The week in review

This past week has been a pretty busy one, getting ready for our big move to Mallasilla on Monday. We started out the week on Sunday with another Thanksgiving meal, this one with our SIM family here in La Paz. Everyone contributed to this dinner, making it much less work than the one we put on for the avanzada team. We had a couple, Roxana and Javier, from our SIM team over for pancakes and games on Wednesday morning. We usually meet weekly with the whole SIM team, but they were the only ones who were available this week, so we enjoyed the opportunity to get to know them better and practice our Spanish and hospitality all morning. Tuesday we woke up early to make it downtown in order to wait in line for 3 1/2 hours to pick up some important documents for our car. Thankfully, we had another teammate and our friend Dani, who works for SIM and is on our church-plant team, waiting with us to help make the time less painful than it could have been if we were waiting alone for that long. As we made it to the (1) window that was functioning for a few hundred people, our dance of joy was stopped short when we were told we needed a smaller photocopy of Scotty's passport. We were allowed to the front of the line when we returned with this reduced copy, and then were delivered the news that we hadn't paid taxes on the car this year (being out of the country and all), and that we would need to return after lunch to wait in line again. By this point, we were so tired of standing and so hungry, that we gratefully left with thoughts of a large, Bolivian lunch on our minds. After being recharged by food, we returned with hopes of completing necessary transactions, and only had to wait half an hour or so before wrapping it all up. I think that morning was a reminder of the need to be patient and react "con calma" to unexpected situations that arise -because they will continue to happen quite frequently in this country.

We have also been frequenting the markets daily, comparison shopping for many appliances and other odds and ends that we need for the new house. Unfortunately, we were without camera when a small man of about 65 strapped our massive, Samsung refrigerator to his back and walked it to the truck we had hired to deliver it to our new apartment. There are some things you just have to see to believe, and that is one of them. On our way up to El Alto to order couches this morning, we passed by an attempt to recreate a McDonalds restaurant...notice the elegant terrace seating above. We drove by again at lunch, but apparently, McMoni's is not open for business at this time. A little farther down the road is a driving school, boasting the name "Indianapolis Academy of Driving". It's obvious when we're on the road that most of the drivers received their licenses from this school (or more likely, never got a licence). We're enjoying these last few days in our home, breathing in the breathtaking sunsets we see from our kitchen windows and making plans to eat in our favorite neighborhood steak restaurant before we say good-bye. As much as we enjoy this place, we know it is God's provision for us to have an open door in Mallasilla, being residents there and becoming part of the community.

Food and friends

Oh, Thanksgiving...a day for remembering all the amazing things God has done for us, and sharing time with friends. This day holds special memories for Scotty and me since we met 3 years ago at a missionary Thanksgiving dinner. The following year we spent the day together with Scotty's SIM team, and the next, we were married and spent the day with both sets of parents. Yesterday, a new tradition was started- Lisa cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the church-plant team. This was probably my first time cooking anything for Thanksgiving, much less the entire meal for a group of 14. I had a friend pick up our 26lb. turkey on Monday and send it to me in a taxi (I've never received a turkey in a taxi before). It spent the next few days thawing and spreading bloody, turkey germs to various other food products in my refrigerator. When the big day came, I had already planned out the menu and found recipes adjusted to serve 20 (thinking more of the team was going to make it). Our great friends, John and Michelle, came over to help us set up and get the turkey prepared for the long bake ahead. From sun-up to way past sun-down, we were on our feet cooking and cleaning and organizing the house. As is custom, the meeting started at 8, the last couple arriving at 9:30. This was one time I was not bothered by people showing up late, because the turkey decided it needed 7 hours to cook instead of 5...we blame everything on the altitude here. Finally at 10pm, we sat down to a classic Thanksgiving dinner that I had poured all my energy into, wanting out team to experience the day as we would at home. Thankfully, the food was pretty good and we loved sharing traditions and the history of the holiday with this group of new friends, feeling like they are becoming closer to us. We said our good-byes around 12pm, sending everyone off with a plate of food, did a little more cleaning in the kitchen, and fell into bed exhausted near 1am. I am thankful that God gave us the energy to make it through the day and bless our team with a good evening. I am thankful for a husband who loves and serves me, stopping to pray with me before I had a melt-down when realizing the turkey was not close to done when I thought it would be. I'm very thankful for all the friends in other places who will be reading this and thinking fondly of us- we are thinking fondly of you, wishing we could be with each of you that we love so much.

