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.

10 Things I love about Cochabamba

Scotty and I are leaving for Cochabamba today. Besides being my first home in Bolivia, where Scotty and I met and got engaged, and home to the world's perfect climate, there are several other things I love about Cochabamba that I always look forward to when we go (in no particular order):

10. Did I mention the climate? It is temperate all year round- never very hot, never very cold.

9. Casa Campestre. A small, wooded resort near my old apartment with a beautiful (if cold) pool and enormous, scrumptious lunch buffet- $5 for the day- all inclusive.

8. Mauge- Scotty and my old Spanish teacher. She encouraged our relationship, encouraged our souls, and taught us everything we ever needed to know about speaking Spanish. We always stay at her house when we go and really enjoy her and her family.

7. Cine Center. Coch has this beautiful, new, American-style theatre- complete with food court and cushy theatre chairs- but with Bolivian prices. Now, if they would just play something other than horror flicks...

6. Food! Cochabamba is known for big portions, yummy dishes, and seemingly continuous eating- I think that will mesh nicely with a pregnant woman's needs.

5. SIMers- we always run into or actually plan to hang out with other SIM missionaries that live in Coch that we aren't able to see frequently. There are some quality families in this town.

4. The Cancha- Cochabamba boasts a very large market with a very large used clothes section. Most of the clothes come in from the states and if you dig hard enough and walk around long enough, you will find some great stuff at ridiculously low prices. I'm very hopeful to increase my maternity wardrobe during this trip.

3. The drive over. Bolivia has an incredible, varied topography and the drive from the altiplano- a very high, flat region with huge fields of llamas and distant snowy peaks eventually begins winding through the rocky mountains and descending into the warmer valley of Cochabamba. Although it's about a 5 hour drive, it's a breathtaking ride.

2. Reminiscing with my husband. Coch holds many sweet memories for us and many localations where we pseudo-dated and got to know each other. It never fails that we spend half the time walking around saying "remember when...?"

1. Green! Although the city is still at a fairly high altitude, it boasts many green, grassy parks with flowers and trees dotted throughout. La Paz remains mostly brown throughout the year, and even though it has a few nicely landscaped areas, it doesn't compare to the lushness of Cochabamba.

So, we'll be attending a wedding on Saturday of some friends who will later move up to La Paz and be an adoptive part of our SIM team here and also pick up a rocking chair from a beloved missionary family who will be moving back to Australia after 20 years of service in Bolivia. Mixed in will be much relaxation and enjoying this city that we love so much.

Blessings

We had a couple over for dinner last night that have been attending our small group and are really excited to be learning from other couples how they parent their children and interested in learning how they can change their own techniques to do a better job. This seems to be a standard concern and interest of all the families we know here. This particular couple are fairly young in the faith and over the years have just stopped hanging out with their friends and co-workers because of the terrible, family and marriage-destroying habits they daily practice. It's good to see the way God has worked in this couples lives, despite not being regularly involved in sound, Biblical teaching, but a little sad to hear them admit that they don't have any friends. They have work "companions", but no one they could go to with anything serious or very personal. But, as we chatted last night, we did hear them admit they are really enjoying the process of getting to know other believers through our small group. They came to church for the first time last week and said their kids loved Sunday school and want to come again. That was enough for them to commit to coming weekly, or as often as work responsibilities will allow. It is truly a blessing to be a part of a group like this that is meeting each others needs. or learning to, and walking together on the journey of what it means to live a life devoted and submitted to the Lord. We are so thankful that God has invited us to participate in this great work of His.

Neighborhood store

If you need a coke or eggs or canned milk or bread or toilet paper- there's usually a small, one room store within a block of anywhere where you might be in La Paz. You can't actually enter the store, but look from the gate and ask for whatever it is you might want, and chances are, if you don't see it, it's hidden somewhere. I love that. This morning I woke up and needed eggs to make a dish for our team meeting- I rolled out of bed, put on my shoes, and headed to the neighborhood store. The lady there knows me and looked like she had also recently gotten out of bed- braiding her long, wet hair and looking a little less than fully awake. She counted out 12 nice little brown eggs for me, I handed over my change and walked back to the house, appreciating the perfect blue skies and quietness of the morning in Mallasilla. All in about 5 minutes. I also thanked God for neighborhood stores.

Cheddar and Malphurs

Ok, I feel a little like a "cat lady" posting this picture- but I think our two cats are the most irresistibly cutest cats that ever lived...most of the time. I'm sure once the baby is born, I won't be posting pictures of my cats anymore- don't worry. They snuggle like this every day- how cute is that??

