Memories

For the past week, as soon as I wake up my mind quickly wanders to thoughts of Bolivia. I imagine what it might be like to wake up in our apartment in Sopocachi (a neighborhood in the city that consists mainly of university students). Since we are returning to the same apartment that Scotty lived in his first term, I have many fantastic memories with him there, and can more easily picture our life at the beginning. Because the apartment is on the side of a hill (La Paz is bowl-shaped), from his kitchen window you can see most of downtown and beyond to the majestic, snow-capped Illimani mountain. I loved to fix toast or cereal and drink coffee staring out that window in the morning. I imagine we will do that together now to get our day started. I also think about what it might be like to talk to the lady that sells bread down the hill or what our first church service might be like as everyone will probably make a big deal that we are back, possibly inviting us to say a few words (which scares me to death since my Spanish has long since rusted!).

I must admit that many of my thoughts regarding our return come around to my insecurities about initial interactions with people. Bolivians are so warm and friendly, and I know I will not lack friends or company, but I have a tendency to be quite reserved in trying out my Spanish and especially freeze up when asked to speak in public. My prayer, and one that I should be praying more fervently, is that my pridefulness in wanting to impress with my language skills would be replaced by humility and acceptance that it's OK to make mistakes and be transparent with people. As we sat in a members meeting at our church last night, I thought about how each person attending was free to share his or her thoughts on a topic, but generally there was an eye on the time and a desire to be somewhat faithful to the stated length of the meeting. I found out later that Scotty was also thinking the same thing I was, that if that meeting took place in Bolivia, it could have been mid-night before we were finished! I am probably a bit too concerned with timeliness, which will also present a struggle as I live and become very involved in a culture where time is rarely an issue.

Although I am aware of challenges facing me, I am fully confident in our Lord who is able to overcome our sinfulness and daily purifies us and molds us into His likeness. Despite our differences, I love Bolivia and Bolivians, and daily count it a gift to have been called, along with Scotty, to La Paz. We anticipate the day we will step off the plane into our new home and wait expectantly for all the good works God has prepared in advance for us to do.