Feliz Navidad!

Christmas morning dawned hot and sunny in Santa Cruz!  A little different that what we experienced here in Saskatchewan.  I have to admit that I enjoyed having snow for Christmas.  It's the one thing I miss.  And it was pretty warm out (for Saskatchewan) so that was fun too.

But Christmas in Bolivia seemed fun as well.  I didn't get to enjoy it with the guys this year, but we did Skype and I went around the house with my laptop so my family could all say hi to the guys!  Technology is a good thing.  =)

Here are some of the pictures that Maribel took of the festivities....

 

Setting off fireworks at midnight!

 

 

I may have enjoyed the snow in Canada but I missed the fireworks in Bolivia.

 

 

The fireworks were followed by the traditional Christmas meal of roast pork.

 

 

Christmas morning brunch!

 

 

That was my tradition!  =)

 

 

Opening presents!

 

 

Soccer jerseys for all!  (And money to buy a pair of jeans).

 

 

Getting ready for Canadian Christmas supper.

 

 

Maribel took over this year.

 

 

I sent her a long message on how to cook a turkey along with this helpful picture...

 

 

 

 

But all too soon (for the turkeys) it was into the pans...

 

 

Looks pretty good! 

The Santa Claus on the table is a new addition.  It sings and dances...

 

 

Everyone was gracious and told me my cooking skills were missed.  =) 

Bolivians are nice people.

 

Once again a huge thank you to all of you who gave a little extra to make sure that Christmas happened for the guys!  We really appreciate it.  And a big thank you to Maribel and Andres for all their work and to the guys for stepping up and helping Maribel make it happen!  =)

 

Feliz Navidad everyone!

 

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Merry Christmas from Bolivia!

Maribel and Roberto sent me some pictures of decorating the house for Christmas.  Roberto's pictures were accompanied by the message, "We don't remember where everything goes!"  =)  He also wrote, "When are you buying pizza?" 

I usually have to bribe the guys with pizza...

But they did a good job! 

Getting everything out of storage and organized.

 

 

Putting greenery and lights up around the doors.

 

 

Yimy always finds something special to hang over his door.

 

 

When I first saw these pictures I wasn't entire sure what was happening...

 

 

Still not sure....

 

  

Ah...Bolivian ingenuity....

 

 

More greenery. 

 

Thanks Mom and Dad for all the greenery you bought us on your first trip to Bolivia...

 

 

And...more greenery and lights....

 

 

Somewhere along the way since last year our Christmas tree grew arms...

 

 

Maribel making Christmas-y things....

 

 

All done for another year...

 

 

It looks pretty Winter Wonderlandish....as much as something

can look Winter Wonderlandish when it's 40 C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to everyone who gave a little extra this Christmas to make sure this all happened.  Maribel tells me that the presents are purchased and the guys have convinced her to cook a turkey on Christmas day in my absence.  I'm sending her notes.  =)  They're also cooking Christmas dinner for the little shoe shiner family we know.  Well...not so little since there are ten kids.

An extra special thank you to those of you who prayed for and supported us this past year!  On behalf of myself, Maribel and all the guys, we greatly appreciate it!

Merry Christmas!

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It's a new semester!

Hi Everyone!

Even though it's summer (sort of) in Canada, in Bolivia it's the start of a new semester!  Which means in August we have to pay for tuition for nine of the guys.  As you can imagine, it's always a bit of a challenge to come up with the money all at one time. 

If you'd like to help out, you can click on the link to the right of this post called "To Donate".  Or you can contact International Teams directly at 1-800-465-7601 and they'd be happy to help you.

Thanks everyone!  I promise to get some pictures up here soon of our trip to Canada!  =)

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Life.

My friend Corina sent out an update letter the other day and she shared a story about her son, Keiden.  She wrote how he usually has a nap in her office during the afternoon on a little mattress in the corner.  She props the door open so he can leave when he wakes up. 

The other day she heard him start to scream in fear, "MOMMY!!"  So she ran to her office to find out what was wrong.  Tears overflowing, he said, “I couldn’t open (snif, snif) the door."  "But, sweetheart!!! I was right here!!!  All you had to do was call Mommy and I’d come and open the door!!”  She said a little light went on in his head, "Oh yeah...."

 

Then she wrote, "It made me think… how often, when we don’t know what to do or something is beyond our control, are we are overcome by worry… paralyzed by our fears?  And our Heavenly Father kindly speaks, 'But dear child!  I was right here… all you had to do was call…'”

 

That really resounded with me when I read it.  Some of you know the challenges we've been facing down here lately.  Situations that cause me to feel a little panicked and make it hard to breath some days. 

 

But in the midst of everything that's happening, when I remember to step back and just ask God to open the door...He does. 

