23 Crash!

We were up in the Andes Mountains driving from the beautiful city of La Paz, Bolivia.

Yimmy (or Jimmy) was driving. He got his license about 17 months ago. He's living at Ken's house as an ex-street kid, gaining an education.

Though we got our breaks fixed 2 days prior, they gave out as we were going down-hill. There was a semi in front of us going really slow, so Yimmy tried to pass it because with the momentum we gained going down-hill, it would have been really bad to crash into that semi even though it was going in the same direction as us.

"Ken!"

He pumped the breaks.

So he went into the other lane and we hit the corner of our truck with the car coming towards us. Then we flew off a cliff.

This was my thought pattern:

"Why isn't he slowing down?"

"Why is Yimmy trying to pass when- uh oh..."

"Oh, I guess we're going down."

"Wow. Airborn. Bumpiest. Road. Ever."

"Ah! I dropped my souvenir!"

"Alright, I got it."

"God, please help."

"I'm going to be dea-"

"We're all going to be fine!"

"Oh, we're on our side."

"I'm ok."

"Wow, that's a big boulder that just fell right next to us."

"Where are my glasses?"

So we totally destroyed Ken's truck. It's weird to talk about it because it's still hard to believe it happened, especially since we're all ok and there's nothing to show for it... minus the truck 100m down a cliff.

If it happened 1 second earlier, we would have hit the cliff on the side and had a full-on-head-on collision. If it happened 1 second later, we would have bounced off the guard rail and had the head on collision. If the time wasn't different but there was a guard rail, we would have hit the car, and probably flipped sideways off the guard rail and tumbled sideways. Then if we went a little to the left or right as we were going down the hill, we would have rolled multiple times. If we would have gone 5 feet farther, we would have gained more momentum and flown off a sheer drop and would have flipped forward onto our top. And there wasn't really much of a reason that we stopped where we did... other than the fact that we were dragging the whole bottom of the truck.

But seriously, we took the one and only track that ended in life. And all of are things are ok too. So then we figured everything out and got a bus back to Cochabamba where I might visit my Compassion Canada kid! We'll see, but yeah. God is good! I indeed can't help but say that this was a faith booster (thank you for praying for a boost of faith) and a real realization that I'm not fearful of death.

Pain maybe, but I know where I'm going. God told me as we were rolling down the hill and flying through the air that it was all going to be ok, and so I had no fear as I bumped down the side of a mountain...

Without a seatbelt.

(I have to say that things are different in Bolivia. I personally feel like I'm offending the driver if I put a seatbelt on.)

So I can honestly say that we are all ok and Ken and Yimmy are now somewhere in this city, not together, and things are a little up in the air. I have a ticket to Santa Cruz for tomorrow, so hopefully the Compassion Canada visitation thing works out sometime between now and then.

Does anyone else find it funny that my travel life insurance expired exactly 1 week before the accident?

If you want to help Ken get a new truck, just contact me.

So then we went back to our friend's house (who was with us when it happened) and realized that there were multiple people who felt an urge to pray for us before it happened. One prayed about an hour before the accident, and another about 30 seconds before we drove off the cliff. And more.

God is good.

God, thanks for protecting us and sending your angles to guide us away from death. I pray that this experience will help Yimmy to understand that he needs You and that his faith will bloom from this experience that traumatized him. I also pray that the people decide that Ken's truck is inoperable and he gets his money for it instead of them just trying to fix it.

-Amen

Please pray the same.

22 Faith

How can I blog on faith?

"You have so much faith, Tim" say the faithless...

Can faith be measured? How do you know at which point you can say "I have faith enough."

Knowing that we can never have enough faith.

Matthew said it best,

Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.

When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked.

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

You can find that in chapter 21.

We know simply by the fact that it is Jesus speaking that it is true. And it takes faith in the beginning to believe his words. We have all read this so many times and gone onto the next verse. For some reason, this time reading it for me blew me out of the water. "I haven't seen any mountains with the top missing because of faith," I told myself. Now there is a mountain just out side of Semaipata, Bolivia, right next to the Incan ruins with it's top missing, but since they were a child-sacrificing, heathen-god-serving group of immoral natives, I doubt this is evidence of faith in Yahweh. Maybe just lots of muscles. The point is this: why are we all so faithless? I pray with clenched fists that I could have enough faith to make one leaf wither and fall from a tree. And though if I look at a leaf, I laugh at my lack of belief.

