Year and a half

Scotty and I celebrated our year and a half anniversary yesterday. I got up early to make bacon and cornmeal waffles (and coffee, of course), and set out a framed picture of us I had put together and a card that listed 18 reasons (for 18 months) that I love him. We marveled together that the time had passed so quickly, but admitted as well that so much has happened in this short time we've been married, that sometimes it seems much longer. We ran errands most of the day, enjoying clear skys and a warm sun. Scotty spent about an hour with 2 guys from his ESI (Equipping Servants Internship) class who have commited to meet weekly to be accountable and pray for each other. God has really blessed us with relationships like this that are so necessary for our spiritual growth. In the evening, Scotty took me to an Argentian steak house for dinner, only after presenting me with 18 yellow-tipped, pink roses and a sweet card, where we enjoyed a hearty meal. He proposed we rent a romantic film (how often do I get that proposal??) and we settled in for the night to finish of our day. Several times that day (and many others) we thanked God together for this gift of marriage. It seems that through the hard times, the misunderstandings, the hurt feelings, and the enjoyment as well, we have learned so much about God's grace and desire to bless us with good things. Sometimes our good comes through trials, so we embrace those as well, knowing that we have an opportunity to trust and rely on our Savior to get us through. Scotty is a man that makes me feel loved, who challenges me in my faith, who puts up with and forgives my sins against him, and who I am extrememly blessed to get to experience the highest highs and lowest lows with.

Sorata

Because Bolivia is celebrating the 3-day extravaganza of Carnaval (consisting mainly of throwing water balloons, spraying each other with foam, and drinking large quantities of anything alcoholic), we decided this would be a good chance to go to the small town of Sorata with a couple friends. Sorata is mainly a place that hikers visit, wishing to enjoy the amazing scenery of this valley town, at the foot of 2 of the highest mountains in the country. The town has remained small and generally impoverished, but the town square boasts about 6 or so little Italian restaurants, aimed at pleasing the handfull of trekkers and other Bolivians who come for a peaceful get-away. Our main goal for the weekend was to enjoy our friends and find a nice trail to hike on. We planned on taking one that wound its way up to a mountain top village and then headed back down to some caves a couple hours from the town we were staying in. After several hours of steady uphill walking, we made it to our destination, enjoyed a snack lunch and questioned the locals how to get down to the caves. Their reply was, "down there!", with a general hand signal to a walking path nearby. We struck out on the path and began heading downhill, but gradually realized we were walking farther and farther away from Sorata. We figured the trail would eventually bend back toward town, but after about an hour of walking in a steady rain, but enjoying immense beauty nonetheless, we decided we should ask again. We actually hadn't come across any people for about an hour, but soon after found a small home with a family gathered outside. Their response to our questioning about how to get to the caves was the same, "go down!". But, this time their hand signals were in the opposite direction of where we were walking. They assured us we would eventually come to a town on the path we were taking, but it was quite a ways away and not anywhere near where we wanted to go. After deliberating about which way we should continue (we had not seen any other paths in the direction they were suggesting), rock, paper, scissors won out with us heading back the way we came. We found the path in no time and happily started our down-hill, muddy decent. Spirits were lifted, as we were all starting to wonder if we'd ever find little Sorata again. About 3 hours of hiking later, soaked through and covered with mud, we realized that the only way back to warm showers and food (about all we could think about at this point) before dark was to hitch a ride with the next truck coming down the road (there was almost no traffic on this rainy holiday). We flagged down a pick-up, jumped in back, and braced ourselves (very literally) for our long awaited return. I had never been so glad to see a run-down hotel and immediately proceeded to take a shower and a long nap. That was definitely the highlight of our trip, encountering hyper, balloon-throwing kids, many pigs, donkeys, and cows, as well as a wonderful display of God's creative genius along the way. My favorite moment was a drive-by foaming that we were victims of, with an old country lady looking on with a huge grin. I think our gringo faces covered with foam made her day.

