Tired but Awake

Have you ever been so tired physically, with your eyes dropping and body failing, but so awake at the same time, with your mind racing and music glaring through your brain cells?  That's pretty much exactly how I am right now.

Bolivian meal provided for us by Devon(awesome roommate)
while we were making phone calls.  That snot looking stuff is SO GOOD

These past two days have been a whirlwind.  We've continued research on International Orphanages and even made some phone calls to Columbia, Ecuador, Belize, Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Paraguay to gain some wisdom on how they run their orphanages and also for any advice they might have in working in the field.  Some places were friendly and willing to share information and others were reluctant or even...not very nice.


Tuesday night was my first time attending a homeless ministry in the main plaza.  Every Tuesday a few homeless people meet Adrian and a couple volunteers in the plaza for a message from scripture and a meal.  I don't quite know how to give an accurate depiction of what it was like - it is the most Christ centered ministry I have seen thus far.

Adrian is a 20 year old Bolivian studying to be a pastor and social worker.  He speaks with passion and enthusiasm and uses hand motions to illustrate stories.  Adrian sat on his knees facing a line of 7 homeless people and used a small booklet for everyone to follow.  His message this Tuesday was about giving - no matter how much you have.  He spoke about being thankful for everything you have and would say - who gave you the clothes on your back?  And the people would respond - God.  Who gave you the health that you Have? God.  Who gave you the air you breathe and the life you have?  God.  He than beautifully illustrated the story in Luke 20:45 about a poor widow who gives all she has.

After the message Adrian paired each volunteer with a homeless individual.  We were told to ask what the need that week was and to pray for them.  I was paired up with soft spoken man.  When I asked what he needed - he began by saying how he has all he needs and everything has been great and he has kids and continued to list things.  I repeated what he said and than asked if I could pray for him and looked down to see his hands clasped together.  I looked at him awkwardly and said "and can i hold your hand?"  I held his hand and we bowed our heads and I prayed.  I don't remember everything that I said but I do remember feeling love for this man and so I prayed that he feel love this week.  After saying Amen - I realized that this man may have greater faith than I do and that perhaps he could pray for me so I asked him to pray in return.  I told him about being far from family and friends and about not really knowing all that I am doing here in Bolivia and so we bowed our heads, held hands, and he prayed for me.  Now I don't remember all he said - but it was so sincere.  After our prayer he than started to tell me about his needs - he said he has the flu and hasn't been able to get better.  I worry about getting the flu here and I have accommodations and medicine - this man has very little.

Once our prayers were done we passed out bread and oatmeal and just talked for a while.  I sat down next to a man who was quite and just sat for a while in silence.  He was looking away as I spoke with another volunteer and I wondered if he was uncomfortable with this whole situation and what was going through his mind.  I gingerly tapped him on the shoulder and asked "What are you thinking?"  He smiled some and than said,
"I'm trying to figure out where I am going to sleep tonight, the plaza is taken with protesters"
Me:  "Is that where you usually sleep?"
Him:  "yes, maybe I can sleep at (random place)"
Me:  "And the police here...do they uh.....
Him:  "no they don't bother us"
Me:  And is there a homeless shelter here in Bolivia that you could stay at?
Him:  "no, they don't have that, they should, but they don't."

Wow - how far off I was with what he was thinking.  Afterwards Adrian asked if anyone had any questions.  One by one they each started asking questions.  One man asked what it means to believe in Jesus.  Adrian said that anyone can believe in Jesus - he quoted the scripture where it says that even the Devil and his angels believe in God - the difference - is accepting Jesus Christ.  I can not remember the last time I have seen someone preach God's word so boldly and genuinely.  Eventually, we all said our goodbyes and said see you next Tuesday.  I can't wait until next Tuesday.

Listening to the webinar today

This blog entry is longer than it should be.  I also wanted to share about a webinar we had today with HOPE International on micro finance and orphanages.  Perhaps I'll leave that for another day.

Tonight the stars were shining bright and this song popped in my head ...enjoy Yellow - Cold Play

Backyard.  I might be moving next week.  Decision will be made tomorrow.   I will also be doing laundry early tomorrow morning.  Now you have a visual of where I will be.

 Goodnight.  :)

Since the last blog I have slowly been meeting Bolivians - some amazing people

Here are the two teams competing in a food competition.

Last night was a celebration day for Bolivia - they burned fires and partied hard.  I partied hard with the church.  We played games that I have never ever seen before and ate hot dogs.  One of the games I participated in included finding bible passages.  There were two teams of four and we had to find a passage and run to the microphone to read it before the other team.  The losing team would get hit in the head with pillows and have shaving cream sprayed all over them.  We lost quite a bit so I got a lot of shaving cream sprayed on me.  It  took a while to catch on to why in the world people with gorrilla masks were spraying me with white foamie stuff.

