Fingerprints on Wedding Preparations

It's nearly the end of November! Where did the year go? My final days as a single woman are flying by.

At the beginning of this month, immediately following the young women's retreat, Adolfo and I spent a couple of days in my hometown of Potosí, and I had the pleasure of showing him the houses I grew up in and the town so close to my heart!

Adolfo returned with me to La Paz where we were able to take care of several things for the wedding. We also got our engagement pictures taken by my sister (observe a couple of samples displayed above).

Last week my parents and brother Caleb arrived from Canada. With their arrival, wedding preparations went into full swing.

It's been exciting to see God's hand throughout this time. I want to praise Him for the things that have been falling into place:

• We have set things up with a public notary for the legal ceremony (in Bolivia there are two separate ceremonies: legal and religious)
• The Vargas family have agreed for the wedding to be held in the beautiful gardens of their retreat center in Valencia.
• We have signed a contract with a catering company who will take care of tents, tables, chairs, and the food!
• I will be using my mom's dress (a dream come true and a big savings!), which is currently having some alterations done to it.
• My wonderful dad helped me print out some lovely invitations!
• My mom found a beautiful dress that fits her and was less expensive than many of the dresses we saw (I was worried we would have difficulty finding a dress she liked, that fit, and that wasn't too expensive, so we prayed before we went out, and God led us to the dress!)

If any of you think of me and would like to join me in prayer for the wedding day, here are some specific prayer requests that I look forward to seeing God answer!

• That it would not rain for the wedding day.
• That the people who are meant to be at the wedding would be there (the optimal number of guests is 60, but there are more than 60 people on our wedding guest list, so I am trusting that God could make it so only 60 people would be able to come)
• That everyone would feel beautiful and relaxed and enjoy themselves!
• That everyone would be punctual (hair dresser, cosmetologist, public notary, guests, etc.)
• That everything would fall into place and that the program would run smoothly.
• MOST IMPORTANTLY: that God would be glorified throughout the day!!!

Young Women's Retreat

A week and a half has gone by, and I am finally sitting down to write about the young women's retreat in Potosi. Back in March, I was invited to share at a young women's retreat in the city of Potosí (where I grew up). It was originally going to be in late June but ended up being postponed to the end of October. I felt very honored by the invitation and at the same time inadequate as I lacked experience in public speaking. I felt especially intimidated when I discovered that Auntie Lori (a dear American missionary who I've known since I was little and who has always been like an aunt to me and my siblings) was going to be the other speaker. As always, I had nothing to worry about! God helped me through the sessions, and Auntie Lori's presence ended up being a great blessing!

The topic was "Relationship with God." I was excited about the subject and didn't have too much trouble coming up with material to speak on. I was in charge of three sessions. Each session I shared on a different key ingredient for a good relationship with God: Confidence/Trust, Communication, and Consecration (in which I talked about lives characterized by obedience and love). It was exciting to see how a lot of what Auntie Lori shared in her sessions tied in with and complimented what I was sharing. We didn't really coordinate, so it only could have been God!

In one of the sessions.

There was a group of just over 20 of us. The winning team of the retreat!

Auntie Lori and I with the four lovely ladies who organized the retreat!

One of the things I shared on was trust. Trust is key in any relationship. In order to trust someone it is necessary to know the person. It's the same with God. We can't trust Him if we don't really know Him! How do we get to know God? I encouraged the girls to keep their eyes open to see God revealing Himself through the Bible and through daily life experiences. I shared some of the experiences in my own life through which I got to know God better. It seems like God especially reveals Himself in the hard times. I spoke about my difficult experiences working at the deaf school last year and the more recent experience of losing my brother. I only have 26 years of life, but I am amazed at the life lessons God has already given me. May we all open our eyes to see God in our lives and then share Him with others!

Love Story/Engagement Story

Elisa and I traveled ahead of our parents and arrived in Santa Cruz de la Sierra on September 16th. Adolfo and Ruth were waiting at the airport to pick us up. We spent two days with them before heading home to La Paz.

On our second day, Adolfo drove me out to the town of El Torno (about an hour away from Santa Cruz), and we made our way to a beautiful restaurant called “Tapekua” located up on a hill on the outskirts of the town. We sat out on the veranda, which had a lovely view of the surrounding trees and countryside. We had the whole place to ourselves and there was beautiful classical music playing in the background setting the stage for a romantic moment.

Adolfo brought out a beautiful ring--a ruby set in white gold and surrounded by 12 small diamonds. He told me he wanted to formalize our relationship. I took a step of faith and gave him a “yes.” I also told him he needed to talk to my dad before I would wear the ring and we could consider ourselves officially engaged.

