Hail mania

Summer hail storm.

As we were enjoying a friendly, but competitive game of Settlers of Catan with my parents today, the greyish skies opened up into a torent of hailstones. They started lightly at the beginning but quickly grew in size and intensity until the surrounding roofs, yards, and crags in the mountains were absolutely covered. It was beautiful and a little frightening with the lightening and loud thunder. We watched from the windows, mesmorized by the sight, and wondered how long we'd be without power as a result. Then, just as we were ready to sit back to finish the game, Scotty noticed that water was quickly running out of both electrical outlets in the kitchen.

I'm not much for electrical problems, but I figured that was not a good sign. Scotty began to mop the water toward the drain in the floor when my dad shouted from the other room that a light switch was also running water and pooling rapidly on the ground. A brief minute later and water began dripping out of the ceiling and obviously gathering behind the walls, marked by growing wet patches in the paint. It seemed the storm was determined to come into our house and water down everything. Out came the buckets, the towels and more mopping...at the time we left, an hour or so after it had all started, we still had a significant run of water from the ceiling. But, at least I won Settlers.
Here's our Christmas lunch, a simple one I prepared for our parents of crock pot turkey breast, orange sweet potatoes, savory veggies, cheese biscuits, and strawberry spinach salad:

Christmas cheer

The Christmas season was a busy one for us! We've said good-bye to Scotty's parents, but before they went we had the opportunity to introduce them to pretty much everyone we know in the neighborhood and everyone on our church plant team. One day that was particularly special for us was the Sunday before Christmas. We invited Edgar, our pastor, and his family over for lunch and to hang out in the house before we did the evangelistic, Christmas drama that was planned for the community center. We enjoyed spending a full day with them, eating lunch, playing Phase 10 and talking about life. They are a neat family that we are enjoying more and more as we get to know them better- their passion for the Lord, their great sense of humor, their fantastic kids. Then came the big night that we had put a lot of concentrated effort into. We went to the community building and opened the doors to find the pungent, over-powering smell of alcohol greeting us. There was a baptismal celebration the night before and probably a lot of pouring out of beer onto the ground in honor of the Pacha Mama (god mother)- I'm not sure how those two things mix, but they often do around here. We opened the few tiny windows and prayed no one would mind the stench. The next couple of hours was spent setting up and praying that God would bring many from town and speak to them during the comic sketch that our good friend Marcelo had written several years ago. Close to 300 people showed up! It was a fun and encouraging night for us as a church- having been an activity that really bonded many different members and also led us to believe that there is much openness in the community to outreach efforts.

Scotty sporting his Burger King crown and chatting with neighbors- he played one of the Magi

Holiday Update

Well, I don't have any exciting pics to share, but I still wanted to give a brief update for those of you who like to know what's going on in our lives. It's been a busy couple of weeks, much busier than I ever expected it would be with my in-laws here. I had this idea that life outside of our family would come to a stop and I'd be able to sit for hours and chat with Mims, cook lots of meals, wander around town, sleep, etc... Boy, was I wrong! There seems to always be something that needs to be done or meetings to attend or things to prepare for church. We've also seen such a great opportunity in this time to see people in the neighborhood and try to connect in these holidays. I still feel like I'm not doing enough. It's good to remind myself constantly that I was saved by grace, and continue to be saved by grace, not by anything I can do...because lately, I feel like I should be DOing more. We had an Australian family who are missionaries in Venezuela staying with us for the weekend- friends we had met in Cochabamba- and enjoyed their company. But, 4 extra people definitely filled up our little apartment and it's nice to be back to just the 4 of us and makes it seem so much quieter now. Yesterday, we hoped to get away to our favorite hot springs, but found out that calling on the road, on the way to the springs, was not enough warning for the hotel. Apparently, if they don't know you're coming, everyone that usually works at the hotel leaves the area and goes back to the little pueblos where they live. I guess the last minute nature of things in Bolivia has worn off on us- but this particular hotel doesn't work that way. So, we enjoyed driving up to El Alto, sitting in traffic jams, getting stuck in the Ceja (the eyebrow) where almost every person of the 1,000,000 population of El Alto passes through daily to get on public transport, and returning back to La Paz to finish off with a yummy lunch of traditional salta~neas. We got spanked in our own house playing Eucre last night by Scotty's parents, but returned the favor to them after lunch today. Tonight is play practice for the evangelistic Christmas play we are preparing with the church for the 23rd....and the days continue to fly by. I found a small pack of turkey breast at the grocery today for $20- so Christmas dinner is in the works. I'm hoping things will be calm from that day on.

Forgotten funny and town meeting

So, remember how we had that fancy dinner in Cochabamba to celebrate 100 years in Bolivia? Well, I had a pretty funny experience there that will definitely stick in my mind, possibly more than the ceremonies that were happening in the moment. I took off right after they dismissed us for the buffet line for the bathroom. As I approached, I heard someone trying to get out of the ladies room, but struggling to get the door open. I thought to myself, "poor girl is having some trouble- how hard could it be?" Is anyone guessing at this point what happened to me? I entered and locked the door behind me, but found as I tried to get out that the lock wouldn't budge. I twisted and pulled and twisted the other way and pushed and slammed by body into the door. I seriously broke a sweat trying to get this lock unlocked. I began to laugh to myself, to stave the panic- how could I be locked in a bathroom when there is an amazing buffet awaiting me outside? Will there be any food left when I finally get out?? I looked around and saw a window high above the toilet. With its height and the way it opened, I knew it would never work as an emergency escape. I began pulling and pushing again, starting to fear that no one would notice I was missing. Will Scotty be too busy loading his plate to come look for me? Will any other girl need to go to the bathroom in the next hour? The bathroom was far from the meeting place and I didn't think anyone would hear if I knocked or yelled. But I knew this was my only option. So I began to knock loudly and yell (what do you yell when you're stuck? "I'm stuck!" "Help me!" "Someone open the door!" There seems nothing quite appropriate at that point). "Hello??!!" Knock, knock. "HELLO!!??" Then I heard a voice on the other side, "do you need some help?" "Yes! I'm stuck in the bathroom- I can't get the door open". I laughed to myself at how ridiculous that sounded. I won't repeat the conversation, but between the two of us pushing and pulling and twisting, we got the lock un-locked but then we couldn't figure out the handle! The guy on the other side said he'd go find someone that worked there to help. As soon as he walked away, I managed to get it open myself. Then appeared a guy I hadn't met before who is also an SIM missionary. "Hi, thanks for saving my life- I'm Lisa." "I'm Dale, nice to meet you." I'm sure Dale will never forget his fellow SIMer who was stuck in the bathroom.

