Out of Order

It started with a frog in the toilet.

Not a dead frog, but a very-much-alive-and-happy-to-be-here frog that had taken up residence in our upstairs bathroom while we were gone.

As we finished our furlough and prepared to move back to Bolivia, ending our time with a week-long missions conference, the #1 thing we looked forward to on our return was routine.  We talked about it often in the final month -- how nice it would be to be back in "our" house, with a schedule that doesn't change, tied to our work.

As I detailed in a previous post, furlough is a time of great instability.  It is often fun and enjoyable, but the stress of being continually unsettled wears on you to the point that you crave the "boring" structure of life in one place, with a fixed schedule.  Sounds just like what we live with here at Etnos . . . right?

Evidently not. 

In my last post, in which I detailed the events of Anne's arm breakage (she's doing well, by the way), I mentioned a few of the unsettling things that have occurred in our first three weeks back in Santa Cruz.  Allow me to lay them out a little more explicitly:

1.  We arrive totally worn out from the conference, goodbyes, packing, and travel

2.  Two weeks of cleaning, unpacking, and settling into the house

3.  Five days in, I begin teaching my classes. Kaylee starts homeschool a week later.

4.  A frog lives in the bathroom for several nights

5.  Visitors (whom we did not know) from the US

6.  I take on another hat, doing part time in the accounting office so I can cover for a coworker that is going on furlough in July

Learning how to run our monthly Etnos accounts with Karla

7.  Anne breaks her arm and I spend 2 days at the hospital with her

8.  A rat eats through the wires of the lights in our office (our most-used room in the house), prompting an unplanned remodel thereof.

9.  During said remodel, we find that termites have also moved in and are eating the joists.

Pulling out the ceiling FULL of mouse/rat nastiness

10.  Aforementioned rat plagues the house for a couple weeks, eating our bananas and avoiding all 4 types of traps that I set up.  Occasionally keeps us up at night.

11.  During this time, I have to take Anne into the city at least once a week for checkups

12.  Prompted by some generous friends, we start a new program on campus which causes massive stress (and several extra meetings) due to an unforeseen cultural issue.

13.  The rat visits Kaylee in the living room one evening, then runs up the stairs (where we sleep).  Not so much sleep that night.

14.  We discover that the rat has made a mess in our storage room, which leads to me spending a day patching holes and building another trap.

15.  Lydia turns 6, requiring an extra trip to town to buy her a bicycle.

16.  The UPS battery backup in the office bites the dust.  Another trip to town.

17.  We are in charge of the monthly Day of Prayer, adding more work for both Kaylee and I

18.  Lydia gets massively sick in her bed, resulting in midnight laundry (gross!!)

19.  We are approached by our leaders about the possibility of taking on some more responsibility

20. Today Anne starts daily physical therapy sessions with a lady from church.

Now, each of those things on its own isn't a big deal.  But to have all of that packed into 8 fast weeks was a lot, and we were feeling it.  We were tired, stressed, and fed up.  Trying to manage all of the distractions as well as maintain our daily responsibilities was becoming overwhelming.  We weren't sleeping well, either, which is never good. 

However, as we sludged through this past weekend, the future looked brighter and we went to bed Sunday night hoping and praying for a normal week.

Then, around 10:45pm, something started clattering around in the attic.  We hadn't seen or heard from the rat in several days, so we dejectedly assumed it had returned and was trying to get back in the house.  After listening to it clomp around on the very thin ceiling for over an hour, I tossed a poisoned banana up there.  Soon, our ears were greeted by a worse noise as it flopped around, evidently in throes of agony and death.  This lasted until after 2am.

So much for sleep.

In the morning, I could still hear scratching in the ceiling, but had no choice but to poke my head up into the attic, hoping to see a rat on the verge of death.  What I found instead was a very sick opossum.

Nathan: 1, 'Possum: 0

Because of the way our house has been cobbled together over the course of a couple of decades of remodeling, the attic is a mess of small spaces full of styrofoam, wires, spiderwebs, and rat droppings.  So I spent a couple hours trying to get at the opossum which had wedged itself down near the eave, between two sheets of styrofoam insulation.

Eventually she moved far enough into the open that I was able to get a good shot at her with my .22 pellet pistol and drag her out with a wire hook on the end of a pipe.