We got a ride home last night in an awesome jeep

At this event I met two awesome girls, Nidia and Eliana.  Nidia is from Sucre, Bolivia - from what I've heard a BEAUTIFUL place.  She moved here about a year ago and ..basically...is going to be my new best friend...maybe.  We clicked - it was awesome.  Eliana is her friend from the Amazon - Eliana comes from deep in the Amazon where there are paranas and I forgot all the other animals but basically a ton of wild animals.  She said that a lot of people get really sick there.  Eliana met Nidia through her Uncle, Jorge (of the jungle as he told me) who is a Bolivian doctor.  From what I understood - he has traveled all over to small communities as a doctor.  I am super excited to get to know their stories - so stay tuned for more of that.

The kids showing their photos

Yesterday we visited the orphanage that houses 11 kids.  A group from Michigan was visiting last week and gave each child a backpack with a coloring sheet inside with an "about me" section to send to their church in the States.  The kids completed the coloring sheet while we were there and spent so much time making sure the coloring was good and beautiful.  It was so touching to see how much care they were putting into these colorings.  Every Friday and Saturday we visit the kids and before we leave they have a snack of crackers and pop.  Before eating, they all pray in whispers at the same time.  I can overhear small things in their prayers and it is precious.  Each one of these kids has a different story of how they ended up at the hacienda - and to see God working in their lives is such a blessing. It's the truth.  :)

The kids coloring the pictures

Small things that have happened that deserve a small note.  1.  When I leave the country - my absent mindedness/memory does not improve as I would have hoped.  Yesterday forgot the key so when I got dropped off, almost attempted to climb the wall in but after many rings to the house- someone answered.  I felt so bad.  Yesterday we also took a special trip to buy a cell phone - I forgot my passport/identification so it was a wasted trip.  At least I know where to go.  2. my roommate went to culinary school!!! I think it's God's way of telling me I need to learn how to cook.  I already helped (a little) in making a chicken dish - and by a little - I mean I helped with shopping.  Small steps.  I now know ingredients.
3) Thank you for being my friends...and family.  Before I left I was given a scrapbook with a page completed by friends and family and it really means a lot to me.  I have the scrapbook next to my bed and sometimes at night I'll just go through it before bed.  Thank you.

palm trees everywhere. srange

I'm leaving right now to play soccer!!  Someone at church said he found me a team to play on and so at 5 I am meeting him at the church to go over to play.  It's so weird not having a cell phone and just having to meet people places without having a clue where to go.  Don't worry mom - I"M SAFE! :) hahaha  I"m so nervous about soccer in this high altitude.  We'll see!

I hope this Sunday goes well for everyone.  You're all in my thoughts - that's no lie.

Alison Garza

No Toilet Paper?

Morning seems a good time to write.  This morning I was up extra early because the trash truck came by to pick up garbage.  Every Monday and Thursday morning a truck full of garbage parks at the end of the street and rings a bell.  Everyone from inside their houses comes out with their garbage cans and walks it up to the truck and hands it to the men standing at the top of the garbage truck.  Smells rank - as you can imagine.  I'm starting to put together that this kind of bad smell that is everywhere - has to do with sanitation. LACK of sanitation.

Two days ago I visited a school where kids stay after school to be tutored and do their homework.  Many of the kids are raised in a household where the parents speak quechua and schooling is in Spanish.  The kids were real cute and I ended up tutoring a girl one on one.  She was in 1st grade and I tried to help her understand multiplication tables by drawing little marks on paper multiple times for example...
 2 * 4 =
11
11
11
11
=8
Overtime she got it but didn't enjoy all the work involved in writing marks - especially when we got to the 3s.  Anyways.  I had just eaten lunch and my stomach was feeling pretty bad...you know...painful.  So I told the girl I had to go to the bathroom and she decided to go with me.  We walked to this bathroom with toilets without covering and no toilet paper!  I walked back out of the stall and asked her "donde esta tu papelito de bano?" (where is your toliet paper) and in her cute...high pitched voice she said "no tenemos" (we don't have any)  Me (I'm just going to stick with English but imagine it in spanish) "What!? What do you use!?"  She stood there and thought for a while, "ohhh sometimes we use paper" I said ok and went back in the stall to check the trash can and sure enough - straight up school paper was in there with writing and everything.  So she did her thing and I did not do my thing and we walked out of the bathroom without washing hands because - aside from having no toilet paper - the water is turned off in the afternoon which means no flushing as well - and she grabbed my hand and we went back up to the bathroom.  Did you catch that? She grabbed my hand?  Needless to say - I am always washing my hands.  We went back to the classroom and I sat there taking it in.  So few resources for these kids here.  The education they are receiving is so far behind and it only perpetuates this cycle of poverty.  Oh my goodness - sinking in - these crazy injustices.  So, I was physically sick for the first time and we came back and I just layed low that night.