Adventures in Cochabamba

Scotty and I took a trip to Cochabamba, the city I used to live in, on Sunday. We decided to take the bus, since it only cost $5 each for the 8 hour bus trip. (By the end of this 8 hours, we decided it would have been much more enjoyable and efficient to drive our own vehicle...info we'll store away until next time) We chose our favorite panoramic seats, which are on the second story of a large bus, in front of a picturesque window that allows us to see just how very close we are coming to those cliffs we are driving next to. The views really are spectacular and we settled in with plenty of snacks, a Sudoku puzzle to work out together, and some books to pass the time with. Bolivian bus rides are notorious for showing awful, late 80's or 90's action flicks staring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Swartzenegger, or in this case, Jackie Chan followed by Chuck Norris. It's pretty bad that they're dubbed over in cheesy Spanish voices, but at least they're extremely loud too... On arrival to the smoggy, but lovely city of Cochabamba, many memories came flooding back to both Scotty and me as we passed my old apartment building and headed toward our previous Spanish teachers' house. Mauge and her husband, Jorge, quite excitedly agreed to be our hosts for a couple nights and we enjoyed the late evenings of eating, talking, laughing, and catching up on life. We explored the city, visited old friends, took care of some SIM paperwork, and managed to squeeze in an afternoon at the pool.

This morning we left early to see what bus we could catch and were blessed to find one leaving just as we arrived to the station. We hopped on, paid $5 in total for this trip, and settled in for another LONG ride back home. Our first sign that this was going to be rough was when they put Titanic on the TV. As if that wasn't bad enough in itself (sorry to you Titanic fans out there), the VCD skipped about 2 minutes into the movie and would start over again with a high-pitched Enya singing in our ears so loud that distortion was occuring and deafening decibels were being reached. That only happend about 9 times before someone informed the driver. So, the solution was to put on another VCD of the top Bolivian songs which also was stuck on the opening screen where you select which music video you would like to watch. This scene featured a man singing in a whiney drone, the same 15 seconds of his song, at which point it would start all over again. We were lucky enough to hear those 15 seconds about 20 times so that the music was burned into my brain for the next half hour. I'm afraid we were being brain washed and if I was to ever hear that song again, I might do something terrible. Soon after leaving Cochabamba, we came upon a bad wreck between a bus like ours and a large truck that had probably happened yesterday or sometime during the night. There have been several fatal accidents like this since we've returned and I was a bit nervous at the thought of traveling so far in the bus system, where drivers sometimes drive drunk or fall asleep at the wheel. In reality, there is a small chance that an accident would happen, we are safer going during the day, and God is in complete control of our lives, when we live and when we die. I settled comfortably with that thought and was thankful that whatever was to happen, I knew the Lord and did not fear for my life. We did have our own little blow-out as we reached Caracollo, the half-way, potty and snack-break point. As our bus pulled off the road, a tire blew, but was replaced in the time it took us to share a bowl of soup, buy a 2 liter of Sprite, some bananas, and the famous sweet bread we always see Bolivians buying at this stop. The rest of the trip was uneventful, I finished Don Miller's Through Painted Deserts which I had started at the beginning of our trip, and we happily welcomed the breath-taking La Paz landscape as we neared the city. Our kittens were sleepily awaiting us when we returned to the apartment, and it feels good to be home.
Wandering around Caracollo with my Sprite and sweet bread.

Open mouth, insert foot...

I had one of those moments last night where you think to yourself, "what am I saying??". We met with our church planting team for our bi-monthly dinner/prayer time and I was well bundled because of the prevailing cool temps brought in by the rain. At one point I was attempting, without success, to take off my jacket, which was stuck to my shirt. After fumbling for a few seconds and feeling quite helpless, I asked Scotty for assistance. Then, for some inexplicable reason, I said "This is why I got married, so my husband could help me take off my cloth..." Uhhhhhh....(Face turning red) I stopped talking just in time for everyone in the room to understand what I was about to say. Thankfully, instead of the piercing, awkward silence, everyone had a good chuckle, and I chalked it up to breaking the tension that we've felt a bit upon our entrance into the group. The night turned out well, several of the families were not able to make it, which actually gave us the chance to have more personal conversations with the others. Dinner is eaten here pretty late by our standards, and it seems to be even later than normal on these nights, as there is much talking and sharing before making it to the dinner table. I gulped down one fairly greasy hamburger at about 10pm and was satisfied, but the other tradition of coercing guests to eat more than they typically would won out over my comfort, and I was persuaded to eat another. Finishing the meal off with 2 glasses of extremely bright pink, thick, sugary fruit juice, and I was set.