Good day/Bad day

You know how you have those days when nothing seems to work out as you want it to? Scotty and I had one of those days yesterday, for the most part. Going to the market here is usually an exhausting process of driving, looking for parking, lots of walking, searching for one little thing you need in a sea of products (think several Walmarts spread out over dirty, crowded streets full of cars with absolutely no order in where things are), and sometimes never finidng what you need. Well, we decided to make it a market day- realizing that this could possibly be most of what we get done. On the way, we tried to meet up with a guy who is working on some paperwork issues for us to hand over our ID card. After getting bad directions from him and driving around for 20 mins, we finally found the place to meet and he informed us he was with someone else and would be down "right away"...sometimes that means within the half hour, usually not right away. So, as we waited for him in the car, we realized we had forgotten what we needed to turn in to him. In the process, it is nearing lunchtime, I'm hungry, and we haven't even started the shopping spree yet. We finally make it to the market, search high and low for various articles, and find a few others we "needed" that we didn't realize we needed, and then headed to our favorite Cuban restaurant for a late lunch. The rest of the day was full of little frustrations and a few tense interactions between Scotty and me, which always got worked through, but it make for a tiring, long day. Then, everything changed late in the evening. We had set a date to go to a neighbor's house who owns a piece of property we were very interested in buying to talk price and make a deal. He had gone up from what he initially offered us but after much prayer and seeking the wisdom of good friends who have also bought land here, we had come to an agreement between ourselves of what we wanted to offer him. When we got to his house, he started talking about how he'd spoken with his daughter, who has the land in her name, and she felt like the price he had given us was too low. Both of our hearts sunk and as he rambled on, we both prayed fervently for God's grace and guidance in our interactions. We had a long, drawn-out conversation, mostly about things completely unrelated to the property (as he has a tendency to tell stories) and finally came straight out with our price we wanted to pay and our inability to pay any more than that. He seemed relieved to know exactly what we were thinking and almost immediately agreed to accept that price, without counter-offering! God was surely at work here! We left his house with a bag full of lemons and oranges from other land he owns, and happy to have not only a new piece of land (God-willing, after the paperwork goes through), but a new friend too! Then, from the time we left the house this morning, things we weren't even thinking about just started falling into place, the right people to help kept appearing, and the most exciting event of all- the internet company came to our house (unexpectedly) and installed high speed internet in 10 minutes!! I am sitting in my guest bedroom, looking at our present and future land, and writing a blog! I can't explain quite how good this feels. So, we rejoice in the challenges, knowing that God is refining our character and asking us to lean on Him and be patient through the strength His Spirit gives, and we rejoice in the good days, when we know He is being abundantly gracious in making things easier than they have to be.

Fun in the jungle

The fun started on Sunday with the long-awaited move of the Mallasilla Bible Church from the Alfaro's house to Highlands International School- a few blocks down the road. We've been seeing the need for more space for a couple months and we got ourselves in order to find a more permanent home at Highlands. Scotty and I worked to clean up the area on Saturday and set up chairs and equipment. Because of last minute circumstances outside our control over the weekend, we weren't able to coordinate signs to point the way (Highlands is a little hard to find if you've never been there) or some other little details, but much prayer and God's goodness worked all those things out. We saw a high attendence and a general excitement about being in this new place, that although a humble cafeteria by week, really felt like a church on Sunday. We enjoyed lots of worship, a good Word from pastor Edgar, a moving testimony by our friend Dave Fox who has partnered with us from Chicago, along with his church, and communion. After the service we had a celebratory snack and everyone hung around to talk. I think it couldn't have gone better and we hope to continue improving as we go on.

Monday morning we were up early to meet a team from Greg's home church in Dallas. This group consists of youth staff from his church, meaning lots of laughs and fun times- I love youth workers! Our mission was to drive to the mountainous jungle region where there is a Christian camp and work on a few of the unfinished apartments that are being built in the hopes of hosting families and couples in a more comfortable and private enviornment than the normal larger cabins. One apartment had been started a few years ago and was left to be habitated by large wasp nests and bats. The bats had been cleared out (all but one, which scared me and my painting partner a bit as we were wiping bat poop off the walls where he lived), but the wasps had been left for us. Part of the camp time was also leadership strategy training- how to improve our team dynamics as leaders in our various ministries. The wasps proved to be our first challenge. It turned out that the best idea was dip some socks in alcohol, tie them to the end of a long stick, light it, and burn/poke the nests down. I stood far away to watch this one, but couldn't resist watching. It actually worked and we found that the strange thing was that either these were incredibly passive wasps or God was doing a mighty job of protecting all of us. Many of the guys were right up by the nests, even aggrivating them, and never got stung. There were quite a few hunks of nest and wasp scattered over the ground, but they were never aggresive and as we worked, everyone escaped without the slightest fear of a sting. This apartment was a disaster, but the team organized itself, we each stuck to our pre-determined roles, and we were able to clear out a ton of junk, wipe down walls, paint, and screen in some windows in a matter of a couple work periods. And, we had a lot of fun doing it! We also enjoyed the various team-building exercises, led by a Christian leader training group out of Santa Cruz, and were challenged to think about how these practical and Biblical examples could improve the leadership situation we are in personally. We feel like we've already made some good friends and look forward to more time with this team this weekend as we, the Mallasilla Bible Church, join them for a group work project at an orphanage in El Alto.

Cat skeleton that we found when cleaning out the apartment- some were convinced it was a bat.

Wallyball

Wallyball is a much loved sport here in Bolivia. I'm not sure if it's unique to this country but I know that almost everyone here enjoys playing it. Wally is played in an enclosed raquetball court with a volleyball net. The rules are generally the same as volleyball, only 3 hits on each side before it goes over, rotation, serving, etc...all the same. But, the fun extra rule is that it's OK to hit the ball off the walls. If I'm hitting the ball over the net, aiming for the wall of the opposing team can often cause the ball to bounce off and land somewhere where no one is ready to hit it back. It's also good for people like me who aren't particularly gifted in sports and can't always control where the ball is going to go. As long as I hit it, it can bounce off a wall no problem, and someone else can be responsible for getting it over the net. Also, if you can't get to the ball in time with your hands (because it's too low), you are allowed to use your feet to kick it. This is particularly popular in a soccer playing society. I don't like to dive for balls on hard wood floors, so I have successfully and unsuccessfully utilized the kick manouver. We've started getting together every Wednesday night with a few from our small group and other random friends to play Wally. If there are girls on either team, the game stays fairly calm, but when the girls sit out, the game gets pretty competitive. It's a fun time to interact with our Bible study people and meet others as well. Another couple has begun coming, the woman also pregnant. I'm hoping to get to know her better, having pregnancy in common, and would love to see them attending our Bible study as we spend the next month talking about parenting. Two teenagers from a house nearby come every week too and will also pop in off and on to the church on Sundays now. We're hoping to encourage them to become more regular and would like to have their parents over for dinner this week. It's neat to see the different ways God is opening doors for us in the community.

