Carolyn Price – Jun 16, 2012
It has been a whirl of activity the past few weeks. I was able to finish up the second half of the Ministry to Children classes in Vallegrande and enjoyed my time with the young people there. Towards the end, I started having back pains, but with aspirin, I was able to carry on…though I did walk a little funny at times. During the trip back to Santa Cruz, I experienced more discomfort, but again, with aspirin, I thought I was doing all right. On Wednesday this past week, however, I woke up with pain, more in my hip than in my back. I took some medicine and later in the day laid down for a nap. I had a surprise waiting for me when I woke up. I could not sit up without help and even the slightest movements caused great pain. I struggled my way to the bathroom, but had to call for my daughter to help me to get back to my room. My son-in-law took me to the doctor (a family doctor that they use) who actually came out to the car to see me instead of making me struggle my way to his office. He asked me several questions and then sent me to the pharmacy to get a shot and some other medicine that was supposed to help with the pain. The pharmacist is a friend of Rafahel and he, too, offered to come out to the car to give me the shot. I kindly declined, though, as there were a ton of people passing by and I would have been embarrassed to get a shot that way…so with the strong arm of my son-in-law to help me, I made my way to the back office of the pharmacist who then proceeded to give me a shot that hurt like the dickens. I have had problems with my back before, but nothing like this. Anyway, I am doing much better, though still am experiencing discomfort in my hip. I will be seeing a chiropractor today and may see a physical therapist next week if the chiropractor isn’t able to help. My family has been great, and Abigail has been such a blessing. She has been very loving through all of this and I have enjoyed the extra hugs and kisses.
The classes at the local Bible College are going well. The women (in the Ministry to Women’s Class) are responding well. A few of the women are not college students, but ladies who desire to be a blessing to the women in their respective churches and I am enjoying getting to know them. It’s quite a bit of work, but classes will end on the 23rd of July and hopefully by then, they will have many new tools to help and encourage them.
People are hearing about the lessons that we are creating and I have had several calls from people asking for a specific lesson or if I have lessons about a certain theme. Because of this, I am looking into either purchasing or renting a photocopier. The last time I made copies (for the class in Vallegrande), I was very frustrated as some of the materials were not photocopied correctly or pages were missing. I actually had to send one set of materials back 3 times to be corrected. One young woman, Soledad, wants to learn how to prepare her own lessons. Another woman has volunteered to correct the mistakes found in Spanish (I have two young women who are helping with this, but sometimes even they make mistakes.) God continues to grow our “team!” And best of all, God is using the lessons!
We have a new member in our Sunday school class. Please pray for Grisel. Next week, we will be having evangelistic meetings at church. Please pray for many visitors and for believers to be challenged to witness more for Christ.
Have a great week! Your sister in Christ in Bolivia, Carolyn