Merry Christmas?

My friend Cornia’s ministry (El Jordan) does a couple of cool things at Christmas time. Most of you have heard about their “Christmas on the Streets” where they cook and distribute nearly 5000 meals on Christmas Eve to street people. Another great thing they do is pass out Christmas cookies to various ministries around the city. A lady comes down every year from Canada and bakes literally thousands of cookies. This year they expanded their outreach even more in a new and creative way.

They gave us a dog.

I came home and the guys handed me our plate of cookies that had been hand delivered from El Jordan. And of course, that made me happy. The guys waited until I had a smile on my face, before they told me that there was another surprise waiting in the backyard. I’m not really sure what I expected...but a dog with a note and a ribbon tied around her neck was probably low on the list. The note thanked me for my help at El Jordan this past year. And seriously, that was very nice of them...but you know...everyone else got this cool coffee mug. I really liked that coffee mug. I’m not entirely sure how I rated a dog.

But the dog seemed nice enough and the guys were pretty excited. They’ve wanted a one for awhile now. Sandro especially. He’d already built a little house for her and had food and water close at hand. He kept going back out and petting her. That night I caught him heading out into the backyard with one of his t-shirts in hand. It’s cold out, he says. Not really, I say (unless somewhere along the way +24 C has become cold). But she needs this, he tells me. I scrounged up an old sheet for her bed and told Sandro that would be good enough. He reluctantly agreed, but still wanted to put his t-shirt on her. I told him it was a nice thought, but suggested that she probably wouldn’t like that much anyhow. All I could think was, we are so not going to start dressing the dog up in people clothes.

And...for a whole day, I didn’t mind having a dog.

But here’s the thing...for that first day she was all quiet and shy. Now I realize how nice that was. She was kind of sweet. Tonight, as I write this at 11:30 PM, she’s in the front yard barking and whining and making more noise that a single dog should physically be able to make. I’m sure our neighbours are thrilled. She’s getting every dog in the neighbourhood all worked up. And seriously...there’s a lot of dogs in our neighbourhood.

The grumpy thing is, the guys all sleep so heavy that she could be slobbering on their faces and they wouldn’t even notice (Hmm...that’s a thought...I wonder if she’d let me hold her head steady enough...). So of course, it becomes my responsibility to go out and try to calm the silly mutt down...which I just tried to do...and which inevitably turned into a fun little game of bark at the white guy and try to run past him into the house.

So now I’m the proud father of eight guys and a dog. Life just gets better and better. All I need now is a minivan and my worst nightmare will have become a reality... =)  Oh wait, I forgot to tell you. They named her “Mancha” which sounds nice enough, but is the Spanish version of “Spot”. ‘Cause you know...she has spots. Now we just need a cat name “Socks” and with or without the minivan I’ll wake up in the middle of the night with a scream of “NOOO!” echoing in my head...

In all seriousness, I like her well enough, and I’m sure she’ll settle down eventually and become a good and happy member of our growing family. I was going to say “productive” instead of “good”....but yea, I don’t see that happening. All we really require of her is to bark at the bad guys as they try to rob us...but I’m pretty sure it’ll just become another fun little game of try to run past the funny men in masks and get into the house when they bust open the door. And with my luck, that time it’ll be without any barking...

Tuesday I’m off on a road trip to Camiri (a city south of here) where Andres is originally from. I’m taking him, his brother and two sisters to visit their Grandma and other sister for a couple of days. It should be fun. It’ll be nice to get away for a bit and have some time to hang out with Andres. You can pray for him though. The last time we made this trip, it was good, but pretty emotional for both Andres and his siblings. Their mom died when they were young, and being back in Camiri brought up a lot of painful memories.

If you have a moment, could you also pray for my health? I think I mentioned that I have the same bacterial infection my mom had. I’m on antibiotics, and I’m getting better, but it’s been a bit of a slow process. I’m having a bit of a allergic reaction to the meds, and my hands are kind of itchy and a bit swollen. Oh and yea...my toe still hurts. =)

Thanks everyone! Here’s a picture of our new little friend. As I write this she’s started howling at...something. Or maybe nothing. Yea...probably nothing...

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I broke my toe...

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So much for my promise of getting back here after last Friday.  But Mom and Dad didn't end up leaving when they'd planned.  I went to pick them up the morning of their flight and found that Mom had gotten really sick during the night.  There was no way she could fly.  In fact, she spent the next three days in the hospital...some kind of bacterial intestinal infection (so they tell me).  They eventually left on the following Monday.  Then I ended up with the same thing (not quite as intensely as Mom did though).  High fever...couldn't eat anything.  Then finally, to top it all off, Tuesday I went downstairs (after not eating anything all day) got dizzy and skidded down the last few steps.  Yea, I managed to break one of my toes in the process.  No kidding.  It's all purple and sore. 

All in all a rather entertaining week. 

So...that's my sad story.  I promise I will get back into posting long, drawn out stories here any day now (I'm working on a doozy).  I'm also going to post a bunch of pics from my parent's time down here.  But until then, enjoy this little video clip.  It's from my parent's first South American futbol experience.  In case you're wondering, lots of the fireworks and whatnot were brought into the stadium by fans...not professionals.  Just thought I'd mention that.  =)

This second clip is from just after the Santa Cruz team (who shall remain nameless) managed to tie the game with about 10 seconds left.  They were playing a team from La Paz, so by default I guess I was happy they didn't lose.  But I'm also happy they didn't win (they're not my team).  Suffice to say I was a bit conflicted.  As you'll see at the end of the video, Dad seemed fine with cheering for them.  But I don't think he really cared...  =)  We weren't sitting with the hard-core fans by the way.  Just the overflow who couldn't fit into their team's section of the stadium.

Of course the moment the game was finished, a bunch of doorknobs figured they need to go rumble with the twenty people who came down from La Paz to cheer on their team.  The police shut them down pretty fast.  It was an interesting way to end the game.  I imagine it made Ma and Pa a little nervous, but it didn't even hit our top ten of riot experiences at futbol games...

The police standing between the two groups of fans....

