A collection of thoughts: Bolivian Life: Day to Day

Having solved continental humanitarian emergencies, quelled a rebel uprising, built a damn across the Amazon river to provide a sustainable energy source for the next century, and eating vicious man-consuming alligators (the last of which is actually true) this week hasn’t provided us with anything too dramatic or exotic, its just been nice to settle in further and get more of a feel for the work here. So rather than giving you a snapshot of an adventure, let me tell you what happens in the day to day rhythm of our time here. The mission is a Christian mission called ‘Fundacion Totai’, it serves three main purposes, 1 - as a medical centre; 2 - as a sport’s outreach, primarily basketball and football, to the kids who live in the city; 3 - as an education provider/outreach for these same kids (community classes and also OANSA, which is a scripture-learning club). The mission is centralised in a big building on the outskirts of Trinidad. In this building there are two floors, the first consisting of three offices, a reception area, a few different clinics (which meet a wide variety of needs), an operating theatre and also a ward. This floor is also home to a wonderful cafe, which serves the most amazing grapefruit and lemon ‘refresco’ and also a wide variety of meals. Tom and I are currently choosing to eat steak for breakfast and steak again for lunch - delicious! The second floor can be found up some stair cases, and through some new and dubiously plastered corridors (we are still learning the trade). These stairs will take you to two places, the first being two church rooms, which gets a good attendance on Sunday, and gets pretty packed on Saturday for the youth club. The second of the stairs will take you to two apartments, one of which is occupied by a pastor and his family, the other of which is occupied by two couples, a niece to one of the couples, and two strapping English lads who have been able to maintain a ridiculously high standard of cleanliness in their room. There is also a separate room outside of these two apartments, which is occupied by three American girls called Haley Ann Marie… Brittany Ann Marie… and Juliana Ann Marie…, who are on a similar 2 month programme. They are very good company, and its a relief to partake in some English-spoken banter, even if our humour may sometimes cause offence or not make any sense to them.

A normal day consists of team devotions at 8, a big breakfast of steak and two eggs, maintenance work from 9:00 - 12:00, steak and rice for lunch, then basketball, football, community class or bible studies from 14:00 - 17:00, then of course dinner, which we either make ourselves or go out and buy, steak here is around the £1.50 mark. Unfortunately, Tom’s approach to food is more mechanical than most, so for the last two weeks we have been eating pasta and eggs… every day. Yesterday, I surreptitiously bought tomatoes and peppers for some variety, which was a start, but please pray that my dear mission’s partner comes to the point in his life were he recognises the need for a diet more varied than just plain pasta and plain egg, and also that different shaped pasta doesn’t necessarily mean a different flavour (my faith for this needed revelation is slowly dwindling).

The work here is such fun, but also busy, we are blessed to sleep and eat very well. The primary obstacle is our lack of Spanish which is getting in the way of our communicating, this could, however, just be down to our lack of using the cold shower… we are trusting that in both cases progress will be made. What’s great to see is that the communication barrier hasn’t prevented us from making good friends, and the pictures below should show that we have made many from both the mission and youth work. We are praying that we can use these great opportunities to engage with them in a way which points them to Jesus. Our aim here isn’t to make a huge impact or change the world, but just to simply give our all to a community of needy people who need Jesus just as much as the neighbours on your street. There’s nothing particularly glamorous or exotic about the work, but its an inspiration to see the workers giving everything to engage with a needy city, bringing people to Jesus through a wide variety of outreaches and helping people find hope in often difficult circumstances. Seeing God at work is always a wonderful thing, and our hope for the next two months is we become increasingly able to share the joy and hope there is in following Jesus.

Prayer:

Please pray that Tom and I make good progress with the language
Please pray for the continued success of the work and that it continues to make much of Jesus.

Tom stepping out in faith to try something other than pasta and egg.

Deep Fried Alligator is Delicious!

Working on the world's most rickety ladder (We are fine Mum...)

Youth Group with our fellow American volunteers, my poor attempt at an 'American Smile', and Tom highlighting just how un-photogenic we British people are.