Change in Blog

Disregard: www.journeysofaheart.blogspot.com

My new blog address is actually: www.fingerprintsofgod84.blogspot.com

New Blog

Dear Friends and "Blog Followers,"

I apologize for not updating my blog over the last few months. SO MUCH has happened since my last blog entry.

My brother's Steven's death took my whole family to Canada. I ended up staying in North America for three months. I did much traveling, enjoying the opportunity to see various relatives and friends. My travels took me up and down Vancouver Island, to Dallas, Vancouver, Calgary, and the midwestern United States for my brother Jonathan's wedding on the 4th of September. In the midst of my sorrow, God gave me many joys. Life is truly bittersweet!

On the 15th of September, my sister Elisa and I headed back down to Bolivia. We spent a couple of days in Santa Cruz on our way to La Paz. There Adolfo presented me with a ring. Once he talked to my dad and received his blessing, we were officially engaged!

I am currently back in La Paz serving as surrogate mom and homeschool teacher to Elisa until my parents return to Bolivia (Lord willing in November).

Suddenly my life is taking a new direction! Adolfo and I are talking about getting married in January, and it looks like God would have me serve Him as a wife and mother that glorifies Him. All this does not mean that I have completely laid aside my dreams of reaching the deaf in Bolivia. There is a large deaf community in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (the city where Adolfo and I plan to live), and who knows what doors He might open up.

In the meantime, I feel the time has come for this blog to come to a close, and I am starting up another blog: "Journeys of a Heart" (www.journeysofaheart.blogspot.com) where I hope to post irregular updates on my life and to share from my journey with the Lord and things He is teaching me.

Thank all those of you who have followed "Breaking the Silence"! And thank you to those of you who commented--you were an encouragement to me!

Celina

He Gives and Takes Away

Two weeks ago and a day, life was normal. How is it possible that in one split second everything can change, and our world, as we know it, can be shattered to pieces? That's what happened to me...

Monday, June 14, 2010,

6:00 a.m. - My cell phone alarm went off. I got up careful not wake my friend Janelle who was sleeping on a mattress in my room. I had my Bible reading, showered and ate some breakfast.

7:30 a.m. - Got a trufi (taxis that have a set route and take up to five people) up to downtown La Paz. Met our land lady's sister who gave me a manicure as part of her final exam to be a beautician. When I was done, I gave Elisa a call to join me and walked along the Prado (a main street in downtown La Paz). It was a beautiful crisp fall day. Met up with Elisa outside of Burger King. We went to the "Identifications" building to work on the paper work for renewing our Bolivian ID cards. The next few hours were very frustrating, standing in lines, discovering our birth certificates were no longer valid, trying to get directions to the place where we could get new birth certificates printed out, returning to "Identifications," getting an investigation going for some observations on my paperwork...I confess I did a lot of complaining about Bolivian beauracracy!

2:00 p.m. - Two hungry sisters got a trufi back home. As we stepped in the door, we saw our mother crying on the phone. My heart stopped, and I immediately remembered when we got the news of my grandfather's death. My mom got off the phone and told us that my brother Steven had been missing since the night before. I had something to eat and then walked over to the Rodriguez home to do some babysitting. I told my mom, "If there's bad news, please don't call me. I don't want to upset the kids I will be babysitting."

5:15 p.m. - I got home and was puzzled by all the people at the house. I didn't recognize most of them. My mom came out of the kitchen. She walked up to me and said, "It was bad news, Celina." She put her arms around me, and I immediately began to cry. I somehow knew that my brother was dead. The next few hours were a blur of activity as people poured in to the house to express their condolences. In the midst of it all, I tried to pack as I was told we were leaving for Canada early the next day. By the end of the evening, I didn't want people to leave. I didn't want to be left alone with my pain.

Two Weeks Later - I find myself in Victoria, B.C. The last couple of weeks have been hard, but I am amazed at how God's grace has sustained us. I have felt very blessed by all the people around the world that have been writing to us expressing their sympathy and loving prayer support. It has been good to be surrounded by family and to grieve together. The memorial service, a week ago Saturday, was a special time to remember Steven and let people know what special person he really was!