Anyhow...that was our night.  It was a good time.  And now Mom and Dad can say they've been to a real live South American soccer game!  =)

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It's officially been a month...

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Yes, yes I know...it's been a month since I've posted anything.  Funny how that coincides with my parents visit here.  =)  I have lots to say, but it'll have to wait until Friday after they leave.  Tomorrow's our last day together and we've got some fun things planned.  In the evening we've got a big BBQ planned (Bolivia style) and I've got a Mariachi band coming to play for them.  That parts a surprise, but since they won't be looking at my blog before tomorrow night, it doesn't matter what I write here.  =)

The only other thing to say is that we've been decorating like crazy for Christmas.  The house looks amazing.  It helps that Ma and Pa have bought me about five times the decorations I had last year.  David says it looks like Papa Noel's house  (Santa Claus).  But he also appreciates the decorations the most.  He wants to move his bed into the dining room.  =)  All the guys like the decorations, but to varying degrees they don't all care that much.  =)  But that's okay...David and I like them.  Oh...and my Mom does too...

Anyhow...like I said, I'll be back with lots of pics and stories after Friday.  So...for the ten of you who are still faithfully coming here (thanks Kyle and Natasha) check back then.  =)

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Our Day of the Dead Pool Party...

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Yesterday was the "Day of the Dead" here in Bolivia.  It's kind of a day of rememberance for family and friends who've died.  In Catholic tradition here, it does go deeper than that of course.  People hire musicians and cook the favourite foods of the people they're visiting in the cemetary.  It's quite involved.  Another day maybe I'll write more about it...it's fairly interesting really.

But in good Ken and his guys tradition, when there's a holiday and it's hot out, our tradition is...we go to the pool...  So sit back and enjoy our Day of the Dead Pool Party pics!  =)

A little diving to start the day...

Alan trying to perfect his backwards summersault...this attempt

was a bit painful in the end...

Andres getting ready...

The dive...

Andres, Roberto and Alan...

If you notice...Roberto (one of the new guys) always seems to be in the middle of trouble...

Finally everyone decided some retaliation was in order...

Roberto's studying to be a lawyer...and with good cause.  When he's in

trouble, it's all, "Wait a minute, wait a minute!"

He then he goes on to try to talk his way out of whatever

situation he's put himself in...

Roberto underwater...it seems he couldn't talk his way out of that one...

The guys came close to dragging Ruddy into the pool.

But just as this pic was taken, his legs slipped out

and he skidded across the deck pool...

The little kiddie slide...

My guys taking over the little kiddie slide...

It went on for quite some time...

All in all in was a very fun day.  Some of the guys burnt worse than I did 

and are still whining about how sore they are. 

 But it was worth it...we had a very good time!

PS...The guy to the left in the picture below?  That would be "Random Guy". 

Strangely he showed up in more than a few of our pictures. 

When I first took the picture below, I didn't realize he wasn't one of the guys. 

He was, after all, waving at me....

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Prayer requests and some whining about the heat...

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So...Saskatchewoneans...remember the summer of 2009 that never really happened? Well...I guess it kind of happened briefly in September but then a week later it snowed, so that doesn’t really count. Anyhow, it seems that God has decided that what He took from Saskatchewan in July, He would give to Bolivia in October. Trust me when I say that I’m thankful every day for God’s blessings. But I’m pretty sure it would be okay with me if Saskatchewan received back just now, some of what it didn’t experience in July...

It was 43 C yesterday. That’s 109.4 F for my more metrically challenged brethren. Or 316.15 degrees Kelvin. I know that because my phone told me. It has a handy converter application. As a side note, I’m not sure why someone would actually need a tempurature converted to Kelvin...but my phone can do it for you should the need arise.

At any rate, anyway you look at it...it’s hot. Way, way too hot. I write this pretty much every time we experience a heat wave here, but whatever....I still think extreme hot is just as bad as extreme cold. And at least you can go in your house and warm up in winter. I have to go all the way to Burger King to find someplace with air conditioning. And they won’t let you sleep there. Interestingly enough however, it seems they will let you nap. But when you wake up there’s a security guard glaring at you...so it’s not the same.

My bed buts up against an outside wall of our house. I was just now laying there dreaming of the icy plains of Saskatchewan, with my fan six inches in front of my face...and I could still feel the waves of heat pouring off the wall. I reached out and touched it and it was hot enough that you wouldn’t want to leave your hand there for very long.

And what are the guys doing in the midst of this heat wave, you ask? I think they’re in the back yard playing soccer. Chalk it up to heat stroke. Although...just so you know... they’ll all whine and complain about the heat when they come back in. I say that just so you don’t think they’re not as annoyed and grumpy as I am. But nothing gets in the way of a good soccer game. They could be stranded on the face of the sun and the first thing they’d do is look around and see if anyone brought along a soccer ball.

All right, I’m done complaining. At least for the time being. I reserve the right to come back to this topic later.

There are lots of things to pray about these days, but I thought I’d update you quickly about the fellow I wrote about last week. There’s not a whole lot to say. I sat down and talked to him about what I thought might be happening. That maybe what was going on was spiritual rather than reality. He tried hard to listen and believe me I think, but it’s tough for him. In his mind, all these things absolutely happened.

We prayed together and agreed that he’ll spend more time with us at the house in the future. I’m going to continue meeting and praying with him, and we’ll see how this turns out. Supposedly there’s a friend of his that may be able to confirm part of his story. I’m hoping to talk with him next week and try to find out what he knows. But please continue to pray for this young guy...for wisdom and protection for him. It’s kind of a scary thing for him I think.

The other thing I’d like prayer for, is a situation at our church. I think I’ve mentioned before what a blessing our church has been to me and the guys. It’s been great. Our two pastors and their wives have been amazing with the guys. Jorge and Viviana have begun volunteering here at the house, and Jorge is discipling four of the guys (while I work with the other four). So...all in all, I’m very pleased that God brought us to this church.

The problem is, there’s a group of people within the church who, for various reasons, feel differently. In my opinion, they’ve been incredibly disrespectful to Tonchi and Jorge and their wives, and have caused a lot of pain.