There are different takes we can have on this. We can say, "Well, Jesus is just teaching us that if God wants us to do something, with faith, we can do it... if it is strictly His will." Others might say, "Well the tree didn't produce fruit for Jesus, and he had the power to decide it's future simply by faith, whether or not it be for the Kingdom of God." For me, both seem to make a good point. "God has plans to prosper us." He has plans! We know that! But Jesus chose to curse the tree. And because he had faith (and because he is God) the tree indeed fell by the curse.

Why don't I see any mountain-tops in the sea?!

I have asked God in faith to show me that He is with me and in control, and He showed me indeed! If you remember from my first blog, I asked God to send an animal to touch me as a sign of His watching over me, and 10 minutes later, as soon as there were witnesses, a dove landed on my head! God is good! I have seen Him at work in this and in the lives of the people I meet, and in my own life as well! What God has done in my life puts nothing but confirmation of His presence!

But I can still do nothing beyond what an atheistic high school science teacher can do as far as walking on water goes.

Jesus told Peter that he had so little faith, and yet Peter walked on water! Ignoring the fact that he fell and started to drown, no doubt, he did something impossible. But it was possible with God, and he did it! Not because it furthered the Kingdom of God, but because he had faith. I don't wish to walk on water to show people how awesome I am, but I would indeed enjoy walking on water, knowing that by the Power of God, I can do anything! Why do I doubt? How can I doubt?

This will drive me either insane or to the point of radical faith in the one I love more than I can explain, and who loves me far enough beyond how much I can love to the point beyond what I can imagine and beyond what my mind can even bear.

Please pray for yourselves and for my faith.

Please comment.

Let's go kill some trees.

21 I was Going to Go to the Jungle...

I was going to go to the jungle and see the pink dolphins...

But the truck needed new tires.

I was going to go to the jungle and fish for piranas...

But the truck also needed new lights.

I was going to go to the jungle and meet the indigenous people...

But the truck needed new breaks.

I was going to go to the jungle and drill wells for the indigenous people...

But there weren't enough volunteers.

I was going to go to the jungle and see a new array of animals...

And we finally found the volunteers.

I was going to go to the jungle and eat a mango as big as my head...

But our team leader got bit by a stupid street dog and is now restrained to city life for the next week and get shots for rabies so that he doesn't die or go crazy and become hydrophobic in the middle of our trip while we boat down the tropical river.

A poem by Tim Plant.

Ok, so maybe the last part wasn't too poetic, but yeah, I'm a little upset that I didn't get to do the trip after all, but the new plan is to go to the jungle on the 27th. Please pray for our new friend, Marco (not the same one I've talked about before) as he gets treatment for his dog bite. It's not bad, but there's always some sort of nasty bacteria in the mouths of street dogs.

20 Mennonites

It's been too long since I've written on my blog! I've been busy I guess. And usually without Internet. Living at Ken's house didn't permit me to use the Internet very much. Now that Ken is back in Bolivia, Mike and I thought it best to move back to the Hebron Guest House. We like staying at the transition house, but it would have been difficult.

A little bit ago, we were able to visit an area out of the town, Pailon. We were in Mennonite country indeed. The family we stayed with were of Mennonite background, and the food we ate indeed showed it! The trip was a nice change and a chance to get out of the city and relax, while still learning and seeing other missions. We spent some time playing Settlers of Cattan with some other short term missionary friends we've made here, along with slack lining as you can see in the picture, and riding a motorcycle. And crashing a motorcycle... oh wait, I just did that alone.

Please pray for a fast and full recovery of my shoulder.

A kind and God-fearing man named Ruddy took us around in his truck to show us different colonies in the area. Minus how green some of the trees were, I actually felt like I was back in Farm Land Saskatchewan. Ruddy told us about the colonies and it was quite interesting to hear the difference between Mennonites here and other places. There are of course different levels of... intensity... with the colonies. I'll describe the most extreme case and just make it less extreme, and those are the different colonies. The more extreme groups only speak Low German and some Spanish amongst the men, but not the women. So because they don't speak High German, they can't read the High German Bible. Yes, there is now a Low German Bible, but it has (along with the written language) only been around for 10 years. They believe that only the pastor at the church is allowed to read the Bible, though not even he does. In fact, all the sermons (in High German even though very few people even understand it) are simply repeated and the pastor doesn't even read his Bible. There about usually about 15 sermons, so the few people who know High German can tell you what sermon will come the week after, as they've heard it every 15th Sunday of their life. As I said before, only the pastor is allowed to read the Bible, and the punishment for reading the Bible for anyone else is to be shunned from the colony. And they believe that the pastor has the power to kick people out of Heaven. So to make it simple, people believe that they can be kicked out of Heaved for reading their Bibles. Their basic belief is that they must continue with tradition and the more things change, the farther away from Heaven they get, so the more primitive, the better for them. This makes farming very difficult for them, as iron tractor tires are not good for the ground.

