Safe and sound at the school

We finished our paperwork on Monday and were headed to Guayara on Tuesday. Monday the south winds came in bringing cold weather! I, Carrie, was wearing long johns, 5 shirts and wrapped in a blanket. It was really windy. Tuesday we flew with Steve Wilson to Riberalta. He did a great job flying...unfortunately I did not do a great job riding. On the way down I threw up in my shirt. But we made it safely and were taken by motorcycle taxis to the bus station. Mind you we had lots of luggage and it was all taken on the moto taxi. One bag in front on the handle bars another between us and the driver and then one on our back. No helmets, dirt roads, squeezing past cars...quite an experience. We then took a normal taxi an hour up the dirt road to the school. We are literally in the middle of the jungle! The mile walk or ride if you are lucky into the school off the main road is surrounded by pure, thick jungle. Wednesday we got our house or more like room set up. Jason made some shelves and we put up our mosquito net which fit perfectly over our bed...thanks Ronda. The food was rice and potatoes for breakfast, rice, cole slaw, oatmeal patty and potatoes for lunch, and biscuits and gravy for dinner with a potato. But don´t get excited about biscuits and gravy...the gravy is flour, water, oil, and onions...and cold. Our stomachs are still trying to adjust. It is vacation time at the school so probably half of the students have gone home, the other half have stayed at the school to work. We came to town today to buy some necessities. Kayla and Lylie are showing us around.
Last night at worship, one of the students told her story and I want to share it with you all. A year and a half ago, Daniella heard about the school from her sister and wanted to come. She was afraid to ask her dad though. There were many problems in her house. She asked her mom and her mom asked her dad. Her mom took her to the school and she filled out the paperwork and had her interview and was accepted into the school. She was very excited. Her dad even took her the day she started which was the first time he had ever been on a christian campus. Later I found out that he often is drunk and beats her mom and her and her siblings. One time she was taken to child protective services because her back was beaten so bad. She is not for sure if that is even her dad, there are two possible men who could be her dad. She wanted to come to the school to get away from her family. She was nervous the first couple of days because they were talking about chapters and verses in the Bible and she did not know what a verse was. Since being at the school she has learned that she has a God that loves her and has a plan for her even amidst her troubles at home. She went home over break after her first year at the school and she had become accustomed to praying before each meal but she was afraid to do this in front of her father. So she prayed in her head with her eyes open. Her father realized what she was doing and laughed at her. When she came back this school year she decided to be baptized and start keeping the sabbath. She is very worried about the salvation of her family. She says her mom has been baptized but only because everyone was doing it, not because she had a relationship with God. Today on the bus she was headed home for a week. She was very worried about telling her family she has been baptized and that she is now keeping the sabbath. She does not know how she will do it, but she knows that God will sustain her. I prayed with her on the bus and she left to enter a world most of us have never and will never know. When I think about my problems they suddenly do not seem so bad. We have been blessed so much and yet we take so much of it for granted. Daniella wants to be a missionary when she finishes school. Please pray for Daniella and all the students who have gone home for the next couple of weeks to be missionaries in their own homes.
We hope you all are doing well and love getting emails from you...so please do email. When the school year starts Monday will be our day off. For now we do not really know a schedule, we just hope to stay busy. God bless!