The guys here know that there’s a problem, but they’re not aware of what the problem is, or who’s involved (they know a group is opposed to Tonchi and Jorge’s leadership). The problem is, this group has been working with the guys. They’ve come over to cook for us and have spent time at the house. It’s a bit weird really...they’re great with us, but terrible with anyone else who doesn’t think the same way they think.

Eventually (soon) the guys are going to realize who’s been trying to oust Jorge and Tonchi. I have no idea how they’ll handle that. I feel bad for them...it’s a tough and painful situation for those of us who’ve been down this road before...but it’s going to be even more so for these guys who’ve never experienced something like this. This is really the first church family they’ve ever been connected to.

Jorge is going to talk to them soon about the situation. We want to prepare them and have them hear it from us rather than some random person in the church. So if you could pray about all of this, I would appreciate it. Pray as well for Jorge and Tonchi and their wives. They definitely need wisdom and peace... protection... strength... patience... This is the first time Tonchi and Jorge have been pastors, and it’s not turning out to be a great experience. This group used to be their friends and now it feels like they’ve turned on them.

There’s obviously more to the story, but this’ll suffice... I’ve talked to both sides and have to say that I think the other group is in the wrong on this one.

And finally, if you could pray for my friend Amy. She and I worked (and lived) together in Cochabamba when I first came to Bolivia. To clarify, we lived in the same house with a Bolivian family. =) She’s one of my favourite people. She now works with street kids in Coch and is doing a work that I think very few people could handle. These past few weeks have been especially tough for her. Two different boys that she works with have both committed suicide in the past few days. She wrote about the situation here. If you could pray for her and for the kids she works with, I know she’d appreciate it.

Thanks everyone! It’s good to know people are thinking about us and praying for us. My parents arrive in less than a week, so that’s a happy thing. They’ll be here for a month. The guys ask me just about every day when they’ll be here. Mom’s have a special place in people’s hearts here in South America and since most of my guys here don’t have moms...they’re pretty excited to share mine. They especially want to know if she can cook... =)

They rarely ask about Dad. Ha ha...sorry Pa...

And finally...we took this picture today, and I thought I'd share it.  It's for a fundraiser that's happening in Saskatoon next weekend (which I'll write about tomorrow).  I think it's the first time we've ever taken a group picture that has all of us present.  Or at any rate a group picture that has everyone present and that turned out... ie. no rabbit ears... no funny faces... no closed eyes...no one punching someone else... no one making strange hand gestures... no one looking like they just got dumped by their girlfriend...

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Spiritual attacks? You tell me...

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It’s 2:09 AM and I’m not asleep. I won’t be asleep for at least another five hours. I didn’t sleep last night either. Unless you count the ten minutes I was able to nap in my truck. I did manage to catnap a couple of times today, but it didn’t amount to much.

Why you ask? That’s a good question. Not sure I know the answer. My friend’s mom is sick and needs to go to a doctor. She has insurance with an excellent hospital (which is good) but it’s tough to actually get in and see a doctor. It’s incredibly busy. So people line up during the night, so that when the doors open at 7 AM they can get a slip of paper with a time on it. That guarantees them an appointment with a doctor sometime during the day. I wasn’t comfortable with this friend trying to find a taxi in the middle of the night, so I offered to take her. She got in line at around 4 AM (there was one guy who’d been there since 9 PM the night before), but unfortunately we were too late and all the appointments were taken (we discovered this at around 7:30 AM).

One of the boys from Nacer (where I used to work) is going back tonight to try again. And again, I really wasn’t comfortable with the idea of him trying to get down there at three in the morning by himself. So again...I offered to take him and wait with him. I mean...it’s only sleep right? =) He’s got classes in the morning, so I think I’ll let him sleep in the truck and I’ll just wake him up when the doors open. It's all good.  I’ve got a book. I’ll be fine.

In other news...it’s been a weird few days here. Ever had that feeling when it seems there are crazy spiritual attacks happening all around you, but you’re mostly fine? That’s where I am right now. It’s like what I imagine the eye of a hurricane would be like...maybe less dusty...

I won’t get into all of it, but I would ask you to pray for wisdom and protection for both myself, and the people who are involved. One of the situations especially, has the potential to really affect the guys here at the house. It has me a bit concerned.

I am going to tell you a bit about one of the situations though. Maybe someone has some advice for me. It’s probably the one that has me the most worried and baffled.

A young guy I know has been living with a family for a couple of years now, as he studies. This family has a history of mental instability. Different family members have struggled with everything from severe depression to outright schizophrenia. One of them has been in and out of the hospital a number of times.

You might think that this is likely genetic, except that the one of them is adopted and isn’t related by blood to the others. And yet she’s struggles with the same mental illnesses. What has me so worried, is that I’ve discovered that my young friend is quite possibly suddenly manifesting symptoms of the same type of mental illness. He has no history of any sort of mental or emotional issues in his past or family history, and suddenly (seemingly out of the blue) he’s having problems. Well...either that, or the story he’s telling me is true and that would mean even worse issues.

So is this possible? Could some sort of spiritual attack manifest itself as mental illness? I’m feeling like it could. There’s more to the story obviously, but it does feel like God’s been confirming that this is spiritual rather than physical or emotional. I have already taken him to a doctor (and we have follow up visits and tests planned), so I’m not just going down the “it’s just a spiritual attack” road too easily. But if it is...what now? I’ve prayed with him and taken authority over anything that might be influencing his thoughts and actions. Now what do we do?

I’m not feeling completely lost in this, just to be clear. But it’s certainly complicated and a bit confusing. I spoke with this young guy tonight, and the experiences he feels are taking place around him (and to him) are completely real in his mind. But...they’re just so completely out there and crazy, that it’s tough to believe that they are real.

For now I’m going to try and have him here at the house more. I’m also going to try and verify wether or not these experiences have actually taken place. This is a kid who is probably one of the most trustworthy, stable kids I know. So it’s weird to be questioning the truthfulness (in a way) of what he’s telling me.

Please pray for us through this. Obviously, as I said, it’s complicated and difficult. I’m worried for this young guy. Pray for wisdom and protection for each of us, and for healing for this kid. As well, that God would clarify the situation.