Apparently, the American embassy has "town meetings" once every quarter at the American school in town. Scotty and I decided it would be a good idea to go, with all the political stuff going on at the moment. For those of you who aren't up on the latest Bolivian news, the president and his peeps decided to re-write the constitution last weekend, in a secret meeting, without 2/3 majority approval (what is always needed to approve decisions), and without the opposition parties. Needless to say, the country was in a frenzy about this. About half the country is deciding to go autonomous this weekend, which will probably cause a few issues in those areas. I'm glad we're not in one of them- I think my mother-in-law would not be too happy to experience that. Anyway, yesterday we congregated with a small group of other Americans who seemed to be focused only on the idea that we might have to be evacuated and all the possible worse-case-scenarios. "If they shut down the airport, what will we do?" "I have kids in Bolivia and in other countries. Should I leave them?" "What if someone is standing outside my house threatening me and chanting anti-American sentiments?" Uhhh...where are these questions coming from?? At this point, La Paz is very calm and the embassy folk were promising us that we are no where close to an evacuation and that all of them had plans to stick around, even if things get a bit messy. It was really interesting to be in a room with these people, several of whom seemed to expect the embassy to be able to predict the future for them and make personal decisions for them. Bolivia's history shows us that they often come to the brink of disaster, but it all seems to fade away right before they fall off the edge. Keep the country in your prayers this weekend as the possibility for much un-rest exists.

Tree break

After a long afternoon of working on sermon preparation, Scotty called to tell me he was coming home for a break so that we could put up the Christmas tree. I got very excited and informed Mims and Papi of the plan. I put on a Christmas CD and the big, green box was brought up and we began to unpack the tree that we bought last year in the market. The cats were just tiny kittens last Christmas and found the tree to be an oh-so-perfect, larger than life cat toy and my prayer last year was that they'd be too fat and lazy this year to want to play and hide in the branches like they did before. Well, the fat and lazy part had become a reality, but as soon as the magical box was opened, they seemed to instantly become active little kitties again. The branches are so thick that Malphurs can actually climb up and walk around on each layer and he thinks that's a pretty great thing and spent all last night doing just that.

Malphurs climbing his way to the top while Cheddar cheers from below.

We sipped port and listened to Christmas carols and put just enough ornaments on the tree for it not to look bare, knowing full well that the more we had on there, the more we'd have to pick up off the floor the next morning. In fact, when I woke up today, there were at least 3 ornaments rolling around and 7 (heavy) branches that had been removed and scooted to various places around the house. Hopefully the novelty of the thing will wear off while we still have a pretty nice tree.

Holidays are here!

I promise I have a good reason for not blogging lately- my in-laws are here! Ok, so they didn't arrive until Friday night, but it's been a busy few weeks! I'm trying hard to think of what to report of the time before they came, but it's all escaped me by this point. I'm sure it had something to do with church plant stuff, people over at the house, date night, busyness... Well, I'll just start with what's happened in the past few days. My in-laws came to visit! We picked them up Friday night at the airport and immediately brought them down to our house which had conveniently developed water problems (a.k.a. no running water) for the first time ever. So, being the international travelers that they are, they took it in stride and said it's all part of the adventure. The adventure continued the next morning when I drove them to missionary friend's homes to shower (2nd morning in a row for me showering at someone else's house). Later in the day, Papi and Scotty went to Carmen and Marcelo's, where we have church, to fill up every empty plastic container we could find, and some of theirs too, so that we'd have water to flush toilets and wash dishes. Sunday morning Mims (Scotty's mom) came to church while Papi tried to catch some z's since the altitude was causing a severe lack of sleep. It was fun to introduce Mims to our church friends and she was happily surprised to find that the Spanish she had learned 20 years ago in Ecuador was still with her enough to catch most of the sermon without me translating. After church we picked Papi up and headed over to a big pre-wedding Mexican bash for my awesome friend Whitney and her fiance Tim. This was a great party, complete with to-die-for enchiladas and queso dip, a Bolivian Mariachi band (they rocked!), and a pinata. I'm bummed to be missing the wedding but that was a great time to celebrate and pray for this special couple. Monday morning we headed up to the airport again in the wee morning hours to catch a plane to Cochabamba for the SIM 100 year celebration festivities. Monday night was a program and tasty dinner to remember the faithfulness of God to our mission family over the last 100 years. Scotty and I, along with another family, were chosen out of the many missionaries to be a small part of the video that was made to commemorate this day- we were honored. It was fun to see a bunch of the kids that I used to work with when I was a single missy in Coch, although many of them didn't look so much like kids anymore. MIB (Misers in Black)- Dressed up for the big celebrations

The following day was a much larger, Spanish afternoon program, inviting all the Bolivian pastors with whom we work around the country. There was singing, testimonies, the video in Spanish, eating, mingling, praying, praising, and generally being quite encouraged as a mission in what God is doing through us in these times and in the times gone by. The three amigos- Greg, Scotty and Edgar

We were so grateful to be a part of it and to be able to share with Scotty's parents as well this important time in SIM history. So, we returned early this morning, after mistaking our flight time and getting up an hour too early. We're happy to be home and have left our parents doing little projects in the apartment and watching the chocolate chip cookies bake (72 ounce bag of chips from Mims!). They are showering us with gifts, mostly stuff we requested, the most exciting of which were 2 new laptops we ordered. I'm not usually too excited by tech gadgets- but these are so pretty and shiny and all my keyboard letters work without having to bang them! Another exciting surprise that I didn't think would fit in the luggage was my crock pot! I've become so accustomed to cooking taking twice as long that this crock pot is sure to revolutionize my life. I'm thinking about cooking the Christmas turkey in there. And so we look forward to the next few weeks of celebrating life and the holidays with Mims and Papi.