After this, and after a German church service the next day, we went to visit Casa Mariposa (The Butterfly House). Not to be confused with the park down the road with lots of pretty butterflies. The Cools in Caronport are planning on working here, so it was neat to see around it and get the background on the future work of some fellow C'Porters. And, Cools, you'll be happy to know from my own perspective, that it was a great experience, and they have some good work there. There is lots of abuse on the Mennonite colonies. By that, I mean fathers get a little close to their daughters. And the Cools can use all our prayer with their work with the girls at the home. Some of them are new moms and most of them are quite young. It is a wonderful mission with very good people involved. Very nice people! So all the best to you.

19 The Future

God is indeed great!

As of late, I've been growing more and more envious of a younger me. Simply listening to one song by Hawk Nelson would put a deep burden on my heart to return to the life of my grade nine year. There was nothing special about grade nine (minus the first week of school when I was somewhat popular, though this was useless). A smell in the air would make my heart ache for sitting at the table, eating with the dear Reed family in the days I lived there years ago. The colour of the sky controlled my life as it plagued my mind with memories of walking Elsa, that beautiful dog in the days of dog-sitting. And somehow I had a pressing on my mind of the childhood interest being Pokemon. I had a yearning to spread my wings and fly, until I realized I was wingless.

Since my childhood, I've felt this yearning to return back in time, or to be somewhere in the past that I believed would have been a better alternative. It has never been as strong before as it has this past day, and even this past week. Minus the first time my mind did this to me, which only seemed large because I didn't know what my mind was doing. Anyways, I wasn't able to do anything today because my mind was so overridden by past events, and though I tried to concentrate on the present, the mind is a hard thing to control, especially with this issue.

I'm not sure how much sense this is making. It just entered my mind that my mind is indeed unique and I'm not sure how many readers will be able to relate, or at least understand what exactly it is that I'm talking about. I am confident that these words I say will not fully be able to explain how exactly I have been feeling as a result of this.

Anyways, I asked God for help. I was so exhausted by my mind and simply wanted out of it. But the thing is... it's a mind. So then I sat down and read 21 chapters in my bible. I stood up a different person that I sat down being. This day, God has answered my long time question of "what's next?" I had plans of going to Briercrest and studying in the Global Studies program. And don't worry (to those who would), this still is the plan. But as far as serving Him, what's next? At this point, after reading these 21 chapters about God's dealings with the chosen people, I spoke deeply with God and felt the passion stirring in me to serve Him by serving others in a way I have been served by someone serving me, thus serving Him. I have made it my purpose to serve Him with my life, and He has shown me clarity.

Where is this going, Tim?

When I was in grade 10, I met my friend and high school mentor, Vinny! I didn't realize until now how much of an influence he was in my life. And God is showing me that the young men in Caronport don't have Vinny anymore. Another group of fortunate souls do enjoy him, but the man who was there for me in that point in my life is not there anymore. And who is going to be going to Briercrest next year? Who by chance will be living in the same dorm he once lived in? Yeah! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not just a copy-cat of a respected friend. I am following God's will and what I feel called to do, which is similar to what a respected friend was also called into. It's either foolish or wise to post this on the internet. It is foolish if nothing comes of it, but it is wise if I am posting it knowing that if it is God's will, then it will come about in time, and I have all my readers to told me to it, but I feel that God is calling me into discipling the youth of Caronport during my years at Briercrest.

I feel so at peace with this, and look forward to giving the youth a mentor relationship I was blessed with having when I was there age. Now I just have to be careful that I don't get so carried away with the future that it does the same as what the past was doing to me.

So about Bolivia, things are going very well. The buses are currently on strike, hence why we stayed home all day today, on a day of which we normally work at Talita Cumi. I'm thankful for the strike. For this one day to be enlightened.

I'm not sure if I've done a good job at pointing out how exciting this is, but for me, it's God inspired and I feel that His hand will be over me in my work that I do for Him here in Bolivia, and back in Caronport.

It's been great getting to know the boys at Ken's house here. I pray that we will be able to bless them and be an encouragment to them to live out their faith. "Walk by faith, and not by sight." Can I have an amen!?