Bribes

There are many things in Bolivia that are controversial for Christians to participate in. One, about 98% of movies for sale are copied versions- they rent them in the video stores, they sell them on the streets. What do we do about this? Two, it is not illegal to copy books, entire books- textbooks, novels, any book you bring in to a photocopy place will copy and bind it for you for a low fee...I must admit that it is really nice when you can't find English books very easily and when your friends have great Christian books you'd love to read or do a group Bible study on and know this is a fast, easy way to do it. But, is it right?? The third, and potentially most tricky problem is cops asking for bribes. We have gotten stopped by cops various times for various things- usually something we didn't know we were doing wrong. Sometimes, the cop will give you a ticket and you have to go somewhere far away and usually hard to get to, or they will ask you to buy them a coke or newspaper instead (bribe!). Scotty and I have talked numerous times about this problem and realize that it's much more difficult and much more expensive to do the right thing, but we want to do it. We were heading into town to see a movie on Friday night- we get about 3 movies worth watching in the theatre each year. On certain days you can not enter a downtown radius if you have a lisence plate that starts with a certain number. We completely forgot about this rule and remembered just as received the whistle and hard tap on our window from the cop standing at the traffic light we were about to pass through. Both of us were instantly annoyed at ourselves for forgetting something that never changes. We pulled over and got the talk from the cop and he told us how much it was going to cost. Then he pulled out his book of tickets that were conveniently (I think he has this book on purpose) out of tickets. "What do you want to do about this?" he asks. This means- "if you give me some money, I'll let you off". We tell him to ask another cop who's wandering around nearby for one of his tickets. He ignores that and shows us again his empty book of tickets- "what can we do about this?". We tell him that either he needs to give us a ticket or let us turn around and drive back out of the restricted area. He bends over to peer in the window and asks me what I think we should do. I tell him the same thing. He nodds that he's going to let us go and then says something about recognizing his good will, a.k.a., paying him for letting us go. Scotty finally tells him that we are Christians and that we don't believe it's right to do that. Before he can even get the whole sentence out, the guy is waving us on to leave. So, we were thankful that he was merciful with us, but it left me thinking about the inevitability of similar things happening again in the future. Sometimes the situation is not so cut and dry, sometimes the cops are not so nice, sometimes you get pulled over for something you know is not wrong because the cop just wants to get some extra money...what do we do?? We are thinking through all these things and wanting to find answers that glorify the Lord and don't compromise our Christian witness. We want to live in a way that is in line with the Holy Spirits direction of our consciences.

Wedding weekend

We had such a fun time this weekend celebrating the union of our good friends Dani and Randy. Friday's festivities started out with an early morning pancake breakfast for the boys where they spent time eating, memorizing scripture, and praying for Randy as he headed into the sacred and exciting journey of matrimony. Friday evening we all gathered at the international church for the wedding rehearsal and then off to La Comunidad, the church our plant came out of, for the civil ceremony. Here, in Bolivia, there are always two big ceremonies. The civil comes before the church wedding and is where you sign papers before a judge and witnesses and your marriage becomes legal as far as the state is concerned. Christians participate in this ceremony but always see the church wedding as the official union and when normal married life begins. This was my first time attending a civil service, it is reserved for the wedding party and closest friends and relatives. There was a speech made by the judge on the importance of the institution of marriage (from a strictly social standpoint) and then there was a special time when Dani and Randy served us the elements of the Lord's supper and Randy's Bolivian pastor spoke on what it means to partake of it. It was a neat time, followed by dinner, and the celebration that Dani was now officially Randy's wife. Saturday morning there was a time of basketball for the boys and then several of Dani's 8 bridesmaids met up with Dani to get our hair and nails done. We enjoyed chatting together at the salon and spending these last few hours with Dani before the big event. It was a blessing to help her get ready and get her dress on and then rush over to the church where the music had already begun and all the rest of the party were waiting for us and Dani. The service was beautiful, in both Spanish and English, with traditional vows and personal ones that the bride and groom had written for each other and said in both languages. There was a beautiful time of worshipping the Lord together at the beginning of the service, giving glory to Him who we live for and who brought these two lives together. After, we enjoyed a fun-filled, late reception with dinner at 11:30pm and dancing still going on when we left at 1:30am! Scotty and I saw some old friends we hadn't seen for a while and some of the guys he used to disciple in the church he attended before we were married. It was a sweet night of celebrating God's goodness.

