Bolivia & Beyond

Hello, friends! I am a twentysomething woman with a love for stories and adventure in my veins interning with Word Made Flesh Bolivia. This imagery, videography, and design internship intersects some of my greatest passions: stories & storytelling, social justice, and cross-cultural friendships. I will shoot photos and video of their community life for projects (an annual report, blog posts, short videos, etc.) that I will continue working on after I return to the US. Consider partnering with me through prayer and financial support. Currently I still need to raise $600 to cover in-country expenses and an additional $3000 for the four months I will be working on projects for Word Made Flesh remotely from the US.

[jacindadventures]

I’ve Moved!

I’m vacating this space and blogging at my old stomping grounds, wildreverence.wordpress.com. Thanks for reading these things I write, friends! Be sure to click on the link to my blog and follow me by signing up via email or Wordpress to catch my new post tomorrow. :)

Much love,

Jacinda

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Airports, Ali, & Altitude: Jacinda in Bolivia, Part 1

I left for Bolivia on October 9 and returned to Oregon on Halloween. I’ve been home in Portland for three months now, quietly processing the experience as I continue building a life here in a new city. The holidays presented a fresh crop of opportunities to bring people into my experience in Bolivia - it reminded me that I do not have the pleasure of getting to do that with all of you. Let me do this now. Forgive me, friends, for taking so long.

I write to you on a pale “the sun forgot how to act sun-like” kind of day. I can hear my roommate’s dog snoring on the couch and the faint thrum of percussion from my neighbor’s speakers. I’m glancing every now and again at a notebook containing papers I collected over three weeks in Bolivia: slips of traveler medication instructions, a Word Made Flesh Bolivia orientation manual, layout drafts of the annual report sketched in thin blue ink, and Spanish conjugation practice sheets. This notebook was originally an impulse buy right before I left the States - I intended to use it for my Spanish classes. Once I arrived in Bolivia, it became my journal as well when I realized I had forgotten my leather Etsy journal beside my bed in Oregon. For me, the prospect of no journal is like having my hands cut off. I need to write in order to process, to take notice, to remember. 

//

I remember there were many “firsts” about this trip. I experienced my first solo traveling trip abroad, living with my first ever host family, figuring out how to navigate public transportation in new cities, and my first pang of homesickness.

I nearly missed one of my connecting flights. The classic movie scene of running full-speed through the airport, carry-ons jostling against my body became a reality for me and five other unlucky travelers. As I ran after the person in front of me, silently cursing the airline for its long hallways and that my gate was at the farthest corner, I briefly entertained the thought of What Would Happen If I Missed My Flight. It was grim, but not without charms. Then I heard them announce final boarding for my flight. I shook my head and tried to pump my flight-leaden legs harder, spurred on by the approaching pants and footfalls of other desperate passengers. I made it to my flight and unceremoniously dumped my bags and body into my assigned seat. The Bolivian woman next to me was lovely and we chatted about Bolivia and her experiences in the States. She warned me not to go to El Alto because of the criminal activity there; I didn’t have the heart to tell her that that was exactly where I would be working. After a long flight, I arrived in Bolivia and was greeted by Ali Fraze, the Volunteer Coordinator for WMF Bolivia.

This is Ali, aka Mama Bear. In her first act of taking care of me, Ali introduced me to my host family, acted as a liaison as I communicated with my host mother, and firmly instructed me to hydrate and rest. Altitude sickness is a real concern - the cities I stayed in are at twice the elevation as Denver, Colorado. For the next two weeks, I would climb a set of stairs and have to rest as my head pounded and lungs heaved. This struck me as mildly hilarious considering I had recently completed a difficult half-marathon. Ah, fitness goals; you forsook me!

I settled into my bed, feeling my head pulsing, blithely acknowledging the two water bottles sitting on my bedside table at the ready. I nodded off to the sounds of Ali’s crackling laugh and Mama Elena’s murmurs in Spanish.

//

I’ll be writing more about this and other experiences at wildreverence.wordpress.com from here on out.

