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.