The waiting game

Yesterday was a prime example of how things can take a little longer here than they would back home. After I left the internet cafe yesterday, Scotty and I went up into the market to look for ceramic tile and a piece of furniture for storage of kitchen items. The time looking at ceramics was not too bad, although we seemed to get the silent treatment from most of the ladies that worked in the stores. We found some tile we really liked (to put in the kitchen furniture), but that cost $6 per piece. Since we wanted 8 pieces and we knew the furniture only cost about $150, we decided that we shouldn't pay a third again of the price just for a few decorative tiles. We continued shopping until we found something at 9 Bs. a piece (about $1), which seemed much more reasonable. All of this meandering about was done in a constant drizzle and dashing in between cars and people, which is the game of market shopping, very much resembling "Frogger" (Atari, anyone?). We found the furniture store where we had seen our piece earlier in the week and went in to order one to our specifications. The owners are quite nice and friendly, which is the main reason we chose this store and not another one that had a similar, cheaper piece of furniture in it. But, they were quite busy that day, and asked politely if we could wait for just a minute while they attended to another couple that was already there. Well, the "minute" turned into about an hour and so we shared turns sitting down on a chair and staring at the piece of furniture in front of us, trying to figure out all the changes we could make to it to make it perfect. The rain picked up outside, and then let off, then picked up again. Scotty got hungry and found a handful of trail mix left over in his backpack. He was still hungry. I offered him anything in my purse he could find that was edible...chapstick, mints, water. None of those seemed to intice him. Then I accidently bumped into an iron rail (the store was not much wider than me) and knocked it over onto the head of the owner. Feeling like a big loser, I apologized, and he assured me that it was alright (although, he disappeared after that, I'm sure seeking medical attention). Another lady came in and took a seat, waiting her turn too. She started talking to us about why we were in Bolivia and was happy to find out we were Christians like her. We had a quick, pleasant chat, but her attention span was not quite as long as ours, so she took off. We were just about to follow suit, having waited over an hour, but then the owner came back and was ready to hear all the details of how we wanted our furniture made. We left about half and hour later and walked back down to our parking lot. Parking lots here are not quite what we are used to in the states, but more like a dirt lot where they squeeze as many cars in as possible. When we returned, we found there were about 5 cars behind ours that inhibited us from leaving. At this point, I'm cold, wet, and hungry, and very ready to leave the craziness of the market. Sadly, a 9 year old was the one directing traffic inside this lot, and it took about 20 or so minutes of shuffling cars, moving them around very much like those games with plastic squares that you have to move just right to form whatever picture it's supposed to be. I sat in the car, dumbfounded as to what I was watching behind me, but somewhat amused that this is normal life here. We finally exited with much joy and decided to go to our favorite restaurant, since it was almost 7 and way too late for me to start cooking. So, we called that our Valentine's date, which we had decided to postpone until the Bolivian day of love (in September), because we had completely forgotten about this holiday. So, next time you get frustrated with check-out lines at Walmart (as I constantly did), remember the Bolivian market.

Cornbread and Chicken

I´m having one of those moments where I feel like I´m living in two worlds at the same time. Scotty´s gone off to Spanish class and it´s turned cold, wet, and rainy outside, so I´m hiding away in a small corner internet cafe to spend the time while he´s in class. It´s dry and warm in here and there are two junior high age girls sitting next to me chatting away (I´m assuming with boys) on some chat page while Alan Jackson is singing loudly in the background "Where I come from it´s cornbread and chicken". That´s where I come from too (and have introduced many Bolivian friends to cornbread in the past few months). Here I am in the middle of the capital of Bolivia, thinking about the meeting we had with our SIM team this morning, sharing our joys and frustrations of being missionaries in a latinamerican, third world country, but Alan Jackson´s country twang is bringing the memories back of another day- attending middle school as a gawky, introverted girl who loved country music, saturday afternoons taking pontoon boat rides at my grandparents house in the country, driving out to High Springs to search the antiuqe stores and share lunch with my mom at the Great Outdoors Cafe. It´s wierd how your mind can be two extremely different places at the same time, 2 places that you love and that have such comfort and familiarity. Like the weather, my moods and feelings about being here can change so quickly- from peace and optimism to wondering what the next step is and how I fit into it. Scotty and I are finding greater challenges with some of the people in our church plant team than we could have foreseen and are actually planning on confronting one couple tonight to discuss some of this friction. Confrontation is hard, but we are finding that we are called to present the character of Christ as we learn to love, forgive, humble ourselves, and seek reconciliation.

