"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.

Teacher strike ends, Andean New Year, etc.

This Wednesday, the teacher's strike officially ended. I'm not sure what, if any concessions were made by the government or what the terms were in the agreement, but I just know we are back to normal hours at school and other schools that were closed are now back in session. As I said before, it's unlikely that anything will change regarding teacher's pay, I guess this is a universal fact - teachers everywhere are underpaid.

Tomorrow is June 21, and here in Bolivia the indigenous population will be celebrating the Andean New Year (and also the shortest day of the year). There will be llama sacrifices, one of which will take place at Tiwanaku, the oldest known ruins in Bolivia dating back a thousand years ago. Evo is sure to be present at this ceremony too.

And in personal news, June 21 is also the day that I met Lidia, one year ago so we are celebrating this special day (at a distance) since our friendship has been a special one. As I look back at our first year of friendship, it's been a great one and I thank God daily for her presence in my life. We'll see what the future holds for us, I trust God that He will do what is right for both of us.

Thoughts on the US Pres. Election

My blog to this point has been almost entirely focused (as it should be) on my work here in Bolivia and the effect national politics have on my stay here. But, as the Presidential election nears, I want to share some things I have observed in relation to things facing the US, but more importantly how my experience here has changed my views in some ways. This might be a long post, so feel free to skim it . . .

Right now, for me the #1 issue as for most Americans is the economy. As a missionary I notice the dip the dollar has taken over the last year and it may not seem like much but the value of the dollar against the boliviano has dropped 10% in one year. This means every dollar I take out doesn't go as far as it used to, meaning I have to be even more careful on what I spend money on.

Another thing that I have noticed is how addicted our country is to oil. We have reached the point where gas prices are so high that it is beginning to impact our economy and it will only continue to get worse as the demand for oil goes up worldwide and the population grows. Because of this we need the government to put more incentives out there for alternative energy. For too long, the big oil companies have put money in the pockets of politicians to prevent any serious change. And now, oil companies are making record profits and oil is the newest precious commodity that gold and silver have been in centuries past. I don't know that for automobiles we will ever get off the oil standard (or at least in my lifetime), but we can look for alternative energy sources for powering our homes (solar, wind, and even nuclear) and other areas like that. This will give us a threefold solution of 1) reducing our dependence on foreign oil and as a result 2) reducing our interest in the affairs of oil producing nations and 3) help clean up our environment a bit more.

The last major issue for me is national security. Terrorism is a real and legitimate threat during the 21st century and although we need to be tough and we need to put full energy into fighting terrorism, part of me believes we are targeted because our military presence is global. We talk about our military being "stretched thin" and this is true, but I think what really needs to happen is a major reorganization of how and where our military is deployed worldwide to focus on where the biggest threats are against the homeland and not covering every corner of the globe. I think having a global presence invites more problems.

As I browsed through both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama's websites yesterday, I was surprised to find on these issues, my views aligned more with Obama than with McCain. I also like Obama's idea to bring faith back into the forefront of American life. I know many families in America have lost this, for whatever reason. I know many people in my parents generation attended church as children and in this generation it just isn't done as frequently. I applaud Obama for his efforts in trying to bring faith into the Democratic party, something usually dominated by Republicans.

For these reasons, I am seriously considering voting for Obama, something I never thought I would do. However, I also think McCain is right that there is too much "pork barrel" spending in the government and it is a concern in getting our national budget on track. I'm not an economist, but I'm pretty sure having lots of national debt isn't a good thing.

I still don't like the fact that Democrats tend to engage in a lot of party politics, I don't like the fact that they spend lots of money, and some of Obama's foreign policy views scare me. But I'm starting to think maybe Obama's slogan of Change for America is really a Change for the Democratic Party and regardless of what happens with the election is a good thing for America. We need a responsible, respectful second party that will cooperate, negotiate and be creative. We need that second point of view rather than a filibuster. We'll have to see how the debates and campaign unfolds, but I'd say I'm closer than I ever thought I'd be to voting Obama. . .but still not entirely convinced.

Teacher strike and Villa Alba mission

Yesterday, today and tomorrow there is a 72 hour teacher's strike nationwide. The teachers are striking over their wages. The average wage for a teacher in Bolivia is less than $2 per hour. Every school in Trinidad except La Palmera is closed. Thankfully everyone but one teacher is continuing work. To show support of other teachers though we are only having half days of school for Primary (Secondary already get out at 1pm because they start earlier and don't have lunch). In the afternoon the teachers are going and marching in town. It's strikes like these that cripple the education system in Bolivia. The real losers are not the teachers, but the students who will lose three days of school that will never be made up.

Another development which is quite exciting is that I am finally planning a mission trip with the Jovenes!! We had the desire to do a camp for some kids at this Quechua community outside of Santa Cruz, but in the process found out about a problem in the church there and so we were forced to change locations. We ended up choosing the small village of Villa Alba. Yes, this is the same Villa Alba I wrote about a couple months ago that was completely flooded and that we took food to. It is only now FOUR MONTHS LATER that the families are finally returning to their homes (some finding their homes badly damaged) and moving out of the provided tents.

This is a small village of probably only a couple hundred people, with no running water, no phone service and people living in very rustic conditions. We will be going there June 30 - July 4 and having a day camp for three days for the kids of this village. We will be doing the theme "Jesus is my friend" since many of these kids have never read the Bible. The last day we will spend helping families make repairs to their homes so hopefully they hold together better in the future. I am VERY excited about the opportunity to help out this village that is in such need and everyone in the church is quite pleased at our effort to do this trip. Pray for the people of Villa Alba and for us as we plan this trip and the camp.