The grief still comes back in waves, but I am amazed at the joy we are experiencing in the midst of the pain. We are so happy for Steven as we know he is free from all his struggles and pain and is currently enjoying God's presence. We are so excited that one day we will see him again! We do not grieve as those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). In the meantime, we miss Steven A LOT! Your continued prayers for me and my family would be greatly appreciated!

p.s. The above picture was taken two years ago on Pender Island during a small family vacation. It's one of my favourite memories with Steven. We went on a few family walks, and he and I always ended up walking and talking together. It was so special to have some grownup conversations with him and get to know him as a young man vs. as a little boy. I thank God for this memory!

God Doesn't Give Us a Map...

A couple of weeks ago I got to travel with my dad to Cochabamba for a five-day course on radical discipleship. Dr. René Padilla, a renown Latin-American theologian, came all the way from Argentina to give the lectures. One night he shared something a missionary once told him: "God doesn't give us a map. He gives us His hand." I had to write that down...Lately I feel like I'm standing at some major crossroads in my life, and it would be so nice to have a map! But instead of a map, I have a relationship with the sovereign, all-wise, omniscient Creator and Lord of my life! In all my confusion, I am forced to draw closer to Him and depend on Him to get me where I'm supposed to go!

Things have started to change around here. Considering my life has been filled with change, I should be used to it by now. Instead, I find change very hard to process, and it really affects me emotionally. Next week my dad and sister are traveling to Canada to be with my brothers. My mom is waiting to finish some paperwork and hopes to follow them shortly. My Canadian friend, Janelle, got very sick with Salmonella for the second or third time since she's been in Bolivia and decided to move in with us, which means things are crowded in the apartment until people start to leave. On the positive side, this seems to be God's provision for a house-mate during my family's absence in Canada!

A few days ago we (my dad, mom, sister, Janelle and I) made a trip out to Urmiri (hot springs) with the Vargas family (a Bolivian-Canadian family who we are close friends with) and some other Canadian friends. It was a relaxing couple of days, and the place was beautiful! Pictured above is a natural pool of hot water with a waterfall coming down and flowers growing along the rock face. I felt like I had stepped into a travel magazine!!! The one night we spent in Urmiri, a group of us climbed up the hill to gaze at the stars. We were out in the middle of nowhere, and the sky seemed to be covered in stars! It was breathtaking! We even got to see some shooting stars! It was also special to spend time with Rachael (Canadian friend who has been living with the Vargas family). She is moving back to Canada next week, which is another one of the changes I am currently lamenting!

If you think of me, I would appreciate prayers for grace to go through this time of changes. Also pray that God could be providing some source of income to pay for my living expenses, etc., during this time. It's kind of hard to get a job right now because I will be traveling up to the US for my brother's wedding in August/September, but God could provide a job that would be flexible/short-term. My dad is also leaving me some projects to work on, which will help keep me busy.

A Relationship...

I have gotten REALLY bad at updating my blog lately...So sorry! It's about time I let you all know about something that has been going on since January...

I don't know if any of you remember me my blog entry back in January telling about my time in Santa Cruz...I mentioned spending some time with the Guzmán family. I am very good friends with Ruth (Mrs. Guzmán), but I can't say I really knew her three sons. During this visit I started getting to know Adolfo Jr. (the oldest son). I had always gotten the impression he was this very serious man, but, as I got to know him, I discovered he has quite the sense of humor, and I started to discover other qualities I really liked...

When I came back to La Paz, I didn't think it very likely anything could happen between us with us living so far away from each other (16 hour bus drive!) Well...he started calling me occasionally, and we would often chat.

Then Adolfo started talking about coming to La Paz to help my parents with some paperwork they have been having trouble with. He finally came at the end of March and ended up spending over two weeks! We got to hang out every day, and it was a good opportunity to get to know each other even more.

I went to see Adolfo off at the airport, and there, in the twenty minutes we had before he had to go through security, he told me that he was seriously interested in me. I told him I was interested too.

Since then he called to talk to my dad about us starting a serious relationship. He also made another trip out here to discuss some things with my dad in person, and now we've decided to go ahead and officially say we're "in a relationship."

This is my first time to be "in a relationship." Amazingly enough (especially considering he's 31), this is Adolfo's first time as well!!! Everything is very new to us, and sometimes I find myself frieking out. Things are a mixture of exciting and scary! I would greatly appreciate all your prayers for God's clear guidance in our relationship.

This is a time of big "firsts" for our family. My brother Jonathan just recently got engaged and the wedding is being planned for the 4th of September! This means I should be heading up to the Sates (Michigan) for the wedding!