So in closing, things are wonderful here, and God is showing me lots, and it is such a blessing to be able to volunteer at all the places we do so, and help them out while proclaming the Name of our Father in Heaven. Oh, how I am blessed.

A huge thank you to everyone who got me to this point in my life. If you know me personally at all, that includes you. I have been affected by everyone I know and I am thankful that I know you... Probably... No... indeed! You have taught me something just by being you. And the better I know you, the more you have affected me, and you deserve a sincere thank you. So thank you.

Um, time for bed!

18 Sick

After about 3 weeks of feeling spontaneous pains in my stomach, I had relief. Such pain can be expected in other countries because the bacteria are simply different. And then, finally, I felt healthy! I was at the top of my game, ready to take on any beastly plate of food that might come my way.

But you'll notice that I'm using a past tense.

2 days ago, I woke up with a hot head. We didn't have much on our schedule past a Spanish lesson. So when the lesson came about, I was feeling warmer, and my muscles were really relaxing and my stomach was starting to feel the pain. I laid down for a couple hours, trying to sleep. This was not a goal achieved. I curled up in my bed, moaning in pain, praying for the comfort of unconsciousness. It didn't come. One of the boys at the house is studying to be a doctor, and when he got home, he took my temperature at 102.02 F, which as you may know is pretty hot.

So then they took me to the hospital!

I asked the soon-to-be-doctor if they were going to take my blood, because, as you might know, I DON'T like needles... especially the ones opposite the elbow for the extrusion of my much needed blood. It creeps me out in a way I can't describe. But he said it'd be ok, and they might give me a needle in my butt, but they wouldn't take my blood, and I was ok with that.

And then they took my blood.

I only shook a little... ok, maybe my legs were bouncing 2 inches off the floor (quite literally), but it passed, and the results of the test said that it's not Dengue, or anything serious like that, and they came to the conclusion that it's a bacterial infection. Oh joy.

So the next day, we were supposed to go to Talita Cumi, but staying at home was the best option for me... with my SSOPs (spontaneous spells of pain). I can now honestly say that I have never felt such a pain in my life as I have from this "bacterial infection." I burned my hand really bad when I was like 8 or 9, and that was really bad, but this is a pain on the inside that I can do nothing about. no position or rubbing or soft flow of water can relieve the pain. It's just... there. But hey, it's getting better, so that's good!

I am now on a diet, and with the help of my pastor's wife's cooking skills, I'm able to almost enjoy my lack of dairy, bread, and anything exciting like that... Drinking more water than usual. I suppose that's a good thing, though the last time I decided to drink much water, it ended with two trips for an oral spurt. That was because I drank it all at once though. Yes, water poisoning is indeed true. That was before I took the first aid class.

Anyways, please pray:

-For my health, of course, as it improves, that I will quickly regain health and not find it hard to locate more pills.

-For Ken's success in fundraising, as he tries to raise money for a new property, as the family of boys seems to be outgrowing the present location.

-For the impression we leave of the friends we make here, and that they will forever remember the love that God has for them. That it will leave them affected enough to live their lives fully for him. ie- that we can live out our lives like Jesus and show them the love of God.

Thank you for reading and keeping up to date with me. You are totally awesome!

17 Love

So good news that I forgot to mention last time: the classroom cleaning and prayer payed off, and Christian is in school, I'm excited to say!

I've found one of the highlights of my time here so far to be working with the kids at Talita Cumi. I think this is a highlight because of how easy it is to love those kids, and how friendly and loving they are. They all got so much love in them. Something that was confirmed in my mind by a wise friend of mine is that God really allows people to grow in their ability to love; in their ability to understand; in their ability to be more like Him. He helps us grow in such things. People have so much love for someone, and God takes that and grows it up and people find themselves not understanding how such love could grow so deeply. I think this will happen constantly while I'm here. And it breaks my heart that the Bolivian laws state that orphanages that the government supports ($1 a day for each child), including Talita Cumi, must not allow children to reside there past the age of 18, and for all those kids who don't end up getting adopted just go on back to the streets. I guess that's what Ken's house is for.

Ken's house is really great. The heart of the mission is based in the love of God and He really is blessing this home.

16 Thankfulness

Thankfulness. It's an interesting thing. No matter how poor a person can be, they still have SO much to be thankful for. Notice that capitalization. God has given us all so much, including a whole world of people to bless and be blessed by. A whole world of people who by choice could by faith give you all their belongings if so called. Now, I doubt anyone reading this has either given EVERYTHING away, or been the recipient of such generosity, but to simplify, we all have so much to be thankful for.

