Mixin’ it up

So with just about one week left before I board that plane heading back to Miami, it is starting to sink in that I will actually be leaving Bolivia behind for six weeks to come home.

I am feeling a real mix of emotions right now. On one hand I am so ready to come home. I have grown so much this year. I have experienced moments of success and true joy and moments of extreme failure and frustration.

And I just miss the predictability and comfort of home.

But on the other hand I am starting to really feel a weight of sadness in my heart. I am really going to miss La Paz. And it is not just because I will be separated from Paola for three weeks. It is for all the relationships and places that I will be leaving. The food that I have grown to love. The mountains and the clear blue skies. The fumes from the awful public transportation. The kids’ smiles. Savoring a Coke like never before in my life. Speaking Spanish all the time. Everything.

This country has really captured my heart. And although I know that I will only be away for six weeks it is still going to hurt. But I know that the sadness I am going to feel over the lack of La Paz in my heart will be cured by seeing you.

By seeing my family and my friends who I have not seen all this year. By seeing the Atlanta skyline. By eating at all my favorite restaurants. By driving. By speaking English. By sweet tea and southern BBQ. Everything.

There is so much to tell you in person.
No doubt I have changed and you have changed too.
Let’s hope it’s for the better.
I am skinnier that’s for sure.

I am so sappy right now (happy & sad). My days right not are pretty much consumed with preparations for my trip back home, telling people that I can’t help them until next year and planning for my wedding in January here in La Paz. I am almost at the point of opening the suitcases on the floor of my bedroom and starting.

But I just can’t quite do it yet.

EL DIA Recap

EL DIA was truly amazing this past weekend. Thanks for your prayers.
I had been looking forward to this event all year.
I lasted for 19 hours.
We started around 8 p.m. on Friday night and I made it to 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon before I crashed.
19 hours of non-stop praise and worship.

I really needed this opportunity to just stop and worship God. And although my goal was to just praise Him and not ask for anything, God still gave me some pretty strong encouraging words during the event.

One cool thing was that He used other people to speak to both Paola and I and confirm that He has great plans for us as a couple. It was yet another confirmation for both of us that it is God’s will for us to be married. And it is His will that we serve Him as missionaries. It was great for us to get similar words of encouragement separately from different people. That was big for us.

Also, God gave me a very strong encouraging word personally. I felt Him speaking to me early on during the event, like during the first three songs.

I was just praising Him when I felt Him speak to me and say “Thank you Curt for this year in Bolivia. I really appreciate what you did. You left your life behind to come here and serve me and I want you to know that what you did this year did not go unnoticed. I saw.”

He said He knows that I stumbled and fell many times this year, which is so true. I had some serious low points here in Bolivia this year. But He also told me that He knows that I got up each time.

The issue is not whether we fall but how often we get back up. True failure would be to fall and not pick myself up. It is was a great word of encouragement that I received from God. And I’ll admit I broke down a little because I know that I can always do more. I know that I can always work harder.

But I felt God telling me that He appreciated what I did this year.
And it is just like God to do that. To tell me “thank you” and make me just want to give Him everything I got. It makes me want to serve Him so much more.

This event was a great bookend to my first year in Bolivia. Now I am preparing to come home, share what I have seen and experienced this year and then head back to Bolivia in January for year two.

Thanks Father for telling me “thanks.” It makes me happy to know that you are happy. I should be the one telling YOU “thanks.” You should not be the one telling me.

But “thanks” for telling me “thanks.”

EL DIA

Today is the day.
Starting at 7 p.m. tonight.
24 hours of worship, prayer and fasting.
My plan is to not leave the event.
I want to praise God for 24 hours straight.
Not sure if I can make it...but He certainly deserves it.

I can't wait to see what God does.
I hope He rocks my world.
I could use a jolt or two.

Please pray for God to be glorified and for the body of Christ here in Bolivia to be transformed during this event. Pray for the walls of division between the churches here in Bolivia to be smashed in this 24 hour period.

I will give you a recap once it is all said and done.

Peace.

License to Wed

First came love...then came Reverend Ronald.

So Paola and I have officially begun pre-marital classes with the pastor who is going to marry us here in La Paz. Pastor Ronald Irene and his wife Nicky are meeting with us to go through some material and just talk. They have a cross-cultural relationship too (He is from Bolivia. She is from England) so that is an added bonus for us.

We already had one session talking about the purpose of marriage in God's plan. And we have about 7-8 more sessions to go. The purpose is not really to finish the material and say, "Yes, now we can get married." The purpose is time together so we can learn more about each, prepare for this next step, and learn from people who have alot more experience.

It should be very eye-opening. We will have a few more sessions before I head back home to the states and more sessions when Paola and I return to La Paz in January.

I already have one book on my reading list...

Men are like Waffles. Women are like Spaghetti.

Anyone read it?
I just started it but it talks about and celebrates some basic differences between men and women. How we both communicate, process emotions, make decisions and learn differently. I am in the early chapters where it is talking about communication. The basic premise is that men process life in boxes and try to solve one issue at a time. But for women, every thought and issue is connected to every other thought and issue in some way.

I just started so I have a ways to go. But it has already given Pao and I a chance to have some good conversations. The book is in English so I am reading it and then we are talking about it in Spanish. She is also reading a book that we are going to discuss as well.

As promised...

Here is a link to some photos of my new apartment in La Paz.
This is where I will be living for at least the next year.

Enjoy.

The date is set

So the wedding date is officially set everyone.

On Saturday, January 31st here in La Paz, Bolivia I will be marrying Paola Ruth Aramayo Montenegro. Just about 77 days from now. She will be visiting the states at the end of Dec/start of Jan so she will have a chance to meet my family and friends before the wedding.

I am busy trying to plan her visit. She arrives on Dec. 28 and we head back together to La Paz on Jan. 13. And the wedding planning is underway. We are not thinking about anything really huge but something nice here in one of the Anglican churches in La Paz.

She already has her dress. And we are hoping to work on some invitations these next few weeks before I head back home to Georgia. We will be delivering some printed invitations to our guests here in Bolivia and anybody from the states who wants to make the trip for the wedding is more than welcome to. It is a costly trip to make so we plan on having a reception in Georgia sometime in the future for all the folks who can't make it down here to Bolivia.

We are very excited to see where God takes us as a missionary couple. We appreciate your prayers. I will post more details as the date gets closer.

And I look forward to sharing the details with you in person when I get back to Atlanta in about 20 days. I arrive on Dec. 5.

I want you back

“Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart.”

“Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.”

Joel 2:12 – 13

Some days I just want to go back to the beginning.

I miss 2005…the first year I truly walked with Christ.
I was on fire. I couldn’t spend enough time with Him.

Every night I was listening to sermons and soaking up His word like nobody’s business.

I wonder if God misses 2005 sometimes too.

Sure I am serving Him as a missionary now in another culture and I am sure He smiles and claps. But I wonder if He secretly wants 2005 back. A year when I was completely on fire.

I have heard that we change and mature as Christians. But I do not believe that the fire we feel during our first year with Christ should die.

Why do I let it die?

I love 2008 but I miss 2005. I want that fire back.

Excuse me…but I have to go look for a match…