As I spent most of the remainder of the day patching holes in the wire mesh that covers our eaves, I remembered what it was that we craved so much on our return.

Routine.  Stability.  Structure. 

I mentioned it to Kaylee and we laughed (a good sign that we're still okay).  She reflected that maybe God was trying to show us that stability can be an idol just as much as anything else in life.  Are we relying too much on the security of home?  Does our comfort come from an unchanging agenda?  Are we seeking comfort and rest in a way of life, instead of in our Father?

Please pray for us. 

We want sleep.  We want a normal week (or day!).  We want our house to be a restful haven, free of pests.  We want to do our work in peace.  We want our kids to be healthy.  We want stability.

But all we need is Jesus.

Please pray that we would continue to flex.  That we would not break.  That we would adapt and persevere and follow God's will in faith.  Pray for the true Rest and true Peace that ought to be a part of our lives no matter the circumstances in which we find ourselves.  His order and His plan are perfect -- we just need the faith to follow Him.

"Whaddayamean it's CRAZY?"

"Crazy!" seems to be the the automatic response that proceeds from my mouth lately any time someone asks, "How's it going?" or "How has your furlough been?" or "How are you guys doing?"  Some people take it in stride.  Many respond with an expression of confusion or disbelief.  A few ask, "What do you mean by that?"

After all, isn't furlough supposed to be a time of rest?  Of spending time with people? Of root beer and pizza and hamburgers?  Well, yeah, it is, particularly the last bit. But that doesn't mean it's all fun and fluffy.

Please understand, this is not a complaint.  We are enjoying this time!  It just happens to be (like SO many things in the missionary life) a love-hate relationship.  I hope that this woefully inadequate explanation helps you understand us and your other missionary friends, and to know better how to pray for us.

The best way I can think of to describe "crazy" is this:  you know the way you feel at the end of vacation? No matter how good it was, or how much fun, there is that point near the end when the worn out, stressed, I-just-can't-wait-to-be-home feeling hits you.

We have had that feeling non-stop for about 7 months, now.  Here are some reasons why:

1.  Not a vacation

I know, I know.  I am apparently bumming around for 8 months without a job.  I travel, I meet people for coffee, I hang out.  If you look at my Facebook feed or previous blog posts, it appears that most of my time is spent taking photos of Montana scenery and doing fun things with my kids.  What do I have to complain about, really?

Gratuitous photo of aforementioned Montana scenery (Bridger Mountains, Bozeman)

I admit, I have spent a lot of time doing fun things with my kids.  We have gone fishing, investigated ghost towns, carved pumpkins, walked in the park, visited the library, gone sledding, and wandered aimlessly through the mountains, to name just a few.  The reason that we have done these things (and made a big deal of them!) is that they are not things that we can do in Bolivia.

Even so, we are still at work.

Kaylee carries her responsibilities wherever we go. Naturally, she has all of the same household duties here as in Bolivia.  She continues to homeschool the kids, in spite of the constant upheaval and weird schedules. Her social/hospitality role also remains largely unchanged.

My work, on the other hand, has changed drastically.  Instead of doing ministry at Etnos, I now get to talk about ministry at Etnos.  The majority of the travel that we have done in the past 7 months has been work related -- conferences, meetings, and presentations.  When not travelling, I am preparing for those events and working to get my materials ready for this year's classes at Etnos.  Even much of our social time ends up revolving around our life in Bolivia, as curious friends ask questions.

2. Missionary Marketing

Marketing: that is a missionary's basic job while on furlough.

It sounds rather pathetic, but when you boil it all down, the presentations and meetings that I just described pretty much amount to good advertising.  At least, that is often how we feel.

For better or for worse, the economic model under which we work requires us to seek out people who are willing to invest in our ministry.  We appreciate the personal nature it gives to our financial support, but we hate the self-promotion that is necessary (or expected) to sustain it.  We get tired of talking about ourselves. We feel self-conscious introducing ourselves to people, afraid they will think we're just after a donation.  Even with family and old friends who support us, we sometimes feel as though the $$$ were hanging over our heads.