Like father, like son.

Thanksgiving

Well, the big turkey day has approached again and even though most Bolivians don't know anything about this holiday, I'm excited to celebrate tomorrow with our SIM team. We've divided the food list between all the women (I'll be showcasing new recipes for "Bodacious Broccoli Salad", I didn't give it that name, and green bean casserole) and we're expecting a feast. I'm sure if you've been reading my blog very long, you might have, perhaps, picked up on the fact that I'm a foodie. I must admit I am already planning how I will be eating earlier in the day in order to maximize my enjoyment of our lunch. Like most women, I'm preparing myself mentally for the calorie over-indulging, convinced that this one time (and then again on Christmas and probably too many times to count over the year), it won't hurt me. But, all those things aside, I am thinking about the many, many things I have to be thankful for- all from the merciful hand of God:

-salvation, free and undeserved, plus the benefit of getting to know God more day by day

- husband who loves me sacrificially, who is growing in the Lord, and will always be another one of God's unmerited gifts

-parents who love us, support us, encourage us, and are coming to visit us over the holidays!

-a house that is comfortable, with hot water, great views, and 2 adorable, little kitties

-a calling on my life that has allowed me to come to Bolivia and work side by side with my husband, doing the things that God has gifted us to do and learning so much in the process

-hundreds of amazing friends and supporters back home that uphold us in so many ways- we would not be here without you!

There's so much more but I'll save that list for another time, maybe after the big day. Right now I have to go pick up my Bolivian identity card that I've been waiting over a year for. I'm so thankful it's finally done!!

(Here's the damage to last year's bird)

Josue turns one!

Our maid Lola came over yesterday for her weekly 2 hours of cleaning at our house and, as usual, brought her cute little boy Josue. She mentioned it was his birthday and I asked if she had any plans with him. She said "no" and I was quite surprised since birthdays are such a big deal here. We were just at a one-year old's birthday party a few weeks ago that had about 100 people attending, a clown hired to entertain the children, and an endless supply of food. It was a big deal! Knowing that Lola doesn't have a good relationship with her family (she lived on the streets for years to get away from them) and no money, I decided I needed to whip something up quick that would at least give them a small celebration for Josue. I made a chocolate cake and iced it, putting sprinkles on top, and hoped the little guy didn't fall asleep before Lola finished working so that he could eat some and I could take some pics. He seemed interested at first in the cake, but turned out to be more into mother's milk than the chocolate. He nibbled on a piece and I sent the rest of the cake home with her to enjoy later, hopefully with friends or family. It was a pleasure to do this for Lola, a woman we are really hoping to create a close relationship with and help her continue on in the good steps she has taken since Josue was born.

We love Cochabamba!

After a week of hosting our friend Dave and anticipating a busy week this week, Scotty and I decided to take a little break over the weekend to Cochabamba. We met in this charming city and have so many fun memories there that flood our minds upon arriving. I'm always struck with how warm and green Coch is and love the chance to escape there to enjoy the sun and the food- probably what Cochabamba is most known for. I'm a big fan of grocery shopping, yes, it's true, and so treasure hunting in Coch's different grocery stores is also a joy for me. Before even arriving to the SIM guest house the night we drove in, we stopped at the largest grocery in town for a chicken sandwich, potato wedges, and food shopping. We found a few items that La Paz does not have, such as Quaker Oatmeal Squares (Latin American version= tastes a bit like plastic), mango chutney, and fake All-Bran cereal (looks like sticks to me, but Scotty likes them). The guest house is a lovely little oasis in a nice part of town- boasting a large, green yard, blackberry bushes, free granola and puffy, pancake breakfast, and fun, international type people. We spent most of the weekend walking around town (7 hours of walking on Saturday!), shopping in the market that covers a couple square miles, eating, swimming and reading. We were happy to catch an all-day parade and snapped a picture of an interesting traditional dance called the "Tinku" where men traditionally fight each other to the death, but more recently have toned down to just beating the snot out of each other (except in parades). Saturday night I took Scotty to a restaurant called "Bufalo's" which I renamed "The House of Gluttony" with the motto, "Eat way too much and feel bad about it later". Ok, I admit if you have a little bit of self-control, you don't have to bring yourself to the point of bursting, but it's hard. This restaurant is appealing to both men and women. Women, because it has an enormous salad bar with tons of options. Men, because the main attraction is the meat.It's a Brazilian style restaurant which means that waiters are constantly approaching your table for as long as you choose to sit there with various types of meat on a skewer. Lamb, chicken, pork, turkey (wrapped in bacon!), beef (every cut imaginable, and then some), even various organs float by and can be yours if you accept them. I held out for my favorites, the garlic steak and the turkey wrapped in bacon...Scotty was able to put away a little bit more. It boggles the mind and hurts the stomach to see so much meat pass by- it's quite an experience. Then, there's a dessert bar! But, they only limit you to two, as if anyone has room for more by the time they get to that point. Sunday was a beautiful sunny day and we chose to spend it at the pool, which is apparently where most Bolivians with monetary resources like to hang out on Sunday. It is also the day where they triple the amount of food they have on their buffet. Yes, more food. I almost didn't even want to see the buffet after the previous nights all-you-can-eat activites, but as soon as the smells began pouring out of the resort to the pool area, I changed my mind. It was pretty humorous to watch the plates of food walking by, mountains of meat, veggies, and potatoes precariously piled on top of each other. We did notice that Cochabambinos happen to be a little pudgier than our friends of La Paz. I could go on and on about the great things we experienced during this trip and the fun we had, but I'll save some for next time.

