Home again

We had such a great trip to Coch, even though it started off on a rough note. As we were packing up to leave, the doorbell rang and Scotty ran down to see who it was. He was out there for a while as I finished up making our lunch for the road and I peeked out the window to see him listening to a woman talk away at him. I wrongly assumed it was someone seeking our monetary assistance, as is somewhat common around here, and so I decided I'd go down with an armfull of stuff to put in the car to make the point that we were getting ready to leave. As I opened the door, Scotty was there and explained that this was the wife of the man who is selling us our land, and that he was killed in a car accident on his way to Cochabamba a few days earlier. I was so shocked, I could hardly believe my ears! Just the night before he left, we had been at his house, giving him a down-payment and making plans to cook out in his brick oven when he got back to town. We felt like we were definitely starting a friendship with this man and looked forward to inviting him to church and hearing more crazy stories about when he was a war prisoner during the reign of a dictator years ago. And now we were hearing he had passed away on the same journey we were about to take. It was sad news indeed. God is good and put it on the heart of his wife (who lives in a different city...we're not sure what that is all about) to maintain the verbal agreement we had with Jorge and continue the land deal. Neither of us had signed a contract of any kind, but had a verbal agreement, which is a strong bond in this culture. His wife and daughter need to find the time to return to La Paz to sign the papers, and we're very prayerfully asking the Lord that nothing will happen in the meantime to change their minds. So, we set off with heavy hearts and a fresh understanding at how precious life is and that there is no time like the present to share the hope of Christ with all. Our time in Coch was fun and relaxing. We had a great time hanging out with the Flores family and always enjoy their hospitality- even their 14 year old, Ana, gives up her room for us. The wedding we attended was beautiful and meaningful, the days were warm and sunny, and we were able to see lots of people. I haven't been back to the international church, where I worked when I was living there, since spring 2005, so there were many old friends and new faces to greet on Sunday. As always, we are happy to be back in our own house (even if there is no running water at the moment and I need to do laundry), and catch up with the happenings of the weekend. We have another busy week ahead with many events to look foward to.