And Alan continues to sing, "it´s alright to be little bitty..."

Because I haven't written in so long and have no idea where to start, I will talk about our cats. Pictured here is Malphurs, named after a street that was close by our home in Charlotte. We affectionately call him "Darth Malphurs" and often wonder what he will do next to entertain and annoy us. He is demanding, often leaping from couch to couch in attempt to reach you so that he can hook you with a needle-like claw and force you into petting him. He is the first at our bedroom door when I get up in the morning, screaming to be fed and loved, and will follow you around screaming until you placate him. He loves water, as you can see by this unique resting place- the guest bathroom sink. He often waits at the shower door for me to get out so he can go in and walk about in the leftover puddles. Ever since Cheddar told him there is treasure at the bottom of the floor drain in the kitchen, he spends much time removing the drain cover, inserting his arm up to the armpit, and fishing around in the muck below. All that's come up so far is yucky dirt clumps. Gross. Cheddar, on the other hand, couldn't be sweeter and more adorable (we do think Malphurs is adorable, by the way). His greatest trick is "the flop". When he wants attention, he will walk to wherever you are in the house and flop, very dramatically and usually with a "thump", to the floor. Always on his side, always as if he's reached the end of a very long and hard journey. The other night, he even leapt (not fell, but actually jumped) from Scotty's lap, into the flop position (on his side) on the floor below- as if he was in a cannonball contest without the pool. Good form, Cheddar... Cheddars favorite activity, after the flopping, is sprawling out in contortionist-like positions to take a nap. Strange animals we have raised.

Besides this, we continue spending time with our church plant members, getting to know the families a little better each time. Scotty is leading a Bible study for our weekly meetings, which is encouraging him grately, and stretching his Spanish skills. We both hope to start a theological training course next week with Bolivian men and women from the city, most of Scotty's classmates will be local pastors. Scotty has also committed to playing for a city basketball league for his sheer enjoyment and in hopes of making good friendships with non-Christians. I'm going to start teaching one of our teammates to speak English, something that should be fun, but challenging for me who hasn't been trained to teach. We're looking forward to our church plant beginning to meet apart from the church in a couple weeks, giving us the opportunity to dive deeper and find out what this business is all about. Next weekend we are leaving the water-throwing craze (as part of a "religious" celebration called Carnaval) to head to the beach of Chile with gringo friends and a couple church plant members. I can't wait to see the beach again!! I want to take advantage of the warm summer before the chill sets in. And even bigger news, Scotty and I are considering buying land in Mallasilla before the costs raise, desiring to invest our resources here and eventually build a more permanent home. Although there are always frustrations and hard times, we are living in a consistent state of peace at where God has brought us and excitement (mixed with fear) of what He has in the future.

Ekeko

Our Spanish professor, Jaime, has often shown an interest in our work here and Bible related topics, and is great about explaining the cultural/religious traditions with us. At the moment there is a festival going on called Las Alasitas. It started with a traditional Andean god named Ekeko who carried around with him everything a person could need to supposedly be happy. If you believed in this god and sacrificed to him, he would bless you with those things you asked for. This belief is displayed nowadays by going to little tents that are set up all along the streets with miniature representations of the items you desire (money, cars, little men or women, houses, etc…), complete with a witch doctor to bless your items after you give him a couple Bolivianos to pay for your desired possessions. Although this is one of the tamer (heavy drinking is not included) religious holidays in the country, it is a good example of the way, as my professor put it, "even Bolivian Christians are enticed to participate in pagan practices". Before we had this conversation, Jaime asked me to pick a chapter out of the Bible that I would read and comment on. What an amazing opportunity! I picked 1 John 3 and we had a great discussion about sin, forgiveness, God’s awesome grace for all types of sin and our depraved nature as sons of Adam. As I was talking, and having fantastic practice at sharing the gospel in Spanish, it hit me that I was sharing the gospel in Spanish! Although my vocabulary is a bit shallow still, I am able to communicate the important ideas and felt thrilled and honored to be talking about my wonderful Savior to this man who is lost and deeply in need of Him. Yay!