La Vida Loca

We were livin' the vida loca this weekend! Saturday morning we got up super early to pick up our friend and co-SIMer, Kathy, from the airport. She's been on home assignment for months and it was a pleasure to see her again and hear how her time in the states was. It was so early by the time we got her and took her home, that we had to wait for about a half hour or so for any breakfast places to open so we could take her out for breakfast. We tried out a fairly new restaurant called Blueberries, in hopes of finding good blueberry pancakes, containing a fruit that is virtually unknown to Bolivians and impossible to find here except in expensive, imported blueberry muffin mixes sold in the supermarket. We had success and chowed down together, catching up on each others lives. I hit the gym shortly after and then enjoyed a nice lunch with my husband before leaving to pick up a friend of his that was arriving that afternoon and is staying with us this week. Our co-workers, Greg and Faith, were also receiving a friend from the states, Dave. Dave is the team leader of the missions team at his church in Chicago and has really been touched with a vision and passion to support us, the Bible Church of Mallasilla, in our search for property. He planned a weekend trip down, only 2 days, to spend with the team, getting to know us and observing and interacting with the church in hopes of finding confirmation for his vision. Saturday afternoon we had a team tea for Dave, giving him the chance to share all that God has done in his heart to lead him here and giving us the chance to share how God worked in our hearts to bring us all onto the church plant team. It was a wonderful time of encouragement, that being a strong gift of Dave's, but unfortunately our friend had a severe reaction to a nutty cookie he ate there and we spent quite a bit of time the rest of the night trying to take care of him. The next morning we were up early again, excited for our 4th church service and a lunch we were hosting for the church afterwards. There are so many different groups of people that are attending the church and we really want them to get to know each other and for us to start becoming more and more a family that loves and serves one another. We thought a lunch would be a great, relaxed time to interact and another chance for Dave to get a feel for the community of Mallasilla. It turned out to be a fantastic time and one of much laughter as we enjoyed the sunny day, roasted chicken, and the company of interesting people. By the time we were finished with that, we had a few minutes to sit at home and talk with our guest before we were off to a final meeting with Dave, our pastor and his family, and Greg and Faith. We spent the evening talking over pizza and hearing more in depth details of how God has been preparing Dave's church in Chicago to partner with us and encouraged the hearts of others there to be involved. He shared the insights he had about our church with us: one being that we were a group that had prayer as a foundation; two, a church with a strong emphasis on bringing praise to our God through all that we do; three, a church that has a powerful gift of worship through music; and four...well, I can't remember four, but it was also encouraging! We stayed and fellowshipped together for about 4 hours before returning home, physically and emotionally exhuasted from the weekend, but intensely refreshed in the Lord and all that He did. And so the adventure of church planting continues, seeing the Lord's firm hand upon us from before the beginning!

Wish you were here!

We knew that starting today, our weekend was going to be a blur of activity, both with church plant related activities and the arrival of a friend of Scotty's who will be staying with us for a week. So, we decided to take a mid-week, two-day vacation to Urmiri, a secluded hot spring a couple hours from La Paz. The last time we tried this trip was the ill-fated, collarbone-breaking expedition, in which we never made it all the way. This time, we had no accidents and arrived just in time for the skies to cloud over and a light drizzle to begin. Thankfully, after a picnic lunch in the car and a dip in the hot springs while it was raining, the skies cleared again and remained mostly sunny for the rest of that day and the next. We enjoyed lounging in the hot pools, napping in big plastic chairs in the sun, reading, praying together, walking, and eating. They've done a fantastic job of filling every space with trees and flowers and there are always birds flying about and chirpping and a general ambiance of tranquility. We chose to camp in the picnic area, under a thatched roof, and when all the lights went out and the sun went down (they don't turn on the electricity if there's less than 10 people staying at the hotel- so no lights to get in the way), we had the most spectacular star show. I think that's the clearest view of the sky I've had, and it was amazing! We slept hard and enjoyed another day of rest before coming home mid-afternoon yesterday. Now, even though it's a holiday here and everything is shut down and people are heading off to the country (or the graveyards to visit their dead relatives- "Day of the Dead" today)- we're working at the office to try to prepare everything for this weekend. What a gift we had to spend those 2 days together, relaxing and being reminded that God is in control!

Saturday morning

If we don't have anything scheduled for the mornings on Saturday, I love the ritual that has developed in our home. I'm typically up before Scotty but allow myself a little sleep-in time on Saturday mornings. Lately, the weather has been perfect and I awake to the bright sun pouring in our bedroom windows through the thin curtains and the urge hits to get out of bed and get some breakfast. I try not to wake Scotty up and make my way out of the bedroom where the cats instinctively know I'm up (or hear me with their fine-tuned ears) and are waiting anxiously at the bedroom door. Cheddar flops down right in front of my feet, his way of asking to be petted, while Malphurs jogs a few steps ahead, loudly demanding that I pay attention to him. We scuffle into the kitchen where I first satisfy the unwavering demand of my cats for food, and then I put the coffee maker on for myself and Scotty. I open the curtains in the kitchen to a great picture window that usually displays a quiet neighborhood against a rugged mountainous backdrop with bright blue skies and big, puffy clouds. Lately, I've been sifting through some magazines that a friend brought me from home, dreaming about future house designs or chocolate cupcake recipes while I munch on cereal. After the coffee is done brewing, I allow myself, only on weekends, to use my imported, hazelnut powder coffee creamer (sounds delish right?). :) It's not too hard to find, but a bit expensive, and so makes it extra special to enjoy as a treat on the weekends. I am content at my little wooden table in the kitchen, alone with my magazine, my thoughts, my coffee, and a gorgeous world right outside my window. Inevitably, I am reminded of God's goodness to us, His gifts in small pleasures, and the hope that we have to treasure Him forever.

Cookbook search

OK all you ladies (and gentlemen) out there who love to cook- I'm looking for a cookbook to put on my Christmas list this year, but was a little overwhelmed with the 63,000+ options Amazon.com brought up when I searched "cookbooks". I'm looking for your recommendations, keeping in mind a couple things: one, most canned foods or pre-packaged/boxed items are unavailable in the grocery store here; two, I really like breakfast foods; three, I do quite a bit of hosting, so recipes that are larger or can be doubled easily are helpful; four, as much as I love international food (Indian, Thai, etc...), I also can't find most ethnic spices that these recipes call for; five, something that has a good mix of traditional meals (aka- fattening, feel-good foods) and healthy options would be a plus (or just healthy would be cool too). Am I being too picky?