Missionary Marketing 101

We want our supporters to be well-informed and engaged in what we are doing!  We want them to be able to see a return on their investment!  That requires a lot of writing while on the field (newsletters, blog, etc) and a lot of visits when on furlough. Usually, this is a joyful process of reporting "home," but we get tired of feeling like a couple of narcissists.

2.  Travel Fatigue

I used to enjoy travelling.  I still do, sometimes.  It can be a nice break when it is occasional -- as in, once or twice a year.

On the other hand, we have basically been "on a trip" for six months and counting. Within this trip, we have taken other trips.  In other words, we feel completely unstable, without the comforting structure of a routine.

Add to that the actual stresses of travel.  Long hours in the car.  Another drive thru. How much is this going to cost?  Unpack the car, carry it all up the stairs, sleep, pack up, haul down, leave.  So. Many. Times.

If it were just Kaylee and I, it would be a lot more manageable, but we have three daughters in the backseat.  Three little girls that are completely worn out and don't (and don't care to) understand why we're still on the road and just want to be home.

3.  Home?

Think about the last time you moved.  Was it an enjoyable experience?  Will it remain in your memory as something to cherish and memorialize?  I doubt it.

In our 11 few years of marriage, Kaylee and I have moved 23 times, counting only places we have lived for a month or longer.  An average of more than 2 per year.

TWENTY-THREE!!

Just by going on furlough, we move twice, and internationally to boot.  We pack up and store our Bolivia house, haul a little bit of it with us as we travel, and arrive in a Montana house. We unpack what we have in our storage shed, purchase or borrow whatever is lacking, and live a few months.  Then pack it all up again, haul some of it with us, and go back to unpack the first house.

Moving is one of the most traumatic experiences in a child's life.  We have taught our girls that wherever the 5 of us are, that is home.  That is the best earthly stability we can give them.  Yes, this instability carries the benefit of grounding our hope in an eternal home with Jesus, but that is tough enough for me to hold on to and almost impossible to pass on to my kids.

4.  Hurray for Friends!

Without a doubt, the best part of furlough is being with family and friends. We have been blessed by many opportunities to spend time with people we love.  It is so good to be able to sit with old friends (and new ones) and comment about life without thinking about which grammar structure is best suited to express it. Or wondering how to respond culturally.

We need the encouragement that these relationships provide.  Strange as it may seem, life on the mission field is often very lonely.  We are surrounded by people, yet good relationships that offer a deep give-and-take intimacy are very hard to come by.  So we want to spend as much time as possible with the people we love here.

Unfortunately, this, too, carries its share of stresses and craziness.  We know that we have limited time, so we tend to over-book our social calendar.  We want to spend as much time with people as we can in the time we have, but it seems like there is never enough.  More than once we have had to clear our calendar for the week, simply because our girls were worn out (not to mention Kaylee and I!).

Catching minnows with cousins

5. Protecting our kids

You may have noticed in the previous four points that "The Girls" have been a significant factor in making this furlough crazy.  To be honest, the hardest thing for me has been trying to gauge the needs of my children.  Too many late nights, too many hours in the car, too many new experiences, hellos, goodbyes, etc.

We are eager to show our daughters all of the things we love about life here: partly because it is important to us and partly because they are not Americans, but (to coin a word) AmeroBolivians.  Before this trip, they knew very little about life in the United States, yet this will most likely be their home once they leave ours, at least for a time.  We want them to be prepared for what they are going to experience, and furlough is the only opportunity we get.

But they have limits.  They are still little people that crave stability, sleep, and sanity, none of which are gained by hanging out with people 4+ nights a week or travelling cross-country.  They are tired of transitions and changes.  They are ready to go back to Bolivia.

In fact, I think we are all ready to go back.  We love Montana.  We love so many people here.  We love the freedom we feel.  We love the weather, the mountains, the trees!  This time has been such a blessing to us, in spite of the craziness.  We will be sad to leave, yet we are ready to get back to Etnos, if only for the stability and routine that returning will bring for our family.  And that's a good thing.

Survival Mode

Getting out of Survival Mode and back into routine

 Twice since coming to Bolivia we have found ourselves in "Survival Mode." Many of you may have your own understanding of what that means when life gets crazy and you're barely hanging on. Today I would like to share with you what that looks like for us.

