Scouting Trip to Bolivia, AKA "not Bolivia"

The four of us planned a 7 day trip for July 2012. We did not have any specifics for the trip set in stone, but we had a tentative itinerary of things to do and see so as to get a good idea about the region and its culture. Our kids would stay with my wonderful mother-in-law and go to daycare during the day. It would be a long time away from the kids, certainly the longest we'd ever been away from them. We left home early (2:30 a.m.) for a 5:30 a.m. flight out of New Orleans. We had a connecting flight and layover in Miami and another in Lima, Peru; we expected to be in La Paz by 1:30 a.m. (and planned to sleep in that first day because of such a late arrival). We thought, after such a long travel itinerary, we would be in Bolivia for the night. But, God had different plans for us.

After a long 7+ hour layover in Miami, we arrived late in Lima, Peru. We were scheduled to fly from Lima to La Paz, Bolivia. With the late arrival, we, along with about a dozen others, missed our connecting flight. In the States, this would be no big deal. In Lima Peru, its sort of a big deal :-) The Lord helped us to be patient while the airline company tried to solve the problem. Erin, pregnant with her twin girls, was starving and exhausted. The others that missed their flight included a group of young people going on a mission trip to Santa Cruz and a father with his son (the father, Ray, was Bolivian by birth, but lives in New Jersey as an American.). We quickly made friends with all the others through the ordeal, and one of the college students offered Erin snacks. We waited, and waited, and waited (apparently a trend we'd learn to deal with in Latin America). Finally, around 1:30 a.m. We left the airport with a plan. We had vouchers to stay in a 5 star hotel in Lima for 3 nights (cutting our time in Bolivia by half), along with meal tickets for the hotel restaurant throughout the stay there, courtesy of the airline. Then, we'd leave for Bolivia. Not exactly the trip we expected, but we trusted the Lord's plans.

Lima, oh Lima, how I miss you! The middle of the night drive was a tad scary though, I'll be honest. Maybe more than once I saw someone urinating in the street. There was graffiti on the walls in the city. It was dark and our taxi did not stop at all the red lights or stop signs. But, when we awoke the next morning in our FINE hotel and super fluffy beds, we looked out to see a beautiful South American city. The hotel food was delicious, especially the breakfast. I wish I had a picture of the breakfast. We also explored the city's restaurants and were thoroughly impressed. I think I have more pictures of the food in Lima than I do of the four of us in Lima. It was that good!

With time to kill, we did a little sight seeing there as well. Lima is a very prosperous city in Peru, with some very wealthy residents in the heart of the city. We were in walking distance to a lot of things there, but with Erin being pregnant, we took advantage of the cheap taxis while there as well. The taxis in Lima (as well as La Paz) are TINY. Think early 90's Honda sedan. The four of us, none of us exactly tiny ourselves squeezing into those was kinda funny (and very uncomfortable.). Anyways, one day we decided to go to the movies, hearing that the price was half off on Tuesday's (which was only $2 in US currency). 

Well, we got our tickets and were excited to go see Spiderman. The theater was very 1980's ish to American standards. Oh, and there was no air conditioning - or at least it didn't feel like there was. We settled into our seats, with not a seat available in our theater...the place was packed. After the previews, the movie began. It became clear pretty quickly we were in the wrong theater. (Some Johnny Depp movie with vampires) Must have read the receipt wrong...stupid Americans (that's how I felt at the moment.). We went in another theater...Ice Age. No seats there either. We finally found Spider Man, and the only seats available were scattered all over the theater. We ended up having to come back the next day (they understood our problem...) and found an empty theater! We got snacks and settled into our seats once again. There might have been 2-4 other people in the entire theater, when another couple walked into the dark room. Where did they choose to sit? Right smack next to me. I couldn't believe it! We couldn't stop giggling about it for a few minutes, because in the U.S. This would NEVER happen! 150 seats and they chose the two directly to my right!

Clearly, we were able to have some fun in Lima. We saw the presidential palace (gorgeous), we were begged to eat at restaurants, and got our first glimpses of the beautiful Andes. It was a great detour that ended up being a blessing, not only in that we missed an apparently large and possibly dangerous city-wide party in La Paz by having to stay in Lima, but also in the time that we were able to seek the Lord. God blessed us by providing a moment for us to simply be still and seek him without the pulls of the city of La Paz. Being in Lima, not the city we were planning to go to, allowed us to spend time in the word and in prayer. We were greatly encouraged and God gave us more clarity in the direction he was leading us. 