For all of you who have seen me in person... or seen photos of me of the past 4 years or so, you know that I have quite a collection of bracelets on my wrists. I tend to be rather sentimental (one might even say semi-mental over it) and have a reason to wear each one. With the schedule that I'm living by, Mike and I work with El Jordan every Friday. El Jordan works with families from hard situations. So today, after going out to a property and setting up a game for tomorrows events, and doing other things (all the while, carrying a baby spider monkey in a little "monkey murse" on my back... awww!), we got to go work with the children at El Jordan. (By the way, the "J" is pronounced like an "H" and the emphasis is on the "a.")

So how does this connect with bracelets?

Well the kids were rather into my bracelets, and wanted them. Thoughts of giving and kindness ran through my head along with emotion-based thoughts of sentimentality.

"Well not all of them are extremely sentimental to me..."

With not a large number of kids, and a smaller number of children with wrists to small to fit such bracelets, and attention spans too small to stay focused on what was happening, I started removing the less sentimental bracelets from my wrists. Understand that the newest one I gave away had been on my wrist for almost 2 years, minus maybe 3 weeks total for which my wrists were rashey or burned. So sentiment builds up none the less, just from them being there, but hey, these kids don't really have much, and from what I've seen and what I've heard, these kids are so thankful for any small gift.

BUT

They ravaged them fiercely, trying to all get the one they wanted, none thanking me or even paying attention to the fact that they had received a gift. What bothered me much was the one girl (who looked about 15) who took 2 bracelets for herself. I asked her to give one to someone else, as not everyone got one who apparently wanted one. Bad counting on my part. And the one girl who didn't get one was Monsurrat, who, if you remember, was one of the kids at the house we helped build. The only kid there I already knew. So this double-braceletted girl offered her bracelet to her little 3 year old brother, who's wrists were obviously too small to support such a thing, but soon said "oh, it won't fit him. I'll just keep it." But in Spanish... So Monsurrat wasn't very happy, and I was feeling the same as she was. Eventually, the kid's mom showed up, and that always helps. Monsurrat has a bracelet now, and I think she's thankful.

It has been a day during which I wish I was fluent in Spanish.

So I am trying to convince myself that I should be thankful for the opportunity to bless these kids with gifts. And I should be excited for the possibilities of all the items I might fill my wrists up with again. But that's hard. Please pray for my attitude. I need to... I don't know. I need to be wise with giving, though I didn't feel foolish in my giving today. I just felt unappreciated. I'm not sure if I would be informing all the Internet community of this if I wasn't so exhausted and disappointed, I guess, but the thing with people is that as much as we get to know ourselves, we always tend to forget that everyone is just a fragile little mass with emotions on a weigh scale with life events on the other side. We're all just so topsy-turvy. Please pray that I can smile and let it go. I don't do things to be thanked, but I guess I've grown up expecting it.

So remember kids, say "thank you" when you feel it slightly appropriate, and you won't end up with the emotional missionary blogging about his lack of being content with his kindness... I don't know what I'm saying. OY! Time to relax.

In closing, let's all be thankful... and... I want a pet monkey.

15-Going to School

Today, I was trying to further my whatnot for Briercrest, but the topic of school is not in regards to me, but to Christian, one of Gary's sons, who is having trouble getting into school. They're new to the area and with only two small schools in the area they now live, it's not easy to get in. His loving mother has been cleaning the classroom and doing other things to try to earn her son's way into school, but there has not been success yet. Please pray for Christian, as he is such a smart kid, and should be in school. Pray that his mom's scrubbing pays off in the end. Oh, and school has already started, by the way. If you're confused, they just got off summer vacation here. We're 6 months different as far as school goes.

Mission Timoteo has made a decision to not accept Mike and I as volunteers as a result of another individual asking to volunteer, having priority. It would be "too cramped with all of us." But that's ok. All the best to them, and we will still find ourselves busy. Actually, Talita Cumi is very interested in having us work with them! If you recognize the name "Talita Cumi," it's because it's the name of the orphanage I was going to work at if I was accepted by the EFCCM! I'm amused by this. So yeah, I guess I get to work there anyway!

16- Soccer=Fun?