Baby girls

We've been told by several Bolivian friends lately that here it is considered a blessing to have a girl first. This wasn't backed up by any explanation until yesterday when our lawyer friend told us that a baby girl as the firstborn means you'll have a full house. Although I don't believe in superstition, I would be happy to believe God will bless us with many more children. I'm at that point in the pregnancy when not too much seems to be happening. I'm getting bigger slowly enough that I don't recognize it too much, except for that somewhat disheartening realization that one day not too long ago my khakis fit and now I can't hardly pull them up over my thighs (and since baby doesn't rest in the thighs, that makes me a little bummed). I haven't felt any definitive kicks yet, although there seems to be a bit of squirming that I think is her, or the strange concoction of food I seem to ingest daily... I'm sure all parents have experienced this, but from the moment you get pregnant, you begin to find things to worry about. First it's the fear of miscarriage, than if the baby has a defect, than why it's not kicking yet, etc... I imagine these fears can constantly be replaced by new ones for as long as you have your child with you in life. My goal now is to put these fears before the Lord and learn a new level of trusting in Him and His soverignity. There are many factors about having a baby in Bolivia that could cause me to worry or think that it would be better to go home to have the baby, but I fully believe this is where God has us in this phase of our lives and He will provide what we need to have children here. He has been faithful and good to us and His promises are great.

Little belly

I feel silly putting up belly pics at this stage because I'm still pretty small- but I thought a few of you might be curious. I hit 20 weeks yesterday!

Workshop results

The parenting workshop went really well- we had about 100 people there! Joe and Denise, our guest speakers, have incredibly Biblical, practical, creative methods of parenting that captured everyones attention and challenged us all. From those of us on our way to being parents to those with teenage kids, there was a lot to glean from this wise couple of almost 11 children. It was a bummer that they had to leave all their kids behind in Cochabamba, but they were able to say with honesty to us that they were totally and completely comfortable leaving all the younger ones in the hands of their 17 year old son, knowing no one else would do a better job of taking care of them. They talked of writing goals for your children before they reach the stage of that goal and working toward building your kids from little ones into admirable, respectable, loving children. We definitely want to do that. They talked about how parenting styles change in the different age ranges. They talked about your kids as older teenagers coming to regard you as a peer and coming to you for advice instead of you seeking them out to give it. There was tons of positive feedback from those who attended and we'll be following up with small group discussions for the next 4 weeks. We lead one of these groups, but humbly seek the imput of those who are already experiencing these difficulties and victories in raising children.

On Sunday afternoon, we had the pleasure of eating lunch with Joe and Denise and heard some of their advice for new parents. A lot of it centered on keeping our marriage a priority and healthy even when the baby might have a tendency to suck you dry and be your only focus in life. They encouraged keeping romance alive and getting babysitters so that we can get out on dates. Denise warned me that it can be even easier for the mom to become completely wrapped up in her baby and forget about her husband, and that he still needs love and my time. Joe told us that we would find many moments of utter frustration and exhaustion when all the yucky sin comes to the surface and all we want to do in that moment is take a nap. He said that these moments are the ones that God meant to lead you to the cross in search of forgiveness and sanctification as he uses the baby to reveal the heart and continue the process of cleaning it. I can't imagine any more yuck coming to the surface than what marriage has already brought out in me- I'm sure I'm in for a real eye-opener! What a gift to be surrounded by couples like these who are a few steps ahead in parenting and following the Lord as they do it.

Getting into the swing

Things have been busy since returning to La Paz, as we expected. It's neat how going away from a place for a couple weeks really makes you more aware of what you are thankful for where you live. We're thankful for the nice low prices in Bolivia (even though grocery prices are rising and the dollar is falling); we're thankful for our cats and the daily laughs they bring us; I'm especially thankfor for my large, comfy bed that doesn't make me worry about who all the other people are who have slept there and if the sheets have been changed since then; we're thankful for Bolivian people and how friendly and open they generally are; we're thankful for our church where we are known and loved and missed when we're away; we're thankful for our fellow missionaries who are all working toward the same goal of seeing Bolivians come to know and worship the Lord. Saturday, we were able to return to our small group that has been led by one of the men who attends regularly, and were excited that a new couple came that live nearby. The husband of this couple has been attending church with his two teenage sons, but his wife doesn't seem quite as interested. It was good to see them unafraid to interact and ask questions as we studied the basics of the Christian faith. This weekend we have our first seminar planned and have invited a missionary family from Cochabamba to come and lead our church and those from the international Christian school in learning more about what the Bible has to say about raising children. This guy will be great since he's expecting his 11th child later this year- and they're fantastic kids! We've been seeing more and more people stepping up to take roles in the various activities that are going on and more interest from various people in the community as well. I am truly surprised and humbled by the way God is moving around us and in the church and don't feel worthy of the blessings that have been pouring forth from Him. But, I do remember that this isn't about me, but about His own glory being made known in this community.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Although we were busier and found more to do in Buenos Aires, apparently, we didn't photograph as much. But, here is a nice sampling of things that stuck out to us:

Dog walking is a profession in Buenos Aires. We saw these guys and gals hooked up with various pups all over the city. This particular man took quite a while to get all his leashes in order, but then took off across a busy highway with about 15 or so dogs.
I'll apologize in advance if any of my readers own these pants, but I think they're a bit silly. BA is definitely into fashion, and it seems as though the trendy thing for young women are these cottony pants that have elastic around the ankles and a crotch almost that long. We actually saw quite a few people wearing these- I'm not sure any of them made it the style look good.
I love animals. BA had a nice zoo and we managed to get in early enough on a Saturday to beat the crowds. I've decided that although Scotty is much handsomer than a giraffe, this animal best suits him. Long legs, spots (Scotty is fairly freckly), long neck, tall. I can't speak for the personality however. These adorable "rabbit deer", as we named them, were running loose all over the zoo, mixing with other animals as they desired. We never figured out what they were- does anyone know?
Scotty's bday (April 3) was celebrated in high style at the famous Argentine restaurant Siga La Vaca (follow the cow). This is an all you-can-eat salad, meat, bread, fries and drinks (even wine!) place with dessert at the end. They lost money on Scotty, they made money on me.

