Life before COVID-19

The second semester has been really eventful and exciting before being understandably shut down due to COVID-19. Like many other places, Bolivia has shut down all school attendance until April, which has moved everything school related online, something I have done before during the political protest season. As of today, the city is under a conditional quarantine and all citizens must be inside their homes from 3pm-8am or else there is a $150 fine. Many precautionary measures are being taken, and life has hit the pause button as we wait to see how this pandemic unfolds. This has provided me an opportunity to reflect on the semester, and share the many things that God has done so far in 2020.

Tomas & Danny, two senior boys, playing cards at our apartment.

One major thing that sticks out to me as I reflect on the second semester has been the growth of relationships with my students and the many opportunities to invest outside of school. We have had many school events and many opportunities to interact outside of class, and I can really feel the growth and improvement in my relationships with the students. The first opportunity was at the beginning of the year when I was approached to be a chaperone at the high school prom. I think the students were especially surprised, and impressed, when I busted out my Midwestern dance moves and taught them more than just history. Another cool opportunity was the week following the prom when we had spirit week, followed by an all day Team Color Day competition on Friday.

Prom Night

At Highlands we have this tradition where once you come into the school you are assigned one of four possible team colors. I am on Blue Team. You are on this team forever, and so many of the seniors that have been at the school since kindergarten have been a part of their team color for 12 years. It's a great way to build competition and community. Throughout the year we have had various team color days where you get points for dressing up in your team color, and twice a year we have a team color day competition, although last semesters was cancelled due to the political protests. This semester held even more weight as it was the only team day competition we were having, and the winning team goes down in Highlands history. Spirit week leading up to the competition had various opportunities to earn points for your team color by bringing in donations and dressing up in the days theme. You got double the points if you dressed up according to the days theme and also incorporated your team color. Some of the theme days included Peace day, Squad Day, Fruit Day, and Piece day, where you got to dress up as a piece of something.

Luciana, a senior, rocking the best Peace Day outfit.

Many of these days were chosen to go along with the fruit of the Spirit, and teams received points for verse memorization. the students and staff got really into it. By the time Friday rolled around the competition had heated up, and as a staff we had twelve different stations of games and competitions for our teams to compete in. My roommate Mark and I were in charge of your classic blindfolded dodgeball game. What I enjoyed the most about this day was not watching my students get pegged in the face while being blindfolded (see picture below) , but I enjoyed watching the interaction between the students. Seniors all the way down to first graders were on the same team and all competing together, and it was awesome to see many of the upperclassmen take care of and encourage the younger students. Many of the seniors gave speeches to rally their teams at the opening ceremonies before the games started, and many were able to strike at the heart of competition by emphasizing winning, but also sportsmanship. Part of the team day scoring incorporated sportsmanship, and so the day went really well and many did their best to teach and model good sportsmanship for the younger kids. In the end the Red team won in an extremely close race. Before that was announced though each class brought in a special cake and got to relax and enjoy good food, good competition, and just an overall sense of community with their classmates. I really enjoyed this part with my seniors and the community was even better than the giant tiered cake that we had too much of.

The following week is when my roommates and I went to the salt flats, but upon our return we held a community service day and went up to help a church with some construction projects, as well as some English lessons for the local community of kids. We also donated many of the supplies we had collected during Spirit week to the church. This was another great opportunity to spend time serving alongside my students, and I was really encouraged to see them work hard to serve this less fortunate community up in the Altiplano.

Pastor Raul was very thankful for our time there, but I feel like I was more thankful to be able to help and serve alongside my students. It was a great opportunity to invest in them and a different setting outside the classroom to get to know them, and vice versa. Before moving to online classes, the past week was spiritual emphasis week, and this created many opportunities to discuss each days chapel message with my discipleship group, the junior boys, and discuss the differences between biblical wisdom and folly. One thing that I don't have pictures of is our Highlands basketball team that has been practicing twice a week and sometimes on Saturday mornings at a local park. I have always loved coaching and using sports to connect with my students and this has been another great outlet for that.

Pastor Raul and some of my fellow teachers.

Yesterday we played and even had a small crowd gather around the outside of the fence to watch us as we played some pickup ball and even threw the football around. It felt good to be hanging out and enjoying my Saturday with the students like everything was normal. I hope somehow this can still happen despite the circumstances and conditional quarantine.

The days leading up to this pandemic have been full of many great things, and it's sad to see them get put on hold for the time being. I am so thankful for what God is doing here and how He has chosen to use me. Please keep in prayer for continued opportunities, and continued safety as we all navigate this unique time. God Bless.