It's Official: agreement reached

Everyone in Bolivia is breathing a sigh of relief today as the conflict of the past month and a half has been resolved. What started with protests and riots in Santa Cruz and later spread to shootings in Pando and government office/airport takeovers in the east, blockades and shortages of supplies has come to an end. Monday night, the Congress convened all night to discuss the approval of the constitutional referendum and the terms of the agreement reached between the government and the opposition. Outside was a mob of pro-Evo supporters from rural areas that had marched to La Paz surrounding the building in the Plaza Murillo to demand the referendum be held. Evo joined them as they awaited the results of the session. Yesterday, around noon, the result was official, that Congress had approved the agreement and Evo in the plaza signed in front of everyone the law approving the referendum of the new constitution for January 25 of next year. It's still not clear the changes that have been made to the constitution, but I'm sure soon enough new copies will be printed and distributed nationwide. Apparently key changes were made in articles concerning decentralization of power (autonomy), land and judicial reform, and also the oil revenue sharing. I'm certain that not everyone got everything they wanted, but everyone got the most important things they wanted and that hopefully will lead to more stability here in Bolivia.

Bolivia has a long history of racism, inequality and even oppression over the last 500 years and these things have left scars, pain and distrust in many people on both sides. It will take a long time for healing, but it is my prayer that through spreading the love of Christ that people can learn to look at each other as "Bolivians" and not "Cambas" or "Collas".

Peace on the horizon

I came back from working at La Palmera this afternoon and as I normally do I checked the Bolivian news sites to see what's going on. To my surprise I found out that just in the last couple of hours, the national government has reached an agreement with the opposition that will clear the way for a referendum on the new constitution and also include changes to accommodate the decentralization (autonomy), land reform and oil revenue sharing changes that the opposition were demanding. Currently the Bolivian Congress is voting on the terms of this agreement which is expected to pass. From what I'm hearing the referendum will be held on January 25 of next year and then general elections will follow for everyone in December of next year. Evo has agreed as part of the deal to not seek reelection in 2014 (he is expected to be reelected easily next year), as that would be two terms for him, the limit under the new constitution (although technically he could since his current term is under what will soon be the old constitution).

Assuming all of this is really true it is FANTASTIC news for Bolivia and should ensure much more stability since many of the problems over the past decade have been as a result of issues that this new constitution aims to resolve. This means no more blockades, riots, massive protests, office takeovers . . .things are about to get a lot calmer here politically.

Praise the Lord for this wonderful news and all of your prayers during this time of conflict. Bolivia too has been praying fiercely for peace and our prayers have finally been answered. I am so happy Bolivia has actually resolved something and is making progress politically in seeking stability. However, there are still a lot of scars, tension and racism that have happened for centuries that will take a long time to heal. But, this could be the beginning of a new era in Bolivian history.

Anniversary week

This week we have been celebrating 23 years of CCC La Palmera and it has been a great week. Monday we started off with a flag ceremony in the main plaza, all of the kids marched from La Palmera to the plaza and then formed their lines by class and sang the national anthem, hymn to the Beni and the La Palmera school song. There was a police band that came and played the two national songs and then the students marched around the plaza with the school banner.

Tuesday morning was the marathon which I did not participate nor observe as it was early in the morning. In the evening we had a church meeting with a couple of other churches invited and we all were told to bring candles and at one point they turned out the lights and we lit our candles stood in a circle and sang "Te Pido La Paz" (I ask you for peace) in light of the political situation in Bolivia which is still very fragile and then we all prayed for Bolivia. It was quite neat.

Wednesday morning again too early for me was the bicicross or bicycle race around the block which was controlled by policeman the school had requested. Then, there was a food fair with desserts and even some more substantial foods such as kabobs! In the evening was sporting events basketball and indoor soccer as part of a parents tournament

A number of other events have taken place during the rest of the week, a talent show (an annual hit), more sports and tonight is a Christian Music night when various people will get up sing, play instruments and show off their music skills for the Lord. Tomorrow we have some special events planned in the church including a church lunch for everyone and a special cake to celebrate 23 years. In the evening the week will conclude with our weekly communion service and then a drama by some high school students.