Finally...tomorrow afternoon (12:00 PM Saskatchewan time) I have a meeting with the director of the home I used to work at. If you know the situation at all, you’re aware that it’s a tense and difficult realtionship we have. I’m not really looking forward to talking with him (a lot of nasty things have happened over the past couple of years) but at the same time, I feel like I have a Biblical responsibility to try to be at peace with my brothers. So...off I go. I would appreciate your prayers for that too. I want to be honest and firm, without looking like I’m trying to attack or tear down him or his ministry. It’s a fine line.

Thanks everyone. I’ll try to keep you updated on all of this. Hopefully I won’t wait another week before I find the time to post again. =)

To end on a happier note.  I now have a film director living in my house.  Ruddy directed and filmed his first short film.  It's good.  He did some nice work with the camera angles and whatnot.  I was impressed.  As was he...  =)

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Thanksgiving in Bolivia...

I have some great memories of Thanksgivings past, here in Bolivia.  I have a few friends who know how to do it up right.  Probably my best Thanksgiving was a few years ago when I lived up in Cochabamba, another city here.  My friend Therese put out the best spread I’ve seen short of my mom’s house.  It was impressive.  What was just as impressive (if not more so) was that, after heaping my plate like I hadn’t heaped it since arriving in South America, I turned around to see my petite Canadian host sporting a plate just as full as mine.  That girl matched me bite for bite.  I’m still in awe...

However, these days most of my Canadian friends have left Bolivia for one reason or another, and so the option of just mooching off one of them seems to have abandoned me as well.  I was vaguely tossing around the idea of cooking something and made the mistake of mentioning that to that same friend, one day on Facebook.  The next day (or even maybe that same night, I don’t remember) she wrote me a three page e-mail outlining how to prepare the perfect Thanksgiving dinner.  She even included the Spanish names of spices and whatnot that I’d need.  I figured that if I wussed out at that point it would just be sad.  So Saturday afternoon, off to the grocery store I went to try and put together what was likely to be my biggest fiasco to date.

As a side note...standing in front of a wall of spices trying to figure out which one was Canela (cinnamon) or Muscade Moulue (ground nutmeg) was pretty much at the very outside edge of what I’m willing to do in a supermarket.  It took me like an hour.  Not to mention the very vague “Poultry spice” on the list.  What the heck is that?  There are a lot of bottles with little pictures of chickens on them.  They can’t all be chicken spice.  And to clarify...none of them actually said chicken spice.  I would have figured that one out.

I was quite sad that I couldn’t find any cranberry sauce.  Seriously...what’s a turkey without cranberry sauce?!  Later that night I was lamenting this to a North American friend who said that there was, in fact, cranberry sauce in the store.  She’d seen it.  It just wasn’t with the canned goods.  It was over near the freezers.  I hurried back to the store and sure enough...neatly stacked above the frozen fish section were two happy rows of canned cranberries.

Well, of course...the frozen fish department.  How’d I miss that?

So if the buying of the ingredients was this traumatic, I’m sure you’re wondering how the actual cooking of the meal went.  Here’s the thing...fairly well.  I know...I’m as surprised as you are.  There were a few glitches in the well-oiled machine that is my cooking ability...but I managed to fake my way past them in my normal Ken fashion.

My first oversight was when I decided to cook the pumpkin pies Saturday night.  That wasn’t so much the problem (my friend advised me to cook them the night before), as it was that I didn’t get a chance to start until 9 o’clock at night.  But I figured I’d be fine.  After all...how hard can cooking a couple of pies be?  What I failed to take into account was that I wasn’t cooking just a couple of pies.  I couldn’t find normal pie plates, so I’d bought these pans that made like eight little individual loafs.  I thought it’d be fun for everyone to have little personal pumpkin pies.  You know...very Martha Stewart.

Do you know how long it takes to flippin’ put dough into sixteen little personal pie plates?  Especially when I couldn’t get the dough to stay in one piece.  It kept falling apart.  So I had to cut one big rectangle for the bottom of the pan...another for the one side...another for the next side...another for the other side...another for the last side...  SIXTEEN TIMES I did that.  2:30 in the morning I finished those dumb pies.

The other problem were the cloves.  The recipe called for them, but somehow they didn’t look right once they were in the mix.  I could just imagine people trying to chomp down on these little brown...branchy looking things.  I was pretty sure I had the wrong stuff...

...so I tried to dig them out.  They kind of floated, so it sort of worked.  It took a while.  Then when I ate the pie and chomped on one that I’d missed...I kind of liked it.  So now I know...

And then there was the turkey.  You know how turkeys are supposed to have that little plastic pop-out thingy that tells you when the turkey is cooked?  I was very specific in choosing my turkey and made sure the package said that this turkey came equipped.  Except it didn’t.  When I opened the package, there was no little plastic thingy.  I did what any guy would do.  I called mom.  She assured me I’d be fine and that when the turkey was cooked, the legs and wings would move fairly easily and that’s how you could tell it was ready.

So the guys and I carefully stuffed our little friend (who I named “Fred”) and tied his little legs and butt thing together, and put him in his little tinfoil tent and put him in the oven.  I then came back to check on him at the appointed time...

...to find that his legs and wings had fallen off. His legs were still nicely tied together. They just weren’t attached to his body any more. I figured he was ready...

The only other thing that didn’t go exactly as planned was my broccoli/mushroom soup casserole.  It was just broccoli and some onions with mushroom soup and cheese.  But you can’t buy canned mushroom soup here (which the recipe called for) so I used a powdered soup mix instead.  I added all the liquid and figured it would thicken up as it cooked.  Except it didn’t.  So it was broccoli and cheese in a sort of cloudy water sauce.  The good thing was that it tasted fine and no one knew what it was supposed to be like.  They just figured that’s how Canadians cook their broccoli.