When we first arrived in country we were overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with a new language and a different culture, but it went much deeper than that. Every time we stepped out our door we didn't know how to conduct ourselves. We didn't know how to buy the food and supplies we needed. We didn't know what to expect for price and had the pressure of "don't spend too much. You're gringos, they'll try to scalp you!" We didn't know how to cook with the food we did obtain, especially at this altitude of 9,000ft (I'm pretty sure Nathan was worried we would be eating soup packets for the rest of our lives). We didn't know where to buy anything. And quite honestly, neither Nathan, nor I had ever lived in a city of 800,000, compacting the insecurities and anxieties we had. We were required to use public transportation, giving directions with minimal knowledge of the language and how to give directions (I handed my cell phone to a taxi driver once so Nathan could give him the directions!). Let's just say, life was hard. We were surviving, barely making it from one day to the next.

This feeling of survival mode definitely hit again the day that our land lady showed up and told us rather strongly that we needed to move out of her apartment. Once again we were in new territory. How do you look for a house in this country? What should we expect? What kind of contract do we sign? Nathan spent many days walking the streets looking for signs on the exterior of homes and asking at the tiendas for homes for rent (that's the way it's done here). He also jumped online and checked the newspaper every morning. He was stretched, incredibly stretched, as he made phone call after phone call. (Do you realize how hard it can be to make phone calls in your own language? Try doing it when there are not only Spanish speakers at the other end of the line, but also Quechua speakers trying to speak Spanish!) I found myself, sadly, in a fit of anxiety. I felt as if our lives as we know them here had been pulled out from under us and every day we were struggling to get food on the table, shop, think through all of the necessities for our children and accomplish the task of finding a house. I realize now that a great part of that survival mode for me this time was succumbing to my anxiety instead of trusting our great God for the provider He is and always has been for us. But this mode of survival is still a reality of this lifestyle and something we must be prepared for as drastic changes hit us in the future. I can imagine the survival mode we'll go through as we move into the tribe will be much larger.

Hurray For A New House!

There's still a lot to do, obviously, but it feels so good just to have a contract and keys!  I took care of the business side of things at noon today, then took a ton of photos.  After the girls' naps, we went over as a family, plus our friend Suellen, who spent over 2 hours helping Kaylee clean.

The big plan is to move everything over there tomorrow.

Follow the girls on a video tour of the house, then click on the photo below to check out a few of the photos!

New House!

First Photos Of The New House!

Because I forgot to take photos of the house we will be moving into, I took Kaylee and the girls over to have a look at it, and took a couple of pictures to share with you!

This is what it looks like from the street:

Kaylee and I were talking about covering the security bars with tin for privacy (most houses have that or a brick/rock/concrete wall), so I asked the landlord today if I could do it.  He said, "Oh yeah, I'll go pick some up and we'll paint it up and install it!  Whatever you want to do, just let me know."  They seem like really nice people to work with.

Here's a better shot of the front:

The main part of the humongous kitchen:

I'm looking forward to being able to BBQ right outside the kitchen for the first time ever!

Kaylee went to the trouble of drawing up the floorplan, to help her visualize how we will use the space:

I Dream of. . .Houses?

In last Sunday's paper, there was an ad for a house for rent about 1.5 miles from us, toward the city.  The description was just what we were looking for.  I called the number, and found out that there were still renters in it, so I wouldn't be able to see it until later in the week.  He did confirm that it was the size and layout that we needed.  I left my name and number and was told to expect a call.

Because we had an in-town vacation planned, I decided to call him again on Tuesday, just to keep the ball rolling.  He recognized me immediately and told me that I could see it on Thursday morning.  The problem was that the family there wasn't planning to leave until the end of the month.

We left for our vacation as planned on Wednesday afternoon, but I was feeling anxious about the house.  As you can see from our last housing update, there is a tremendous variation in quality for a similar price.  Everything that I knew about the house so far told me that it would be perfect for us, but I had no idea what condition it was in.  I was struggling with letting go and trusting God -- what if it was a rat hole?  What if the landlord was kicking out the renters and they were hanging on as long as possible?  What if we couldn't move out of our house in time?  What if. . .?