Aside from these events, this has been the hottest week of the year here, with several days reaching triple digit temperatures! However we were blessed yesterday as a massive rain storm (complete with thunder/lightning) came and cooled things way down and so in the afternoon and today it has been much cooler, but not cold.

We're down to just 6 weeks left in the school year, please pray for a strong finish for everyone - I think both students and teachers are getting tired and are ready for the year to be over. Nov. 29 is the graduation.

Heat Wave

Things have been very hot here, the last couple of days have seen lows of around 85 F (30 C) and highs over 100 F (37 C). With the humidity, the heat index has to be over 110 F (41 C). This equates to not much sleep and lots of sweat. The fans in our house have been working double time . . .

My weekend with Lidia finished great, we got to talk some more and after some sound advice from some friends of ours, we decided it's best for now if we are just close friends since we realized that our emotions were controlling us and not the Lord. Although we do know some about each other, there is still a lot of things we don't know about each other and we feel it's important to not rush this step. Plus, Lidia herself is still in the midst of some decisions on the next steps in her life and she is not ready yet to commit to a serious relationship at least until after this process is over. I think we're both on the same page now and realize that there is a gap still between us, but we also still believe it can be closed with time. Please continue to pray for us as we move forward. . .

Yesterday I went with the Jovenes to Villa Alba where we did another Happy Hour with the kids, and it was a great time. We additionally served them breakfast of bread and hot chocolate (typical). Four kids received the Lord as their Savior and we left content with what the Lord accomplished through us. Last night we had our Jovenes meeting and also discussed some changes to get more people involved and also modify the format a bit to try and get more people to come and also have people be more enthusiastic. It was a positive meeting and I think we are all excited to make these new changes.

Some of you ask me about the political situation - it’s still fragile. Both sides are still at an impasse yet dialogue continues, which is positive since before the violence there was no dialogue. Evo is currently seeking legislative approval for a referendum on the new constitution, which could take place in December, but probably realistically won’t happen until next year.

Doctrine, Simplicity and Application

So I have been in Santa Cruz the past three days visiting my girlfriend, Lidia. We are having a great time, but also have had a lot of emotion in the last couple days, which I think is a result of us sharing so much so fast and wearing ourselves out. You can be in prayer for us as we seek God's will and wait for HIS timing, not ours.

Lidia and I were talking yesterday about our faiths, something that we had previously not done and we come from different denominations (she's evangelical and I'm Presbyterian). The subject of baptism came up when I was talking with her dad on Saturday and yesterday she and I talked about it. Our two churches have different views on baptism, specifically infant baptism. My church baptizes infants and hers does not, it is something strictly done after accepting the Lord. The evangelicals follow Jesus's example and believe it's not appropriate to baptize until one has accepted the Lord in faith, that it is important to profess commitment to God in front of the church and in most churches a prerequisite for taking communion. So, for me to say that I was baptized as an infant raised a huge red flag between us. As I explained my interpretation of the Presbyterian doctrine, she started telling me about her experiences in YWAM.

One of the things she said to me that she liked about her experiences in YWAM was that she was learning theory and getting to put it into practice at the same time. Her denomination is very simple and very literal in their interpretation of the Bible and it got me to thinking, do we as Christians in denominations sometimes overthink doctrine and "miss the forest for the trees" and try to complicate things that really shouldn't be difficult to understand? She suggested to me that I consider studying the Bible in a YWAM school where they have a non-doctrinal approach to study so as to have a non-biased view of the Bible (or at least as much as possible) and then if I still wanted to, to attend seminary. So, that has been on my mind and I am praying about what the Lord's will is for me. She mentioned to me that there were YWAM schools in the States where she thought we could both go and she could learn English while I do the study. It's something I am beginning to think about since I definitely want to be a "Christian first" as my friend Chris once said and "Presbyterian second".