Praise the Lord!

Praise the LORD
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
The LORD builds up Jerusalem;

he gathers the exiles of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars...

Psalm 147:1-4


This is the passage that we got to read aloud and pick apart in my English class last week. We are reading Number the Stars, and this passage was in the book. I got to read it aloud several times to my kids, and I got chills as I read praises to God to my kids, regardless of the academic context. We even discussed what it meant that God "heals the brokenhearted" and "binds up their wounds".

me and Elias

Last Tuesday, I got to visit the Center for the first time since returning to Coch. The sweetest little boy ever, Elias, was there in the swimming pool, and came running over to give me a sopping wet hug. It was beautiful to see that my friendship with this incredible little boy was unchanged. I gave him a picture of the two of us, and he spent several minutes comparing the picture with my face, checking to make sure that all my facial features were still there, and hadn't changed too much. According to Elias, my eyes, mouth, and nose are all still there.

I'm beginning to feel the stresses of being outside my own culture. Please pray that I'll learn how to respond graciously, and to figure out my role in this culture.

Bedroom Scorpion Count: 2

Katie

p.s. VERY IMPORTANT! If you want to send me mail, there is a slight correction to the mailing address. Instead of putting my name first in the address, you must put the school first and put my name in the second line. The post office looks for the name on the box, which is the school, and may not realize that it's supposed to go there if my name is the first they see.



Cochabamba Cooperative School

Atte: Katie Stewart

P.O. Box 1395

Cochabamba, Bolivia

Beauty

the view from my balcony... breathtaking

God is good. He provides for my needs each morning. Laughter for my soul, beauty in nature for my heart, and a community to keep my life balanced.

Even though I've lived in Bolivia for a total of 8 months, each morning brings something new. Here are a few from this week:

1. a dangerous scorpion in my closet, then on me, then thrown to my pillowcase, then thrown outside with a scream (much to the amusement of my Bolivian neighbors) and FINALLY, crushed with a shoe

note the purple and green guts!

2. obstacles on my run, including a large herd of disgruntled pigs, boys hiding in the bushes to ambush me with water balloons, and beautiful wildflowers every 100 ft

this is, in fact, a REAL flower found near our house!

3. the road turned river every morning when I try to walk down to school. I need galoshes or a flat-bottomed boat!


On Thursday, I got to visit Villa Israel for the first time since returning to Coch, and it did my heart good to see the kiddos. They've really changed since I was last there, but in so many ways, it felt the same. I hope to continue to stay involved in the kids lives, at both orphanages and the Center whenever I can after school. I've found that I still do have energy after school, and it's been great to reconnect with lots of friends.

Jhoel with my umbrella

me and Erland

There's so much more to share and so many stories. My heart is at rest here, and I am grateful for God's goodness in my life. May God bless you richly with His abundance.

Katie

P.S. Here's a video of Brandon (from Villa Israel) singing a praise song.

6th grade and lawn mowers

I have successfully finished my first week as a teacher! Yay! When I got off the plane in Coch last week, the school director was waiting for me with good and bad news. They weren't going to split the 3rd grade, so I'd be teaching a split 6th grade class. The good news is I'll be teaching English (grammar, spelling, reading and writing), which is my FAVORITE, and I'll have more prep periods than anyone in the school. The bad news was that the other 6th grade teacher (my housemate, Jenny), wasn't going to return until the following week, and I was going to be teaching the full class (28 students). I'm also on detention duty after school every day this semester. Giddyup.

my classroom this week (Jenny's room)

So, this week I taught 28 squirrely 6th graders, many of whom don't speak English well. The week was full of math outside, Colorado alpine flowers for science, and Chronicles of Narnia for a read aloud. We spent most of the week getting to know each other, and my heart breaks for so many of these kids. Even though they come from some of the richest families in Coch, so many of them have the same needs as the poorest children from the Center I worked at the last 6 months. Many of them crave attention and approval just like the kiddos in the orphanage. The main difference is that they have all the latest technology, games, and clothes. It's been humbling to see so many of my prejudices toward the rich come to light, and to be forced to look for beauty in these kids, too, as spoiled or sheltered as they may be.

my new house
¡mi cuarto!

On a lighter note, I'm beginning to settle into my room and to feel like this house is truly my home, not just a place to stay for the next year and a half. I walk to school every morning, about 6 blocks down the hill. My room has a balcony overlooking the entire city, and a view of the Andes from my quiet time spot. Life is good.

meet our lawnmowers!

