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Our current intern in Ixiamas, Bolivia, is 2008 Practicum graduate Becky Forrest. During Practicum, Becky shared her experience on our blog. Now that she is in an intern in Bolivia, she will post updates as our interns in 2008 did. Becky served on short-term mission trips in 2007 and 2008 in Ixiamas.
I survived the month without Rachel, and my Spanish has improved a great deal. My sentences may not have the correct tense of the verb, but I can usually say what I need to say. Everyone here has learned some English, so they help me by using some of the words they have learned. I just pray I don’t forget all I have learned during my two months at home. I would hate to start over again.  The buttermilk biscuits were such a hit that we are teaching the cook and girls how to make them. They have been placed on the menu for breakfast once a week. After all, SIFAT’s campus is in Alabama, so we can make the Internado “southernâ€. Earlier in the year, we had a brick oven built for baking bread. It has finally been cured. This past Friday, the kids were out of school, so with their help, we cooked bread in it for the first time.They made cinnamon rolls, the regular round bread that is normally sold here and empanadas (sort of a cheese turnover). The smell was wonderful, and I slipped off with a hot cinnamon roll for Rachel and me to sample. They were to be saved for Sunday’s breakfast.
There was no school the week of Sept. 7 – 12 because of teachers meetings, so all of the kids went home except Nancy and Julio. They usually stay here during short breaks from school because their dad works and lives at a saw mill. At the end of the week, I decided we needed an outing, and I needed a conversation in English. We went to visit the Mennonite family we buy cheese, etc from. I had been there once with the group at the end of the rainy season, and so I knew the way. Ha! (We had to walk part of the way on that trip because the road was so muddy.) We loaded up in truck, Marcial (dorm dad), Mercedes (the cook), her children (Juan, 10, and Belen, 3) along with Julio and Nancy. We get almost there when we come to a small river, so we decided to leave the truck there and walk the rest of the way. I convinced Julio and Nancy (they had been there two other times) that we crossed the river there instead of going up the road to the left. Why would they listen to me, a really dumb American? We walked for close to 30 min. when we all decided we were not the going correct way. So after the 30 min walk back to the truck, we drove up the road to the left (the way Julio suggested) and right up to the gate of their yard. I don’t think they will ever follow me again. But we had fun even if we did hike in 90 degree weather. Most of it was in the shade. We all had a big laugh over it.
September 14th was student’s day, so in honor of it we let each of the kids invite someone from school here for a celebration. We had devotions, played games and had snacks. It was a great hit and made us think if we should do it more often as a way of reaching out to the children in town. The English classes are growing and doing great. All my students are making great progress. The classes also help me increase my vocabulary because as I teach them, I learn the words in Spanish. A couple of the students are not church goers, so I am praying for God to use this as a way to open up his word to them.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we are looking for a new dorm mom and someone to help next year with the animals and farming here on the campus.