Montevideo, Uruguay

We're back from our trip and here is the first installment of pics from Montevideo. We had a fantastic vacation!

Most of our time was spent walking around looking at stuff- Montevideo has some pretty architecture.
One day was nice enough to go to the beach- the other days were cool and cloudy. That one day was perfect. There is a lot of good meat in Uruguay. Here is a typical grill restaurant with every meat imaginable.

Even though we would almost never go to McDonald's in the states, we decided to go for it one night after shopping. I wasn't going to get anything since we had dinner a couple hours earlier, but one taste of Scotty's Big Mac and I was convinced...it had real pickles! Pickles are a luxury that they don't have here in Bolivia (not good tasting ones, at least). So, I ordered a hamburger...

Here's my dismay at finding out I accidently ordered the "Fiesta" burger which doesn't have pickles. This is me saying "there's no pickles!" What a disappointment...
We stayed in a super cute, artsy hostel with organic breakfasts- it was one of our favorite bits about the trip to Montevideo.We did a lot of reading after getting tired out from walking. We read outloud to each other from the complete Jane Austen novels. Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Northanger Abby wre completed on this trip.We got a kick out of these contraptions- horses pulling huge loads of recyclable goods. Apparently there's a group of people who rummage through all the garbage in the city to find stuff that can be recycled- this horse has a hat on.

Everybody drinks mate in Uruguay- all day long. It's an herb that is put in fancy little cups with silver straws- you add boiling water and sometimes sugar and it gives you a nice little pic-me-up. Morning and night you could see locals walking with their thermos of hot water and their mug of mate.

Quickie

I'd love to fill everyone in on our adventures down south, but pictures say a thousand words and I have no way of uploading them yet...so you'll just have to wait until we get home next week. But, needless to say, we are having a wonderful, relaxing, tiring (lots of walking) time in Buenos Aires and buying cute outfits for our baby girl! That's right, we found out right before we left that we're having a little girl- much to our surprise, having already set our minds on a boy. But, we're thrilled and enjoyed a 4D dissection of our baby at the clinic where I'll have her- looking at facial features, heart chambers, legs, arms, fingers, etc... Technology is rather amazing and so much cheaper in Bolivia! So, I wanted to share with those of you eager to know. I'm officially the 4th of my (foreign) friends here in La Paz having a baby girl this year- it must be the altitude. :)

Vacation!

Scotty just got back from a gruelling 3-day bachelor party hike with his friend Randy that's getting married and other fun boys that live here. He is sore but so happy he was able to make the trip and test his camping/hiking abilities with other manly men. We're off tomorrow on a never-going-to-be-the-same-once-we-have-kids trip to Buenos Aires and Montevideo- woohoo! I'm praying fervently for warm enough weather to enjoy the beach while we're in Uruguay...I haven't seen the beach for over a year and it's about time! So, I might be blogging a little, but I might not. Just wanted to let everyone know. :)

Update

Thank you to all who were praying for our Easter program this weekend. The turnout wasn't quite as big as at Christmas, but there were still around 150 from the neighborhood and we had a good time! Scotty spent the day running all over town to pick up chairs and such and then we went over to the community center early to set up with some friends from our small group. The crowds were a bit slow to roll in, except for the kids, who are easily drawn in to whatever new is going on around them. But, by the time we started, we had a good amount of people and went on with the show. There were some fun videos, a couple Christ-centered dramas, a cute dance by the girls from Sunday school, and a clear gospel presentation- illustrated with powerpoint. Overall, things went well and there were several who raised their hands after the gospel was shared with the desire to receive Christ. And then we all enjoyed munching on huge bunuelos and drinking warm api.

Carmen handing out api with a smile.

Erika and Ana Maria enjoying crunchy bunuelos

Our hope is that God was glorified through all of it and I know that we, as a church, learned much and enjoyed working together.

Easter celebration

So, we've been planning this big Easter outreach for the community for quite a while now, trying to figure out what might be the most interesting to the varied groups that live in Mallasilla, as well as wanting the gospel message to be strongly proclaimed. We've rented out the community center, the same one we used at Christmas, and the whole church is pitching in to make things work and run smoothly. We decided to make the date tomorrow, because the actual weekend of Easter is very much a familial holiday and it's VERY tough to catch people to commit to anything. A young Bolivian guy who works in our office has been canvassing the neighborhood with flyers and Scotty and some of the families from our Bible study will go out this afternoon to make more contacts and spread the word about the event. I'm in charge of the api (sweet, hot corn drink), which requires a portable stove, huge pots (we're hoping for at least 300 people), lots of pacakges of api (just add hot water) and lots of helpers. At Christmas we made hot chocolate and split up into the four corners of the building trying to dish out the drink into tiny styrofoam cups as quickly as humanly possible so that the crowds could enjoy their drink with the bunuelos. Bunuelos are another typical, fried doughy treat that are often eaten in the early morning or at night. Last time there was a small army in the kitchen shaping dough balls and frying up so many of these snacks that we were begging people long after the majority had left to eat another one.
Notice the size and now imagine eating 5, like Scotty...that's a lot of grease. We've got some cute stuff planned with the little girls from the neighborhood, a few dramas, a visual explanation of the gospel on a huge marker board, and a short message from our pastor. Pray that God will bring many and open hearts to this life-changing and hope-giving message of forgiveness!

