An Unforgettable Night

We met with Greg yesterday to go over our end of term reviews that are part of what SIM requires before returning on home assignment. Filling out the review form and thinking about the last 3 years was a great exercise in being reminded of all that God taught and the continued need to be open to where He is leading and how He wants to change us. One thing that stood out to us as a continued frustration is how different we, foreigners, deal with time. I have realized how tied to the clock I have been all my life and we see how loosely most Bolivians hold onto time limitations...there really are few limitations when it comes to time. We see so much benefit in this, but it is so hard to conform to this way of living when you are used to punctuality and starting and ending times. Last night, God threw me a big test after talking through these things with Scotty and Greg- realizing that I was the one that needed to change my atitude about it. We were invited over by good friends who have been working on their house for several years- it's on the same street we will be building on. They still haven't finished, but they've gotten it to a point where it is livable and they wanted to throw us a going away party and celebrate the fact that they've finally moved in. Great idea! They invited other good friends who live at the end of the street and some of their family. I had talked with my friend on Sunday and we had planned for a little after 7, since Natalie goes to bed at that time. We called a friend to come over to be in the house while Natty sleeps and took off about 7:30, realizing that showing up on time would not be the best idea. We've been running hard these past few days and I was already tired, although looking forward to hanging out with these families. When we walked over to the house, there was no one there. Not too surprising. When we called our friend, she said, "can you come at 8:30?". 8:30??? I must say, that was the point where I totally forgot about the need to change my attitude. I was a bit upset, to say the least. We walked back home and spent the next hour chatting while waiting for everyone to show up. By the time we were ready to leave again, I had calmed down and wondered if I should bring up the issue at all. We went back and the house had been opened by another friend, but our friend still wasn't there. She came about half and hour later and explained the long list of things that had caused her to run behind in everything. After hearing her explanation, I realized how short of grace I had been and that I would want someone else to understand and be patient if I were in the same situation. Well, we all sat down, they cranked up the English ballads from the 80's, and we waited for dinner to be finished...I was getting pretty tired by this point. There was lots of excited conversation going on, kids running around, Air Supply crooning in the background, promises of karoke later in the evening and our friend promising us "an unforgettable night". Oh! Don't worry, I thought, it already has been.

Around 10 we finally ate, talked, started the first fire in their fire place, and out came the karoke videos. We sang a few and then Scotty and I reluctantly explained that we needed to leave to relieve the babysitter and also because he had to get up early this morning to head to Sajama, the highest mountain in Bolivia, which he intends to summit in the next 3 days. Then, as Bolivians are so skilled at doing, they blessed us by sharing how much we mean to them, how much we have affected their lives and how much they will miss us. We have been very humbled in the last week or so as various friends share these going-away thoughts and confirm what we sometimes wonder- that God really is using us here. Back to the house by 11:30- it was truly an unforgettable night.