Lidia and Me

There is some personal news I have been reluctant to share for some time, but that I want to tell you all about now. Ok, so some of you know, but now I feel it should be shared. The news is that I have entered into the early stages of relationship with a Bolivian girl named Lidia. Lidia is 29, also a missionary and has lived in Santa Cruz 9 of the past 10 years, but she grew up in the small town of Yacuiba, in the southern part of Bolivia on the border with Argentina.

We met when she passed through Trinidad in late June returning from a mission trip with a group of YWAM people (Lidia has been a leader at the YWAM Discipleship Training School in Santa Cruz the past four years). She spent the night at our house with a few others. To be honest when she was talking to me for the first time, I was more interested in the TV than her. She mentioned to me that the graduation for YWAM was in two weeks and invited me to come since a few former La Palmera students were in the course and I mentioned I was coming to Santa Cruz. As it turned out, I intended to leave Santa Cruz the night of the graduation, but there was a road blockade, so I was stuck at a friend's house. The next day, the blockade lifted and another friend of mine from La Palmera bought me a bus ticket. That night at the terminal, Lidia was there and was traveling with us. She was sitting the seat across the aisle from me and asked me for my cell phone number. I gave it to her and thought, "ok, we'll maybe keep in touch for a little while". As we arrived at the bus station in Trinidad, I became more concerned with getting the computer equipment home that I had brought and left without saying goodbye to Lidia (to her dismay). Two weeks later, I started receiving text messages from her asking me all kinds of questions that gradually got more and more personal. For whatever reason, I decided to answer them all.

A couple weeks later I went to Santa Cruz with my parents to see them off as they were returning to the States after a brief visit to Trinidad to see me. Lidia said she wanted to meet them and we hung out that afternoon and then we all had dinner together. She went with me to the airport to see them off and then the next day we went to the movies. After the movie (Ocean's 13), we sat and talked for two hours about all kinds of stuff. She asked me all kinds of deep questions, mostly about relationships. Through these conversations, I realized what a heart for God she has and how attractive that is. Later we realized that we were both out of character because she never initiates with guys and I don't usually answer deep questions that easily. We are both convinced it was the work of the Lord.

After that, I made a couple of trips to visit her that were really wonderful. However in late September, she left for Chile to attend a YWAM counseling school and is there until early December. After that she is going to do a practicum in Paraguay as the second part of this course. During this time apart, we have continued to get to know each other more. Lidia is not sure what the future holds for her after this course is over, but has several options. We have talked about pursuing a more serious relationship, but agreed it would be better to wait until she is finished with her course. She is currently praying and meditating on her future and what she wants to do. At this time, my feeling is that she is interested in a more serious relationship with me (including possibly moving to Trinidad and joining the La Palmera staff), but is not sure if that is the Lord's will and because of that is guarding her feelings. Please pray for us, and for her more specifically that the Lord would open her eyes and help her to know what His will is for next year.

Ministry challenges

It's been just over a month since I started leading the "Jovenes" youth group and already I am faced with some challenges. One of the things really ugly about the Bolivian culture is pride. I would go so far as to say there is an aroma of arrogance amongst Bolivians (and most latinos for that matter) that it leads to a kind of stubbornness. People think their way is right and refuse to give in to others, protesting often if necessary. This is shown in the many blockades and strikes that happen nationwide here. But there is another problem that this leads to, and that is refusing to be open to new ideas and refusing to take risks.

To the young people here, like many places around the world, who they are seen with and how they are seen is far more important than what they think. To an older teen, being embarassed publicly is their worst nightmare. This presents a problem when trying to facilitate discussions and get these kids to process the faith they believe in. They tend to want to go with the mainstream view and they have little courage to stand firm for what they believe. So, I am praying so much that the hearts of these young adults can be opened and they will have an attitude to better their faith and realize living for Jesus means being unpopular at times and means being ridiculed and being embarrassed. They don't seem to understand this is a war we are in spiritually and that they have to fight elements of their culture that are contrary to what Jesus teaches.

Pray that this concept can be driven home to these youth as I continue to minister to them. On the bright side, the kids do seem excited about me leading, the numbers in the ministry have gone up, but it still lacks that quality element of learning that I would like to see. Most weeks I feel like they walk away having learned nothing and that they jump right back into their "image is everything" mentality. I want these kids to own their faith and not be subject to what people tell them to believe and to not be "bandwagon Christians".