Thanks friends,

Jacinda

[jacindadventures]

Twin Rocks and George Fox taught me well: Costumes make everything better. Even goodbyes. Tune in for live stream Q & A Periscope event with @wordmadeflesh at 7pm PST. #jacindadventures #wordmadefleshbolivia #wordmadeflesh #trfcfamily #mygfufamily #wmfboliviafamily

[jacindadventures]

Prostitution & Presence on Periscope

This Thurs., October 29 at 7 pm PST, Word Made Flesh Bolivia will be live-streaming to chat about prostitution and sex trafficking, cross-cultural ministry, and poverty with

Word Made Flesh Bolivia

Come join the conversation through a live stream Q & A event via Periscope.

1. Download Periscope. 2. Search for Word Made Flesh. 3. Join us online Thursday at 7 pm PST.

[jacindadventures]

Alive & Well

Note: This post was originally set for last week. Apologies. :)

“I’ll be able to post regularly to Instagram, Facebook, my blog, and email with aplumb! I’ve Google’d it and all I need is a local SIM card!” – bright-eyed, naïve pre-Bolivia Jacinda

Heh. I laugh at myself. I laugh at my problematic non-mobile-data-enabled Smartphone with slightly bared teeth. I laugh at the irony that as the Communications Intern, I’m struggling to fulfill my goals of social media communication with you all.

Forgive me, friends.

Allow me to make amends by rendering a rough sketch of the Bolivia I’m getting to know and through accompanying photos of this beautiful place.

First of all, I’m living up high – way high. So high that for the first week (and really, still) I struggled to climb more than a few flights of stairs, pausing to let my heart slow down and my head stop pounding. It’s not that I’m a weakling (come on, y’all!); physically, people’s bodies at 13,000 feet undergo some serious stress. Despite my secret belief that I would be fine, I definitely succumbed to the normal altitude adjustments (rats!).

I am living in the city (no jungle in sight) with a warm, kind Bolivian family. Though my desire to communicate with them far outstrips my Spanish skills, we are able to know each other through the universal languages of play, charades, and laughter. They really deserve a whole post – and they’ll get one, God willing and the creek don’t rise.

Tea is a common practice here. The conversation flows among the chatter between spoons and cups. The table is a physically welcoming space, a space that promotes and embodies mutuality.

It’s warm/hot here during the day and cold at night. I sleep with four layers of blankets, wearing long pants, a hat, two sweaters, and wool socks – I actually feel a wee bit of pride that I am figuring out what I need for my body to feel comfortable here. My two pairs of jeans are my work mules. I dressed in a dri-fit shirt and pants my second day (my go-to in my previous travels to Swaziland and Peru), and someone remarked that it looked like I was going to work out. These days I’m looking less and less like a tourist, though I hardly blend in: people ask me if I’m Chinese on a regular basis.

As a directionally challenged gal, the prospect of navigating the transportation system in the two cities was intimidating to me. Ali Fraze, the Volunteer Coordinator at Word Made Flesh (above, posing with me), worked to set me up for success, letting me take it a toddling step at a time. I travel by micros (mini-buses) and trufis (taxis with a set route), and I actually really enjoy traveling this way.

My days are full. I go to the Casa de Esperanza (Word Made Flesh Bolivia’s headquarters/hive of activity) every day, sometimes after breakfast and sometimes after I meet with my Spanish professor and my small group in the South zone. I have been shooting photos of life, events, and staff at the Casa, and working on ideas for the annual report.

//

At times, I’m overwhelmed by all that I’m seeing, hearing, and holding. I cried twice yesterday (the subject of vocation is, apparently, a tender one for me – and the WMF Bolivia staff are perceptive and straight-shooting in a Jacinda-let’s-talk-about-that kind of way). Physically, I’m limited. After shooting pictures of the staff, I went home early today because I am sick (I practiced some self-care involving Inside Out and The Last Song, water, and chocolate).

There’s a lot about this experience that distresses my heart. I’m learning more about some really hard, heavy things related to prostitution in the world – stats, quotes, and research that really bruise. And lining this up with the stories and experiences of my new friends here who are taking steps away from prostituting stretches and devastates me.

And I am reminded that hope is hardly a fool’s choice -- no, I have in the past foolishly chosen jadedness, romanticism, and idealism, none of which are helpful.