Funny comments

There are some things people in the states will typically not say to you without apologizing later for being so rude. Here, these comments are harmless and meant as a casual observation and nothing to be embarassed about. They usually are directed to women and they usually refer to your weight. My favorite of late is from my neighbor downstairs- our landlady and surrogate Bolivian mom:

Hortensia coming out her front door as I'm coming in: Hi Lisa! How are you?
Me: Good! How are you Hortensia?
Hortensia: Everything's great! You look fatter, are you pregnant?
Me (chuckling on the inside): Yes. I am.
Hortensia: Praise be to God! Make sure you take care of yourself!!

Would you ever consider voicing those thoughts to your neighbor? I was not at all offended, being now used to the "you're getting fatter" comments that both men and women make to each other. But, I did get a good laugh out of it as I was walking upstairs.

Baptisms!

What an amazing day Sunday was in the Mallasilla Bible Church! We had our very first baptism service with 4 people coming to profess their faith in Jesus- 3 of them having just received this gift of salvation in the last month! It's neat to be a part of something new because all these celebrations are "firsts" and we get to set the tone and the tradition of how we will continue to present these events over the years. Hopefully, before too long we will have our own church building where even more will be able to come and worship and celebrate together. We had the regular service in the morning and then invited the congregation out onto the back porch area of the Alfaros', where we meet. When they designed their house, they believed that God had big plans for it and so built a baptismal on the side for the people they believed in faith would come to know Him in their home. It came in very handy on Sunday! It was a special moment to see these new believers confess their faith in the Lord and come out of the water with huge smiles on their faces, knowing that they have been made new. It was also fun to see my pastor, who typically wears a suit every day of the week, in his shorts and bright orange crocs. :) After they were baptized, they sat before the table of the Lord's supper and we all took communion together, recognizing that our salvation comes from the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and His resurrection- purely by grace. Then, we all stood around talking and laughing and enjoying "choripan", grilled sausages in thick, chewy buns. We finished off the morning, now the afternoon, with a cake and an "hasta luego" to those that we are growing closer and closer to in our church home. What a joy to see God working out His plan through the church in Mallasilla.

Andrea, Ana, Ivan, and Karen

Fun day

Me and Dani on the couch with Astrid (Argentine/German), Julie (New Zealander), and Whitney (American)

Saturday was a fun day. Scotty and I took a walk around the neighborhood in the late morning, very much enjoying the sunny skies and warm temps. On the other side of Mallasilla from our house are several little restaurants that we've considered trying before. These are the types of places that people open out of the bottom of their homes and serve very traditional Bolivian dishes for very inexpensive prices. They cater a lot to the workers that are all over Mallasilla, building homes. One of our favorite Bolivian soups (soups are eaten daily with lunch) is peanut soup- a light nutty flavored broth sometimes made with noodles or potatoes (both, in this case) and topped with little french fries. It's yummy! As we were walking by, we thought this would be the perfect day to sit outside at the little table and enjoy a bowl of peanut soup. It's always fun for us to feel like we're a part of the life of the neighborhood and support local businesses. Later that day, we had a good friends birthday party to attend. Dani is the SIM secretary/administrative person here in La Paz and a great friend of both Scotty and me. She has a passion for the Lord and for serving others and a huge heart for evangelism. She's marrying our good friend Randy, the guy Scotty lived with before we were married, in April, and I get to be a bridesmaid! It was fun to hang out in Dani's house with her multitude of friends and celebrate the life of this great "leapling" girl.

Scotty and the boys

Once

So, I've been meaning to encourage everyone to watch this Irish Indie film called "Once" if you haven't already seen it. Scotty and I have fallen in love with the movie and the characters and apprecaite the music (our friend gave us the soundtrack and we listen to it repeatedly throughout the day). It's a musical, 60% singing, but not your typical break into song and dance- it's natural and totally flows with the mood of what's going on. It's the story of a developing relationship and is so much more real than a lot of Hollywood movies portray a guy and girl getting to know each other. There's decisions made that are hard, but right, and it reflects real life- which is one of the keys we look for in a good movie. And again, the music is outstanding. So, rent it and then buy the soundtrack- you won't regret it.

The low-down

How amazing are ultrasounds?? 12 weeks and counting...

Thanks for all the encouragement and excitement we've received so far- we are truly thrilled to be pre-parents again and thank God for His gift and perfect timing. These last months of waiting have been a challenge but also a time to grow immensely in our understanding of God's goodness, soverignty, and perfect love for us. So, the details you all (women friends) have been waiting for. I found out on my mom's birthday, which is why I have a party hat on in the cinnamon roll picture. An explanation of the cinnamon roll can be found here. The really neat thing is that Scotty and I had decided to not "try" in December because we had both sets of parents here and the holidays and all- we didn't want any extra stress. Again, God always works things out when He choses to, without our "help". :) So, the doctor has been seeing me every 2 weeks, as a precaution after losing the baby last year. The awesome thing here is that they do an ultrasound at every visit (at least, my doctor does with his patients), so we've been able to see the little guy grow by leaps and bounds every 2 weeks. I have another appointment in a week and a half and then we'll go to the normal monthly visits. I'll miss seeing his little transforming body on the screen so often! I've felt decent, but the first month or so was really rough- general yuckiness all the time that made me up for very little and a tad more cranky than normal (these were also the days of no water- what a combo!) Scotty, as always, has been ultra-patient with me and I'm starting to feel back to my old self these days.

So, that's the scoop, I think. Little baby Miser is due Sept. 9.

Cinnamon Roll- Take 2

Who remembers what the cinnamon roll signifies?


P.S. If you need help, check the side bar to the right.

