Back in Bolivia

Well, after a lovely two week visit to the States with my family, I am now back in Bolivia. I got back to Trinidad on Sunday afternoon. Upon arriving I have found that there are a lot of protests going on for various things (all government related). This will all be capped off by the "revocatoria" vote in a couple weeks in which all of the governors, Evo and his vice president will get an up or down vote on staying in office. This has been a controversial issue, so regardless of the results there are sure to be more protests and maybe even defiance.

However, in Trinidad we are enjoying things. Today we are leaving for a three day camp in the Chaco with the kids in grades 3rd-7th. The theme will be on obedience. I'll be back on Saturday afternoon.

Also Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning I spent with Woody Roland, the director of ITeams Latin America. It was so great to spend the time with him and share what's been going on in my life and what my future plans are, especially seminary.

"Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"

During my quiet time this morning, I was reading Luke 5 and came across this phrase in verse 8. This is of course after Simon Peter has witnessed Jesus filling their nets with fish after hours of previous fishing catching nothing. Simon Peter was skeptical that fish would come and after they did realized he had little faith and was ashamed to be in the presence of Jesus.

How many times do we have moments like this in our lives where we have doubt and then later realize it wasn't necessary? How many times is our faith shown to be weak? It is a challenge to trust God and to believe He can do anything, especially after routine failures and unsuccessful results. But as Jesus proved that night on the lake, He can make anything happen, it all depends on timing. Many times there is something he wants us to see in the midst of our trials and that is why we fail. . .

Pittsburgh, the beach, vacation . . .

I am writing this post as I look out at the Atlantic Ocean at our beach cottage for the week here at Emerald Isle, North Carolina. It is a family favorite spot that we have been coming as long as i have been alive (seriously). In fact there still exists a phone booth where apparently the rest of the family found out about my birth some 28 years ago.

Earlier this week I visited Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, the seminary I am seriously considering attending. I stayed with my friends Chris and Eileen who live in Pittsburgh (Chris just graduated from PTS). They did a fabulous job showing me around and were very hospitable. After visiting this seminary, I have to say I'm quite excited and I would say Pittsburgh is solidly my first choice. My meeting with the Dean and Missions Director put to rest any doubts I may have had and assured me that engineers and scientists can do just fine in a seminary environment where more of the people have a liberal arts background.

I also had the opportunity to visit the ITeams headquarters in Chicago on Wednesday during a long 6 hour layover. It was so great to see everyone and I forget sometimes just how friendly and helpful the people there are. They enjoyed seeing me and getting updates on how things are going in Bolivia and of course with Lidia too.

And now, I've reached the best part of my vacation - some R&R with my family at the beach. For me it is much needed as this has been a very stressful spring in Trinidad for the folks at La Palmera. And for me too. It feels good to be back on American soil even if it is for just a brief time, but I am also looking forward to heading back on Saturday night and being back with everyone again in about 10 days.

Reflections on Villa Alba

It was such a joy to finally be able to serve people who were victims of the flooding. The smiles on these children’s faces were priceless. Still it was sad to see such extreme poverty. Some children were running around barefoot (possibly laziness). Nearly all were dirty. It was so encouraging to see some of them coming over 30 min early for camp and waiting for us to eat our breakfast and start up. It was obvious they hadn’t had this much fun in a long time.

When we arrived on Monday, we started by putting together a place we could use for showering since in the Bolivian countryside, people shower with a bucket of water, pouring water over themselves with a large cup. It’s strange to think there are still places in the civilized world that are without electricity, without running water. It was a glimpse at what life must have been like prior to electricity. No television, no computers, no internet, no music (other than live music from a guitar), no lighting. These people are the poorest of the poor and live in a state of poverty that probably all of us will never fully comprehend. Still, they are some of the nicest people I have met, truly grateful for what little they do have and with a sense of hospitality that is second to none.

We brought a generator, but it stopped working after the first night, I think the Lord wanted us to live without the comforts of electricity for one week. One thing that was amazing were the stars, they were so bright and you could even see part of the Milky Way Galaxy!

The other thing that struck me was during our time of community service. I went with my group to a house about a 15 min walk from the center of the village and we were demolishing a traditional thatched style roof house made of palm branches (typical for homes in the Bolivian countryside) that was damaged in the flooding so the people could start over rebuilding it. Bats, wasps, numerous bugs and even a poisonous snake were found living in it!! To think that these people are starting all over in rebuilding this home. It'll take several weeks at least for this home to be rebuilt.

I am convinced the Lord was at work in all of us. It certainly made me appreciate the simple gifts God has given me and the others that were with us. At least we live in an area that is more modernized. Sixteen kids accepted the Lord out of 50, a fantastic number! Two of our girls from the group as well entrusted the Lord. By the end of the trip you could feel a sense of team spirit and cohesiveness. The people on this trip are the core of our Jovenes group and I hope their team oriented attitude rubs off on the rest of the people who attend.

the Lord's work in Villa Alba

This week I have been away in the village of Villa Alba, a place where there is no electricity, no running water, and the only phones are a phone station in the center of town. I went with the Jovenes (youth group) to do a camp for the kids there.

This week leading up was pretty bad. We went from having 24 leaders to 21, from having several musicians who regularly lead worship to just one of our youth who plays the guitar. The list of logistics piled higher and higher as I realized more stuff needed to be sorted out. To top it off, I lost my bank card last Friday, literally the day before I was to take out a large sum of money to buy food. Fortunately I borrowed the money I needed off of a few of my roommates.

It was then that I realized I was having some serious spiritual oppression as I began to get discouraged. I had a feeling in the back of my mind that God had big plans in mind for the trip . . .if we could just get there.

Somehow we did get there. After a 5 hour delay Monday to pack and get some last minute stuff sorted out, we finally headed off. That night, our pastoral advisor, Milton, said that in order to share the love of Jesus with the kids, some of us needed to find it ourselves (since a few of our youth that went do not know the Lord). Right then, two of the people in the group entrusted the Lord. Out of our 21 leaders, I counted 17 people that I knew were Christians. This was the first night.

Over the next few days, we had 50 kids at the camp. In the morning, a few arrived half an hour early, ready for camp! The first morning, Milton asked if anyone knew the Lord, no one raised their hand. By the end of the camp, 16 of these kids entrusted the Lord. The ones that didn't left having a better understanding of the Gospel and through us, the Lord planted a seed in each of them that I expect will reap results further down the road.

Our three goals for the week were 1) to reach out to the kids 2) to reach out to the community and 3) to come together as a group and unify more. I can confidently say we achieved all three. However, I also have realized it will not be enough to do a camp once a year. Many of these kids live in non-Christian homes and probably will not attend church. So, I am currently thinking of having a time of worship and teaching at Villa Alba maybe once every one or two months. I know the kids will enjoy this.

The Lord definitely was working through us this week and it felt so rewarding to see these kids smile and have lots of fun.