Disowned

Therefore, so far from causing grief, persecution should bring joy to the disciples of Christ, for it is an evidence that they are following in the steps of their Master. - Thought from the Mount of Blessing, pg. 30
My heart fairly broke when I heard the story. Juan Carlos and Ximena, two teens at our school in Bolivia, were notified by their parents to return home, or be disowned.
Poor kids! I had heard of this type of thing before, but now it was happening to some of my kids! I could only imagine what a very hard struggle it would be for them.
Does God want me to stay at this school? Is He telling me to leave? Does He have other plans for me? Is this just Satan working on me? Why does God allow this to happen? What is God like? Is He like my parents, so willing to disown me? These were the thoughts that must have raced through their young minds.
As soon as the morning jungle heat started to crowd in through the window every day, I would pray earnestly for these youth. Sometimes Ximena’s parents would come over and try to persuade her to come home. Ximena never gave in; she knew God wanted her at the school where she could learn more about Him.
1 Peter 2:21 says, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:” Juan Carlos quit school under his family’s pressure. I still pray for him quite often, that God will show him that He loves His son, and that he yearns to bring him joy through the pain. “The Lord is… not willing that any should perish.” (2 Peter 3:9 KJV) God is the ultimate Father and we can trust He will never disown His children.

Violin War and Pufferfish

We have no ambition to crowd and elbow ourselves into notice; but we feel that our highest place is at the feet of our Saviour. We look to Jesus, waiting for His hand to lead, listening for His voice to guide. – Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pg. 15
“Dominique, I’m so happy you’ll be playing your violin at Pedro Lorenzo today!” Pastor Marc remarked over Sabbath breakfast. I smiled. It was always a joy for me to be a blessing to the churches here in Bolivia.
“No, Dominique is playing at Hamacas church today, Marc!” Richard, our director at Red ADvenir (a Television station), protested.
Oh boy! Here they go…
They went at each other for a while, arguing about who’s church needed my playing most. It felt good to be wanted so badly in more than one place, and I prayed God would keep my pride from swelling up like a puffer fish.
“Where do you want to go, Dominique?” Marc probed. I expelled a sigh of relief and explained that I wanted to go to Pedro Lorenzo because it was a smaller congregation. Richard was a little upset, and he made me promise to play at Hamacas the following Sabbath. I smiled again and gave Richard my word.
Being a musician is a dangerous thing. It can make it very hard to keep my pride from becoming a puffer fish. Often it rears its ugly head, but by God’s grace, with constant prayer for Him to lead, He is slowly helping me to realize that my highest place is at His feet.

Nigua

In working for the victims of evil habits, instead of pointing them to the despair and ruin toward which they are hastening, turn their eyes away to Jesus. Fix them upon the glories of the heavenly. – The Ministry of Healing, pg. 62
He [Satan] casts a spell over his unsuspecting victims, charming them as the serpent charms the trembling bird. Soon they are completely in his power, and sin, disgrace, and ruin are the terrible sequel. – Christian Temperance, pg. 115
Nigua: a small, sand-dwelling insect that reproduces by injecting its egg sack into the foot of an unsuspecting human, which then grows and could eventually hatch and kill the human, if not removed.
“Dominique!” I heard my mom holler from under her mosquito net across the room. “Come here!” she called; the urgency in her voice forced my slumbering body to rise. As I stepped out from under my own mosquito net I looked at my watch, it was almost midnight.
I made my way through the dark room to the base of my mom’s bed and asked her what was wrong. “I have a Nigua in my foot, but I can’t get to it. Get a needle and pull the egg sack out” my mom commanded. I fumbled for a needle and a headlamp and was soon performing my first miniature surgery on my mom’s foot. I got the egg sack out, sterilized the needle and promptly fell asleep again on my hay mattress.
Satan takes every opportunity he can to pounce on and inject his lies into some unsuspecting victim. These lies will grow into sin if not removed, and can kill the host. But they cannot be removed by the victim; it takes the Master Physician with the needle of truth to pull out the eggs that Satan has implanted.

Bugs!