Besides continuing to meet together with various members of the church plant team in an effort to know them better, we have started thinking about the future possibility of teams coming to visit. Our ministry will not be in a place for a while were a team would be able to contribute much, but we have plenty of other friends in the city that are part of ministries where they could always use another hand or would appreciate the testimony of a life changed by God. We drove to the nearby community of Mallasa yesterday, where there is a cozy Swiss-Bolivian-run hotel that might be our home-base for teams. We love the idea of people staying just around the corner from us and continuing to support an area that is already somewhat of an attraction and a quickly growing region outside of La Paz. If you’re thinking of coming to see us in a team someday and are interested in checking out possible lodging, go to: http://www.h-oberland.com
We helped a family from out team move into our old apartment today. Javier and Roxana Zubieta and their son, Josue, are the only latin americans on the SIM team and work with the youth at Scotty’s old church (a ministry he was very involved in last term) and run some programs at a Christian youth camp in the jungle. Two days ago we had lunch with the boss of Youth for Christ in La Paz, who invited us over after he heard that we would like for YFC to help us out with upcoming teams. It was great to spend time with his family, find that we have many things in common, and be assured of their support and willingness to help with whatever we need.

The magic whistle

When you live in the city, every few days you hear a lovely, flute-type whistle that reminds me strongly of an old Nintendo game called Zelda. In reality, this noise is created by the men who wheel around their sharpening stone, hooked up to a bicycle wheel, to announce their availabilty to sharpen your knives. I've always enjoyed the noise, but never found much use for these guys cause I never had a decent set of knives. Now that I do, I live in an area where the knife sharpeners don't frequent. On the way into town the other day, we saw one of these men pushing his wheel along the sidewalk and pulled the car over to request that he make a stop by our house. He had a slightly confused smile on his face, but agreed that he woud come by in the next week. That week passed and I gave up on ever having sharp knives again. But, low and behold, upon returning from a walk around the neighborhood the other day, our trusty knife-sharpening friend was camped outside our front door, sharpening the knives of our neighbors below. I thanked him profusely for coming and ran upstairs to grab my block of dull knives. We watched him pump the wheel and sharpen with skill, images of cutting meat and tomatoes with ease floating through my head. He charged us a little less than $2 for the 8 knives and promised he'd return in a few months. The picture above also shows the friendly and cheery Margarita, the maid that lives downstairs, whom we have come to appreciate over the past few months. She's taken care of our cats, given us advice on markets and prices for knife sharpening, as well as lending needed kitchen equipment. We love having that kind of relationship with her, hoping one day we might be able to talk of more serious things. We are slowly growing into a better friendship with the neighbors, our landlords, and appreciate their continued help with the apartment and desire to know us better.

I couldn't resist the picture of Scotty and Cheddar reading Future Grace together. Doesn't it warm your heart?

Long time, no blog

So, we've officially become lazy interneters. These days have been full of activity and we usually only stop long enough to read emails every couple days and respond to the most important ones. I'll just dive right in....

Yes, we do have the pleasure of camping in absolutely majestic spots such as this. A couple weekends ago, we took a couple friends to this isolated, but nearby location to enjoy a few days away from it all. We decided to "car camp" which gave us the leisure of bringing anything and everything you'd always want on a camping trip. Scotty and I planned dinner- steak, zucchini, onion, and pepper shishkabobs with cornbread and brownies for dessert. There's nothing like cooking a meal over the campfire with friends. Randy brought his guitar and we spent most of the night chatting, singing praise songs, eating smores, and snuggling down in our warm tents while the rain drizzled outside. Dani and Randy took charge of breakfast, mastering the small gas grills to produce scrumptious french toast, eggs, and bacon. I think food really does taste better that is cooked outside!

