Treintañera es la Nueva Quinceañera.

Well, if you have to turn 30, this is the way to do it! Move to a new place, find a friend with a birthday the same week as yours (my dear amiga Heather pictured below showing off some of our treats), invite everyone you know, and let them invite still more guests you've never met, bring in other friends from your last city, all to break in your new house, your new decade and try to break the piñata (we got a dud this time.)

I think I'm supposed to be upset about this milestone birthday but with all these festivities and the great cloud of witnesses surrounding me it's pretty much impossible to be anything but completely content.

The thing I've been abusing about 30 is that it sounds so old to those young 20-something whippersnappers I'm friends with. For instance, I was never interested in a lot of the normal things everybody else my age was even when I was 20, like dancing at clubs, listening to "The Thong Song" or "Who Let the Dogs Out", or watching The Real World. But now at 30 I have a legitimate believable defense for not knowing Miley Cyrus or Taylor Swift songs, not wanting to go see any of the Twilight series, and abstaining from such fun as foam parties, karaoke and ridiculous practical jokes. Thanks 30, I've been needing an excuse!

Even beyond the festivities, this week has been fruitful. Classes are going well, our Bible studies growing, and six students from our vet school Bible study and six people from our professional veterinarians group came to the birthday party. I'm really enjoying investing in these relationships! This weekend with four guests in town from Cochabamba we're running a little bed and breakfast and doing a little missionary care. Life is so good...

"Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry..." Luke 3:23

Felix Felicis

One of my Spanish professoras used to give me a hard time because I rarely agreed with her literary tastes, due to her affinity for tragedies. Is it really so bad to prefer happy endings? Growing up I watched The Walton's on TV because nothing ever really went wrong, and it always had a happy ending, "Night John Boy..." Probably because of the same fondness for smooth sailing, the chapter in Harry Potter about Felix Felicis Potion was one of my favorites in the series.

I, for one, am convinced that J.K. Rowling's writing was profoundly influenced by her Christianity. I find it hard to understand how anyone who has finished the seventh book could deny such an influence, with the Gospel so plainly allegorized. And I sometimes wonder if Rowling's meant Felix Felicis Potion to represent the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is definitely not luck and it does not guarantee smooth sailing by any means, but the Bible says it will give us power beyond ourselves, Acts 1:8.

More recently, I've been reading Forgotten God, by Francis Chan, where he asks, "When is the last time you experienced the Holy Spirit?"

All this to say, my English for Veterinarians classes have been going far better than is humanly possible. Since Monday I've had four classes, with the number of students in one class growing between the first and second days to nearly fifty. More remarkable than overcoming my fear/hatred for public speaking, than learning on the job how to teach, than working confidently with professors nearly twice my age, has been my ability to not only lecture in Spanish, but even harder to switch back and forth between Spanish and English rapidly and coherently. Outside of class sometimes I feel like my Spanish is so inadequate that I can barely convey simple thoughts in an understandable manner. This discrepancy leaves me with four options for how I can speak intelligibly in Spanish and English in class, either: 1) someone's sneaking me Felix Felicis Potion before class, 2) I'm really speaking terribly I just don't have anyone correcting me so I don't know it, 3) my adrenaline causes my subconscious to take over with its far superior linguistic skills, or the option I choose to believe, 4) the Holy Spirit is helping me. "...for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit." ~Luke 12:12

Thank you everyone for your prayers, they're nearly palpable!

What a Difference a Week Makes

Once the professors concluded their strike at the vet school we were able to set a date for our kick-off lunch/introduction to Vetred. With seven "Interminable" (translation - had to open two doors to get them into the room) pizzas in hand, we headed to the vet school last Wednesday afternoon. And, as is quickly found with interminables, they never really meet up to their name. But they gave a good enough effort to satisfy almost 100 students. Between their first and second slices David, my faithful co-worker with Vetred, and I presented our opportunities for them throughout the semester including our weekly Bible study, trips to the countryside to teach animal healthcare workshops to farmers, monthly spay and neuter clinics in poor areas of town, and bi-weekly English for Veterinarians classes.

This was the first time I'd ever spoken in front of a crowd in Spanish, and I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't hurl rotten tomatoes at me. Either I explained everything clearly enough that they were intrigued by the English course, or I accidentally offered them free pizza every week, because 75 of them signed up for my class! We begin class Monday the 15th, so you can start praying any time, I know I am.

On the same adrenaline soaked day, I also finalized my driver's license, picked up my new business cards, and found a car! Owned by a nun from Spain for the past thirteen years, my new-to-me Toyota Land Cruiser took a bit of getting used to at first. I can honestly say it is the most utilitarian thing I've ever owned, but we're warming up to each other. Over the past twenty-four hours the sterility of the cup-holder-less, radio-less, console-less interior has been overshadowed, not so much by her personality but by her functionality. With seats for ten passengers, a diesel engine and a roof rack, I've already toted a few people around town, and plan to make full use of her people-hauling capabilities tomorrow for our Christian Veterinarians retreat.

I want to say a huge thank you to each of you that support me regularly or irregularly. It has been amazing to be able to complete language school, set-up a house, buy a car, get new tires, etc. all through your generosity. If you've been thinking/praying about giving, I would encourage you that I could use some more regular donors, and some irregular donors to become more regular. But God has provided for me so graciously through so many of you. When I was taking questions after my talk on Wednesday, one of the students asked how much the English course will cost? As I answered that it is free, I smiled a little as I was immediately filled with gratitude for all your selflessness that allows me to be here, to volunteer my time, and to offer these people a gift that is undeserved and unpaid for, just like the grace of God that we have ultimately come to share.

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you." Philippians 1:3

Mi Casa es Su Casa

So much has happened in the past week. It's been a roller-coaster of emotion between decorating my new office, moving into the new house, trying to get a driver's license, trying to plan English classes while the professors are on strike, shopping for a car, acclimatizing to constantly sweating, and generally just settling in to Santa Cruz. I could share at length about any of these topics, but I decided to veer away from the more negative aspects of the week, except to note that most of them would have been almost identical in the States.

For instance, I've nearly pulled out all of my very thin hair, while attempting to acquire a driver's license as it has so far required five trips to two offices on opposite ends of town, and I am no closer than when I started. I was tempted to direct my frustrations at the Bolivian bureaucratic process, when I remembered crying in the parking lot during my last experience at the DMV in Maryland, and from then on continued to remind myself that every DMV experience in the history of mankind has probably been similarly root-canal-like.

But my house is great! The housing set-up allotment in my budget that all you supporters have been so gracious to fill, has allowed me to buy such wonderful luxuries as a bed, towels, garbage cans, dishes, pots, pans, and all those little essentials, you only think about when you move without any of your stuff. So now, it's feeling homey here;

with the thirty new plants I added to the garden today, a fairly stocked kitchen, first dinner guests coming on Monday, hammock hung and tested, and the guest room all prepared for your visit. You'll fit right in, I can even take you to the DMV for a little familiarity if you get homesick.

(Captions: Here's the new hammock on the mosquito-proof screened in porch and the beautiful view of my banana trees through the bedroom window)

Recalling this verse a lot recently:

"...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." - Phil 4:8