Trials patiently borne, blessings gratefully received, temptations manfully resisted, meekness, kindness, mercy, and love habitually revealed, are the lights that shine forth in the character in contrast with the darkness of the selfish heart, into which the light of life has never shone. - Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pg.44
“Ahhhhhhh!!!!” my mom screamed; I whizzed around just in time to see a green cockroach dart its way out of the pasta we were planning to have for lunch. We were new missionaries, and still weren’t quite used to finding arthropods everywhere—in everything.
“Should we still eat it?” mom asked, all googly-eyed. I tentatively nodded yes because we didn’t have the resources to just throw it away. We put the idea of ingesting the grimy trail of a slop covered cockroach out of our minds and ate the pasta anyway.
We couldn’t seem to escape these bugs. Weevils, flies, and other vile insects seemed to bombard much of the food we ate.
Before I was sent to another land, I never would have eaten the detestable things I ate in Bolivia. Seeing the extent of the poverty the Bolivian people endured taught me to be thankful for the food that was put in front of me—bugs and all. And through that experience, God enabled my selfish heart to change into a grateful heart.

Flying on Angel's Wings

"The Lord will work for all who put their trust in Him. Precious victories will be gained by the faithful. Precious lessons will be learned. Precious experiences will be realized." - Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pg. 11 I had never felt so green in all my life. My mom and I were flying in an eighteen passenger plane from Guayaramerin to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. At takeoff, the pilot had wobbled down the runway. Is he drunk? Maybe he's just avoiding potholes in the runway. We made it safely off the ground, but landing in Trinadad proved to be more of a challenge. The turbulence that day was so bad that the pilot couldn't get close enough to the runway without being blown off-course. My mom started praying and singing, which uplifted me and the other few people on the airplane, but I was too sick to join her. Are we going to die here and now? No, God wouldn't have brought me all this way to let me die in a plane crash, but what if--? Am I ready? Another jolt brought me and my stomach back to reality, and I had to focus on keeping my breakfast down and my mind clam, though some deep heart searching was going on too. Some people on the plane had started screaming, which didn't help my psyche at all. By the time we got over Santa Cruz, the turbulence had subsided a little, and we landed safely. I felt like lying on the ground and kissing it. I realized that, yes, God had sent me here; He had held me up on angel's wings, and He wanted me to trust Him.

Practicing for Teacher

Whatever may have been your past experience, however discouraging you present circumstances, if you will come to Jesus just as you are, weak, helpless, and despairing, our compassionate Saviour will meet you a great way off, and will throw about you His arms of love and His robe of righteousness. - Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pg. 8 Standing in front of my class of eleven student Violinists in Bolivia, I started another lesson. I had quite a diversity of students; some had never seen a Violin before, and others had been picking our notes for a while. Some of my students were sheer naturals in music, while others... found it much more challenging. But there was one girl in whom I saw potential, but she just wouldn't practice! I begged; I told her how much better she could get if she practices, and I finally put her on the schedule to do a special music. Her name was Shelly; her father had bought her a violin and told her to learn it. It was never her choice. One day, out on the soccer field, Shelly came running up to me all smiles calling: "Teacher! Teacher! I was just practicing! I love it!" Oh, the joy in that moment as I hugged Shelly tight and encouraged her to keep practicing. Shelly had finally gotten the experience; she had finally made that decision. When I decide to be a Christian, not because my parents are, but because of my own experience, then Christ sees me a great way off and throws His arms of love around me.

Impression of Bolivia

Does time fly or what? We have been in Santa Cruz, Bolivia for a month and a half now and it feels more like one week! The people here took us in like family and we feel right at home, although we are dearly missing our close friends and family at home! We are very much enjoying the new friends, food, places, insects, animals and way of life. (even though at times it can be gross) :P Several miracles have happened since we have been here and we praise God for them... My mom's wallet was (probably) stolen from her in the market this past Tuesday. She lost $60,(which is a LOT of money here and it was all she had at the time, but we are getting some soon) so please pray that everything will work out. "All things work together for good to those who believe."

Uncle David and Aunt Becky flew in on Tuesday, Sooooooo awesome to have them here! Looking forward to hopfully spending time in next week with them! :D

For those of you who know and keep up with Daniel Adams, (and wondering why no updates), his camera got stolen a while ago and the one he did 5 months ago was a borrowed camera. I have been trying to find time with him to make a video recording of him and his bike. So anyway the update is on its way. :D If you want to view the finished product it will be posted on his Youtube which is MissionLifeInBoliva, and I might post it on mine which is DSGMission.

I think thats all for now!
God bless!
Dominique

P.S. We are hoping to fly to Guayaramerin this upcoming Tuesday. So I will have VERY limited access to internet if any.
Also a BIG thankyou to those who have wrote sweet, encouraging emails or sent little thoughtful carepackages! We really appreciate them all!