After church yesterday (Sunday the 30th), we went to a restaurant where Mike and I got to eat a cow tongue. It was actually quite tasty! I was amused by the irony in the fact that the tongue wasn't full of taste. It was good though... strangely better than the potatoes next to the tongue on my plate. Apparently to prepare this kind of potato, they grow them in the mountains, and store them for a couple days... or weeks, not sure. And they freeze at night, and dry and thaw during the day. Over and over. Not too tasty.

So after sitting at a table of 15, most of us went to a beach to play soccer and play in the water. For those of you who know me well, you probably know that sports are not quite my thing. I usually end up passing the ball to the other team... almost every time I get the ball. That is if I can manage to get the ball. Regarding scoring, the net better be empty, and there better be nobody around me for at least... 4 meters. But anyways, We played yesterday, and I truly enjoyed it! We played for probably 2 and a half hours, and it was so fun! I don't have anything to affect my pride in an ungodly way, as the most I did was an assist, if that's what it's called. I was glad to enjoy a sport.

I don't know what it is about sports that normally make me want to go... listen to music or something. I think it's a toss-up between pain, rude words resulting from competitive nature, and people trying to tell me how to do it. I know how to do it... well kinda... I just can't do it!

15-The Near Future

I haven't posted a blog in a couple days! As I said last time, Ken was away in Cochabamba helping a friend, and I hear things went quite well there. They loaded all the furniture into the house: a site for the sore eyes of Amy, who has been relaxing on a mattress on the floor. They changed about 10 light fixtures and things are looking up for her. Please pray that Amy will be able to find local help soon, as she can't do this job alone.

Tonight, Ken took Mike and I to an orphanage we'll likely be spending much of our time. It's called Misión Timoteo (Mission Timothy). My kind of place! We had a meeting with the directors... in Spanish. I understood a portion of what was being disguised, but I felt a little lost. Things are looking good for us to work there. Maribell said that there's a chance of a problem working at this orphanage as a result of the older girls because "you is cute." But I don't think adding a little more testosterone to the orphanage is really worth refusing help (and we all know I don't possess a huge amount...).

So I'm personally very excited about this opportunity! And apparently I wasn't the only one. Just ask the 3 year old kid who left a puddle on the floor out of curious excitement!

Please pray:

-That Amy will find what she needs and who she needs for help with her mission.

-For my health. Nothing extreme, but I've been having some health discomfort.

-For the salvation of one of the guys at Ken's house. He seems to be much farther behind in his spiritual walk than was perceived these past 3 or so years.

-For Ken's health. He had fried chicken tonight for the first time in 3 months, but it wasn't in him for long.

-That everything would work out well with Mission Timoteo in our possibility of future work there.

14-Keeping Busy

So we slept at Ken's house last night. His friend is starting a home in Cochabamba, so he went there to help her out. We went furniture shopping yesterday morning, which was kind of fun, and we picked out a coffee table with a couch, love seat, and chair, which we carried around in the back of Ken's truck. Hopefully it was all ok for the 12 hour drive.

So the past couple days, we've been working with Gary's family, as I mentioned in another blog. Mike and I have fallen in love with this family and are always sad to leave. And 2 days ago, as happy as we were to be finished the house, we were sad to say goodbye.

We had some interesting adventures with them. When we were collecting bricks to make the floor, the kids were trying to be helpful and cut the bricks to fit, but a hammer isn't the most precise tool to cut a brick in half… The family was very generous and would often bring us out a glass of coca-cola. I've drank a LOT of pop these past days; especially for someone who doesn't really drink much pop at all! Anyways, one day, they brought us out a special drink that their mom makes out of corn. They call it "chichi" and it is sometimes alcoholic, but of course this glass wasn't. Mike and I weren't quite sure what to call it before we learned it's name, so we just called it "corn milk." We had both had it in our past adventures in Bolivia, but somehow we had forgotten how revolting it is! I was nervous about drinking it because I didn't know what the seed things were, or the big white mushy chunks (which, by the way, I did gag on). So we went on a little walk and discretely watered the grass with a common fake sip here and there. And of course, if you get a drink or really anything from a family who is excited about their new big house, no bigger than an average Canadian bedroom, you can't simply say "no thank you." It's interesting to see how things play out when you don't understand everything that people are saying. We were playing gringos vs. Bolivians in a soccer game with the kids until the neighbour kid got mad and took his ball and walked home. Apparently it was an aggressive game from his perspective… or something.

So that's a bit of what we've been doing. Please return in a couple days to get the latest.

Please Pray:

-For Marco and his wife, Corina, as some men came into their house with guns the other night and stole from them.

