Oftalmologia: Optometry

This has been a busy week of adjusting to life in Bolivia, living with 7 girls, and remembering all of the Spanish I’ve forgotten in the last 9 months. A busy week, but full of things and people I love!

While I'm here, I will be living with the girls in what is called House III of Casa de Amor.  There are seven girls, from the age of 3-9. I will be helping the tias (the women who work with the children) with basic things like getting ready for school, cooking, and cleaning. I will also be spending time with the children at the baby home, and the boys home when I can. I will also be helping take the kids to appointments, and other places they need to be. One of the little girls attends a special school  that is about 45 minutes away because she is blind, so I will be taking her to school three times a week.  I have loved spending time with the girls, and getting to know the other volunteers!

The view from my window at House III

Some of the boys at House II

On Tuesday I got a nice mixture of all of these things. After getting the girls ready for school, I went to the baby house. Three of the babies were sick, and I spent most of my time with them, but snuck away a few times to hold the littlest ones. As I was leaving the baby house, one of the tias in charge of taking kids to their appointments took me aside and asked if I could take one of our older girls to the eye doctor. I said yes before I could really think about what that entailed, and ended up with some vague directions and money for a trufie. (One form of public transportation here is a trufie, which is a van with a specific route.)

Since we had a little bit of extra time, another volunteer, Carlee and I went to a plaza downtown called Plaza de Colon and found delicious ice cream. (And it was two for one day!) I am so thankful for the friend God has provided in Carlee, and for her love of chocolate and ice cream as well! After that we picked up the little girl that needed to go to the eye doctor and got the trufie that was going where we needed to go. We managed to find the building, and I had my first experience taking a child to the doctor. I feel fairly confident with my Spanish around the house, but optometry vocabulary isn’t something I had worked on.  Somehow we managed, and it was definitely a new experience, and a great chance to spend some quality time with J. God is so faithful to provide opportunities to show His love to the people around me. In Bolivia it is even easier, because the color of my hair makes people wonder why I’m there. Every time I go somewhere with the kids someone wants to know what I’m doing, and I get to tell them why I’m here.

J, after our trip to the doctor

Thank you for your prayers and support, God is doing great things in Cochabamba and I am so thankful to be a part of it! J

Go, tell it on the mountain!

Last August as I was preparing to leave House II where I had been living with the kids at Casa de Amor, they started to ask when I would be back. I didn't have an answer for them, mostly because I had no idea if I even would be back. Even after I got home, I missed the kids, but didn't know that I would ever return. Then in December, I was singing in church one Sunday, and we began to sing “Go Tell it on the Mountain”. About halfway through the song I felt like the lyrics became a command, “Go, tell it on the mountain.” I opened my eyes, as if I that would make the command clearer, and sure enough the background of the screen was a picture of a statue of Jesus, similar to the Cristo de la Concordia statue in Cochabamba. At that point, I knew God was leading, but it took me awhile to agree.

On Christmas night I was lying in bed thinking about God’s command to go tell it on the mountain, and realized that I was wrestling with the idea of going to back to Bolivia because I was afraid. I was afraid because I partially knew what to expect. I knew what that the trip was long, and the layover in La Paz is cold. Then once I get there I can be lonely, the kids don’t always listen, and I feel like I’m not making a difference sometimes. But here is what else I know. It’s beautiful. The days are warm, and the kids make me laugh so hard. The tias are so helpful, and appreciative, and I get to laugh and drink tea and eat popcorn with them at night. We can talk about a lot of things, and I get to speak in Spanish. I love getting to sing to the kids, and put them to bed. I love kissing them goodnight, and folding their clothes during the afternoon. I love hanging their clothes on the lines, especially when it is sunny, and I love the feeling of knowing who everything belongs to. I love pushing the kids in the swing and pretending to fly, and I love putting on concerts in the yard with whatever material we find. I love hearing of the kids faith in Jesus, and seeing them worship Him with everything that they are. I love getting to spend time with them one on one, and curling up with them on the couch at the end of the day to watch a pirated movie that will probably skip. I even kind of love helping kids change out of pants when they’ve had an accident. I love helping cook, and learning new things, even when it involves sardines. I love putting mayonnaise on everything the kids eat, and politely refusing. I love hearing the kids pray, and the fact that they trust God to provide for them.  I love washing the dishes, knowing that in four hours there will be more, and the whole process will start over again. I could keep going for so long, about all of the moments when I felt like I could spend the rest of my life in that spot. Walking around Cochabamba and Quillacollo with a Bolivian baby on my hip were some of the most peaceful moments of my life.