I’d invited our two pastors and another family from church over, and there were some definite culture moments as we sat down to eat.  But for once it wasn’t me that was having them.  So that was nice.  To start off, everyone was pretty sceptical about the creamed corn.  They’d never seen that before.  Andres very tentatively put his fork into the bowl and tried a tiny bit...and discovered that Ken wasn’t quite as out to lunch as he’d originally thought.  Cream corn ended up being a big hit.  One of the guys asked me how I prepared it.  I just told him it was “complicated” and left it at that...

The baked potatoes were a new thing too.  I demonstrated how you cut them open and mash a bit of margarine on them (I told them that it was tradition to make your tinfoil into a ball and throw it at someone.  I nailed Roberto square in the side of the head.  It was an impressive shot.  I also told them that it was tradition that you couldn’t throw your tinfoil ball back at the person that just hit you.  I like my traditions...).  I also had chives and some bacon bits...but sadly no sour cream.  Ivo (the husband of the family) could not get over how good it was.  He kept saying, “Never have I had margarine on potatoes before!”  They just don’t do that here.  He ate like three of them.

The cranberry sauce was a bit difficult to explain too.  No one could quite figure out why we were putting jam on our turkey.  But everyone had it again with their seconds, so I think they liked it.

The final funny moment came when it was time to eat the pies.  I was probably the most nervous about that.  First of all, I had never made a pie of any kind before in my life.  Secondly, deserts are one thing that don’t always cross that cultural divide very well.  Bolivian deserts are quite a bit different than our Canadian ones.  I explained that the pies were made from pumpkin and that this was a traditional desert that we ate at Thanksgiving.  Everyone was again surprised, since pumpkin is usually only used in soup here.  It’d be like us having a squash pie.

But...the pies were a big hit too.  The funny part was when Jorge (one of our pastors) was eating his pie.  He’d been in the bathroom when I explained what they were.  He was happily tossing it down when Ivo commented beside him, “I never thought I’d eat pumpkin in a dessert...”

“PUMPKIN?!” says Jorge staring at his pie. “This is pumpkin?!”

But he liked it.  So there you go.  It’s entertaining when people have that kind of reaction to your food.  Like I said earlier...it’s usually the other way around.  I figured since there was no food left at the end and everyone was moaning about how full they were...we did pretty good.  It was very Canadian and very Thanksgiving-ish.

Here are a few pictures of the happenings...

Sandro stuffing the turkey...

The guys helping chop vegtables.  If you think they

helped cook the rest of the meal?  Think again. 

Bolivia was playing Brazil on TV...

The turkey in the oven.  I didn't take this picture,

but obviously someone figured we needed

a picture of the turkey cooking...

Ruddy generously offered to hold a

plate of turkey so he could be in the picture...

The spread!  One thing missing you'll notice...no bowl of rice. 

I almost broke down and cooked a pot, but then

figured we could go one day without eating rice. 

Jorge actually commented afterwards

that he "didn't even miss the rice!"

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Ivo and Silvana's little guy Emiliano.  He was very cute. 

He kept going around saying,

"This is very good.  This is very good."

I'm thinking maybe he was coached before he got here...

This is our Thanksgivng Day group.  Mostly anyhow...

three of the guys got home late and

didn't make it into the picture.  But it's most of us...

One last thing that was interesting.  Silvana (the wife of the family) commented on the fact that Bolivia has a day for just about everything (which is true) but not one to be thankful.  Before we ate, I explained that often on Thanksgiving with my family, before we ate, we go around the table and just say a couple of things we’re thankful for.  Of course in good Bolivian form, when we did it here everyone kind of preached a little sermon about what they were thankful for.  It took awhile.  But what was cool was how seriously people took it.  When we got to the last of the guys, he could hardly talk.  He was very emotional and cried through just about his whole speech.  Silvana was the last to share and she cried as well.  It reminded me how important it is to express to God our thankfulness.  After everyone was finished, Jorge prayed.  It was a great way to start our first Thanksgiving Day dinner in the house!  =)

I might even try again for Christmas...
 

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Another prayer request...

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This is just a quick note to pass on some sad news and to ask you to pray.  Those of you who've been here will know who Jose Miguel is.  He called me this morning (he's not living here these days, but we've kept in good contact) to tell me that his father died yesterday.  This comes less than a year after his mom dying last February.  This has, obviously, already been a difficult and sad year for him. 

I'm leaving right now to go out to the town where he lives (it's a couple of hours out of Santa Cruz).  They'll be having the funeral this afternoon.  I'm a little nervous...this will be my first funeral on my own.  This family is quite poor and is very traditional in the sense of having some stranger religious beliefs.  But for sure Jose Miguel will need support and friendship through all of this.

Please pray for Jose Miguel and his family as they work through all the emotions and difficulties that come with the death of a family member.  Pray as well for Jose Miguel...he's been making some bad choices this past year, and I'm worried that this will make the situation worse for him.  Pray for wisdom and strength for him.  As well, if you could pray for me, I would appreciate it.  Like I said, I'm not quite sure what this day will hold...I'll certainly need guidance and wisdom as well.

Thanks everyone.  I'll let you know how things go when I have a moment.

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My Bolivian day...

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Sunday I had what was likely the most quintessential “Bolivian” day I’ve had in a long time...

It started after church when we decided to head to the river to eat “typical” (traditional) Bolivian fare for lunch.  Actually...it probably started in the morning when I forgot that we were having breakfast at church that day and got up at around the time we were supposed to be leaving.  That meant showering/shaving/ironing my shirt in fifteen minutes...screaming out the door...buying doughnuts (yes, yes...I know) for our contribution to breakfast and arriving at church only ten minutes late. 

Well...now that I think about it, that probably wasn’t so much “Bolivian” as it was just mostly just normal “Ken”...

Anyhow...returning to my original story...there’s a place here, down by the river, called “Las Cabanas”.  It’s a strip of sandy dirt road that stretches for a kilometre or so and is packed on both sides with restaurants that serve traditional foods.  It’s a fairly entertaining place.  The restaurants are all thatched roofed and most of the food is cooked in an open-fire pit or barbeque.  People cruise up and down the “strip” at about ten km/h checking out what restaurant they want to eat at (among other things).  People park and put BIG speakers in their trunks and blast their music in an obvious competition with the guy in the next car over who’s doing the exact same thing.  You can rent motorbikes or quads or horses...all of which are mostly old and kind of lame looking, although everyone seems to enjoy them.  People just generally hang out and enjoy each other’s company.  It always makes me feel like I’m up at the lake during the summer.  It has that kind of feel.