So, send me your suggestions or just buy me your favorite book and send it to me for Christmas! :)

Papalisa

When I lived in Cochabamba, some of the Bolivian youth I worked with would call me "PapaLisa" (papa=potato, lisa=smooth). Here is what happens when you leave your smooth potatoes under the sink for too long without cooking them.

New/old hobbies

Thursday night we invited our good friends Jana and Edson over for dinner and hobby night. Scotty lost his only chess friend in LP a few months ago when this friend returned to the states. He's been itching to try out the new board I gave him for our anniversary and it turns out that Edson also enjoys playing. I've been wanting to learn how to knit, inspired long ago by women I saw knitting at Bethlehem Baptist (during the church service!) and also more recently by women who've wanted to create cute things for thier new babies. Jana's mother-in-law has been teaching her and now she's passing on this new knowledge to me as well. I was surprised at how non-dextrous my fingers were, but Jana assured me it would come easier with practice. The kitties certainly enjoyed our lesson, moving from string to needles and back to string again in a frenzy of playful biting and attempts to swallow a mouthful of string. I'm hoping to start out with a scarf- but we'll see how it goes.

IBM begins!!

We officially opened the doors of Mallasilla Bible Church yesterday! So much work, prayers, and preparation has gone into this Sunday morning and we saw God working throughout the service. We had about 60 attending, including children, and enjoyed a wonderful time of worship and hearing from God's word. Edgar chose to speak on Christ's purpose here on Earth and how He was the physical manifestation of God to us. Everything went smoothly, having set up the home we are meeting in the day before. It is as if this house was designed to be a house church, even though the owners didn't know when they were building it that God had all this in store! We comfortably seated all who came and were even surprised to have several different individuals and couples attend whom we never though were going to show up! It was neat to see how God had opened thier hearts to all of us and brought them in support, even though they don't seem interested in God or church.Vianka, an IBM member, and I stayed up late the night before to make a huge cake to share in a time of fellowship after the service, hoping that many would stick around and chat. It was a good time of mingling and enjoying this new church body God has formed in Mallasilla.

After lunch, Scotty and I layed down to rest for just a couple minutes. A couple minutes turned into a couple hours and we found ourselves struggling to move from the bed! I think all the anticipation that culminated that morning finally caught up with us and our bodies and minds needed a good sleep! Thanks be to God who has allowed us to start His church and is guiding us in all that we do- we are excited to see what the next few months and years hold for the IBM!

Marshmallow party

Last night was the celebration of several different things for us, in no particular order:

Scotty got to take off his sling last night! The doctor says he still has to wait one month before starting physical therapy because the bone is still very soft.

The cats turned one year old this month. They didn't actually realize we were celebrating their birthdays, and we didn't offer them any steak from dinner.

We've been back in Bolivia for a year! It's incredible how fast time goes and all the things that have happened over this last year. We certainly see the hand of God in all of it- He is so faithful.

We FINALLY got the papers for our land, after about 4 months of waiting. So, we decided to invite all the neighborhood kids over that we know for a bonfire and marshmallow roasting party. Scotty has slowly been piling up brush from the land in preparation for the big day when we got papers in hand. The kids were excited last night as he drove home from work and were already milling about the property waiting for us. We enjoyed a tasty dinner and then grabbed a bag of marshmallows I've been saving for this occasion and rallied the troops. The kids were all about helping Scotty start the fire and after it died down a bit, we handed out sticks and marshmallows to excited little ones and Scotty gave a brief marshmallow roasting lesson.There was a little guy there, Luis, who must not have been more than 3 years old. He kept aiming his stick in the general direction of the fire and then asking if he could eat the marshmallow. He would ask "Tio" (uncle Scotty) first, and then me, and then when we both approved him, he would stick the whole thing in his mouth and look like he was playing Chubby Bunnies (does anyone know that game?). Sometimes the kids would see him eat his cold marshmallow and say "but it's raw!". I would assure them that it was fine and eventually we had to cut little Luis off from the marshmallows for fear that his tummy wouldn't handle it very well. After we snapped a million photos of the kids who were begging to have their picture taken, and passed out almost the whole bag, the kids began to ask if they could have some for their mom, dad, sister, cousin, etc... We finished off the bag, let the first die almost down, and the left the oldest in charge while we returned home. It was a great way to hang out with these kids we see all the time as well as celebrate the fact that we are official landowners.

It's almost time!

Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of our sending church, La Comunidad, and a commissioning service for La Iglesia Biblica de Mallasilla (Mallasilla Bible Church- our official name!). After the sermon, the elders of the church gathered around Edgar, our pastor, Greg, and Scotty to pray a blessing over them, and had the rest of the team stand to be a part of the blessing as well. It was moving for me to see my husband on stage, part of the core leadership team of this church, knowing that God has gifted him with amazing leadership capabilities, insight into the Word, wisdom in decision making, and a love of seeing people come to know the Lord. We enjoyed gracious comments from the elder board of La Comunidad and an expressed commitment to continue praying for us, an extended body of the church, as we launch next week. I felt honored that God has called us to be a part of such an exciting time and a firm belief that He has been guiding us and will make Himself known through this church in Mallasilla. So, we will be opening the doors on Sunday, starting in the home of the neighbors who have the evangelistic Bible study, and then moving quickly to Highlands International School where there's more room. This week is full of activities of preparation and prayers that God speak through the core team as we welcome the neighbors, Edgar as he boldly speaks God's word, and the worship as we recognize who God is and praise Him for it.

Highlights...

