Making Plans

I’m a planner. I plan my meals, I plan the clothes I’ll wear, and, most of all, I plan my life.

The first two of those things generally turn out the way I plan.

One thing that I didn’t plan was moving back to Bolivia.

Last fall, I spent three months in Bolivia as the interim volunteer coordinator. It was heartbreaking to leave in November, knowing that I might never return. I said my goodbyes, packed my bags, and stocked up on Alpaca products.

A little over a week ago, I was asked to return, for longer this time. After taking some time to think, pray, and seek advice, I said yes.

The great thing, for me, about this job is that it lets me do a lot of what I do best – plan. I get to plan volunteer activities at the hospital, plan outreaches into the community, and plan just about every other aspect of every activity that the volunteers and I will be doing. I’ve already started to plan activities for when I arrive next month. I’m hoping we can do an English camp at a home for abused girls, invite the neighborhood kids to the hospital for a week of VBS, and help out at an orphanage for kids with HIV.

The not-so-great thing about this job is that, especially in Bolivia, things never turn out according to plan. The power goes out, the bus drivers go on strike, and the grocery store randomly runs out of things. (How am I supposed to make my carefully-planned Italian meal when the grocery store has no basil for a month?!?)

So I will also plan on some things that aren’t as subject to the whims of the power company, the labor unions, and whatever supply chain governs who gets basil and who doesn’t. I will plan to buy fresh pineapple off the street corner and joke with the street vendors. I will plan to pray with the volunteers and get to know their stories. I will plan to do all I can to let those around me know about the incredible love – and plans – that God has for us.

A lot of my plans probably won’t work. But His will. And they’re better than mine, anyway.