As Sandro is our resident expert on all things traditionally Bolivian, we trusted him to choose the restaurant.  Of course that meant a long drive at a very slow speed (as I mentioned) while he inspected each restaurant we passed.  In my opinion?  They’re all the same.  But obviously that’s coming from, what past experience has told us, is an uninformed gringo.  =)  I’ve learned to (mostly) keep my mouth shut.

Finally we arrived at a restaurant that satisfied Sandro and in we went.  The restaurants are all open-air and crowded with people.  We found ourselves a table and shared the one menu we were given.  It was a little hard to concentrate, what with the gigantic karioke machine blasting away on one side of us and the four little (mostly little) old men on the other side of us (in traditional Santa Cruz outfits) playing their two big drums, a flute and a shaker made out of a gourd.  Granted the karioke machine had terrible speakers, but giving credit where credit is due...those old dudes held their own.  They banged it out with the best of them.

I didn’t know most of the things on the menu...the chicken was about all I recognized.  So the guys tried to explain some of the foods to me, although they really had problems with one dish in particular.  Finally one of the guys gestured to my keys what were laying on the table, and pointed to my Canadian key tag.

“It’s that...” he said.

BEAVER?!

That did actually make my lunch choice a little easier.

The chicken it is, then.

I’m pretty sure it wasn’t actually beaver...but any animal that’s kind of like a beaver?  Best avoided in my gringo opinion.

While we waited for the food to arrive, a continuous trail of people passed the table trying to sell us everything from candy and cigarettes to blow-up Pink Panthers on a stick.  One Ayore (a indigenous people group here) lady with her baby on her hip, was selling necklaces.  I like to support people who are trying to support themselves, so I agreed to buy one.  I was leaning towards the ones with the big seeds on the end (cooler than they sound) until one of the guys explained that the one with the two inch square diamond of something blackish was made of turtle.

Seriously? Turtle?!

Then I would like the turtle one please ‘cause that’s just kind of cool.

I put it on and the guys all admired it.  It’s kind of big and gangly...more something you’d wear to the beach, I think.  Which...since that was more or less where I was...kind of worked.

Then lunch arrived. For future reference...remember that Sandro likes weird traditional food.  Don’t sit next to him...

My chicken was good, but it paled in comparison to Andres’ plate.  He got some kind of meat, and seriously?  I would have eaten it even if it was beaver.  It was amazing.  No doubt...next time?  That’s what I’m getting.

As we finished up, the old men music group started walking around and playing at individual tables.  My thought that they were looking for tips was confirmed when they plopped their bowl down on the table and kept playing until we put something into it.  I’m thinking of incorporating this idea into my next missionary fundraising trip home.  What’d ya thing?  I come over to your house, and then when it’s time to leave I put my bowl on your table and sit there and stare at you until you put something in it.  =)  It seemed to work like gang busters for these guys.

After lunch we drove out onto the sandbars along the river.  This place is very cool.  There are tons of people parked out on the sand...people are playing in the water and listening to music (loudly).  It’s great.  We drove way up the river and then when we found a big open spot did what any Canadian farm kid would do.  We did some serious fish-tailing and sprayed big rooster tails of sand everywhere.  The guys had never done that before (and trust me when I say my truck did a spectacular job).  The guys were impressed, entertained and a little terrified...all at the same time.  It was lots of fun.

After a couple of hours of them playing soccer on the sand and me (with my handy-dandy Superstore folding chair that I brought back from Canada) reading a book, we headed for home.

...only to get caught in the most ridiculous traffic jam ever.  It was crazy.  The road along the river is really just a dirt trail mostly, with trees filled in on both sides.  In places it divides into two lanes with more trees in the middle.  Some brilliant people decided to park in what was supposed to be the lane for people heading down to the river.  As a result, the traffic (and there was a lot of it) was trying to pass each other in the other lane.  Eventually that stopped working (it didn’t work great in the first place) and traffic backed up in both directions.

We just stopped.  There was nothing anyone could do.  Finally someone went looking for the owners of the vehicles that were stupidly parked.  Meanwhile the rest of us sat there and made friends with everyone else who was stuck.  It’s funny how shared frustration makes you best friends with people you’ve never met before.  One guy stood at my window and complained the whole time to me.  I didn’t understand 90% of what he was saying (he was annoyed and talking fast), so I just gave him a “For sure...” every few minutes with the occasional, “Exactly!” thrown in for good measure.

We were quite good buddies by the time the other owners returned.

Then in good Bolivian fashion everyone had to yell and argue for ten minutes with the guys who’d parked so stupidly, rather than just let them move their vehicles.  While certainly cathartic, I was mostly just ready to go home.  And THEN the lady in front of me decided she no longer wanted to go to the river and decided to turn her car around in the tiny little space in front of me.  She came very close to blocking traffic all over again.  I seriously would have just driven over her little car and not looked back.  Fortunately she managed to get things worked out (after grinding her undercarriage over a big tree root), and we were on our way once again.

Eventually we made our way out of the whole area, and to tell you how popular this place is, there were cars backed up at the gate for at least a mile.  I’m sure they were looking at least an hour or more before they even got in, much less found a restaurant.

All in all? Highly entertaining. I’m a little sunburnt and we were all ready for a nap when we got home...but fully worth every minute.  I’m definitely taking my parents there when they come to visit.  =)

And to end my “Bolivian” day? I was trying to help Sandro with his knee which he seemed to have wrenched playing soccer.  I was opening one of those cold packs where you pop the bag inside the other bag, mix the two chemicals together and it’s instantly cold...and the outside bag decided to burst instead and sprayed the chemicals all over Sandro’s chest and legs.  Turns out those chemicals are a little caustic and kind of burn...or so it seemed judging from Sandro’s reaction.  No worries though.  We got him rinsed off and fixed up in no time.