Hearing Care Course and Visiting My Girls

I'm sorry it's been a while since I posted an update. I just got back home last night from a week in Cochabamba.

From Tuesday till Friday morning of last week I was attending a course on hearing care and deafness prevention. It was interesting and practical. The main expositor was Dr. Diego Santana, an Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist who is a missionary from Spain and works in the department of Beni. Apparently about 50% of hearing deficit and deafness cases could be prevented! Although my interest mainly lies in working with those who already are deaf, it was interesting to learn more about the prevention side of things as well.

Friday afternoon I had the opportunity to briefly visit my girls at the deaf center in Vinto. I was very warmly received with lots of hugs! Seeing these precious girls made me realize how much I love and miss them! It was fun taking them some gifts that had been sent for them in a package from a dear friend in Canada (the girls say "Thank you!" Amanda)

Over the weekend I enjoyed seeing and spending some time with friends in Cochabamba.

I made the trip home on Monday. On the way I saw a couple of major accidents. One accident looked like it was a head-on collision between two buses. I thought about the fact it could have been MY bus in that accident! I praise God for His protection over my life! I had just been reading Psalm 139. In verse 16 it says: "All the days ordained for me were written in your book." How wonderful as Christians to know that nothing can touch us until our work here on earth is done!

Closing a Chapter, Tour Guide, Small Accident

I spent last week in my hometown--Potosí. My week was full catching up with old friends. One of the things I love about being from a small city is that you are constantly bumping into people you know! It's lovely! Since being back in Bolivia, I hadn't yet been to the city of Sucre to see friends there, so I I also took advantage of being only a couple of hours away to make a quick trip there.

My parents are in the process of selling our home in Potosi, so it was a bittersweet time to enjoy being in our apartment one last time. One of my favourite things about the apartment is the hammock up on the roof, so I spent some time reading up there. I also spent some time sorting through some of our stuff. The selling of our home kind of feels like the closing of a chapter in our lives. I spent almost 18 years of my life in Potosi, and it will always have a special place in my heart!

Early Friday morning, Janelle, Rachael, Katie (Horton) and Matt (Shannon)--four Canadian friends--arrived. For the next two days I greatly enjoyed being a tour guide. Friday's highlight was a trip to the "laguna," a natural pool of hot water in an old volcano crater. My family used to go there every Monday, and there I learnt to swim! Lots of memories!

On Saturday my dad's friend, Wilson, came by and picked us up. He took us to a place where we got all geared up and then headed up the Cerro Rico ("Rich Mountain") to have a tour of one of the many mines. It was quite the intense experience walking through damp narrow tunnels. At one point we really jumped at an explosion, which it turned out came from well below us.

This last week back in La Paz, I have been taking care of Elisa while my parents are in Potosi finalizing things with the sale of the house. I have also been hanging out with a friend visiting from Santa Cruz, and a couple of times we got to hang out with Rachael, Katie and Matt. On Tuesday we went out to Mallasa (on the outskirts of La Paz) and visited the zoo. After that we rented and had fun on three quads. I was riding on the back of a quad, and we were on our way back to the rental place, when all of a sudden we hit a bump. Suddenly I found myself falling backwards and next thing I knew I was on the ground! Kind of embarassing! I just laughed and got back on the quad (my friend who was driving felt pretty bad!) Thankfully I escaped from the incident with only some scrapes and a little sore. :-)

Prayer Scarf and Precious Sister

It's a bright sunny Sunday afternoon in San Miguel, La Paz, Bolivia. The sunshine is welcome after a long rainy season.

Last night I was asked if I would be willing to help out with Sunday School this morning. I warned the pastor's wife that I am not good with children, but if they needed help, I was willing to do what I could. Let me just say, I admire all those of you who love working with children and do such an amazing job of it! This morning wasn't too bad, but working with children definitely doesn't come naturally to me!

