The Blessing of People

In the past few weeks, we had our week intensive course on Cross-cultural communication with Dave.  It was great to discuss so many relevant topics to our current experience and to learn from Dave's personal experiences.  Following that week, we were able to attend a weekend CBM retreat, where we babysat the missionaries' children...  

We also went to our church's young adults camp.  The pastor shared a few messages with us and we got to play a whole lot of games. It was another great time to get to know some people a bit more.

This past Saturday, we went to see the Carnival parade which took place in the downtown area... As the Bolivian carnival includes lots of waterballoon throwing, water guns and what I will call "sud shooters" (Basically these spray paint-type cans that shoot soap suds), we came back home from the parade a bit more wet and soapy than we left...

Time has gone by so quickly since we've been here... I think I'm starting to understand what our parents say about time passing by more and more quickly as they get older... and I wish I didn't :P

And that's to show how much of a blessing my time here has been. I had come here with very little expectations, yet I'm still so blown away about how blessed we have been while here thus far. The people we've met and have gotten to know have been so warm and loving...  God has certainly shown me that His greatest blessings come through people.

It's interesting how the things we sometimes appreciate most about people are the things in which they differ so much from ourselves.  I believe this is what interests me most about cultures.  Despite how different we are from one another, and how these differences are often what keeps us apart, it is also what can make relationships between one another so rich.  There is so much to learn from each other!

La Casa de Amistad

We just started working at La Casa de Amistad last week. The first two days, we got to work with the youngest kids, from 4-5 years old. Although some are pretty rebellious and violent, it's hard not to notice the difficult situation that they live in and how it must affect them, with living in the prison, most coming from poor situations (as their imprisoned parents must pay for a jail cell with no consistent form of income) and not having the same opportunities as other kids. They are such lovely kids though! In many ways it seems that we have very little to offer to console their situation, and yet we have much to give in love.
This week, I started helping with the older kids, from grades 4 to 7. The majority of their time at La Casa is spent doing homework and being tested on their schoolwork, so I get to help in tutoring them. As this is a difficult task to do in a third language, please pray that it gets easier! Otherwise I'm quite excited about working with this age group.  Also, please pray for the kids!.

This weekend, we got to eat a typical Bolivian "dish", Chicharron. It's basically every part of a pig boiled and served on a plate with a small boiled potato and bits of the local corn. I don't believe I've mentioned yet that Bolivians love meat...

Also, the Bolivian carnival has started, so we get to hear a marching band march through the streets and practice once in a while. As part of the carnival, there seems to be some sort of "celebration" of water, which translates into water balloons being thrown at pedestrians from moving vehicles... girls are said to be the biggest targets (yay). We had our first water balloon thrown at us the other day but, luckily, they missed us. Kevin is now paranoid and threatening to injure any person that hits either of us...

Fun moments:
1. Two Sundays ago, we got to be in a parade... There was a crusade group from various South American countries that came to Cochabamba to do ministry and this was their way to celebrate and end the week. The parade was followed by a service which included all the other Baptist churches in Cochabamba.

2. This past weekend, we got to try a new form of volleyball... it's played inside a squash court.  As the space is small, the walls are actually in play, so you can use them to bounce the ball against. It was fun... and I think I may prefer it over real volleyball.

3. I got to play soccer (futbol) last week, for the first time since I've been here... yay! The church that we've been attending is part of a church league for various sports so I've started to play with their team.

First 3 Weeks

It's been almost 3 weeks in Bolivia... 

So far, the weeks have consisted of Spanish lessons from Mon to Fri, homework, attending a close-by church and the young adults group among other things. We've also got to form some new friendships with 4 other Canadians. 

We haven't started ministry/volunteer work yet as most Bolivians are on their summer vacation right now. We will be starting this Wed at La Casa de Amistad. Based on Bolivian laws, kids of imprisoned parents without any relatives to take them in, must go live in the prison with their parents. La Casa de Amistad is a place for these kids to go after school so that they may spend less time in the difficult environment of the prisons, get help with their school work, get to eat and receive any special attention they would need. This week we met with the director of the centre and he told us about opportunities for involvement. Being that both Kevin and I are Psych majors, we will be able to help out with the Psychologist as she will be doing beginning-of-year evaluations with all the kids. We will also be assisting teachers in tutoring the kids. While we're still enjoying  the language and culture, the vacation feeling has mostly worn off now and we're quite ready to get on more of a schedule with volunteer work. We're so excited to get started! Please be praying that things will go well as we begin at La Casa, that we may make the most of all the opportunities that are presented to us and for all the kids there. 

Funny moments:

1. We went bowling with our Canadian friends and the lane in which we were playing did not function very well. Pins were sometimes missing, gutter balls resulted in a strike score and some people got extra turns. The result: Kevin concludes that the machine is favouring females so he begins to say "Soy una chica!" (I'm a girl!) in a high pitch voice before bowling... We were all laughing so hard and so was the couple bowling next to us.

2. Two nights ago, Kevin decides to go get some food at a little place off the street. He orders the food to go, along with a coke. Since the coke was in a glass bottle, they are generally only served to drink in the restaurant... Not having realized this, Kevin leaves with his food and drink. 3 blocks later, the out-of-breath clerk catches up to Kevin trying to explain that he couldn't take the bottle unless he pays extra... Unable to break Kevin's large bill, the man explains that he'll put the coke in something else for Kevin to bring with him. It seems like a good solution, so Kevin goes back to the restaurant with him and waits for him outside. A few minutes later, the man returns to Kevin with the coke... in a bag :)