Monday, September 28, 2009

Adios La Paz

Paola and I are packing the suitcases and getting ready to travel tomorrow. God-willing we will arrive in Atlanta tomorrow night around 9 p.m. We can't wait to be there.

And we have some very cool news to share...Paola had her ultrasound today and we found out that next February/March she will be giving birth to a baby BOY!

We are so excited and we can't wait to celebrate with you.
See you soon!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Prayer

Tomorrow morning I will be preaching in Spanish at the church here in La Paz. I preached for the first time back in June so tomorrow is my second chance. I am excited and I just pray that God speaks through me and that He gives every person a spirit of revelation to hear a fresh word from Him.

Please lift me up tomorrow around 11:30 a.m.

I appreciate it.

Friday, September 25, 2009

It's a...

????

Not sure yet. But Paola has an ultrasound scheduled for this coming Monday morning to try and find out the sex of our baby.

Will keep you posted.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

T-minus one week...

...until Paola and I touch down in Atlanta.

Are you and I still friends? I hope so.
It is just that distance does funny things to friendships doesn't it.
Some grow stronger and some grow weaker.

We can't wait to be there and hang with you to hear about what is going on in your life. God has blessed us so much this year and we can't wait to talk about that too.

Chick-fil-A, Zaxby's, Papa Johns, Krisy Kreme, Chili's, Starbucks, Sonny's and Babys-R-US are all in our sights...

So get ready.

Friday, September 18, 2009

New phone #

So for various reasons I have decided to switch my internet phone provider. I am now going to use Skype instead of Vonage.

Which means from now on there is a new phone # for you to call to reach Paola and I in Bolivia.

Here is our new number.
Please update your contacts and use this number from now on.

678.701.4823

Thanks!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Closeness

I am reading a book right now about Hudson Taylor. I have read one book about him before but this one talks about the growth of the China Inland Mission that he started.

He and his team were some of the first missionaries to venture into the inland parts of China to preach the gospel. They got started around the 1860s.

The book is beautiful. Oh to be a missionary 150 years ago. I know that I was born at the exact time that God wanted me to be born but there is something inside of me that longs to be a missionary from the 1800s.

Pioneers without MacBooks.

There are many truths and thoughts that are lodging themselves into my heart as I read this book but I just read a part that I feel compelled to share.

Referring to the missionary Hudson Taylor it reads...

"Nearness to Christ had been to him so real and blessed that any distance was unbearable. So deeply did he love that any clouding of the Master's face was felt, and felt at once with anguish of heart. It is the bride who mourns the absence of the bridegroom, not one who has been a stranger to His love."

Amen. I want that. Don't you?
I want to be so close in my relationship to Christ that any distance between us is unbearable. I want to mourn His absence. Paola and I were talking about this just this morning. We can't wait to be face to face with the creator of the universe. We can't imagine what that encounter will be like.

We don't want any distance between us and God.
And if there is, we want it be unbearable.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Open up and say...

Paola and I are at the dentist's office right now.
Check ups, a few cavities and flouride treatment for her because she is pregnant.

It just makes me think about the big cultural difference between us when it comes to doctors and medicine. I am used to going when I have a problem and I am quick to medicate.

Paola, on the other hand, is not used to going to the doctor, even when she is sick. And she usually does not take medicine.

So, as you can imagine, this pregnancy process is a big eye-opener for her. Doctor's exams, lab tests, ultrasounds, dentist appointments, etc. It is hard for me to imagine what it is like to be in her shoes right now.

But it is a change for her in a good way I think. She is starting to appreciate the security of knowing that everything is alright. And that security is hard to replace.

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Big News

Ok. So here is our big news.

Below is a copy of the email that I just sent out to our monthly email list. It pretty much sums it all up.

Happy Labor Day. Paola and I are so happy to send you this update for the month of September. We are getting really excited because in just about three more weeks we will touch down in Atlanta, Georgia. We are so looking forward to spending four weeks with family and friends and sharing with you all the amazing things that God has done in our lives this year. Paola and the baby are doing great. Paola just finished her first trimester and we are so thankful that her health is good and that the baby is healthy as well. Through the grace and direction of God we were led to a new doctor here in La Paz and the attention that Paola has been receiving recently has been outstanding. We still don’t know if it is a boy or a girl yet but we are hoping to find out either right before our trip to the states or while we are back home visiting.

