down. 😳

Finally I was able to call another office within the same company, and the man I spoke with was able to download and email me my labs (negative again!). But goodness, it seems like something really didn’t want me to come to Bolivia. And honestly, I find that thought rather exciting. 😏

I didn’t always handle stress well in the week leading up to my flight. There were many times I gave way to anxiety and bad attitudes. 😬 I knew at the start that I wasn’t walking in victory, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. Then a friend sent me Proverbs 16:3.

Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be established.

NASB

As I meditated on that verse, I realized I had been acting as if everything depended on me. Which also meant it was all my fault if it went wrong. I was adhering strictly to what I thought success and victory would mean, instead of walking in obedience to Jesus and leaving the results with Him. I wasn’t committing my works to the Lord.

It took a few hours of repenting and choosing again and again to let things rest in His hands, choosing to trust Him no matter the outcome, choosing to truly expect that He would work all things together for good, whether “good” was what I wanted it to be or not. But as I chose obedience, my emotions began to follow suit. I had peace and rest where there had been stress.

It became clear to me again something I already knew: I can always choose to obey Jesus, no matter how strongly I feel like I can’t. And obedience is a CHOICE. It’s determined by what I will to do, not by what I feel like doing.

It wasn’t fun to go through all that stress, but I am thankful to God for that trial and all that He worked in me through it. There was this moment in the airport, as I finally had all the paperwork in order, that this spiritual feeling of rest overwhelmed me. It was as if God was letting me know the battle had been won. No problems from here on out (as far as getting to Bolivia, haha…) I was home.

And so it was.

Here are some specifics you can be praying for me!

• A good start to the school year. I have four students this year, which means teaching four grades instead of three! I expect the first few weeks to be a challenge, though I also expect to find a good rhythm soon by God’s grace. 🙂
• God’s direction, and that I would have confidence in God’s direction, throughout this next year. That I would know what opportunities and responsibilities to pursue and which ones to turn down.
• Continued improvement in my Spanish (and encouragement as I pursue this 😅). Praise God it’s a looooot better than a year ago, but I still have a lot to learn.
• That my focus would be fixed on Christ and my driving motivation would be love for Him and then love for those around me.
• For God’s grace as I continue working through the ins and outs of raising financial support this year!

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all!

Olivia