...from the end of last week: Tuesday afternoon and evening: Scotty plans a surprise date outting for us. This includes a trip to the plant fair nearby to buy flowers and plants for our office. We got a brush plant (fun, bright red bristley blooms), the American dollar plant, a cute Bonsai tree, and some little red and yellow flowers. Dinner at a new cafe I've been wanting to try- veal in wine sauce and an asparagus omelet to share, plus an extra treat- Bailey's milkshake (yum!). Next is a trip to a small auditorium to hear a friend play classical guitar- he was incredible! Fun times with my sweet husband who knows I like him to plan surprises for me once in a while.

Wednesday: a good talk about ministry options over lunch with our co-worker Greg. He was so encouraging as he reminded us of how God has used us to really reach many in our neighborhood and help initiate relationships that are moving our church plant further. After lunch was tea with a Bolivian friend I've been trying to get together with for months.

Thursday evening: we take out our good friends to a great Asian restaurant to celebrate a birthday. Strangely, we spend a good part of the evening discussing intestinal worms and how they manifest/come out/negatively affect the body. You know you're a missionary when you can do this over dinner without flinching.

Friday: "Crazy ministry weekend" (my label) begins. We start with SIM team meeting, interacting with our fellow SIMers in Cochabamba, John and Bronwyn, who are here to film for the 100 year SIM anniversary celebration DVD. We invite them over for dinner, so I spend the rest of the afternoon doing correspondence in the office and preparing dinner. They stay the night.

Saturday: we are up at a decent time the next morning, expecting Lola (our once a week maid) to show up so we can take her to the crafts fair at Highlands. She comes and we head out into the beautiful, sunny day to set her up a table. Sadly, we find out later that she sold nothing. She had brought goods from a group of girls, all ex-street kids, who are trying to stay off the streets and support their babies. After the fair we have lunch at our house and head directly out into the blaring sun to do some filming on potential church property. I usually am good about wearing sunscreen, but we were in a hurry and I knew we wouldn't be out for very long. We saw lots of neighborhood friends during out filming session, which made for good footage, but as soon as we returned home, I noticed a nice, dark red ring around my neckline. This is one of the worst burns I've had in a long time- and we were only out for 30 mins! They say the sun here is 50 times as intense as at sea-level- a safe amount of time to be out is 15 mins. That's annoying. We have tea and a few mins to talk with our Coch friends before we head out again for a church plant meeting until 6ish. We return to enjoy a quiet dinner, just Scotty and me, and an early night to bed.

Sunday: get up early. Church and then pot luck with SIM team- lots of chicken and rice. Debbie makes a tasty chocolate cake for dessert- she's famous for her cakes. More filming after lunch and then we return home with John and Bronwyn and the Hurst family to talk more about filming. We're hoping to put together a good video presenting the next chapter of the story of the church plant ministry. After chatting and drinking coffee we move to the next venue on the other side of town where we're going to have a prayer walk with the Mallasilla Bible study group and our church plant team. We weave our way through the neighborhood, praying for families, for life transformation, for the bridging of social barriers, for land, for God's glory. We return home, our house guests having left during the walk to fly home, and spontaneously ask Greg and the girls to have a pancake dinner with us. Many pancakes, we say good-bye and finally have the house to ourselves. We read from our book of Roald Dahl short stories, I write in my journal, and it's off to bed at 9:30.

It was a good weekend, but I'm glad it's over.

New office!!

Well, after many extra weeks of waiting for the construction to be completed on our office, we are finally in! One of the main reasons we wanted to get an office in the city was so that we could have high speed internet that is not available to us where we live. The day we moved into the office, the internet died. It took about a week to get it up and running, but at only about half the speed it should be at. Now, we are having cable difficulties, and we can't seem to get the net arriving to all our computers. But, it's in process and we are not too surprised that things continue to come up that prohibit us from functioning fully as we like. Patience is the key! I am enjoying being outside of the house and checking emails, blogs, etc...as well as using our Vonage phone to call home!! If anyone wants to call us, we are usually here in the mornings and after lunch and our number is 352-505-8801 (Florida #). We'd love to talk!!

As I've been trying to catch up on blogs, I found out the sad news that Pastor John just lost a grandchild that was still in the womb, but almost full term. Reading that news and the responses of many led me to think about our own loss about a month and a half ago. There have been many ups and downs in this journey of hoping and waiting. We seem to be continually learning of friends becoming pregnant, including 2 good friends here in La Paz. We rejoice with them in what we know is a huge blessing from the Lord and yet our minds wander to what we thought we were going to have and wonder when God will allow us to have our turn again. I know it is no coincidence that I am studying Romans in my ESI class and being confronted often with the truth that our Lord is soverign and in control of even the smallest details of our lives. Scotty and I daily lean on Him and ask for the faith to trust in His wisdom for the future of our family. It is not always an easy road but one in which I see the hand of the Lord transforming my heart and my desires.

Roger's Birthday

There is a couple that lives at the end of the street where the Friday night Mallasilla Bible study is held. The wife, Cecilla, is Bolivian and her husband, Roger, is an American. Ceci comes frequently to the Bible study and although she is very open to what is discussed there, she has remained a professing Catholic and has yet convinced her husband to come with her. We ran into Ceci a week ago and she told us she was having a family birthday party for Roger and she wanted us and the Hursts to come. Until talking to Faith, I didn't realize that this party was just for close family, but how great an honor it was that we were included in that tight circle. We put on our Sunday best, actually better than that, baked some yummy (almost sinful) chocolate peanut butter bars for a little present, and drove over to their house last night around 8. I have to admit that when I walked in and saw her large, ornately decorated home and nicely dressed Bolivian family members sitting around sipping coke and whiskey, I felt a little out of place. The family continued to trickle in over the course of a couple hours and we had the chance to start getting to know Roger and many of Ceci's close relatives and friends. At one point, I was seated next to one of Ceci's brothers and having heard that we were evangelical missionaries he asked me, "So, what is the difference between what you guys believe and what us Catholics believe?" Whoa!! I stared blankly at him for a few seconds, trying to think how in the world I was going to answer this question intelligently, in Spanish, without 1)offending him; 2)making him feel like it was "us" against "them"; and 3)bumbling over myself as I did my best to share the gospel. Thankfully, God was not surprised by this question and was leading me through as we chatted. He was so open and frank with the little he believed about religion, not really being a practicing anything, just considering himself Catholic because that is the family background he came from. I was continually amazed at the leading questions he asked, giving me the opportunity to share the gospel clearly, explain how the Bible definitively states we are not saved by works but what Christ did for us on the cross, talk about how Mary was a mortal just like us who did sin (the Catholic church believes otherwise), that the Bible is the final authority on all spiritual matters, and the direct route we have to approach God through Jesus Christ. Wow! I invited this new friend to come to our church when we open last month and before leaving, he assured me he would be there. After we left, I found out that Scotty also had the chance to naturally share the gospel with the other brother he was talking to! And to think, I almost skipped out on the party because I didn't want to miss my ESI class... We continue to pray that God will give us more opportunities to spend time with Ceci and Roger. There is a natural connection to Roger because we are Americans, but I think a long way to go before he would be willing to attend anything church-like. What a privilege to share my hope in Christ!