 

A couple of things you can pray about with us...

 

There's a young guy who used to live with us, Ruddy, who's facing a difficult family time.   Many of you know him.  His mom is pretty sick and isn't doing very well.  I've been spending a lot of time walking that road with him, trying to help prepare him for the eventuality that she might not be here much longer.  It's tough because he really doesn't have anyone else. 

 

Even in the midst of the tears and emotion that goes with that, it's been cool to see God at work.  Ruddy has an older brother who lives in Argentina who they haven't seen in probably two or three years.  It's been over a year since they talked to him (the number they have for him doesn't work).  Yesterday Ruddy was in tears because his mom keeps asking for this brother but Ruddy didn't know how to contact him.  He wrote a message to a friend who lives in Argentina to let the brother know they were trying to contact him, but this friend only checks his Facebook every month or so.  Ruddy was thinking about going to try and find his brother but he was afraid his mom would die while he was gone.  He was feeling completely overwhelmed by trying to figure out what to do.

 

We talked about it, and in the middle of the tears I tried to encourage him to focus on the moment and what needed to happen right now...and to trust God with the rest.  Then we prayed that his brother would get in contact with them.  On my drive home I threw in a little more prayer and really asked God to help them make that connection.

 

Ten minutes after I got home, Ruddy called.  He was so emotional I couldn't figure out what we were talking about at first.  Then I understood...his brother had called.  After over a year.  You really can't fault God's timing.  Ruddy needed to know that he wasn't alone on this journey and that God was listening.  So God showed him. 

 

We call out and God listens.

 

As well, a couple of weeks ago the owner of the house asked for a meeting.  Turns out they want to sell the house (after telling us this year that we could have it as long as we needed).  They're going to honour our contract which gives us until February to figure something out.  That may seem like a long time, but it's really not.  We had a tough time finding the house we're in, and I haven't seen many other places that would suit us as well.  But having said that, I'm not overly worried.  I have no doubt there will be some challenges involved, but God has proven himself incredibly faithfully up to this point...so I certainly have no reason to think that's going to change. 

 

At this point we feel like our next step is to try and build...as crazy and overwhelming as that seems some days.  But we've had plans for a few years now and it seems like the time.  I'll have more info soon on that for those of you who are interested.

 

There are other situations...some are pretty serious (panic, can't breath inducing), but through it all God is showing His faithfulness.  I get frustrated with the guys and God moves in one of them to do something thoughtful and mature and they all get to live another day.  I get overwhelmed by the number of needs here and how to try and meet them and then God changes my heart and helps me to understand that it's not by my strength but by His.  We call and He listens.

 

Thanks again for praying everyone.  When you pray it really does make a difference down here. 

 

Check back here in the next couple of days because I might have some pretty cool news to share!  =) 

 

Yimy's a few blocks away in the truck so I have to go.  Just gonna leave it at that for now...

 

 

 

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Huh...

I still have a blog...

Who knew.

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A random conversation...

Larry was at my house for breakfast on Monday.  We do a discipleship thing every week.  After we were done, we were just kind of shooting the breeze.  He was wearing shorts and I noticed a scar on his leg behind his knee so I asked him how he got it.  He said that he got tangled up in some barbed wire when he was a kid and instead of trying to get out slowly, he just ripped it loose and gave himself a pretty good scar.

Then he pointed to a scar on his other leg and said that he got that one when a monkey bit him. 

I was like, "A monkey?  How did that happen?  Was it a wild monkey?" 

"No, it was a pet."

"Why did it bite you? 

He got kind of a sheepish look on his face.

"Well...I kind of bugged it a lot."

Then he showed me a scar on his stomach and said he got it in a fight...the guy stabbed him.  Then he showed me another scar on his back, "Here too."

Then he pointed to the scar on his cheek.  That one was from the motorbike accident in September. 

Then he started laughing...the one on his forehead?  Well, he had a bracelet on his wrist and a dog jumped up and bit onto it with it's mouth and wouldn't let go.  So Larry was trying to get rid of the dog by cutting the bracelet off with a knife.  When the knife finally cut through the string and the dog and braclet fell off his wrist, the knife arm jerked upwards and he stabbed himself in the forehead. 

I laughed very hard.

I love these conversations...

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"Bolivia: Treasures Within"

As some of you know, my friend Jacqueline was down here filming a travel show about Bolivia this past year.  I had a ton of fun driving her around and being the entertainment while she did her filming.

Well...okay...she was pretty entertaining all by herself.  I think we may have egged each other on a little.

If you want a little better idea of what Bolivia is like and where I live, take a look at the 90 sec trailer she posted.  It's a lot of fun!  There are a couple of money shots of my truck that I'm proud of.  And Andres got a speaking part...