Last Sunday my mom shared a story with me that blessed and encouraged me, reminding me of the power of prayer. Let me share it with you as an encouragement that God does hear our prayers! A few years ago I was a student at Emmaus Bible College. I had a friend who taught me how to crochet. I decided to crochet a scarf and send it down to Bolivia with my brother Caleb, who was going down for Christmas. I told my mom I wanted her to give it to one of the prisoners at the prison where she did ministry. I sent a letter with the scarf talking about God's love and saying I was praying for whoever got the scarf. My mom prayed about who to give the scarf to and ended up giving the scarf to Boris, a hardened criminal who was in solitary confinement at the time--he was surprised. This was in the prison in Potosi. Now, a few years later, my mom is ministering at a prison outside of La Paz. It turns out that at some point Boris was transfered here, and he has been coming to the meetings! A week ago Saturday he talked to my mom and told her that he is being transfered to a different prison again, but that he knows God goes with him. After talking to Boris, my mom felt confident that he now has a relationship with God! How exciting to realize that those prayers for an unknown man, recipient of the scarf I made, were answered by God!

During this time I continue keeping busy as "secretary," "cook" and "chauffeur." I am trying to really appreciate and take advantage of this time with my family. Who knows if I will ever have a time like this again! I am also trying to take advantage of the time with my precious, not so little sister! I hope this may be a time where I can really invest in her life and in our relationship! She keeps very busy with two hours of gymnastics every day (Monday-Friday) and with her various church activities and many friends! But we have started trying to keep Tuesdays as our day to do things together. The pictures above are from the other week when we made Lemon Zuchinni Cookies.

I just want to say, I appreciate all those of you who take an interest!

Celina

Weekend in Arica

Here in Bolivia it's the fourth day of the long "Carnaval" weekend. It's a very pagan holiday with lots of drinking, dancing and immorality going on. You could say it's people's last fling at fun before "lent." 

Some friends and I decided to go away to Arica, Chile, for the weekend and enjoy the beach! Pictured above from left to right: Fabiola (Bolivian friend from La Paz), me =), Rachael (Canadian friend) and Janelle (Canadian friend). 

The adventures started on the way to Arica. The eight hour bus trip turned into a twelve hour trip because of long waits at the Bolivian and Chilean border. We had finally crossed the border and were well on our way into Chile, when we had to stop because of engine trouble and wait for another bus to come and take us the rest of the way! 

I had a neat experience of God taking care of me. Arriving at Chilean immigrations, I realized that somehow I had left my Bolivian ID card way back at Bolivian immigrations. I was tempted to feel quite upset, but I decided to rest in God and trust that He would work everything out--and He did! Thankfully I had decided to travel with both my Bolivian ID card as well as my Bolivian passport! I was able to use my Bolivian passport to get into Chile, and then on our way back into Bolivia, I was able to recover my Bolivian ID card! It was just a little reminder to me that when we run into unexpected "problems" God is still in control and taking care of things. There is nothing too big or too small for Him to handle. 

Living in a landlocked country, it was a real treat to enjoy the beach! It was also fun to see Fabiola experience the ocean for the first time! We spent long hours at the beach on Saturday. The result was some terribly painful burns! My worst burns were on the back of my legs, and I was walking around like an old lady the next day! 

We four girls shared a condo with three of Janelle's girlfriends. On Sunday night we seven girls had a lot of fun going out to eat and celebrate Valentine's Day. We found a cute little eating place all decorated with hearts on a little side street in downtown Arica.  I think we had more fun being all girls than most of the couples there! :-) 

Our last night, Rachael, Fabiola and I walked down to the beach with our towels. We laid on the beach, gazed up at the stars and enjoyed listening to the crashing of the waves. It was such a special time to meditate on the greatness of God's creation! I thought of how insignificant we are, and yet the fact that God notices and pours out His love on each individual makes each life so significant and special!

Childhood Friend and Seminar

Last week I was excited to get a phone call from Tatiana, a childhood friend from Potosí who now lives in the city of Sucre. She told me she was coming to La Paz to do some paperwork, and right away I invited her to come and stay with us. It was special to have her here for five days, and we did a fair bit of catching up. In the past, when I have visited Sucre, Tati and her family have always been very good to me, so I was happy for the chance to be good to her during her stay in La Paz. 

Over the weekend there was a seminar called "Ancient Paths" (on Biblical principles for family life) being held at the church I am currently attending. My mom and I were both going, and I signed Tati up to go with us. We were all blessed by the seminar. 

Summer Holidays Are Over

Monday morning, February 1st, kids could be seen in their school uniforms heading back to school. I must say I don't miss those days of being a student! Even so, summer holidays are over for me too, and I am currently filling three positions!

I am currently working as my dad's "secretary." He has a bunch of projects he's too busy for that he has passed on to me. This semester he is teaching the Christology class at the seminary. He has a full class of 70+ students, so as things pick up, he probably will have me help him with some grading, etc.