The last week or so has been pretty pivotal for our church planting team. We met at our house on Thursday to discuss the possibility of starting to meet apart from the church we are all attending now, which would be on schedule with the date of January for splitting off on our own. Our leaders, Greg and Faith, have had to delay their return to Bolivia from the states until early March, but the team felt as a whole that they wanted to go ahead and begin meeting seperately instead of waiting for the leaders to return. Scotty and I have been communicating back and forth between the team and Greg and Faith, attempting to come up with an option that pleases everyone and more importantly, is what we feel like God is leading us to do as a team. It's good to confront conflict together and learn how to unify and interact in a way that is godly and selfless. Pray for us as we make decisions and have been put temporarily into the leader role until the Hursts' return.

On a lighter, but sad note, we think Spanky is dead. Who's Spanky?? you ask. Spanky is a friendly neighborhood dog that warmed our hearts over the last few months. Yes, he is dirty, shaggy, and seems to think he can jump into the cars of friends (and sometimes on their laps) who come to visit, but there is something special about him. You see, Spanky adopted us immediately and accompanied us on our walks around Mallasilla. At any point during the day, if you look out the window, you will see Spanky trotting down the street to meet any passers-by or other stray dogs with a wag and a smile. Most stray dogs don't get along, but in my limited experience, I perceived that they all made an exception for Spanky. He walks with his head high, his tail wagging, and a with a perky trot. Just watching him cruise the streets with his happy gait would lift your spirits. I even found myself yelling, inside closed windows, from several houses away, "Hi Spanky!!" when I would see him bounce by. But, alas, we have not seen our beloved street dog for weeks. We think he's gone. This is our memorial to Spanky.

New Years Combo

You know how you can go to some restaraunts and request a combo plate with all your favorite items? I feel like that is how we celebrated New Year's Eve last night. Before the festivities began, I met my Bolivian friend Dani at her house so we could go to the hairdresser together to get nice and pretty (something women do here quite frequently because of the extremely low price of a manicure, pedicure, and hair-do). Dani is the kind of friend that you know would do anything for you and has made it quite clear that she is available at any point, for any reason. Yesterday, as we walked back to her house, we began discussing things we struggle with and how we can hold each other accountable as friends. We continued the conversation in her home, reflecting on the amazing grace of God to give us strength in all circumstances, and His love that is not based on what we do or how sinless we are, but on the righteousness we have through Christ alone. We prayed together and as I drove home I praised God that He's given me a friend like her to challenge me, encourage me, and give me an opportunity to be real and transparent- something I feel we are sometimes hesitant to do with our fellow Christians. Around 9 we went to our church, La Comunidad, to experience a few minutes of the youth group's talent night. We stayed long enough to sing a few praise choruses and again be reminded of our Savior who has sustained us in the past year (and all the others). Later in the evening, we added another side dish to our full course by ringing in the new year with our friend Randy, his Youth for Christ co-workers, a team from Colorado that is here working for the week, and a handfull of the men and women shoe-shiners that our friends devote so much of their time and heart to. What an interesting mix of people! A good part of the evening we learned line dances and some new swing moves, with many Bolivians looking on with smiles and giggles (only a few of them could pick up the moves, even though they are usually quite skilled in their national dances which are fairly intricate). Then, after midnight, we had a traditional New Years dinner of pork, baked sweet potatoes, and salad. Are you starting to see a theme here of late night eating? We left a little after 1am, happy to have started this year with so many wonderful people, and so many different cultures around us.

Splurges

This week has been a week of splurges...not with money, but with our time. Because most of our friends have time off of work this week because of the holidays, we have been doing as much as we can with them, wanting the relationships God has gifted us with to grow deeper. I also had a food splurge today... From time to time, our local grocery store will get in products they usually don't have. A couple months ago, I saw blueberry frosted Poptarts, my very favorite from when I was a kid. I can't tell you when the last time I ate pop tarts was (probably when my mom sent them to me in a care package when I lived in Cochabamba), but I felt like today was a splurge day, so I had one. I have to admit, seeing those little colored sprinkles on top of the frosting actually made me smile. Oh, the little joys of life!

