New Baptist Youth

            We did it! We made it the whole week, and let me tell you, these kids know how to work. In our last day at the work site they laid 50 courses, or 50 rows of brick. Everyone had an intense drive to finish as much as we could on the last day. I know they were tired, I was tired, but they kept on working with smiles on their faces and joy in their heart.              Reflecting back on this week I have a new perspective as this is the first trip where I have been a leader. This allowed me to see the group and the work being done through a whole new lens. Each youth brought something different to the group dynamic and everything was valued and important to the success of this week. Beth led the work task force among the youth on the work site. Always asking what needed to be done next and jumping in to do whatever was needed even if it was not verbalized. Adria led the group in...

National holiday means more people, and what better way to celebrate than working and eating together              Today, as we round up our last couple days of work, we got to make incredible progress in our work on the building and also in the depth of our relationships.  For Cochabamba, today was a national holiday of celebrating their winter solstice as their new year.  Everyone was out of school and work, allowing us more local hands of help at the work site. As simple as my job was of brushing, measuring, and scraping bricks, it was able to be interesting through the conversations we held with the new people giving their time to help.  Though we spoke different languages, we got to really grow and connect to them through the laughter of attempting the others’ language.  As our work day closed, we progressed to half way up the two-meter windows on all five walls and a beginning to a new wall....

            Tonight’s devotion given by Adria sums up perfectly what my day was like. Adria talked about how most of the time when something small happens, we blame it on a coincidence and don’t give God the glory. My day today was not a coincidence and I’m going to explain why.              Last night was a difficult night for me because I really missed my mom and dad. On this trip we don’t have our phones which means I don’t get to talk to them every day. So being thousands of miles away from them and not being able to know how their day was or what they had for dinner is difficult for me considering I am with them 24/7. Every day that we go on the worksite, someone has to stay back and help Carmen clean. For some reason I really felt the urge to pick today as my day to stay back. The first thing I had to do this morning was sweep the whole house. I thought “that’s exactly what my mo...

The view from the balcony at the House of Hope Great conversation while cleaning and measuring bricks.             Today marked our first day of work. Our task throughout the week is to build up the brick walls of the new church that’s under construction. We arrived at the job site around 9am, and immediately went to work. Some people measured, filed, and dusted off the bricks, while others laid them. Due to the size of our team, we completed a lot for one day’s worth of work. My task was to lay bricks, and after I finished the job with Ripley and Tyler, I moved on to painting the foundation with tar. Tar is very sticky, which made it difficult to apply a thin layer. Elizabeth and Harper got tar all over them and found out quickly that the only way to remove the tar from their skin was with gasoline.              Our hard work definitely paid off because we could actually see ...

            As I write this blog post, I reflect back upon our first full day in Cochabamba and how the time here has already consisted of so many wonderful sights and experiences. Not only does the country amaze me with its immaculate natural beauty and structures, but the people here display an immense amount of hospitality and kindness. We began the day with a delightful breakfast of pancakes, fruit, and cereal. Several of us enjoyed the food on the patio outside while the sun began to beat down and the cool breeze continued to blow. It was the perfect setting and a nice start to the day.             After breakfast, everyone headed up to the Christo: the largest statue of Jesus in the world, despite the fact that the Christo in Brazil gets most of the attention. The statue and surrounding area amazed us all. It towered above us, and the city of Cochabamba and the mountains surrounded ...

The whirlwind of travel has finally come to a close. All flights, luggage, and members safely arrived to their destinations. Yesterday (June 15 th ) we began traveling at 4:00pm from the Huntington airport and finally finished at 5:00pm today (June 16 th ) in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Once we landed in Santa Cruz, Bolivia early this morning we had time to kill until our flight to Cochabamba at 4:00pm. Awesome enough, the Reed Family (The Missionaries we are partnering with this week) live in Santa Cruz. They were so hospitable and rented a sleep room to store our luggage in the airport, loaded us up in their cars, and headed to their house about 20 minutes away. We fellowshipped, played games, read, talked, and caught up on some much needed sleep. J.D. Reed and Lee headed out to buy Saltenas for us to eat. The saltenas were amazing. They were more or less like a handheld chicken pot pie and really hit the spot.  After resting we headed back to the airport and flew on to Cocha w...