When it rains, it pours

Well, we suffered through 3 weeks without running water in our house, and now it seems we have the opposite problem. Praise God, we’ve had running water now for about a week solid, and I still find it a privilege to wash dishes with ease and flush our toilets. For a few weeks we were enjoying mostly sunny weather, leading me to believe the dreary rainy season was over. It seems as though I’ve been duped and the new rains have caused new leaks in the roof that bring lots of steady drips into our dining room for the extent of time that it’s raining outside. We have a nice bucket on top of sugar container on top of stool on top of phone table contraption to catch the drips, but our wood floors are still all spotted up once again from renegade water drops. Last months dripping left a 10ft. x 10ft. spot of wall covered in nasty, black mold (which instead of killed was conveniently painted over by our landlord). I’m hoping things can get fixed up before we have to walk down that road again. Things like this definitely get us more excited to get our own home underway sooner rather than later.

Sunday

Sunday was another exciting day at the Mallasilla Bible Church. We are seeing new people attend every week and beginning to run out of space at the Alfaros’. Plans are being quickly thought out to accommodate our growing numbers and find a new location where we can grow and have different rooms so that the kids can split up- right now the age range for Sunday school is from 2-13, all in the same class. Edgar preached a wonderful sermon on the cross and its power to change our lives, power that we don’t have on our own but that only comes from the work of Christ sacrificing His life and being raised from the dead. You’ve heard me mention the Cuban doctors several times before, and one of the girls, Karen, who recently became a Christian, has been bringing her boyfriend Ivan to church and to any church-related activities that we have. On Sunday, God touched Ivan’s heart and he, too, accepted the free gift of salvation! What rejoicing there was as the news spread after the service. There were many hugs and much excitement to see the Holy Spirit working so mightily in our little congregation. Next week we will be having a baptism service with a BBQ afterward and all three of our new Cuban brothers and sisters will be baptized as a symbol of their new faith in Christ!

Funny phone call

Scotty and I have a Vonage phone here in Bolivia that has a Gainesville, FL number- we keep it in our office. We are here a bit late this afternoon and received a call that we thought was one of those recorded calls you get at dinner time from companies trying to sell you junk (believe it or not, we can't remember what these calls are called- having not experienced them for so long)- it was from Secure Comfort. We let it go to answering machine and a nice woman with a southern accent came on letting Crystal know her pillows had come in and so Scotty picked up the phone to tell her she had the wrong number. She asked again about Crystal and Scotty told her this is a vonage phone that reaches us in Bolivia- no Crystal. She started laughing and told the person next to her that this customer was trying to tell her she's reaching people in Bolivia. I'm not sure the internet phone thing totally connected with her. Scotty convinced her that it was true and explained that we have a Gainesville number since that's where I'm from, but that we're missionaries in Bolivia. Then she got real interested and asked what it's like here. Scotty wasn't quite sure how to answer that question in one sentence but politely had a little chat with her before she was ready to let him off the phone. Strange.

So last night we had our friends over for dinner- the Ramirez family. We really like the Ramirez' and I realized last night that although we have a lot of Bolivian families over to our house, there are few that we really feel as comfortable with and seem to enjoy as much as this family. I think it's mostly a matter of time before we connect on a deeper level with some others, but it's always been so easy to enjoy Ericka and Hugo and their 2 boys. They are a down-to-earth couple that love taking hikes and eating picnics and Ericka even lived in my hometown for a year when she was in high school as part of a student exchange program. It's so important to us to have this type of friendship where you can call whenever and know that if you burn the food a little or have a flake-out, can't-speak-Spanish moment, they won't care and neither will you. I pray we will grow to have more friends like this.

Love

We failed to capture our Valentines Day celebration in photo but I'll still share about my wonderful husband and how thankful I am that God brought such a caring, patient, loving, fun man into my life to be with until death parts us. I am a blessed woman. Vday morning, we both woke up early since Scotty had his theology class at 8 and I wanted to make pancakes for him before he took off. Scotty's not a huge gift person, but he always appreciates a good breakfast. I tried dying the batter pink, which looked lovely in the bowl, but turned to a nice gold color upon cooking. They had pinkish insides, which usually you would avoid in food, but seemed to be OK in pancakes. I attempted to make the first one in the shape of a heart and then wrote "I (heartshaped pancake) Scotty" with syrup- he said it looked like a cat head. "A" for effort, I say. The day progressed as normal and was a fairly busy one. After a few errands, Scotty came back to the office with 2 purple lilys- the Scotty lily and the Lisa lily, he explained. He also had some fun size Milky Way...chocolate is one way to my heart. I wrote him a nice card and we both were looking forward to dinner at our favorite little Italian restaurant in the neighborhood we used to live in. There's a surprising number of foreigners that have opened restaurants around the city, and this one is run by an Italian and has a simple menu of the most common pastas and the most common sauces, to be mixed as you choose. I had canneloni (with cheese, spinach and chicken) with a pesto sauce. The portions weren't huge but I believe there was some expanding element cooked in with the pasta that caused Scotty and I both to feel like we had shared an elephant for dinner. We went home and layed down on the bed to try to expand our stomachs and fell asleep at 8:30. :)

Ana sharing her testimony.

Another love story that I've mentioned lately is the new-found love our Cuban friend Ana has found with the Lord. She gave her testimony at church on Sunday and it was so encouraging for us as a church to rejoice with her and see the way God has been working in her life over the last few years. Although she's been here for 2 years, she is married, and is excited to go home to share her faith with her husband and 19 year-old son. We had the largest attendence on Sunday as well, with 50 adults and probably about 20 kids. We just fit into the Alfaro's house and again see God's hand at work by bringing so many people to learn about Him. Pastor Edgar presented our plan for service and ministry for the year and many were excited to be more involved and make the Mallasilla Bible Church their home.