It wasn’t till several days later, on the 21st of September, the first day of spring and the Bolivian day for “love,” that Adolfo got the chance to talk to my dad via skype. My dad gave his blessing, and we were officially engaged! From that day forward I started feeling a lot more peace and a lot more excitement!!! I feel God answered my prayer and gave me the peace I asked Him for!

A month has gone by, and the wedding has been set for January 1, 2011. I liked the date: 1-1-11 (all ones!), and getting married seems like a special way to start a year :-).

I see God’s fingerprints as I look back over Adolfo’s and my story. I think it’s special the way neither of us had ever been in a romantic relationship with anyone else and the way Ruth was praying for over five years that I would marry her son. God’s timing was perfect. I was finished with my studies. I had spent a year in Canada with my relatives and another year with my family in Bolivia. These last couple of years I have sensed that God has been preparing me for marriage. My job in Canada, my time volunteering at the deaf center, and my time at home have given me lessons that will be invaluable in my roles as a wife, mother, and homemaker.

I have never been one to regularly pray for a husband. About a year ago, I felt God prompted me to ask Him for a husband. I followed His prompting never dreaming that I would be getting to know my future husband within a matter of months. I also never imagined in how many ways Adolfo would be the man of my dreams. I had always wanted to marry a Bolivian. He’s the perfect Bolivian--he’s tall, he speaks English fluently and is familiar with the North American culture (having lived in California for a few years). He has a personality that compliments mine in so many ways, and, most importantly, he’s a man who fears and loves God.

I always enjoyed hearing or reading real life love stories of how God brought couples together. It’s exciting to look back and see God writing my own. I couldn’t ask for a better author!!!

I realize that everything is not going to be rose-colored. I am very conscious of that fact that both Adolfo and I are very imperfect and that there are going to be many rough patches on the road ahead of us, but I trust that as God has brought us together, with His help we will be able to stay together and have a relationship that brings Him glory! That is my hearts desire.

Love Story: Part Three

Dreams come true. At the end of July of 2009, after four years of living in North America, I moved back to Bolivia. For the first several months, I was volunteering as a dorm mom at a deaf center. It was a very challenging time. I felt very isolated, and I greatly appreciated Ruth’s phone calls to see how I was doing.

In November I moved to La Paz to be with my parents and sister, Elisa. It was special to spend some time with my family, and we planned a family vacation for early January in Santa Cruz. When our vacation was over, I stayed on for a couple of weeks to visit different friends. I ended up spending over a week with Ruth and her family. During that time I had quite a few opportunities to converse with Adolfo. The more I got to know him, the more qualities I discovered that I respected and admired.

When I returned to La Paz, I was interested in something happening with Adolfo, but I thought it difficult because of the distance between us (16 hour bus drive). I prepared myself for my parents to discourage me in my interest. To my surprise, my mom encouraged me to get to know Adolfo more and to pray about it. Adolfo began to call me occasionally, and we would often chat online. My interest continued to increase, but I struggled with not knowing how he saw me.

At the end of March, Adolfo came to La Paz for a small vacation. We got to spend two whole weeks throughout which we hung out every day. We had very deep conversations on varied subjects. It wasn’t till the last day that Adolfo said something. We had twenty minutes before he had to go through security at the airport. He told me of his interest in me and that he didn’t want to play around--he wanted something serious. I told him he would have to talk to my dad.

In May Adolfo made another trip out to La Paz where he spent several hours talking to my dad. With my dad’s blessing we were able to officially enter into a relationship.

In June we saw each other at a course on Radical Discipleship in Cochabamba. It was our first time together as a couple, but we didn’t have too much time to spend together. During that week I struggled with a lot of fear over our relationship. I ended up asking Adolfo if we could please slow things down so I could figure things out.

It wasn’t much later that my family and I received the news of my brother Steven’s death. The news was followed by an emergency trip to Canada. I stayed in North America for three months, taking advantage of visiting friends and family and being at my brother Jonathan’s wedding. It was also a time for me to evaluate where I wanted my relationship with Adolfo to go and to seek God. As I sought God, everything seemed to point me forwards in the relationship. I was still struggling with fear, and I finally started to pray that God would either close the door or give me peace.

Love Story: Part Two

People come in and out of our life, and we are quite unconscious of the roles a new acquaintance may play in our lives down the road. An example of a person randomly crossing my path to later play a big role in my life is the story of how I met my friend Janelle. We met on an American Airlines flight from Bolivia to Miami. It turned out she was a Christian and was from Alberta, Canada. We exchanged contact information, and little did I realize that down the road we would both move down to Bolivia and both end up living in the same city and even in the same house! Our story has God’s fingerprints all over it!