Waiting...

...and waiting and waiting. Sometimes, living in La Paz means a lot of waiting. Waiting to get a visa, waiting for the guy to turn left because there are no turn lanes in the whole country (so people are constantly stopping in your lane), waiting for the guy in the grocery store to come back so he can weigh and price your vegetables, waiting for the office to be ready to move into, waiting for that thing you asked to have made a month ago that was supposed to be ready in a few days. Today, we waited for the tire man to find the little leak in the inner tube and patch it up so we could be on our way. Scotty and I stood outside and watched the people next door wash cars, called to stray dogs, grimaced when the man decided the most efficient way to remove the tire from the rim was to use a pick ax. I commented that I was sure glad we were there together, because to wait like this alone could be a bit boring. Then I mentioned that I was pretty sure after living in Bolivia for 20 years, I'm going to be a very patient person. Now, I feel I could reach this good character attribute only because of God's grace. Honestly, I have a very long way to go on the path to being a patient woman, but I do see that God is slowly chipping away at my impatience, the dire importance I put on punctuality, and the ease with which I get upset at perfect strangers for slowing me down. God has found many ways to slow me down here, and Scotty too, and I feel that learning to take life slowly, when that is all you can do, is good. From the slow tire guy to losing our baby to waiting for the church plant to (finally) start, I am beginning to understand that life's events are not in my hands, but firmly in the Lords. Even today I experienced 2 significant let downs of expectations I had and had to remember that God has a perfect purpose for all of it, and it is best to rest in that and not frustrate myself with dwelling on how these things don't work out. It is a good lesson and one I'm sure I'll continue to learn the rest of my life.

Good things

There are times throughout the weeks that I'll think about home and in my mind, or sometimes to Scotty, I'll say, "If I could go home for just one day..." or "If I could go anywhere back home right now it would be... (Target, Al Mikes, Poindexter Dr., DGCC, my parents house, etc...)". There will always be things I miss about home (did I mention Target?) but I was thinking this morning about all the things I would miss if I wasn't in Bolivia:

worshipping the Lord in Spanish, international friends, perfect blue skies, rugged mountains springing up right outside my windows, cheap restaurants, adventure travelling, mountainous jungle 3 hours from home, our apartment, friendly people who say "hi" when you walk by, no speed limit, walking all over town, being different...

My heart will always be a part of two places and I'm learning to be content where I am and find the good here. I will enjoy the good when we are on home assignment, and often look forward to seeing all of you again, but there is much joy in living where God has us right now.

Dinnertime word problems

Lisa and Scotty sit down to eat dinner. They cut several pieces of hamburger cornbread pie for themselves and end up with 7/16 of the pie left. If Lisa ate 1/4 of the whole pie, how much did Scotty eat?

Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? If you can believe it, Scotty and I sat staring at our hamburger casserole tonight, trying to figure out mathematically how much we ate...

"We ate a lot of food."
"We finished off more than half the dish."
"Yeah, I'd say about 3/5."
"How much would I have eaten if you had a little bit more than me?"
"Well, if we ate 3/5 and I had more, then I had about, lets see, what's less than 3/5?"

Conversation went on like this for at least 5 or 6 minutes, trying to find common denominators, adding and multiplying fractions in our heads. Scotty told me that he used to teach his kids in class that "Fractions are our friends", inspired by his old math teacher Larry Winckles. How are fractions our friends? I ask. Because then you can answer important questions like these: how much casserole did we eat?

I'm not convinced.

My Wife

Lisa and I were married two years ago last Monday. Unfortunately, we couldn't celebrate that momentous anniversary because I was just being let out of the hospital with my arm in a sling. But hopefully we'll make up for it tomorow with an all-out celebration of the marriage God has given us. In the last two years, I have fallen more and more deeply in love with this amazing woman. She is beautiful, funny, creative, hospitable, intelligent, imaginative, a great cook, a great writer (as you know if you check this blog regularly), artistic, loving, and above all, goes hard after God. In the setbacks we have recently faced, she has responded with deep faith, strong love and selfless care for me. It is thrilling to be in partnership in ministry with Lisa and even better to be companions in the adventure of life that God is unfolding before us. Here's to my incredible wife!

Prayer walk

For quite a while we've been hoping to get the members of our church plant team together with the group of Christians that meet out in Mallasilla for a twice a month Bible study. We decided the best idea would be to hold a prayer walk around the community, asking God to continue preparing the hearts of those who live there and us as well to open His church in less than 2 months. By the time we all got to the designated spot, the sky had clouded over and the wind had picked up quite dramatically. After a few minutes of worship, the rains began to trickle down and the temps must have dropped about 15 degrees or so. We decided to take our "walk" inside. Carmen and Marcelo, the hosts of the Bible study, opened their home as they are so constantly willing to do, to about 30 of us who had gathered to seek God on behalf of Mallasilla. As the rain wasn't letting up, we decided to break into several groups to pray for various topics and enjoyed an hour or so of communion together. For the first time, it felt a little like what our church might feel like! Scotty and I were excited that the two groups had the chance to mingle and that some of the youth from our mother church who aren't planning on attending the Mallasilla church even came out for support. Our hope is to open 6 weeks from yesterday- rain or shine!