-For salvation of Marco's parents, and that this situation had a positive effect on them spiritually. (Apparently Marco's 78 year old dad was able to kick one of the guys away and knock the gun out of his hand. I thought that was cool). They shot at him, but nothing came out of the gun. The guns worked fine the next minute as they shot them in the air. Yay for loving intervention!

-A safe trip for Ken and Yimy on their drive back from Coch.

-For the continued fast language progression, as we're going to start more structured Spanish lessons on Monday or Tuesday… Maybe Wednesday.

13-Working with Gary

Corina and Marco work at El Jordan, which works with poorer families in Santa Cruz. Marco picked Mike and I up from our place at about 9 this morning. We were going to go out into the country to help someone build a gate on their property, but because of the intense rain flooding the streets (yes, I do mean flooding), plans for that were canceled. So instead, we went to the property of a guy named Gary, and worked with his family. I think the family consisted of Gary and his wife Mary, and their three kids, Christian, Monsurat, and Gary Jr.

Marco told us after that it was good that we were there to help because rain was leaking through their roof, often while they were trying to sleep. We didn't do much with the actual construction of the house, but we mixed the cement and sand for the mortar, and moved bricks. What we spent more time sweating over was levelling the ground to begin with. They gave us shovels and used them to their full potential, I would say.

After a couple hours of work, mixed with some Spanish conversation con los niños, we went down the road for a bite to eat with a man that might be related to Gary. We were able to strike up a bit of a conversation with him, and he asked us what kind of food we like. I responded saying "food is good." in my limited Spanish. He asked us if we like quenwa, and with the knowledge of such a food I obtained from my mom, and the coincidence of it being the same word in both English and Spanish, I was able to say that I indeed to. So we entered a nice little eatery, mainly inhabited by chickens and other birds which I couldn't name. After we got our food, I could see the purpose of the chickens around us. Our delectable quenwa soup was tastefully flavoured by chicken feet! Unusual for a Canadian, but very tasty.

We returned to the house to level the driveway with our handy-dandy shovels while the kids looked for a frog to no success. Mike and I took short breaks and I got a chance to go for a little walk with the kids, on which they tried to convince me to buy them a pet duck for $0.42 Canadian, but I wasn't sure what their dad would say... And with the very aggressive love they had for their puppy, I wasn't sure how long a duck would last.

When we were finished the driveway, we cut the grass out front... with a machete. Harder than it sounds.

With all the coca-cola they were kindly giving us, we were full of liquid, though thirsty for water, none the less. I think I got a bit of a burn on the back of my neck. There was a lot of sweating going on, but you probably don't need a mental image of that. I really enjoyed being able to do some manual labour today, and the chance to get to know this family. I hope to spend time with them again in the future. I think the chances of seeing them again are pretty high. And I hope to take some pictures of them for you when/if we see them again.

Right now, we're just sitting at our place with the two fans going. We just got some apples from across the road, which we very nice to eat with our noodles. Thank you for keeping up with my blog and I hope you continue to do so.

Please pray:

-For the family that we worked with today, and that they will continually seek and submit to God.

-That rain will not fall on the city until Gary's family have a roof above their heads.

-For the health of Mike and I. We've been doing pretty well so far, but hey, eating in restaurants inhabited by chickens may catch up to us some time soon.

-Ken's health, as he is still surviving on a high cracker diet.

Thank you all for your prayers everyone! God bless you all!

12-Getting Settled

We are in Bolivia!

After many hours of flying and waiting in airports, Mike and I arrived in Bolivia. The rest of my traveling was pretty uneventful after the Days Inn incident.

Ken picked us up from the airport yesterday morning with a 19 year-old guy from Ken's place named Jose Manuel. We got to talk to him for a little while as Ken was dealing with credit card issues. I was able to practice my Spanish a little bit on the plane with a Catholic lady. I have come to the conclusion that I enjoy speaking Spanish with the people here, to the best of my ability. I don't know very much, but more knowledge will come quickly I assume.

Since arriving, we have been able to spend some good time with the boys at Ken's place, and we hope to continue to grow in friendships with them and be witnesses to them. I know God has done so much in my life, and I am confident Mike would say the same for himself. We hope that the boys are encouraged in our life stories, and in time, we'll be able to understand their pasts more and encourage them for the future.

We enjoyed a good service at church this morning. We weren't really sure what the message was, but it was something to do with Solomon... we think. We enjoyed the worship through music! That was wonderful, and I understood a good portion of what we were singing. I better pack it in for the night. We are going to learn how to use the bus system in the morning, so that'll be an interesting experience... We'll see how that goes.