Loving the Lord Always, 

Ashley

Steps Ordered of the Lord

Where do I begin? I'm not sure, so I'm going to go waaaay back, just to be safe. I committed my life to Jesus around the age 10. The Lord used a dear friend of mine, Rebekah Murphy, along with some other godly influences in my family to draw me to Him. The Lord helped me to understand at that young age that to give my life to Jesus was an all or nothing thing. I had plans of either marrying a pastor or becoming a missionary, and being a teacher was somewhere in the midst of those options. I witnessed to the children I babysat as a teen, shared my faith with classmates in school, discipled young girls in my youth group as an older teen, and attended several mission trips. The Lord was my focus and my desire. I couldn't go to sleep at night if I neglected time alone with Him and His word.

Fast forward a few years...okay, quite a few years and Seth and I were married, both teachers, with three kids. We had talked about missions from the very beginning of our marriage, but with student loans to pay, buying a house, adopting our children, etc. we figured missions could be way down the road for us still. To be honest, the Lord was not my focus and my desire during this season...life was hectic. And then, the Lord began to do things as only He could. God made a way for Seth's student loans to be paid off in full. Wow...what a burden to lose nearly thirty thousand dollars of debt! Then, we connected with the Tisbury's in the calling and desire to serve the Lord through missions. Somewhere in there Bolivia become our country, and we began to pray for its people.

We met with our pastor and his wife to share our hearts and to tell about what the Lord was leading us to do. We began planning a scouting trip. Soon, we realized the trip would not be a cheap one, even though Bolivia is the poorest country in South America. (Just do a search to see how much airfare is to La Paz, Boliva...) We had a garage sale, and really started to simplify our lifestyles to save money and prepare our family for that future transition to missions. We got rid of Dish Network (bye bye Food Network and HGTV), our big flat screen t.v., and even sold our beautiful dresser. We cleaned closets, toy chests, the china cabinet, etc. We began to learn more about living simply.. 

In Christ, 

Ashley

Eye Opener

February 2, 2012

We are quickly learning that there is more to missions preparation than we expected. For all of us, this has been a dream in our hearts for a long time. When we felt God move and speak to all of us around the same time, it was very exciting and motivating. We love God so dearly and wanted to please him with our readiness, although we all had our different reservations we had and will work through. I know I, being the planner I am, was ready to nail down every detail and devise a timeline to have everything in place. A basic multi-step process to missions. Boy, was I wrong.

I know God's voice was clear, but how many times do we hear a word from the Lord and then begin to formulate our own plan and stategy to see it happen. One mis-step after the other, I realized that my 'control' mentallity was not going to work with God's supreme authority. I was reminded of the scripture, “lean not on your own understanding, but in ALL your ways acknowledge Him.” We think we are doing this simply because we consider God, but do we really acknowledge Him. We tend to think that to acknowledge and to consider are interchangable words. My favorite definition of this word is 'to recognize the authority or validity of.'

Our team was doing what we thought needed to be done; I was researching places, estimating costs, creating a timeline of steps that must be taken, planning for visas. I even created this website. I was walking and leaning on my abilities to make something happen, rather than respecting God's authority to orchestrate things according to His plan and purpose and timing; forgetting to acknowledge the authority of our church leaders and counsel to oversee this endeavor. If not for loving pastoral counsel and a gracious God, our actions could have limited God's direction. We could have stirred offense and division with our pastors and church family; we could have cut off the very people we need as mentors, overseeers and wise counsel. We were working toward the goal on our own, but thankfully God intercepted this erroneous judgement on our parts.

He knows our weaknesses and strengths and, because we will be representing His nature and ministering His gospel, He has and will continue to test our hearts. If we are to carry the gift of salvation to the people of Bolivia, should we not be prepared as a 'good' gift from a loving father? We are not perfect, in fact, we're far from it. But we love Jesus and pray that He will use us and that He will keep us within His good and perfect will, and protect us from our carnality.

We recently met with a missionary friend of our pastor and were dealt some truth about our plans and the vision that God gave us. It was, in all honesty, hard to swallow. A truth that was presented in love but, because we listened with carnal ears, felt discouraging, belittling, and insulting. We heard with our unrefined hearts and could have allowed a seed of bitterness to sprout. I know that this was a battle for me personally, until God brought revelation to my heart and renewed my understanding. I am so thankful that we have a loving God that wants us to be whole in Him. I now know that there are things we need to learn, obstacles we'll have to overcome, reputations that will have to be built on our submission to God's plan. I also know that our God is bigger than our limitations, stronger than our obstacles, and able to establish His reputation in us through surrendering to His will.

He has placed us in the perfect place. With a wonderful pastor, who leads with integrity and will always have our best in mind as he hears from the Lord. We have a wonderful church home that is encrouraging and affirming. We're blessed with close friends to hold us accountable, and a network of 'servants' that are being used by God to make sure that our hearts and minds are prepared for the work of this vision of ministry. We are surrendered to this call and are ready for His preparation in us.

In love,
Seth