Thanks to all of you who prayed for my family and I over Christmas. They slipped through the new visa process without a hitch, and we spent the next two and a half weeks in a lovely daze of Dutch Blitz and Euchre, touristy romps through island ruins, colonial towns, and prehistoric dinosaur tracks. I saw them off on New Years Morning, after a staggering fireworks display from every yard and rooftop in El Alto (Alteños take celebrations and gunpowder into their own hands).
One of my favorite parts of beginning the year is starting a new calendar and agenda. I bought mine this year on January 7th, and spend the next few hours obsessively copying down birthdays, important dates, and regular work schedules. My agenda, of course, looks very different than when I lived in the States. Instead of events like “Bible Study” or “Meet Bethany for coffee,” I pencil in things like “Brothels with Wes” or “Visit Vanessa in jail.”
This year looks to be a full, active year. We are currently hosting a couple from New Zealand who are testing the waters (or, rather, the pools of ice) to see if they'd be a good fit for long term ministry with us. They formerly served in India, but visa problems and the deadening heat forced them out. At the very least, their climate preference could not be more appropriate for Bolivia. Please pray for wisdom as we get to know each other and decide if the future involves us working together.
In the middle of February, a Servant Team of five arrives for the next four months. Having had an eight month break since my last team, I couldn't be more thrilled to have new, unsuspecting victims for experimental team-building, cultural adjustment, and worldview altering experiences among the poor of El Alto. Through phone conversations and email, I think I've lulled them into a relative sense of security, but once they arrive, the games are on.
In May, my brother David marries his lovely, lively girlfriend. I'll fly home quickly for the ceremony while my gracious community takes on the Servant Team for a week (and I'll repay them with bribes of coffee and peanut butter).
Soon after, in June, I sign my second contract with Word Made Flesh, for another three years of service. I prayed long and deeply about this decision, and roped most of my close friends and family into prayer regarding this decision as well. And though in some ways three more years in El Alto frightens me, choosing it also gave me a profound peace.
Once my Servant Team leaves, I'll focus further on what this new contract has for me. I won't be leading regular teams or interns any more. Instead, I hope to be more involved in searching for, developing, and implementing economic options for our friends who prostitute to feed their kids and survive themselves. Since the last economic venture I attempted was selling Ethiopian jewelry at my high school in Kenya, I know I'm not the most qualified ringleader of an operation like this. I have no business degree, no practical experience, and all my personality/spiritual gift/strengths tests show that I am better with relationships and creativity than administration and money. I'm not sure why God would possibly lead me towards this…except that, one, it needs to be done, and two, I'm available. It's the sad trap that unfortunate people like Moses, Debra, David, Isaiah, and Mary fell into, and I only hope God can do as much with my incompetence as he did with theirs.
Well. Looking at my year thus charted is calming. Of course, the best-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft a-gley. Or in English, something (or a dozen things) is sure to blow the plan and render my agenda obsolete. And that, my friends, is when the fun begins.
In Christ,
Cara Strauss