I am also filling in as "cook" these days. As my mom is sometimes busy homeschooling my sister Elisa, off to the prison doing ministry or, these days, going up to town to do paperwork (my parents have been trying to become Bolivian citizens for the last 5 1/2 years, and the bureaucracy here is ridiculous!) I have been making lunch, which is the main meal here in Bolivia. It's a great opportunity to practice and perfect my cooking skills! Some days meals turn out alright, and others not so good. Yesterday I thought I had turned off the rice, when in fact I had turned it on "high." Needless to say, the rice was quite burnt (I'm grateful for a patient and understanding family when meals aren't so great!)

My third position is that of "chauffeur." Elisa is quite a busy individual (I don't see much of her!) when she's not here at the house doing school, she's off to gymnastics or off to her church for some activity. My mom has been relieved to have me take over driving her to her different activities. Driving in Bolivia is definitely a different experience altogether. Just yesterday I had a couple of not so pleasant experiences. First, I got pulled over by a police officer who told me I was missing some sort of "inspection" sticker and wanted to see my license. I had no idea what he was talking about (for all I knew he only wanted to get money out of me!), but thankfully I was able to get away with telling him I didn't know anything about it, but I would inform my dad, the owner of the car. Second, I ended up going the wrong way on a one-way street! Two guards from the French Embassy saw me, but thankfully they were very gracious, and told me to wait till a car was past and then to cautiously keep going down the street (there wasn't much room to turn around).

Some of you may be wondering what my plans are for this year. At this point, I really feel like God wants me to take advantage of this time with my family and be a support to them (my wonderful parents are the couple in the above picture). In the meantime, it is also a time for me to wait on God for future plans. Please join me in prayer for clear guidance!

Exotic Locations

It's already late January and this is my first blog post of the year! It's summer here in the southern hemisphere, and I decided to get some traveling in before commitments started tying me down to La Paz.

After Christmas I made a two-day trip to Copacabana with Rachael and Janelle (my two Canadian girlfriends). Copacabana is a small town on Lake Titicaca (the highest navigable lake in the world). Our hostel was this place with a Mediterranean feel to it overlooking the beautiful lake! We enjoyed some good reading time in the hammocks.

On the 3rd of January my parents, Elisa (my sister) and I traveled to the city of Santa Cruz for a few days of family vacation. Santa Cruz is the city where I was born and is located in the lowlands of Bolivia. The climate is very hot and humid (definitely tropical). With the heat, Elisa and I very much enjoyed the hotel pools!

After four days, my parents headed back to La Paz, and I stayed on to visit different friends. I enjoyed spending several days with the Ojeda family, close family friends who know me since I was a baby. There was lots of reminiscing. From there I went and spent some days with a friend who I actually met at college in Iowa. The remainder of my time I spent with the Guzmán family. Ruth, Mrs. Guzmán, owns a hotel. Her ministry involves having missionaries or other full-time workers stay at her hotel for free whenever they go through Santa Cruz (that is how my family first met her about six years ago). Her and I often dreamed about me going and working with her and learning about hotel management (as I enjoy hospitality). I took advantage of these days with Ruth to learn a little bit about what it entails to run a hotel. I had fun manning reception a few times.

Let me share the most exciting thing that happened while I was in Santa Cruz! One day I ended up having a conversation with Janet, a young woman who is working cleaning rooms at the hotel over summer break. Somehow we ended up talking about spiritual things. I asked her something about where she would go if she were to die. She told me she would go to hell. I asked her if she wasn't afraid to die. She said she actually would like to die--that life seemed purposeless. My heart lifted up a prayer for God to help me, and I proceeded to share the beautiful gospel message. When I was done talking, there was a brief silence. Then Janet told me, "You know what? When you were talking right now--it wasn't you that was talking!" Could it be that God spoke through me?! I felt so excited, honored and humbled at the same time! Janet didn't make a decision that day, but I can tell she is really searching. Right then she had to go home, but she told me that she would really like to talk to me about some things. Sadly, there wasn't enough time left for me to get together with her before returning to La Paz. I promised her I would try to get a certain book for her (which I will have to try to send to her in the mail). I would appreciate it if you would please pray with me for Janet's salvation.

I'll sign off for now, but hopefully my updates will be a little more regular again!