If you come visit me we'll have an adventure! 

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Taxi cab confessions...

Yimy had the truck today helping someone, so I was briefly forced to take a taxi. 

Public transportation never ceases to amuse and entertain me.  When I'm in it.  When I'm following it in my truck it makes me want to ram it and drive over it.

Anyhow...here's my conversation with my driver.

Driver: "That's our casino."  (as we drive past a casino that's been closed for a couple of years)  "It's closed."

Then he says with disgust..."Evo."

Evo is our president of whom many (most) lowlanders are not a fan of.  He's to blame for all of the ills that befall us. Including, it seems, the closing of the casino (which didn't pay it's taxes and was therefore shut down).

The conversation continues.

"Where are you from?  The United States or Europe?"

"I'm from Canada."

"Canada?!" he says approvingly.  "CanaDA.  CanaDA.  CanaDA" 

He just kept saying it every couple of seconds as we drove.  Then he asked, "Is that close to Holland?"

"No.  But it's close to the United States."

"Ah..."

We drove in silence for a time.

"How long have you been in Bolivia?"

"About seven years."

"SEVEN YEARS?!"  He seemed impressed by this.

"Are you going to marry a Bolivian girl?"  'Cause you know...that's the next obvious question.

Laughing a little I replied, "I don't know.  I dated a Bolivian girl a couple of years ago."  Why I volunteered this information I have no idea.  It just encouraged him.

"You did?  But you're not with her now?"

"No."

"Why?  Was it because she wanted to get married and you you didn't?"

"Uh...no not exactly."

"Was it because you wanted to get married but she didn't?"

"Uh...no not exactly."  At this point I really want out of this weirdly personal and awkward conversation with my total stranger taxi driver so I start tapping my fingers on the door in time to the music.

"Ah you like this music?!"  He's sufficiently distracted.

"Of course.  It's clasic rock!"  It was some song in English from the 1970's.

"Yes!  It's my favourite!  How old are you?"  Again with the weirdly personal questions.

"45."

"Then you understand about this music!"  Yes...because I was 4 when this song came out.

"There's a bar where only single people go to meet other single people who like this music too.  People who are 40 or 45 or 50." 

Uh...

Not sure how to respond to that.

As I'm contemplating my answer he says, "So you're Catholic." 

Seriously I can't keep up.

"Uh no...I'm evangelical."  Thinking this conversation is moving in a more serious, spiritual direction I add, "I work here with a Baptist group."

"AND YOU LIKE THIS MUSIC?!?"  he yells at me and starts killing himself laughing.

I start laughing too.  "Of course!  And lots of my friends like it too!"

"Truthfully?!"

"Yes!"

At this point we've arrived at my destination and I pay him.  As I get out of the car and he drives away I hear one more, "CanaDA" and him still laughing. 

Ah public transportation...

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Why won't it stop raining?!

For those of you who aren't on Facebook...let me recap briefly...

I wanted to do something a bit different with this class from SCS, so Tuesday we took the group up into the jungle to our favourite waterfalls.  Yimy and I checked the road out the day before and it was fine...nice and dry and no major issues. 

We had a fun (if a little rough) trip in and then the kids had the chance to enjoy one of the prettiest places I know.  One of the girls said she was speechless for three minutes before she could do anything.  =)

While we were swimming and enjoying lunch, it started to rain.  I figured it was just a little shower like we've been having off and on for the past couple of weeks.  Usually the sun is out again after a few minutes.

Except this time it didn't happen.  It just kept raining.

So we decided to take off early and head back into the city before the road got too bad. 

Yea...missed that one by a bit. 

I was in the first truck and I knew right away we were in trouble.  My truck handled the mud well enough (okay...there was a little sliding around but nothing too major), but I knew the bus was going to have problems.  I sent Americo hiking back to tell the bus not to try to go anywhere (he ran for 45 minutes), while I drove my group of kids out.  I figured we could ferry the kids out in the two trucks...I had no idea what we were going to do with the bus.

We waited out at the river and after a bit, Yimy arrived with the other truck and the rest of the kids.  We hired another bus to drive the kids back into the city and I went with them while Yimy headed back to where the bus was stuck.  He and a couple of the guys got the bus unstuck and tried to convince the driver to park the bus at someone's house and leave with them until it was dry enough to drive out.  He didn't want to leave, so Yimy and the guys headed back to the city (at 4 AM).

The SCS group got away fine the next morning and in the afternoon (after sleeping) Yimy, Roberto and Larry tried to get back to the bus via another road that didn't have to cross the river.  By now the news was reporting that low-lying areas along the river were being evacuated (by helicopter) and that the river was expected to rise by two metres overnight.