Things are certainly done differently here, and each day I feel like I learn something new and exciting about alternative ways to live. This week's life lesson is: WHO NEEDS LAWNMOWERS WHEN YOU HAVE COWS? (and a sheep). A lady in the neighborhood was grazing her herd on the street outside our house, and we opened the gates so they could come in and feast on our yard, leaving behind freshly grazed grass and piles of fertilizer:)

me with our lawnmowers... or should I say
FERTILIZERS?!

Thanks for reading!
Katie

P.S. Psalm 16. Good stuff.

P.S.!

Don't forget my new address!

Katie Stewart
c/o Cochabamba Cooperative School
P.O. Box 1395
Cochabamba, Bolivia

I still love letters. A lot:)

Waiting...

Good grief. Sometimes it seems like I'm not meant to get to Bolivia. It seems like every time I try to go there, or work to stay in Bolivia, something always stops me. My connecting flight to my plane to Santa Cruz, Bolivia was 2 hours late, and I missed my flight. The next flight isn't until 24hrs later, so I'm hanging out in Miami until 11:00pm tonight. My AeroSur flight in Bolivia from Santa Cruz to Cochabamba may not be honored, since American Airlines does not have a ticketing agreement with them. I'm hoping I'll be able to get on a flight tomorrow to Coch once I arrive in Bolivia, but there may be more obstacles once I get there.

As I talked to my dad in tears on the phone, I remembered all the times I was stuck in Chicago, needing to leave the country for my visa, and fighting to get what I needed to return to a job at the school in Bolivia. It'd be so easy to think that all these struggles means that I'm not meant to return.

Since last night, I've reached a place of peace. All this fighting has made me realize what Bolivia really means to me. Sometimes, the things that are most valuable, beautiful, or purposeful are the things you have to fight for the hardest. All the obstacles in my path to Bolivia now seem like more reason to push forward, trusting that God has confirmed my calling there.

Thanks for your continued prayers. I'll need them a lot this next week, because I will be starting class on Tuesday, and the school is still unsure what grade I will be teaching. Lots to adjust to, and lots to be flexible for! But, our God is good, and I will rest in that.

Peace to you, friends.
Katie

CARBONDALE!!!

one of my favorites, Elias, from the Center

After 5 days of travel, 7 separate flights, and 3 countries in between Bolivia and the States, I am now safely home in my cozy house in the mountains. I arrived yesterday, and am home until the 6th of January. On the way home, I got to stop off in Managua, Nicaragua to visit a good friend from college who is with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. Then my friend Emily from college picked me up from the airport in Denver, and I got to spend a day with her before she drove me home. It was such a gift to spend time with good friends, since that time will be more and more rare in the next year and a half.

me and Miguel, hiking back from a lake

Emily and me

In January, I fly back to Cochabamba, Bolivia to live there for another year and a half. I plan to teach third grade in an international school, and hope to come back to visit this summer if I can afford the plane ticket. It's been neat to see how God has continued to call my heart back to Coch, and how He has provided for my every need. I've already moved in with my new housemates, and the view from my bed looks right up at the Andes! My community there has continued to grow, building deeper and deeper relationships with my church, my friends Rosalia and Vicenta, the kiddos at both orphanages, and all the other rich friendships I have there. I already miss riding on trufis (the public transportation) and speaking in Spanish.

me and Vicenta, my dear Quechua friend
(mother of Rosalia)

I look forward to soaking up time in the mountains with my family, x-country skiing to get our Christmas tree, and playing in the snow. It's good to see deep friends from home, too, and enjoy the little things I've missed, like a bowl of Cheerios in the morning, and Colorado blue sky. Thank you all for your support while I was in Bolivia these last six months. Your letters, prayers, and encouragement were an essential part of my wellbeing. Even though I won't be in an official missionary position when I return, my perspective is that I'm just returning to a different type of ministry. I plan to continue my blog, and would still love your support through letters, prayers, and communication.

Here's my new address:
Katie Stewart
c/o Cochabamba Cooperative School
P.O. Box 1395
Cochabamba, Bolivia

May the peace of Christ fill these next few weeks for each of you, and may you find the time to stop and breathe, and to soak in the beauty of time with family and friends.

Shalom,
Katie

my view from my bedroom at home!
mountains, check
snow, check
Colorado blue, check!!!