Collarbone update

I just woke up from an hour and a half nap...I don't usually nap that long. I think all the events of the last weekend as well as a busier schedule now that I'm helping Scotty with both taking care of himself as well as doing some stuff that he used to do and now can't, has caught up with me. Scotty got out on our anniversary. They told him he could leave the following day but he ended up calling me on my way there (with a backpack loaded full of "hospital fun survivor kit 2007") to let me know the x-rays looked really good and they were going to release him early. The most exciting part of the day was when I went down to pay our bill, which they hadn't prepared us in any way for, and was hit with a much larger sum than I thought and the cheery smile of the accountant who explained "you'll need to pay all of this before you go". What would have been nice, and normal, was to let us know ahead of time around how much it would be and let us know it was policy to pay it before you leave the hospital. We have a great insurance plan, but the way it works is that we pay everything up front, file, and are reimbursed at a later date. I slowly made my way up the stairs to Scotty's room where he was happily waiting in matching army pants, a little too short (in my survivor kit, I had not put any pants, so our smaller friend Randy had to bring some so he wouldn't have to leave the hospital in his underwear) with Randy, wondering how we were going to pull together $7000 all at once.He and about 3 other people we spoke to on the phone all had the same reaction: drop mouth open saying loudly and slowly, "Seven thousand dollars!!??" We kindly explained to oblivious accountant lady that there was a slight impossibility that we could come up with that kind of money before we left the hospital (unless we wanted to hang out a few more days) and she made some phone calls. The surgeon graciously lowered his fee a bit, we talked yo a wonderful co-worker about floating us the money, and we had the bill paid within a couple hours. I guess we needed to learn that lesson!
So, we saw the surgeon last night and he felt that everything looked nice, if you can say a 7 inch incision with blue, ugly stitches looks nice, and that the sling can come off in another 6 weeks or so. The plate and screws can be left in forever, as long as they don't bother Scotty, and we're praying that it will work out to leave them in. I'm learning how to dress a very tall man, as well as giving shampoos and turning into a chauffeur. Scotty is catching up on a lot of email correspondence, one-handed of course, and we've spent more evenings together this week than in a long time. Last night we picked a chapter out of Systematic Theology and took turns reading and then praying about what we read. God has a lot of good things in store for this period of our lives, I know it, and a lot of challenges to our holiness as we learn patience, trust, dependence (in Him and each other) and are reminded again of what a good gift we have in marriage.

A funny thing happened...

...on the way to the hot springs yesterday. Scotty and I had planned an early anniversary trip with 3 other couples to camp out at a nearby (2 1/2 hours from town) hot spring. Upon arriving at the altiplano, the flat stretch of land about 1,000 ft. above where we live, we found that the major road running between La Paz and several other large cities had been closed off for a car race. We were somewhat surprised but mostly annoyed that they chose to close off this road, being the only one out of town in that direction. Well, like good 4x4 owners, we decided to search the backroads instead of accept a failed trip. The 8 of us, in our Landcruiser and a friends Patrol, excitedly took off into the fields to test out the ruggedness of our vehicles (and our bodies) on the rough dirt "roads". We wound our way through little villages and dry river beds until we found the correct road that led us to the springs. We stopped for a picnic and then took down the 3 bikes we had strapped on top to do the rest of the trip on bike, 3 at a time taking turns while the others drove. When it came to be my turn, I anxiously followed behind Scotty and Jason, not loving the fast, jarring feeling that came with very rocky, downhill paths. I had brakes on all the way, but still managed to enjoy the valleys below and mountains all around. Jason took off on a side trail and later met up with me, both of us still behind Scotty, whose dust trail I had seen quite a bit ahead of us. As we rounded one corner together, we saw Scotty standing still with his arms hanging at his sides, his head drooped (like Napoleon Dynamite), and his bike lying on the ground. My general sense was that something was not right, but it wasn't until we got closer that we noticed the bad cuts and scrapes and more blood that I was comfortable with seeing on my husband. I quickly removed his helmet to make sure there was nothing major on his head and we continued trying to ask him what had happened. After a minute he informed us that he thought he needed to sit down and we assisted him to the car where he sat in a daze. By this time, everyone was crowded around and trying to figure out what went wrong. Scotty was a complete mess and I wasn't totally OK with continuing on our journey, being so close to the end, but he encouraged us to press on, he'd be fine. As soon as I had him lying down in the back seat, ready to resume the trip, he casually mentioned that he couldn't remember anything that had happened that day. I called over my nurse friend, Sara, informed her that he had no memory, and she made a quick and good decision for us to immediately go back to La Paz. For the next couple of hours, Scotty continually asked "what happend?" "how long was I out?" and kept noticing with surprise, "my shoulder hurts". I patiently answered about 20 times that he had fallen off his bike, we didn't know how long he was out, and we would get him looked at soon. He endured a very bumpy, 2 hour long ride back into town without complaining. Slowly, as we continued to ask questions, he started to remember bits and pieces of the morning. By the time we got him to the hospital, he was ashen and in a considerable amount of pain and shock. He was x-rayed and found to have a very broken collarbone, almost a compound fracture, that needed surgery immediately. The poor guy didn't look so good and had to put up with a few more x-rays and a challenging shower before he was allowed his own bed and a few hours rest before the surgery. Friends came by and sat with me during the 3 hours he was being worked on, coming out just before 11pm that night, tired but taken care off. Today has consisted of many visitors, snoozing, eating, recapping the exciting events of yesterday, and prayers of thanks that things weren't any worse. The helmet he was wearing was cracked in 4 places, giving me a better picture of how hard he hit the ground and how fantastic it was that he had head protection. Tomorrow is our 2nd anniversary and we are celebrating our marriage and the grace God has given us that we are both well and alive together. It's kinda a bummer that he'll be in the hospital until Tuesday, but I've got a few ideas to make the day special. How grateful I am to the Lord for a godly husband who is patient and trusting when hard times come.