Wednesday was a splurge day with our friends Randy and Dani. We have been wanting to try the quadratracks (4-wheelers) that are for rent in Mallasa, our neighboring community. The four of us convinced the owner that we didn't need a guide and we knew the area quite well enough to feel comfortable on our own. He let us off with his beautiful, red 4-wheelers to zip about the countryside on an amazing, warm afternoon. We started up the cobblestone roads, weaving back and forth on the twisty trail, receiving smiles and waves from the people we passed by in the small towns we rode through. Countless times I thought how blessed we were to live in a country of such majestic beauty and how good God is to sustain us and provide for us in this home away from home.

And today, I am splurging by spending these few hours that Scotty is in Spanish class to check friends' blogs. Internet has become a splurge for us, something we can't take for granted anymore, now that we are living outside of the city and don't have access nearby. It is a joy to hear from people back home and catch up on your lives. We hope you all have a happy new year!

New Traditions

A tradition my family has had since I can remember is eating cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning to start out the festivities. This is one tradition I am happy to bring into my new family with Scotty, although we don't have the ease of popping open a can of rolls, but have to make them from scratch. This challenges my growing appreciation of cooking and I was happy to work on these beauties Christmas Eve, looking forward to celebrating our first Christmas together in Bolivia.

Most of the other activities we had planned this season were new traditions for us. One of our favorites is celebrating the holidays how Bolivians celebrate. This means staying up late on Christmas Eve, counting down until midnight (which is when they celebrate Christ's birth) and then enjoying picana, a meaty soup that is eaten at this time. Then you sit around with the family until all hours of the morning, or until you can't keep your eyes open anymore, which was about 2 for us and our friends James and Julie.

We were invited by close friends on our church-planting team, the Castellons, to spend Christmas Eve with them and get a taste of a traditional Bolivian celebration. We are thankful to have families like this that desire for us to become a part of their family and experience what they do.Christmas day was a great joy for us. We woke up semi-early to share breakfast and gifts together before friends started rolling in about 1pm.

Scotty is sporting his new Bolivian soccer jersey he received from me.

We had an eclectic southern/traditional dinner which included the old favorites like stuffing and sweet potato casserole, but included new foods like grilled sausage, baked beans, coleslaw and cornbread- yum!! Our friend Randy brought his guitar and we sang Christmas carols and praises to our Savior, whose birth we were so happy to rejoice in together. If you know us at all, you know Settlers of Catan is a must when we get together with friends, and even though we were twice as many for this 6-player game, we got a round going that lasted till the evening. Some scattered off, but the die-hards stuck around for silly youth group style games and a movie, wrapping up the day around 2am.


What an amazing way to start new traditions, ones we hope will last for years to come as we make life in a different country!

Nueva Entrada

I'm on a friends computer since we are still without internet and somehow all my command prompts have switched over into Spanish- new vocabulary lesson! It really stinks to not have internet in the house- we are realizing how much we depended on it to communicate with everyone back home, but we are also finding that there is a lot to do without it! These past couple of weeks have been quite busy setting up our new home and continuing with the daily obligations we have. We love our new home more every day and have had many opportunities already to invite people over and share life together. The Christmas season has been lots of fun and I've had several cookie baking parties with various girl friends of mine, enjoying the season together. Tonight, Scotty and I have been invited to our good friends house, the Castellons, to celebrate their big night with a traditional Bolivian Christmas soup eaten at midnight. The festivities usually last till 4 or 5 in the morning, but since Scotty and I want to have a little time to ourselves in the morning to celebrate together before a big group comes over at noon, we will probably not stay the whole time. Tomorrow will be our Christmas cookout, utilizing the barbeque grill we have downstairs, complete with pumpkin pie from scratch (that should be a challenge for me) and Christmas carols led by our guitar-strumming friend, Randy. We're excited about having the celebration in our home and making memories not only for us, but for those who have chosen to spend this day with us. More than anything, our desire is to rejoice in the life we have through Jesus Christ alone, who is the only One who can fill our hearts with true joy.