Please pray for:

-Our language skills. If you could continue to pray for the time we are in Bolivia, that'd be great.

-The ability to connect with the boys fast.

-The softening of hearts all around. Pray that our hearts are softened even more so for the people here, and that their hearts would be softened towards God and that they will realize the gift He has for them.

10-Never Going Day's Inn Again...

My mom and I drove from Caronport this evening, and arrived in Regina safely and in time. We drove right into the Day's Inn parking lot and found a parking space in good time. After hauling all of our items in, the... overworked lady at the counter was quick to tell us that we needed a credit card to enter our room, even though they already had our credit card information from when we booked the room! We didn't have our credit card with us. They said the only option was to either get someone from Regina to come in and use their credit card, or they could fax a paper to Caronport and my sister could fill out the information and fax it back.

Again, remember that they already had out credit card information.

So, as a result of our lack of personal friendships with Reginians, my mom texted my sister, asking her to as they wished. So my sister ran home to get the credit card, and off to the Caronport Inn to use the fax machine. They faxed the form to her, and she filled it out and faxed it back, and, of course, it matched the information they already had... because they already had our information, if I didn't

mention that.

But then, they tested the credit card to see if it would work, and for some reason, the card wasn't working! So after all that, the card wasn't working.

So with no credit card to make a deposit, my mom and I were getting a little desperate. So we offered to pay the deposit by cash. But no. They would not accept cash! We couldn't believe it! How can a business not accept cash? So after the hour of trying to simply

enter our room, I grew a strong disliking to th

e word "policy." I'm confident we were not the first people who they lost business from because of their policy.

So where are we?

We are in the Regina Airport! And though we're not resting in our cozy beds, we are making the best of our situation in a glassed in office-like area with a television. The kind West Jet lady

gave us some hot chocolate, which made for good comfort food after our frustrations with the inn. Oh well though, it's all in the adventure, and I guess it's a good lesson in relying on God and not... stupid Day's Inn.

So to conclude, I'm not saying that you shouldn't choose the Day's Inn... Well on second though... Yeah, I am. I know they've lost my business for life!

9-The Day of Departure

I don't like saying goodbye. Though the hugs I receive are sincere, it saddens me to leave these people behind. I find it interesting that some of the people I find myself sad to leave are people I have only known for about 5 months, the length of time I will be in Bolivia. God bless you, my Canadian friends!

Today, I will be driving from Caronport to Regina with my mom, and we'll stay in a hotel for the night. We have to be a the airport at 5:30am, so we figured leaving the night before would likely be the wisest choice with the possibility of poor road conditions. And if we went to Regina with intentions of going straight to the airport, we would have to wake up at 3:30am, which we really don't feel like doing... So this is the best option.

I'm not sure how much I'll be able to keep in contact with everyone during my travels, but in the meantime...

Please pray for:

-Safe travels by both car and plane.

-That God will give me the ability to speak Spanish to the people in Bolivia, whether by studies or by His spontaneous power, as in Acts 2 5-12.

-Pray that my heart will be completely open to whatever God has for me.

8-2 Days Prior to Departure

I am leaving so soon! I find that when I look toward the future, something may seem so far away, but looking back, it feels like it wasn't long ago at all that I was delayed this most recent time. Again, I'm thankful for the delay. As disappointing as it was, it had some major up sides that were not expected. I have been so blessed with what seemed like such a terrible thing.

I have been able to go to Joe's Place on occasion, and I hope to continue when I return to Caronport next Fall. It is such a fruitful ministry, though I've found it difficult to connect with the youth there. I think this will come with time, and I pray for such relationships, as my success in Bolivia, at camp, and all other ministries depend on a connection. On second thought, my success in ministry is completely based on how God uses me. And if I let Him, He WILL use me! I can't really do anything by myself. I don't bring any particular skill to Bolivia, but what I do have is what has been given to me. God has given me such a heart for the people down there. I pray I will be used to bring them closer to Him. He is all we've got; all we will be able to keep eternally, and if they don't have Him, they have nothing. And as far as material items, I'll just say many of them don't reject God as a result of riches.

I haven't been posting on my blog too much, as I've found it hard to come up with new items to speak on, but as I head off to Bolivia very soon, I imagine the consistency of my blogging will drastically increase, even though this easy access to the Internet will drastically decrease.

My financial goal for Bolivia has been reached! Thank you SO much to my donators. Thank you for listening to God, and giving with your heart. May God bless you.