So as much as the plane ride, the loneliness, my ability, or my own motivations scare me, God is faithful to remind me that He is bigger than all of those things, and it is in my weakness that His strength is made perfect. That as much as I value my comfort, He values the hearts and the lives of His children. I have found Jesus to be big enough to provide for the needs of these kids, and that means that He is also big enough to meet my needs, and ease my fears. And He uses His children to provide for each other, just as you all have done for me. May He receive all of the glory!

Preparations!!!

Preparations….43 Days Left!!

God has been so faithful to provide in every way!

My core (small group) sponsors a little boy at Casa de Amor, and wanted to do something special for him. Something special for him turned into something special for all of the older kids, and we ended up with a Tie-Dye party! The girls donated time, T-shirts, tie-dye supplies, and creativity, and we ended up with a beautiful stack of T-shirts for the kids. Each shirt was prayed over, and will be worn shortly by kids who are very loved- by people they don’t even know.

My family also has donated their spare change, which ended up being quite a bit! It was not, however, meant to be carried in a shoe box.

In two weeks, we will have a Bolivian Taco night to raise funds as well. There are unfortunately no such thing as Bolivian Tacos, but I pray that God will use this night to show his love for all of His children, here in Denton, and in Cochabamba as well. Please pray with me in this! I am so thankful to be surrounded by friends and family that not only love me, but love Jesus, and His children. Thank you all for your obedience, encouragement, and support!

If you would like to support  Casa de Amor  or come to Bolivian Taco Night on April 19^th, you can visit their website at www.casadeamor.org , like them on Facebook  at https://www.facebook.com/casadeamorbolivia?fref=ts, or email me at danyellegraves@my.unt.edu

I'll Explain....

As most of you probably know, I have felt the Lord leading me to work with His children for a long time. I’m not sure exactly what that looks like, but God has been faithful in providing opportunities to follow Him down that road.

As you may or may not know, it is almost mandatory for missionaries to have blogs. Haha, not really but I have been reading different blogs over the last few months, and have really enjoyed getting to see how God is working in other people’s lives and ministries through these blogs The goal of this blog is just to keep you all updated, and hopefully to encourage you by sharing what the Lord is doing, and the beautiful things He has made! (If  anyone reads it :))

This summer I have the opportunity to spend the summer in Cochabamba Bolivia working with Casa de Amor, and the beautiful children that live there. I had the opportunity this last summer to spend time working in an orphanage in Bolivia called Casa de Amor (House of Love). Casa de Amor is really made up of four homes, a baby home, girls home, boys home, and a family home, made up of an American family and Bolivian children. While I was there last summer, I had the opportunity to live with the older kids at what was called Casa 2. For a month and a half I was able to live with 13 kids, ranging in age from 3-9.!

The children are cared for by wonderful Bolivian women who the kids call Tia (Aunt), and receive the best care possible. However, while all of their physical needs are met, these children can always use more people in their lives to care about them and give them the attention they desire. While I was there I helped with household chores), and just spending time with the kids, sharing the love of their Father with them.

I would like to ask for your support, not only financially, but in prayer. We serve a powerful God, who is able and willing to provide for His children. I pray that you all also, as children of God, would know His love in a real way.

Thanks for reading!