Matthew 19:21

If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." (NIV)

Of course, this is a quote of Jesus, but I find myself literally living this out right now as I prepare to go back to Bolivia. I am going through my stuff, designating stuff to keep, stuff to sell, stuff to donate to charity and stuff to throw away. This is in an effort to simplify my life so that while I'm gone I have not much earthly treasure to worry about since I don't know where the Lord will settle me. I know until Fall 2008, Bolivia is my home.

This is contrasted by my parents who are at the moment preparing to move as well across the state and I hear them so many times complain about how much stuff they have. I think I'd rather follow Jesus' advice and have few possessions, it certainly makes life much simpler.

Bolivia's political situation has stabilized considerably in the past couple of weeks, but still there is much uncertainty. The elections have passed, with Evo's party getting the majority at the Constitutional Assembly, but still falling well short of the 2/3 majority necessary for making changes to the Constitution. This means changes will require negotiation and compromise amongst the other parties, something Bolivians do not excel at. Many seemingly good ideas have been shot down for political reasons and this leaves the people angry and that's when protesting starts . . .which leads to instability and eventual eviction of people from office. I can see this being a fate of Evo if the constitutional assembly falls through. I am hopeful though that Bolivians can put aside their differences and work to make their country a better place. As their former interim president (current Supreme Court chief) said, "our children deserve better . . .". I really hope they don't forget that. So, bottom line, change probably will happen, but not too rapidly, which is a relief to me. Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija have voted as well in favor of autonomy which means that in the new constitution their departments will have more independence. I see this similar to the US States rights movements that we've had at various times, sort of decentralizing government, which I think would be very good for Bolivia as their country is so diverse.

As for my plans, I am just about ready to send out support letters, as well as begin my training. The first part of training (A1) is actually a correspondence course leading up to the rest of it in Chicago in September.