Come to think of it...again, that's probably not so much “Bolivian” as it is just “Ken”... =)

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What happens when it rains...

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And here we are with....the next installment of "Ken's Home Videos..."!  (Roar of applause...)

It's hard to describe what the rainy season here can be like.  This past year it was relatively dry.  The water only soaked through one side of the house and peeled all the paint off the walls on that side.  Oh....and I guess there was the time when our patio flooded and the water ran past the sliding glass doors and waterfalled down the stairs to the first floor of the house...

But all that pales in comparison to the rainy day in this video.  This took place a couple of years ago (this coming Christmas).  Right around the time Saskatoon got that crazy blizzard.  So I guess this would be our version of the "Blizzard of 2007"...   =) 

We were VERY fortunate that my house was built on enough of a hill that we didn't get flooded out like all of our neighbours.  They had a mess to clean up.  This rain actually ended up destroying a bridge just up the road from us.  A little gully (about 15 or 20 ft across) ended up washing out and becoming a huge valley (100 ft or more across) and four or five houses ended up washing away as well.  It actually made the news in Canada.

Anyhow...just one more crazy experience in the life of Missionary Ken...

PS  For those of you who watched the fireworks videos a few posts back.  Don't just watch the first ones!  WATCH THE LAST ONE!  The first ones are kind of boring.  The last one is the funniest.  I think everyone is getting bored before they get to the last one...AND IT'S THE FUNNIEST! 

There...I've said my piece.

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My latest run in with the Police...

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Okay people...you need to circle this day on your calendar, or put a big X on it...or whatever it is you do to mark important days in history...

I got pulled over by the police this morning and they were mostly honest with me and didn’t come at me with big dollar signs flashing in their eyes.

It was kind of a special moment.  If you’ve been following this blog for more than five minutes, you know what kind of relationship I normally have with the police down here.

So here’s the story....just around the corner from my neighbourhood, on the fourth ring, there’s been a police “inspection” area set up, where they wave cars and trucks over to the edge of the road and “inspect” them.  I’ve been passing this are with dread ever since I came back from Canada.  I do everything I can think of to avoid getting pulled over...I try to pass it with other vehicles in between me and the police guy who waves the cars off the road (which usually means accelerating and weaving in between other vehicles)...I make sure I don’t make eye contact with anyone as I drive by...I even pretend to be on my cell phone and not paying attention (that actually works here).

Today, however, I got caught.  There were no other cars nearby and the police officer was more or less in the middle fo the road, blocking my way.  There wasn’t much I could do.  I had a momentary vision in my head of pretending I didn’t see him and just continuing on my way.  He looked quick...I’m sure he would have gotten out of the way.  However, I’ve been trying to be a better missionary these days, so....I pulled over.  I steeled myself for the inevitable battle of wills that would play out as the officer tried to manipulate money out of me that I was not willing to pay.

The officer came up to my window and proceeded to explain that I needed an “inspection” sticker for my truck.  I put the word “inspection” in quotation marks because no one actually inspects your vehicle.  You just buy the sticker and you’re good to go.  I got pulled over two years ago for not having one.  The officer that day told me it was 90 bolivianos.  I got him down to 60.  Later my friend was looking at the sticker I had just paid for and saw that it had 30 bolivianos written on it.  You can see why I’m suspicious.

But the officer today was very polite and explained that I needed this sticker.  I asked him how much and he told me 50 bolivianos.  I didn’t actually have that much on me, and told him I only had 40 (which was true). He then said that 40 was okay too.  =)

BUT...(and this is the part I appreciate) then he said that if I just went to a specific bank and paid for it there, it would only be 30 bs.  Then I could just come back with the receipt and they’d give me my sticker (which is the correct way to do it).  Forgiving his initial little 20 boliviano inflation of the price, he was honest and nice about it.  I told him I’d be happy to go to the bank and pay for it there.  He said that would be fine and then waved me on my way.

Go.  Figure.

At that exact moment, the sun came out, the birds started to sing and I had peace in my heart.  We’ll see how it goes when I go back with my little receipt and try to get my sticker...

In unrelated news, I’m taking today off.  My friend Jorge is going to spend the afternoon with the guys at the house, and I’m hanging out at my favourite little coffee place.  Lately I’ve been feeling the need to get away for a bit.  If you have a moment and can pray for us down here, I’d appreciate prayer for myself.  I’ve been feeling kind of out of sorts.  Partly I’m sure it’s because I’ve been sick for awhile...but there are other things going on too.  I’m definitely feeling like things need to get back on a better keel.

Oh hey, I hear it’s getting cooler in Canada these days.  We can relate, it’s been cold and rainy here lately too.

Of course...things will only bet better for us... =) 

Thanks for praying everyone!

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What's going to happen...

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I had lunch today with one of the guys who's asked to move in.  I was thinking that I'd tell him he needed to wait another month before moving in...even if I had to help pay for his rent...while I thought and prayed about this a bit more.  But the conversation went well, and some of the concerns and questions I had were answered.  I talked to the guys here at the house about the situation, and we agreed that he should be given an opportunity.  So he'll be moving in tomorrow.  It seems that he understands his mistakes and is trying to make some changes.  So...I guess we'll see.


This probably means I'll let the other fellow move in as well.  As I said, his situation is fairly serious too.  And as the saying goes...in for a dime, in for a dollar.  Or something like that... =)  Or maybe it’s something about falling into the deep end of the pool...

At any rate, when I last spoke to this other fellow, he was pretty emotional (very unusual for him) and as we prayed together, he was crying a lot.  I'm actually more confident about this guy.  He tends to be a bit of a follower, and that's gotten him in most of his trouble.  He comes from a very poor home, and I think he's embarrassed by that.  He ends up over-compensating and going along with just about anyone who says, “Let’s go do...” whatever.  But I think for the first time he’s realizing where that could lead him and what he could lose.