Keep praying that internet will reach us out in the country- it will inevitably come, we just don't know how long it will take. We miss being more frequent on the blog and hope to insert some pictures for you in the near future. All our friends are close to our hearts and in our prayers- we hope you all have a fantastic Christmas!

Pictures speak a thousand words...

...but I think I should explain this one just a little bit. I had a craving for brownies one night after dinner so I whipped up a batch and threw them into our oven (which is on the fritz) right before we started a movie. A friend came for a short visit when the burning smell reached our noses...a little too late. I tried to salvage my goodies, but the chunk I cut out tasted nothing short of a salty cocoa rock. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Step One: Fluff branches

Scotty and I bought our first Christmas tree this year in the market- it's taller than him! We waited until we moved to the new place to put it up with hopes that we'd bring some Christmas spirit to the place. It really brings life to the apartment and the cats have taken to climbing through the thick branches, and hiding near the base when I come at them with the spray bottle for discipline. We had lots of fun putting it together:

We're in!

Since we live in the “country” now, I’ve had the thrilling opportunity to drive into town on my own to pick up groceries, since there is now no grocery store or market nearby that we can walk to. I’m starting to enjoy the feel of a large truck, rumbling down the dusty paths out of the neighborhood and cruising down the windy roads that sit at the feet of the mountains. As I was heading toward the store today, I found myself really loving that there is no speed limit and then looked down at my speedometer out of habit, and realized afresh that it doesn’t work! I guess it’s a good thing there is no speed limit…

Our move went very smoothly, a huge answer to prayer from our gracious Lord. The day we originally planned to move, Monday, the apartment was still being prepared for our arrival. It rained hard that day and we saw the hand of God in causing us to wait for the next day. Tuesday was sunny and warm the entire day- a rarity here during the rainy season. Wednesday poured, all day. God is so good to us. Friends began to show up around 9 and we began the long trek up and down three flights of stairs to remove all our belongings. Amazingly, we got everything out by noon, loaded into 4 vehicles and one large, moving truck, and headed for our new home. Then we immediately removed everything again and hauled it up another three flights of stairs, enjoying impressive feats of strength and ingenuity by our hired movers who were in charge of getting our heavy furniture up to the house. It was all finished up rather efficiently and we talked one family into letting us take them out for a yummy chicken lunch as thanks. The others had prior engagements, but reminded us again that they were there for us whenever we needed it. Again, God has given us such great friends here that have more than once acted on their claims to help in any way.

So, I am sitting in our new office/TV room, enjoying the view of the lunar-like landscape of “The Valley of the Moon”- a natural tourist attraction that we are about a block from. The mountains rise up red and green all around us, creating beautiful backdrops from all windows. We’ve lost sight of our beloved, snow-capped mountains, but they’ve been replaced by a more rugged beauty of the craggy hills. One massive benefit to being 1000ft. lower than we were in Sopocachi (and having tons of windows) is that our house stays nice and warm during the day. I can actually exist in my house without socks! We’ve already taken advantage of living a mile or so from the international Christian school, Highlands, by walking over there yesterday so Scotty could give a talk to the 5th grade class, taught by one of our good friends, Julie. He also has plans to be a frequent chapel speaker, hoping to impact the lives of the upper class Bolivians and various internationals that attend this school.

Settling in to a new place takes time and tons of work to get all your stuff situated, as well as to buy what is lacking. It’s had its fair share of emotional toil as well, knowing that we are finally in the place where God has called us where we will start a new church, but trying to figure out how to walk ministry out practically, day by day, and exactly how we fit into the plan. We love this new home, but feel a tiny bit isolated, since we are outside of the city. As we all do, we will take it a day at a time, trusting God to reveal Himself to us as we seek opportunities to be involved in the lives of people around us. We’ve put up our 7ft. Christmas tree, so we’re officially ready to be hosts and hope to have many in our house to celebrate the birth of the One who came to give us life!

The week in review

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

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

Food and friends

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

Adventures in Cochabamba

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

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

Open mouth, insert foot...

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

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

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

4th of July Hotel

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