The guys didn't make it either.  I was waiting for updates and at 2 AM they called and said they were stuck.  At 4 AM they said they were going to sleep in the truck and try to find a tractor in the morning.

The next day Americo and I borrowed a friend's truck and went looking for them. 

I took pictures...

Roberto sleeping in the park of a little village

after walking out of the jungle with Yimy for six hours...

 

 

We parked my friend's truck and walked in the last mile or so...

 

 

The truck was in the middle of that mudhole at 4 AM...

 

 

By the time we got there Larry had found someone with

a tractor to pull the truck out...

 

 

The guys all happy that the truck is out of the mud...

 

 

10 minutes later...

 

 

Words fail...

 

 

Yimy tried to dig for awhile and then he and Larry went

after the tractor guys while I, Roberto and Americo kept at it.

 

My back is feelin' it today...

 

 

The guys shovelled sand into the box to try

and weigh it down a little...

 

 

Ohhh...the cab of my truck...

 

 

Yimy had to take the truck to three different places today

before he found someone willing to wash it...

 

 

Roberto's sandals...

 

Well...technically they're mine since he borrowed them from me.

 

I got the car wash guy to power wash my shoes when

I had my friend's truck washed...

 

 

Finally the tractor showed up...

 

 

The tractor guys made a killing off me.  But I had no option...and they knew that.  Oh well...they were nice enough guys otherwise. 

We eventually made it out of the jungle (I've never been that far back into the middle of nowhere) and after one other dicey spot we were on our way home.

The bus driver is still waiting with his bus.  I heard today that the rain is supposed to let up by Sunday but I'm sure it'll be a day or two after that before he can drive out. 

I imagine he'll be grumpy.

We will be paying him for his time, so hopefully that will help.  But I don't imagine he'll be driving for us next year.  =) 

Anyhow...thanks for praying for us and please keep praying for the driver.  I feel bad about what's happened, even though it wasn't really anyone's fault and we've tried hard to get to him.  I'm sure it'll be fine eventually but I'll be glad when it's over.

So...another day in South America...

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My Little Shoeshiner Family...

Last year I wrote a little about this family and how I know them.  I haven't seen them in awhile, but last week as I drove past the Cristo statue and stopped at the traffic light, Christian came running out from the sidewalk waving his list of school supplies.  I have no idea how many days he'd been there watching for me, but I guess he knew I'd drive past eventually.

You should read the above link, but just in case you don't, Christian and his brothers are shoeshiner kids I got to know a number of years ago.  I help them out whenever I can and I took Christian and his brother to buy their school supplies last year.

So we made plans to get together this morning to buy the supplies they need for this school year (school starts in February here). 

Larry and I arrived at the house only to be handed the school lists of all the kids (six) who are currently in classes (there are ten kids all together).  But it's tough to say no when you see how this family lives and how hard they're trying to stay together and maintain a "normal" life.

We picked up Maribel...after being lost for half an hour on a "shortcut".  The funny part was the family was so excited about everything we saw...so I don't think it mattered much.  I imagine it was the first time for the two youngest girls to ride in a car or truck or vehicle in general (other than a city bus).

We also went by the children's home where Andres and Sandro have their soccer ministry.  I wanted to show the boys and invite them to be a part of it.  I think they were excited about it because I got asked about every five minutes for the rest of the morning when I was going to take them back.   =)  So they'll be going next week for sure!

Maribel went with the kids' mom and Christian to buy everything while Larry and I entertained the two girls and little Brian.  Turns out it's tough to entertain little kids in a vehicle for an hour and a half. 

So I taught them rock, paper, scissors.  It was lots of fun.

The three youngest. 

 

I wish I'd gotten a picture of the disgust on Brian's face

right after this from having his sister's arm around him...

 

 

...without his sister's arm around him...

 

 

Rock, paper, scissors...

 

 

Funny enough...Larry lost a lot...he's a bit predictable.

 

 

If you look closely his arm is actually red....

 

It's mostly from me...I don't claim to be the best parent.

 

 

Seriously...this went on for like an hour.  Kid are weird. 

 

 

Back at the house with all the bags of school supplies.

 

There were lots of smiles and happy faces!

 

 

Mom and the kids looking through their bags of goodies!

 

I still really love their purple house with green chairs....

 

It helps to have these moments when life get's grumpy.  It's good to remember that God has good plans for us.  I also need to say a big thank you to the Christian School kids...they're coming in a month and some of the extra ministry money they raised went towards buying these school supplies.  It was over $300 US for everything, so it was a huge blessing to have those funds!  I don't know you all yet, but THANKS GUYS!

And that was my morning...
 

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