Running water

We had running water today! I think it's been at least a week since anything has come out of our tap and this was an exciting afternoon for me. Scotty and I had stuff to do in town this afternoon, so I wasn't able to sit at home and just watch the water run, as I would have liked. But, I did have time to wash the dishes, wipe down counters, wash bathrooms, and fill up 20 2-liter bottles of water. It's amazing how excited a person can get at seeing water come out of their sink. The past few weeks have been a haze of trips to friends houses to shower and do laundry and squeezing every last drop possible out of the buckets and bottles of water in our home for flushing toilets, washing hands, faces, and dishes. I've actually become accustomed to the complete lack but I still don't like it. Our neighbors downstairs said they think our suffering is over and now the water problem should be regulating itself. I've lived here too long to bank completely on that, but one can hope, and pray.

Otherwise, life continues to march on and we are gearing up for a full year with the church plant. We had a team meeting on Saturday to discuss this years events and activities and realized we have stuff planned pretty much every month of the year. I'm excited to be more and more involved and have the opportunity to serve with the church. Scotty and I are also thinking more seriously about starting to look for architects to draw up plans for our future home. That is exciting and a little scary! But, we have seen God's constant faithfulness thoroughout our lives and know He will continue to provide for us here.

Api and Pasteles

Tea time with the Astorga family

Our friends, the Astorgas, came over yesterday afternoon to hang out and have tea. Since it was a holiday yesterday, Jimena closed her pharmacy for the day and offered to teach me how to make a very traditional Bolivian snack, api and pasteles. Api is a sweet mashed corn drink served hot (sounds gross right? it's good) and pasteles are fried, hollow doughy pastries with cheese inside and powdered sugar on top...yummm. Javier and Jimena, along with their 2 kids, are building a house on the same street that our property is on and will one day be our very close neighbors. They are fairly recent Christians and really excited to be more involved in the Mallasilla Bible Church as well as our home group. After doing a tour of their partially finished home, we came back to our apartment and got ready for business. Jimena had brought all the ingredients and began mixing and flattening and filling with cheese. We did a little bit of food prep and a lot of talking. Since my in-laws brought my crock pot (thank you, thank you!), I had put on some chicken meatballs to cook, which made less work for tea time. I tried to fold over the little doughy pockets of cheesy goodness and make pretty little designs to join the two sides together, but they came out looking a bit lame. Practice makes perfect, I suppose. When we were almost done, Jimena brought out this fantastic plastic contraption where you lay the dough on it, fill it with cheese, and then close it like a little pocket book. It seals everything nicely with a perfect design. She was clueless how to use it, but I quickly explained and we realized that would have saved us a lot of work. The frying didn't take long and then we were ready to share the meal with our friends- api, pasteles, meatballs, and lemon bars...strange combo, right? My stomach churned over that one all night!

The finished product (there's the yellow and purple api in the mug)

Carnaval

Today is the big day for those who celebrate Carnaval. We've been seeing the kids out in the streets for weeks now- boys and girls aggravating and flirting with each other as they launch water balloons back and forth. Yesterday, as Scotty and I were driving home from the grocery store (and I was SO happy to be in the safety and dryness of my own car) we saw the main streets of the south zone covered on both sides with youth- drinking, spraying each other with foam, and hurling water balloons. A lot of people use these 2 holidays to hang out with family, have BBQs, and go the country. But Tuesday is the day where almost everyone- rich, poor; young, old- "challa" the things that are precious to them. Usually it's land or a car or your house or something else that you want the blessing of the Pachamama on. We have neighbors across the street who have just finished a house for their mother and invited us to the challa celebration today with their family. Scotty and I are praying for the right words to explain (as we've done with them once before) why we won't be a part of the celebration but would be happy to come over later to meet their family. It's an amazing opportunity, but a challenging one, as this family in particular is just participating in "our country's national traditions". To them, this is a custom. They don't see that they are worshipping an idol- no matter how little they really think of her. And of course they believe in God, they've explained. It's tough when you live in a culture that is familiar with God and comfortable with Him, but have also mixed in so many other animistic beliefs.

Later today we have some friends coming over for tea. Jimena, the wife, will be teaching me to make empanadas. Normally, I love the chance for a cooking lesson, but we still don't have any water! So, the thought of frying dough in my kitchen brings to mind big grease stains all over the floor and the oven and who knows what else- with no water to clean it up! But, I am happy for this opportunity to get to know this family better. They will be part of our small group that will start up next month and are so hungry to grow deeper in their faith.

Sunday was a really neat day in the Mallasilla Bible Church. After worship, Scotty got up to lead us into the next part of the service, but had the urge to give people a chance to speak of God's faithfulness in their lives. We had just sung the song- "Tu fidelidad is grande"- Great is your faithfulness (not the hymn)- and Scotty was hoping that there would be many testimonies to attest to that. A surprising and moving one came from Ana, a Cuban doctor. Many Cubans are sent here to work and they are often not looked highly upon by the Bolivian community. But, the Alfaros, whose house we meet in, have been reaching out to Ana and her friends since they arrived. Ana has been a faithful attender of the Friday night Bible studies and church, and on Saturday, she accepted the Lord as her Savior! She shared this joyful news with her church family on Sunday and we had a time of rejoicing and praying over Ana, who will be returning back to Cuba in March. What a gift to see God so at work in our community!