Last night myself, Lindsey and Jessica, all went to see a movie in the Bolivian theater - it was half price night. We were the only white people and the movie we wanted to see with subtitles doesn't come out till next week. So instead we bought Happy Feet 2 for a dollar and watched it on a computer screen last night. HILarious, laughed a lot.

Jessica and Lindsey researching.  We are spending time researching orphanages and businesses across South America this week.  Today  - hopefully - we will be calling some.

Here are some pictures.  Tomorrow is a holiday - its the winter solstice and everyone celebrates for the entire weekend.

This song has been on repeat this morning Hands and Feet - Brilliance  I hope everyone is doing well.  Please pray for the team here in Cochabamba.  Thank you!  :)

Cochabamba from a nicer neighborhood.  We have to go up this hill to work at one of the team members house almost everyday.

What some of Cochabamba looks like - it is so diverse. 

MONKEY!!

Mustering guts to take a photo in a trufi - hence - it's blurry.  Just had to put this up for proof that I am trying and in time more amazing photos will follow.  One of the missionaries here got her camera stolen from her purse in one of these when a guy cut the bottom of her purse with a can top.  They crowd these things like insannnne.

Alison Garza

Tuesday/Martes

Gooooodmorning, It is currently 8:30 a.m. here in Bolivia and I couldn't sleep so I've decided to write in the blog. There is so much dust here that every morning I wake up with puffy eyes and a sore throat, interesting experience.

There is so much going on, that I"m not quite sure what to write. I"ll begin with a photo from yesterday. It still stands that people steal here - and stories I've heard have kind of discouraged me from taking out my camera so far (whimp) so yesterday I took photos from inside a car and in the nutrition center.

 Yesterday we visited the nutrition center again. I walked into the room with the newborns and passed by each crib scared to even touch a baby - I didn't want to harm them, they looked so fragile and teeny tiny. I was telling a worker there that I am scared of holding babies and would walk to each crib..attempt to pick up a child..and than decide against it. The worker told me to sit down and picked up a little girl and placed her in my arms. SO CUTE. I was freaking out inside because her head was so wobbly.  As I was getting myself comfortable with her in my arms the intern proceeded to tell me that she is one month and one week old and that she was found in a dumpster as a newborn than taken to a hospital and dropped off at the center.  She is abandoned and will remain at the center for 6 months and than be moved into an orphanage in Bolivia.  What??  Did I hear that correctly?  I could not wrap my mind around this - I've heard stories of this - But I was holding her.  I tried to connect it in my head that I was holding a baby girl that was left to die in a dumpster.  I am still trying to understand it.  I held this baby girl for quite some time, even got comfortable enough to where I could hold her with one arm!  FYI/disclaimer - in the photo I had been holding her for a few minutes so that's why it looks awkward.

Today I will be working in the Iteams office (garage office brand new!) to begin research on International Orphanages and businesses that work to sustain them.  These next few weeks we will also be interviewing local orphanages, organizations, and businesses to learn more about what is being done here and what the needs of this community are (A needs assessment).  I am pumped about the research and interviews.  It is crazy because about two weeks ago I was talking with my mom about how I think I might like interviewing people and figuring out the needs of a place more than working in long term ministry and that when I return to the States I might want to explore that avenue of community development.  How crazy is it that I will actually be doing that here? 

Random photo from the car

That's all for now.  Well, there is more I could add - but I will save that for some other time.  I hope you are all doing well.  There's a song I heard for the first time last night that I really liked so here is the link

Crave - For King and Country

Also, this made me laugh.  I translated the blog page from Spanish to Enlgish and it translated the "Pequinito" in my blog name to "wee"  This wee little light of mine. In spanish "Pequeno" means small and the "ito" adds it to mean smaller.  I suppose that could mean wee.  hehe

