La Realidad

September 08, 2022

One of the ideas I try to remember in my life is that real is always better than fake. While it may look less appetizing, real food is more nourishing than the artificial stuff. Real connection with people is more worthwhile than something contrived. And in my first few weeks here in Bolivia as an SM, I would say that this has proven true. The reality of it all, though difficult and crazy, is so much more beautiful than any imaginings I held going in.

I thought as I stepped on the plane in Miami on August 17th, that I didn't have any expectations for this year. I was trying to keep an open mind and be ready for whatever adventures would come. So instead, I have been finding my preconceptions by running head-on into each one, finding them different than reality.

For instance, one preconception was that our travel to Familia Feliz would be a straightforward process. It is hilarious now to look back at a naïve Emilianne in Tennessee, carefully penning each of our travel plans into her daily planner. None of that was correct. Upon arrival at the airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, we were greeted immediately by foggy early morning air and several confusing, bureaucratical reasons why we couldn't enter the country. Between the early hour, the lack of sleep on the plane, the new language, and the legalese, I was thoroughly lost. And just as thoroughly outside of Bolivia.

Finally, after jumping through a myriad of hoops, we were allowed into Bolivia. And thus began another unfulfilled expectation. The allotted 2 days in my little planner came and went without our team getting any form of visa. Turns out, it's an amazingly long, confusing, paper-trail-filled, and often just silly process to get permission for 8 Americans to live in Bolivia for 9-months. Without the skilled help of our amazing lawyer, "La abogada", I'm certain we would have been sent back to Miami many times over.

While this whole process went on, we were blessed to be able to stay at an Adventist ministry serving Santa Cruz through their TV station and clinic. Dropped into this new environment with a new language, we had to figure out living arrangements, meals, transportation to the city, and our paperwork. So, with halting Spanish, and many apologies we attempted to find our way around.

This presented the next of my misconceptions: that I would be alone in this scary process of learning a new language and culture. Far from it. Firstly, during this time in Santa Cruz, I feel so lucky to have been able to get to know this little group of SMs from southern a lot better. There is always someone to laugh with about things like sitting in a visa office for 10 hours or to share hopes with about our work at Familia Feliz. Second, I found that the people here are so kind and willing to forgive my gringa mistakes. I've found that rather than mocking my lacking Spanish they join in with me, excited to help me learn about something they value. Nope, not alone at all.

Finally, after a week of waiting for visas, not to mention a 20-hour bus ride (sans AC, over dirt roads) we were able to make it to Familia Feliz. It was such a relief to arrive. To be able to hug the real-life kids that have been in my thoughts for so long. Starting my work as a 3rd and 4th-grade teacher, house assistant, professional piggybacker, chef, and make-shift medical scribe has been overwhelming, to say the least. Every day I get new pictures into the hearts of these kids and the path of life that has brought them here. And I'm going to be honest, sometimes I wish I could go back to the fake. Sometimes I long for the stories I had built up in my head-- all smiles and happy endings. But then I remember, real is always better.

When Jesus came to this earth, He came in the most real way possible. In the real dirt, the real sin, the real filth of humanity, He joined us unapologetically. When He met with the broken, (lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors) He didn't tell them to hide it away and pretend they were just fine. Unlike anyone else, He knelt in the dirt with them and really touched them. He acknowledged the real pain they were feeling and worked tirelessly to provide His real solutions. Here at Familia Feliz, I have met with the realities of abuse, neglect, deep heart hurts, and generational curses in these beautiful children just as surely as I have met with the bats in my house, frogs in my shower, and bugs in my pasta. And it's been hard. But real is better. While it may be more broken, it's also more beautiful because the real is where God works. He's here in the reality of it all, touching their wounds and speaking into their little hearts. And His love is as real as it gets.