As individuals with an inbuilt desire to find someone to share our lives with, the propensity is to be on the look out for Mr. or Mrs. Right. On meeting someone new of the male variety, my tendency was to wonder whether he might be “The One.” It’s interesting to see how seldom “Mr. Right” enters the scene with a big bang or ceremony. God seems to often sneak him in when we’re most oblivious. At least, that’s the way it was for me...

It was the first days of July. The year was 2004. My family had just made the long and gruelling two-day trip down from the Andean mountain city of Potosi, which was my home, to the hot and tropical lowland city of Santa Cruz. My brother Jonathan and I were on our way to the States for three months of conferences and courses with a team of international students.

In Santa Cruz we arrived at Hotel California where we met and were warmly welcomed by Ruth, the beautiful Christian woman who owned the hotel. We also met her son, Junior (Adolfo), who had studied business administration in California and who now helped administrate the hotel. That stay marked the beginning of many visits to Hotel California on our way through Santa Cruz. It also marked the beginning of a friendship with Ruth. We both shared a love of hospitality and would often dream of one day working together.

It has often been noted that first impressions miss the mark. I first perceived Adolfo to be much older and very serious. The first time I had a glimpse to the contrary was in January of 2007. My brother Jonathan and I were returning to our Bible College in the States after spending our Christmas break with our family in Bolivia. We, along with my good friend Joy who also grew up in Bolivia and was a student at the same college, spent one night at Hotel California, and the following morning Adolfo drove us out to the airport and waited with us as we checked in. We had our first real conversation. I remember him talking about wanting buy a cattle ranch, and I remember him teasing me for being Canadian. It was there I discovered he liked to tease and banter. That day at the Viru Viru International Airport, I little imagined I was speaking to my future boyfriend, fiancee, and even husband!

Love Story: Part One

Every girl dreams of finding her own prince charming, receiving a beautiful diamond ring (with the exception of my dear friend Rachael who has a case against diamonds), having a wedding fit for a princess, and living a happily ever after. We are hopeless romantics, and our fascination with romance seems to be built into our very genes. As soon as we hit adolescence (sometimes even sooner), we start checking out the boys we meet. We go from crush to crush, every time feeling sure we have found our prince, only to discover we were mistaken and to have our hearts broken once again.

I was no exception to the rule. I may be the daughter of a missionary. People may put a halo over my head and believe me a saint, but I am no different than the next girl. I have always had the same longings and desires to find the perfect man who would pursue me, fight for me, protect me, and love me exclusively and unconditionally.

I grew up in a conservative home with my mother’s example set before me to follow. When Wendy (my mom) was twelve years old, she heard a talk about not entering the dating game but waiting for the person God had prepared for you. She purposed to wait for the man God had in store for her despite the ridicule of her friends. When she was 23 years old, God brought along the dashing missionary, Jurgen Schulz. Within months they were engaged, married and leaving for the mission field (Bolivia).

I personally decided I wanted to follow in my mother’s footsteps. I made my way through my teens without a single boyfriend (although plenty of crushes!) I didn’t head off to Bible college till I was twenty-one. Inwardly I resolved I did not want to meet anyone at “Bridal College,” as Bible Colleges are often jokingly referred to, for the silly reason that it didn’t make for an interesting story. Sure enough, I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Biblical Exposition and Theology without a ring on my finger.

When we are young, we tend to be full of dreams, illusions and optimism. As the years pass, and we become more familiar with the “real world” and the realities of life, we tend to lose our dreams, our illusions, and our optimism. It’s easy to become cynical. As I saw all the broken marriages that surrounded me, I began to doubt whether I really wanted to marry. I was afraid. I was also afraid of setting all my hopes on getting married and being disappointed, so I decided to plan my life as if I was going to remain single.

I also came to realize that women tend to look to marriage to fill their need for love and purpose--a need that only God can fill. Hollywood and romance novels fill our heads with unrealistic expectations, and I sometimes wonder if a reason so many marriages fail is that women become disillusioned when they discover men are incapable of meeting all those needs and expectations. Whether I stayed single or not, I decided I wanted to go to God to fill my needs, and I wanted to become satisfied with only Him!

I began to seek my contentment in God and to create other dreams for my life. I was born with some hearing loss, and God used that among other things to put a burden on my heart for those who could not hear at all. I began to dream of returning to Bolivia and finding ways to generate employment for deaf individuals in a country where little is done to help those with disabilities. I was content and happy with my dreams, yet if I had looked deep down into the inner yearnings of my heart, I would have found my stuffed away dreams for marriage were still lurking in the recesses of my heart...