Hope is a lit candle. Hope is trusting that God is invested, in control, and with me and with each one of these women. Hope is sharing tea and bread together (though the picture above is poor quality, it encapsulates a really beautiful moment of sharing life with a friend who came to us at the Casa that night, penniless and with no family, resolved to leave prostitution).

May the Spirit keep leading us back to this place of hoping with eyes and hearts wide open.

Till next time, friends.

Love,

Jacinda

[jacindadventures]

The ladies you [are] working with have been through so much, that knowing it, you wonder how it is that they keep on going. That’s when you realize that God has you and keeps you despite all the hurt.

Conversations with my sister

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2 Days ‘til Bolivia

How did we get here?

In less than 48 hours, I’m getting on a series of planes to land in Bolivia. And I’ll do it all again to return home on Halloween. What can I say—I love me some mini-chocolates (I’ll pass on the candy corn, thanks). smile emoticon Truth is, my plans for that day are this: going to brunch with my parents and then I’m likely going to block out the rest of my day for my big, comfy bed to rest.

But that’s the future; let’s talk about The Now and The Very Soon.

// Exciting news: I have all the support to cover my in-country expenses! Thank you for taking part in this way to send me out joyfully and with freedom to be present! It has done my heart such good to talk with friends and family about this next part of my life, and to know that I carry you all with me. Cheesy? Yeah. True? Absolutely. If you're thinking, "Jacinda, wait! I wanted to support you, but I totally spaced it--is it too late?", rest assured, friends and family: my support-raising needs will continue for the next four months I will be serving as an unpaid intern in Portland. If you feel led, please give toward helping me supplement my expenses while I work remotely for this ministry. //

I’m feeling gratitude, which is my steady place as anxiety, anticipation, and freakish calm clamber onto the trampoline of my internal processing to play “Crack the Egg.” I'm taking a little time here and there to share in the beginning of Portland's autumn, my favorite season. Hopefully, she'll still be here when I get back.

Thank you, friends, for wishing me well. Thank you for walking across sun-splashed bridges, phone calls stretching across many miles, dancing wildly to 80's music, lingering in conversation long after dinner is finished, and garage sale-ing with me. Thank you, too, for social media signs of solidarity--those "Likes" make me smile.

Love to you all.

[jacindadventures]

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE | Gaby & Virgil: Top 16 Perform + Elimination | FOX BROADCASTING

Gaby Diaz and Virgil Gadson perform a Broadway routine choreographed by Al Blackstone. Subscribe now for more So You Think You Can Dance clips: http://fox.tv...

You’ll thank me later.

[jacindadventures]

// On Bolivia & Roseburg

A few days ago I did what I like to call my “Packing Dress Rehearsal.” I threw a suitcase on my bed without much ceremony and began rummaging through my moving boxes for items like “long-sleeve layerable shirts,” “SPF chapstick," “fluffy green hat from Emma” and other articles I will need for the cold/hot flashes of Bolivia in October. Today I’m crossing items off my list. I’m pushing up my figurative sleeves and doing a crash-course study of video techniques. I’m waiting eagerly for some final packages. I’m writing checks to cover my October rent in Portland while I’m out of the country, and watching The West Wing and meeting with friends over bridges and meals and laughter.

And in the midst of my little world, I am holding Roseburg in the Light. I know that many of you are already doing the same, and it’s been simultaneously tearing and touching my heart to see so many posts on my feed about it. Thank you, friends.

I took this picture last week during Tillamook Outdoor School’s special candle ceremony. It is a beautiful ceremony that touches me every year. I watched 6th graders, counselors and staff light the candles in their cupcakes and sing together, eventually raising their candles up in solidarity, gently singing, “Love can build a bridge / Between your heart and mine / Love can build a bridge / Don’t you think it’s time? / Don’t you think it’s time?” With this recent tragedy, it is especially poignant and part of my prayers today.

[jacindadventures]

Let me know if you would like a paper copy of this by Fb messaging me your mailing address. I’ll also use it for sending out a picture in the near-ish future.

[jacindadventures]

But ultimately, God controls your call and your trip. And [God] has the power to work in the hearts of people through your story as you share it.

Kelli Hoecker, my dear friend