Alison Garza

I still haven't processed yet where in the world I am

You will never guess what I ate for dinner... Ramon Noodles! That's right, Cochabamba has them too - and I still can't cook..yet. I arrived in Bolivia this morning around 6:30 a.m. and in Cochabamba at 9. I understood that things would be different, but it still hasn't hit home how different. The air smells different, and it's dry and dusty. I am going to have to figure out how to take photos without being obvious or robbed. People get robbed here and apparently it's real tricky, you don't even know you're being robbed when it happens. Upon arrival I met an intern named Lindsey and Katherine. They took me around Cochabamba to visit some places. In order to get around here we use things called trufis...which are basically jammed packed vans or cars that you pay 1.75 bolivianos to ride (25 cents). They drive fast and are kind of intimidating, you have to speak up and say "baja a la esquina" whenever you want to get dropped off. As a directionally challenged human being - this may be difficult because the roads are not gridlocked and are all crazy. Our first stop was at the Nutrition Center where infants stay to gain proper nutrition and be cared after. Some of the babies have parents who leave the babies at the center and visit them as often (or not) as they can and others were abandoned shortly after birth. This was crazy to see - the babies are lying in cribs in rooms on their backs barely moving. I'm assuming they are latent due to their lack of nutrition. I was able to pick them up and try and make them smile sometimes. I am a horrible baby holder - and it was awkward - I will gain practice though. A woman there was with her baby and introduced me to her son, bellmar, kind of like a beautiful ocean, if you translate it. Her baby had issues at birth and she was referred to this place where she has to leave him to gain proper care. She visits everyday to hold her baby boy and was really sweet. I think the shocker for me was when I was talking to her and she just kind of...exposed her breast completely and proceeded to baby feed. My eyes were locked so intensly on her face the entire time, she probably noticed. We stopped more places after but I don't want to make this super long. In the afternoon a group of people from Michigan returned to the guest house, where I am currently staying. 15 people from HOLLAND (weird that's where I went to college) are here until next Friday. I went along with them to see a ministry that serves street kids who sniff glue. I will get back to yall with more on the ministry as I learn more. Basically medical people go and give medications or stitch up wounds that occur. The kids have been described as rough and generally get into fist fights or end up falling from being so high. I am still processing everything. I tried to have conversations with some of the teens in Spanish but it was a little hard to do because they were giggly and spacy. It feels so out of place walking to a group of people with glue bottles up to their nose and to try and talk with them...as a foreigner..from a group of a bunch of foreigners. Out of my comfort zone. There is a bit of a transition occurring here from what I understand. Everything is up in the air. I am an adaptable person...but this is MEGA adaptable/flexible. Please....please....please...I"m not begging or anything...but really please...pray for the team here, and for me. A lot of stuff is happening - if this seems ambiguous to you - it's just as ambiguous to me. I'm gong to steal what Lindsey said she's asked for prayer in...discernment for the team as big decisions are made. Also, will be living out of my suitcases for the next couple days as we have guest here..it's laying in the hallway right now. You have to throw your toilet paper in the trash. I decided to suck up my fear and empty the trashcan...almost gagged but I did it. BRAVE. I'll update more as I can. Can't believe I"m here. I am at peace about being here, but there is so much uncertainty. Thank you for your prayers. Ciao, Alison Garza

IM LEAVVVVINNNNNG.... worst seats ever. Middle the whole way - that's what I get for forgetting to update. BYES

One More Full Day

Tonight I am blogging fron my droid phone. I am currently laying in bed next to a floor full of clothes and an open suitcase. My dresser is full of purchases to be packed andmy mnd is full of anticipation and bewilderment. "this is really happrning? I am gping for real? What is it going to be like? When I return, how will things be different.? gosh golly gee the stars were awesome tonight..ouuuu i wonder how thll look ineBolivia.. you know those kinds of thoughts. ive been asked a lot what exactly Ill be doing therr, its a tough question to answer because even I dont. know yet. There are many different ministries and it will be interesting to see how lil ole Alison G fits into all this. please excuse the spelling mistakes; it is 2 a.m. so Im going to sleep. :)

Proof of your love

1 week and 2 days.

Crazy.  Crazy.  Crazy.  In an hour I'll be on my way to Orozco Academy in Chicago to say goodbye to some teachers and staff.  Goodbyes are weird.

This past weekend I went on a retreat with some people from Willow Creek - it was very laid back and we canoed and I'm getting buff!

Jessica - amazon woman

 I went with my friend Jessica to the Indiana Dunes.  We went off the trail and ended up along a stream for a while, that was probably my favorite part of our hike.  We ended up crossing logs over streams and just went wherever we wanted without any idea of where we were.  Turns out we didn't go very far - but it was cool.


This song is amazing - and I will be listening to it on repeat until I leave next week.  I am ready for the next 6 months.  I have no idea what in the world will happen, what I will see or experience, and how things will be when I come back; all I know is I'm going with the support of friends and family and a God who loves me.  I have never felt so loved by friends and family these past few weeks - I'm going to use that love I've received to share it with others.  Thank yous.

The Proof Of Your Love

Alison Garza