There are lots of changes for us right now and I wanted to share with you another change that we will be experiencing next year. God has called Paola and I to move to the “House of Hope” orphanage just outside of a town called Caranavi. Caranavi is six hours outside of La Paz in bus in one of the jungle areas of Bolivia. It is a small town of 15,000 and the orphanage is about twenty minutes outside of the town up on the side of a mountain. The ministry is currently home to sixty kids and counting. (They recently took in twin boys who were fifteen days old at the time.)

Paola lived and worked at this orphanage for a year in 2006 and I have visited the ministry about four times now. This past May while we were visiting the orphanage with the youth group from the church I felt a tremendous peace that God was calling us to live and serve at the orphanage as full-time volunteers. Paola and I both share the same calling to serve at-risk children. Orphans, abused and abandoned children. Being positive Christian role models in the lives of these kids is our passion and God has opened a door for us to go and serve these sixty kids. We want to help give them a chance in life. A true chance to grab hold of the plan that God has for them. They have not been given a real first chance in life and we want to help give them a second life, a new chance to be all that God wants them to be. That is our calling.

So there you have it. The future of my family for at least the next several years. There is so much more to share with you about this orphanage and we can’t wait to talk to you more about it in person during our visit in October. But no doubt it is a severe shift outside of my comfort zone. I have spent a lot of time thinking and praying about how sometime next year I will be taking my wife and my newborn baby to the side of a mountain in the jungle. But these are kids who need so much to feel daily the love of Christ. But the bottom line is that God called us so we go. Trusting that He will provide for us, care for us and protect us.

And I want to ask you to prayerfully consider helping us. Because we will have our baby and because this orphanage is outside of a very small town on the side of a mountain we have realized that we will be in need of a car. And we are hoping to start raising special funds to purchase this car. The good news is that our sending agency, SAMS, has agreed to accept these donations for us and 100% of the donations will be used for our car fund. If God places it on your heart to support our car fund, all you have to do is mail a check payable to SAMS with “Curt & Paola Little – CAR FUND” in the memo line to SAMS, P.O. Box 399, Ambridge, PA 15003, Attn: Denise Cox. We thank God every day for your prayers and support.

See you in three weeks,
Curt and Paola

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Mission Trip

This past weekend Paola and I took about 10 youth on a mission trip to Caranavi. Caranavi is six hours outside of La Paz in one of the jungle areas of Bolivia. The orphanage that we took the youth to is called “House of Hope.” Home to about 60 kids and counting.

It is a place that is near and dear to our hearts and we are building a very strong connection with this ministry. We have taken the youth from the church there on mission trips twice. Paola lived and worked there for a year in 2006. And I have visited with her about four times now.

This past weekend was the anniversary of the orphanage as well. For 17 years God has been working through them to provide love, shelter, protection and spiritual growth for orphaned and abandoned children. The youth prepared a special program for the kids with games, dramas and even a puppet show and we gave each child a basket with candy and gifts inside.

Also, through a generous donation from the mens’ group of our church back home, Holy Cross, we were able to purchase gifts for the kids, a huge amount of food for the orphanage and two large rolls of material that they can use to make new bed sheets for the kids.

Several new youth made the trip and we are excited that they had the chance to experience this service opportunity and experience the love of God in a new and different way. Paola and I continue to thank God everyday that He keeps using us in the lives of the youth at the church.

Although we see a new calling for us on the horizon (more on that in a few days) we are taking advantage of the time that God is giving us with the youth right now. Sometimes you and I might see a different ministry calling in the future but we have to remember that there is still ministry happening right in front of all of us all the time.

Here is a shot of all the food and supplies that we bought with the donation...

Here we are with some of the kids...


Some of the youth and kids after our "Body of Christ" skit. I am the nose on the far right...

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Heartbeat

Ok. So I need to update you on the mission trip that we had with the youth this past weekend. I am working on that.

But first I had to let you hear our baby's heartbeat. This past Monday we heard the heartbeat for the very first time. At 13 weeks.