Before the meeting began, we took a couple on the team out to survey the apartment we are interested in. They fell in love as fast as we did and without another thought, we agreed to rent! That was definitely the fastest important decision/binding contract I've ever made, but we are trusting this to be the Lord's provision for us. We're so pumped! The team agreed they'd help us move the first week of December- another fantastic opportunity to get to know them on a more informal level. God is answering our prayers left and right and in ways that are so obvious to us.

Today started out with our neighbors blaring Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 (why, I ask??) and holds much promise for Spanish classes, signing our rent contract, finally getting our vehicle inspection, and working on our newsletter in between. The sun is shining for the first time in several days and we are feeling blessed to be alive.

4th of July Hotel

Our friend and neighbor, Randy, lovingly named the building that we share as home, "4th of July". Knowing Randy, this is a bit of a surprise because his life as a missionary is almost completely submerged in Bolivian culture. Randy works with men and boys who make their living shining shoes on the streets of La Paz, most to feed families or pay for school. Where Randy is, there is always a crowd. We knew this already, but were reminded of it when we first arrived back to the city and found that there were about 12 people sleeping downstairs, most of whom were travelers on their way through that somehow had a connection with Randy. He recently spent a month in the states, and this was quite a quiet time for us. When Randy left, so did everyone else. Our only reminder of him and the craziness that follows are the Friday night game times when the shoeshiners come over and hang out. Today, we got up extra early on this cold, rainy morning to create a surprise pancake breakfast to welcome Randy and Hannah (another Youth for Christ worker) back after their short trip to the states. There was a group already waiting downstairs around 5:30am, decorating the house with balloons, streamers, napkins, and anything else that had the light blue and white colors of Randy's nemisis soccer team, Bolivar. He has a comrade in Scotty, who is a die-hard the Strongest (yes, "the Strongest" is their real name) fan, dressed to support Randy in his black and yellow ski hat and scarf. Even the cat had to sport the rival teams colors with balloons strapped to her neck (she wasn't happy). Amanda (a new friend of mine travelling through South America with her husband) and I had pancake duty. I haven't quite mastered pancakes in the high altitude, and even though I followed the recipe in an Andean cookbook, they came out tasting and looking more like tortillas. But, we smothered them in icing, and overall enjoyed the celebration that took place early this morning.

This could be the one!

We took a drive out to Mallasilla yesterday to check out an apartment we had heard was for rent. Scotty and I both had expected to stay in Sopocachi for many months, under the pretext of there not being anything available in the community where we'll be doing the church plant. But we've been praying so much that God would shift our hearts' focus to the ministry that He has prepared for us there, and this might be part of that plan! Because it was a holiday and the roads were pretty empty, I decided to be bold and attempt to drive our '86 Landcruiser. Our hopeful apartment is that dark red one on the leftIt's hard to describe traffic and driving conditions on a normal day, but I think the driving mentality is "every man for himself". Add that to the car stalling out frequently from the altitude and lots of steep hills, and you have a stress-inducing, but strangely fun driving experience. So we thought we'd go look at this apartment just to see what might be available in the future and what the rent might be like. After taking a quick spin through the house, where a family is currently living until December, we were in love. It is just the right size for us, including a guest room and future baby room, and a large dining/living area where we hope to share meals with the community we hope to be inviting over. There are windows everywhere, which lets in constant sunlight, and we are high enough (3rd floor) that we feel a sense of privacy, in contrast to the houses low in the valley that could be the object of spectators living on the hillsides. So, pray for us as we try to discern if this would be a wise move. The apartment is the same rent as what we are paying now (a huge surprise for us, knowing that it is a high cost area to live in) and it would be available to us the first of December. ..we're really excited!!

We also enjoyed an evening of laughter and catching up with the Maldonado family, where Scotty initially lived when he came to La Paz several years ago. Nancy and her children and grandchildren live in the heart of the market area in town. Scotty and I weaved our way through people and traffic, glancing this way and that at the plethora of products available in the streets. The Maldonados' door is located between two clothing booths and as soon as you walk into the dark hall that leads down to their apartment and close the door, you can almost forget you're in the middle of the craziness. A typical La Paz meal was served to us and we were welcomed again into the family with extremely loving, open arms. We are so thankful to have relationships like this with Bolivian Christians and pray they will become even more dear to us as time goes on.