Much love to all back home, Hermana Rebecca
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Don’t forget SIFAT also has a cause on Facebook, where you can help us raise money by donating online, setting fundraising goals and getting birthday gifts donated in your honor. Our current intern in Ixiamas, Bolivia, is 2008 Practicum graduate Becky Forrest. During Practicum, Becky shared her experience on our blog. Now that she is in an intern in Bolivia, she will post updates as our interns in 2008 did. Becky served on short-term mission trips in 2007 and 2008 in Ixiamas. Wow, I can’t believe how fast time is going by. In three months, I will be traveling back to the US. It seems like I am just really getting started. The last month has been very busy with the English classes really rolling now. I have five students from town, four staff members and, of course, the kids. Reaching out to the people in town with more training is one of the goals of the Internado this year. We feel the English classes are a good start. Can’t you just hear all these Bolivians speaking English with my southern accent? My Spanish is coming along much better and will greatly improve this month with Rachel traveling for several weeks. The last week we had an outbreak of what they call gripe here. It’s what we would call a virus. Some with headaches and fever, sore throats and a few had vomiting. Five of the students and two staff members were really sick for a few days. Two of the girls dehydrated and were admitted to the hospital for IV fluids. It seemed like we were back and forth to the hospital many times a day for several days. Sunday, the last girl came home, and no one else has been sick since Friday.  Friday night, three doctors from the hospital came out to give some instructions on prevention and check every one. They also went through our medicine cabinet and made suggestions of things we may need to have on hand. The end of August, I had a surprise visit from Sophia that I met here on my first mission trip in 2007. We met at the church in Marivel and Miguel’s community. The day we met, we had an immediate connection, and I knew at that moment I would be coming back to Bolivia. She told me that she prayed daily for me after that until God assured her I would be coming back. Her visit was so great because we again felt connected as sisters in Christ. This time I could talk to her some and understand part of what she was saying to me. Rachel translated part of our conversation, but we shared our own feelings with my limited Spanish. She asked me several times if I was happy and content here, and I could honestly say very much so. It made me really do some reflecting. I do miss home and family, but I really am quite at home here with the kids. God has blessed me with very wonderful family here in Bolivia. One morning, a pair of macaws circled several times really close to where I was standing, allowing me a great look. The colors are so vivid, brilliant yellow on the underside and iridescent blue on top. Of course, I didn’t have my camera on me. They fly over every morning and evening, but they are usually too far away to see the colors. They are one of God’s gifts of beauty here. A couple of Saturdays ago, it was deep cleaning for the kids’ rooms and lice treatment for them. What an experience!  Guess who shampooed every one’s heads. I have never seen girls with so much hair. They all have this beautiful long, thick dark hair that is really hard to cover with the shampoo. The Mennonite lady, Sarah, brought me some buttermilk, but we had been without power for a week and the refrigerator was not working, so Rachel and I decided to bake everything we could think of that called for buttermilk. I made over 50 buttermilk biscuits and corn bread muffins. I had cornbread and buttermilk for breakfast. Rachel made a really great coffee cake. As you can see, there is never a dull moment around here. Thanks for all the prayers. Hasta luego, Hermana Rebecca The 2009 Practicum has begun! This marks our second week of classes. Most of last week was spent learning “the basics” – computer and Internet training, cross cultural studies and learning important Southern words/phrases, such as y’all. This fall, one of our American students, Katherine Harrison, will be writing about her experiences for our blog. Below is one of her reflections from last week, introducing herself and why she is participating in the Practicum. Katherine is a member of Brookhaven UMC (Brookhaven, Miss.) and was a member of their SIFAT mission team to Ecuador in July 2009. Katherine is also keeping a personal blog here. Through more tears than I can count and a strange meandering path, God has brought me here to the SIFAT campus. I say He brought me here because I was unsure I would be able to attend. In fact, by the middle of last week, I had begun making plans not to attend and to continue on this spiritual journey at home (for the moment). But God and Kathy Bryson had other plans and the SIFAT door kept opening back up even though I was steady trying to close it. I have an image of me leveraging my weight against a door to close it and there’s this big God-sized foot lodged in there to keep it open. So here I am and I can honestly tell you I have no idea why or where it may lead. That’s not to say I am not focused or enthusiastic about being here. I am! I feel so blessed! I also feel a bit unworthy. I am not a community leader, a pastor, the head of some organization or a full-time missionary. These people are established and they know their place in God’s kingdom. They have specific missions to carry out. God may change those plans mid-stream, I know, but they at least have a stream. I don’t. Yet.
This fall’s CARES program is Around the World. Students have the opportunity to visit homes in our Global Village, where they learn about the country represented and participate in hands-on activities. From folk dancing in the Philippines to making tortillas in Guatemala, students (and their chaperones!) tour the world in just a few hours. Quick Facts:
To book a CARES event, please contact cares@sifat.org. |
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The dates for our 2009-2010 CARES events are now posted on our website. Visit 