The other factor in all of this, is that by taking these two guys in, I will probably cause more problems with the home where I used to work (where these guys are from).  I’m not a part of that ministry anymore, and really have no connection with them...but there’s not too much doubt that this will ramp up the tensions that exist there.  That’s not at all what I want for sure.  But in the end, I have to do what I feel God is leading me to do.  Absolutely these guys have made mistakes.  But...we’ve all done that at some time or another.  They have no plans to return to the other home, and so I have to ask myself what’s best for them.  In my heart I believe that continuing to work with them is the right thing to do.  I guess we’ll see about that too... =)

So again, I would appreciate prayer regarding all of this.  I still need to figure out what to do with the other guys who want to stay here.  And the truth is, our resources are a little bit stretched at the moment.  So I need to take that into consideration as well.

It’s good to know that people back home are praying about this with us.  That’s encouraging!  If you have any thoughts or whatever, please let me know!

Well...I guess I should go figure out my financial stuff.  I'm backed up for about...oh, six months. 

That should be fun...

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A big prayer request...wrapped up in a novel...

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I’m facing a bit of a dilemma right now, and I could use some prayer.

A little background first of all.  While I was in Canada, one of the guys here decided to move in with family.  That was a good decision on his part.  He was making some bad choices and causing problems in the house...I was actually thinking I might have to ask him to leave.  In the end he recognized that the lifestyle he was leading was not going to be possible with us, and so he left.  We’ve maintained good ties with him and we continue to pray for him.  He’s come back for supper a couple of times, so that’s good.

One other fellow moved in with his family as well.  That was a better situation.  I would have enjoyed having this young guy continue with us, but living with his parents was not a bad choice.  Over the past year or so, he’d built a good relationship with them (after not really knowing them for most of his life) and felt like he wanted to be closer to them.  The only thing I’m a bit concerned about, is that he hasn't come to church since he left.  He has a girlfriend and a young son, and they were all coming to church each week.  I could really see God at work in them.  But since he left, he’s been working Sunday mornings, and we haven’t seen him.

The third situation was the most difficult.  We’ve known for awhile that someone was stealing in the house.  I was fairly sure it was one of the two guys who’d moved in recently (this past year).  We’d had no problems at all before that.  This caused a lot of stress for the rest of the guys.  Stealing was a bad problem in the home they came from, and to have it start up here was making them angry.  In the end there'd been enough things stolen, that we made the decision to ask a friend who’s a police officer, if he could help us out.  We told the guys what was going to happen, and that the guilty party had two more days to come clean.  It was a tough decision, but we couldn’t allow the situation to continue (at that point we’d lost close to $1000 worth of money and stuff).  No one confessed, but early in the morning of the last day, this young fellow took off (with a full backpack).

It was one of the saddest moments yet for me.  I really like this guy.  It sounds weird I know, but I truly think he has a good heart.  He just got caught up in temptation and his past.  The most interesting part of this story, however, is what God did in the midst of all of this.  That first night when I spoke to the guys and explained what was going to happen, one of the guys especially, was upset.  He was angry that, after everything the guys had received, someone was choosing to take more.

At the end of the meeting, I asked him to pray.  He started off kind of quietly, but as he prayed, he prayed more and more fervently and with a lot of emotion.  When we were finished, he came and talked to me.  His whole body was shaking, and he told me that he felt that the Holy Spirit had spoken to him, and that in the end, God would make everything clear and we would know what had happened.  I put my hand on his shoulder and said that, then we could have peace and know that God was going to deal with this.

After he left I was like, “Okay God...you need to deal with this!  We need to know!”  =)  I don’t know about you, but sometimes it’s can be a bit stressful when you go out on that limb of faith with a young Christian.  But I felt like it was the right thing to do.  Did I trust and believe that God had spoken to this fellow or not?

There was one other guy who was also especially upset.  He was pretty sceptical that we’d ever know who’d done this.  I’d talked and talked to the guys, and no one had come forward.  In the old home, no one was ever caught for stealing and the situations were never resolved.  So he was of the opinion that I was being a bit foolish in saying that this would be figured out.  The night before the guilty kid left, this guy was reading his Bible and praying.  He told me the next morning (before he knew what had happened) that, for the first time in a long time, he’d gone to bed feeling completely at peace.

So in the end, when we talked about all of this, I was able to point to specific moments when God was working, throughout the experience.  I explained to the guys that we were never alone, even in our anger and frustration.  It was cool to see how God...and really for one of the first times that they recognized...had spoke them in a powerful and direct way.

We also had the opportunity to talk about how we were going to respond to this...how important forgiveness was.  Not just for the kid who left, but for us as well.  I started to say that our things were not as important, and before I could finish one of the other guys said, “...as this guy’s life...”.

Exactly.

Interestingly enough...that got put to the test the next Sunday when our young friend who’d left, showed up in church...wearing all new clothes and a new pair of shoes.  We were all a little surprised to say the least.  =)  But the guys did great and talked to him as a friend.  I did sit down with him later and spoke to him fairly strongly about what he’d done.  I’m not completely sure it’s completely sunk in...what he’s lost.  We’ll continue to pray for him and work with him...but he won’t be able to live and study here.

Well...my “little background” turned into a bit of a novel.  Suffice to say that I now have three empty beds and five guys who want to move in.  I have to make some decisions in the next week or so...and it’s really tough.  What I choose is going to deeply affect the lives of each one of these guys.  A couple of the guys have made some bad choices in the recent past.  I can see the potential in them, but I’m not sure it’s fair to put the guys who are here at the house through another potentially difficult situation.  And yet...the situation for both these guys is serious.  If they don’t move in here, they’ll lose...well, everything.

One of the other guys is in another home, but his situation there is deteriorating as well.  The home isn’t that well run, and the other day two guys returned drunk (and probably high), picked a fight with him and broke his nose.

The last two guys are very deserving and I’d love to help them.  They can both probably survive on their own, but in jobs that they hate and that will, in the end, take them nowhere.

So...yea. I have no idea what to do.  Put up a tent in the backyard?  For sure I’d appreciate your prayers.  I need a lot of wisdom and discernment.  As well, if you could pray for these three young guys who’ve left us.  They all have great potential.  I know that God will continue to work in their live, but it’s going to be a difficult road.

Thanks everyone, for taking the time to read this. And as always, for praying.  I'll keep you updated on the situation...

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