So I made it here to Okinawa, Bolivia!!. The travel day from Cochabamba to Okinawa went well the day after Easter. I finally made it to my mission site and it is pretty great here. On a map, Okinawa is labeled as a small rural town 2 hours outside the city of Santa Cruz. The town is named after Okinawa, Japan. The Japanese came to Bolivia after WWII, so the people here are of Japanese and Bolivian descent. There is only one paved road that runs through this town and the paved road ends about 300 yards from the entrance of the school that I teach. The town has one gas station, one Japanese hospital (conveniently located right next to the volunteer house), one church, two schools, and small little shops that line the paved main road. Its pretty noticeable that the Japanese are making out a little bit more better than the native Bolivians. Many of the shops or small businesses are owned by the Japanese. My house is actually owned by the Japanese. I would say that most Japanese live in the more comfortable brick and cement made houses while most Bolivians live in the homes put together by mud and sticks with tin roofs. This passed month I have been helping teach English at the Japanese school one day a week. I mostly teach English at the Bolivian school which is known as San Francisco Xavier school. Although the Japanese children at the Japanese school may be a little bit more educated than their Bolivian friends across the street at San Francisco Xavier school, no school is winning the race in my heart.
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| We have one paved road that runs through our town. The closest town is 45 minutes away by automobile. |
I absolutely love the kids and the adults I met here so far. They are the reason why I came down here. The community sees me as a Teacher so I'm called "Teacher" a lot. That is a common word in English that I hear from the students when I'm walking down the dirt roads. The adults too, who I don't teach, will also call me "Teacher." When the kids ask what my name is, I say to them "Adam" and when they say it back, it sounds like "Aaron" with an accent over the "o." Ha! I don't really mind the mispronunciation of my name since they are unknowingly reminding me of the name of my God son. Sometimes the kids forget my name and will call me "Teacher Marcos" who was a past volunteer here or they will call me "Teacher Manny" who is my current site partner.
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| Some of the students of San Francis Xavier School in Okinawa. |
I have 3 site partners who I volunteer with here. They are Stephanie, Julie, and Manny. We are all 24 years old with a common goal to bring Jesus Christ to the young and old. Together we teach English at both schools and we also teach catholic education to the children at San Francisco Xavier School. We also teach the kids about God at very small and poor communities outside of Okinawa. Three times a week we take the camp truck and drive to the small communities to teach the kids and to play with them. The roads are really muddy here when it rains and it is sometimes a challenge to get to the smaller communities. Some days we don't go to the communities if it rains the night before because it is possible for our 4 wheel drive truck to get stuck in the mud. The smaller communities outside of Okinawa sometimes only have 10 kids that go to school. So 4 volunteers to 10 children is no problem for us. However some communities we travel to have more children. Just the other day we went to a community that had over 100 children. Nothing is impossible for God and he can use his 4 meager instruments here to convey his message to as many souls as he wants!
At the end of the day my site partners and I pray together, no matter how late our day ends. We pray for about a half an hour or more. When I got here my site partners were praying the 12 year prayers of St. Bridget. One who prays the prayers everyday for 12 years will receive 5 super mind blowing graces at the end of 12 years that makes praying them worth it. If you are not familiar with the graces received at the end, I would look them up online. We pray the divine mercy chaplet a couple times a week. We also do a "Salesian Good night" every Sunday night which I will talk more about it in a later blog, you'll have to check back ;)... May was the Month of Mary so together we added another fruit to our prayer life. We had been doing a special devotion to Mary. I brought copies of the book called "33 days to Morning Glory" that we were reading together during prayer which acts as type of retreat. The retreat leads up to a consecration to Jesus through Mary after the 33rd day, called the Glorious New Morning. Today is the Glorious New Morning which happens to fall on the Feast Day of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Why were doing this Marian Consecration? Well because we want to become closer to Jesus and what better Saint who followed God's will perfectly is there to bring us closer to Jesus Crucified than Mary!?! Her Immaculate Heart had such great Love for Jesus and as our personal heavenly Mother, she always wants to direct us to her Son. She was at the cross, She knows how real , how deep is His longing for you and the poor. Do we know? Do we feel as she? Her role is to bring us face to face with Jesus as John and Magdalen.(Day 16 excerpt) She became our spiritual Mother at the foot of the cross. She was there for her Son at the cross and she will be there when we have our crosses to make them lighter and sweeter for us. She can make our path to Sanctity easier. St. John Bosco said, "Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, my sons and daughters, will be your safeguard. If you are devoted to Her, She will not only shower you with blessings on earth, but through Her intercession, She will also secure Heaven for you." I look forward to the graces that will come under her guidance as I continue my mission here in Okinawa. Mary, as we enter into June, lead us to our Lord's most Sacred Heart so that we can generously Love like your Son.
St. John Bosco: "The fullness of love in all the mothers of this earth could never equal the love Mary has for each one of us."
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| Our Truck parked next to the Sister's house. we take it out to go to the communities when the roads are not flooded. |
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| The day after the Feast day of Mary Help of Christians~May 24th, We SLM's celebrated our 24th birthdays. |