That night I had a dream.  Ever since I was small, I've had very lucid dreams.  However, I have never had a dream like this one.  Experientially, it was no different than any other, but the content!  It was short and to the point -- the house was perfect and the renters were packing up, on their way out.

I woke up in the morning and I can't say the dream helped much -- I was still anxious and had to take a few minutes to sit and pray with Kaylee before I left to go see the place.  By the time I arrived, I was calm, but that changed quickly.

I was greeted at the gate by the landlord and it was obvious from the start that he had a very good relationship with his renters.  I was in shock as he showed me around the place.  It really was perfect!  And even better, the renters had things pulled out of cupboards, getting them boxed up, and cleaning to leave!  They have until the first week of August, but appear to be on their way.

I was so overwhelmed by it all that I completely forgot to take any photos to show Kaylee!  She still hasn't seen the place!  Lord willing, we'll be able to see it this week, so she can start strategizing our 26th move.

Home is. . .where?

Life can be so ironic, can't it?  I think God likes to keep us on our toes. :)

June was a tough month for us.  As I mentioned in our last post, we've been stressed and sick.  We were trying to process the reality of moving out to the jungle, based on what I saw on my trip to Urubichá.  Kaylee was really feeling the pressure of living here and learning language.

In the midst of those problems, we were thankful for a blessing:  our home.  Kaylee was counting how many times we've moved in our 7.5 year marriage.  Care to hazard a guess?  25.  That's right, 25 different "homes."  We stayed in some of those places only a week, but literally had no where else to go at the time.

In contrast, we've lived here 17 months, longer than anywhere else in our life together! (Previous record: 11 months)

All that joyous stability changed this week.

I don't really want to get into all of the details, but we had a major run-in with our landlady on Monday.  Basically, there was a misunderstanding of her (according to friends and neighbors) unreasonable expectations of our use of the space for which we are paying.  The result was that we have been falsely accused, insulted, and asked to leave ASAP or pay more rent.

Under the circumstances, we are going to leave. 

This house has been a blessing!  It's large.  We love the view.  We're settled and comfortable.  But it's not worth dealing with unreasonable people, and we're already paying more than fair market value for the place.

Last month, we realized that we needed a vacation:  time to get away from the stress and pressure and just be together as a family for a few days.  We had to put it off a few weeks, because our church's 15th anniversary celebration is this week (more on that later!), and next week is the ladies' retreat.  It was going to be 2 weeks of grinding through our responsibilities until we could take a breath.

I think our perspective is a little different now.  It's such a joy to see with new eyes the value of the relationships we have here, in the church and in the neighborhood -- people that know us, appreciate us, and care about us.  We all went to the first night of the celebration last night and even though I was up front playing with the worship team most of the time, Kaylee and the girls stayed the whole time, until 10pm!

Please pray for us in the following ways:
-That we would be able to get through this added stress without breaking -- that we would look to God for strength and help.

-That we would find a house quickly.  We would prefer something in this neighborhood, so that we're close to the church.  We'd also like something with a yard (which this place lacks) so the girls can spend more time outside, and also a spare room for visitors!!

-That in all of this, we would be a good testimony to our landlady and to the neighbors, in the way we talk about the situation.

-That we can reschedule that vacation!!

Date Night!

June was a month full of stress and sickness.  We started the month out with a cycle of stomach flu - I got hit hard right on Kaylee's birthday.  At the same time, we all got colds, and are still coughing.  Of course, my friends attribute it to the fact that I wear shorts and a t-shirt at 65*F. :)

We realized that we desperately needed a break from the pressure of language study and started planning a short vacation, here in the city.  Unfortunately, due to a slew of church events that we want to participate in, we've had to put it off a few more weeks.

In the meantime, however, Kaylee did an excellent job planning a date for my birthday!  She found out through our language institute that Kjarkas, Bolivia's most well-known folkloric band, was going to be in Cochabamba for a concert the day after my birthday.  She bought us tickets and got a reference for a nearby coffee shop.

Because my brother and his family are temporarily living in our downstairs apartment, babysitters are easy to come by!  We put the girls to bed like usual, and headed into the city.  The coffee shop was busy, but pleasant - Kaylee said that the cheesecake was the closest she's had to the "real thing" here.

At 8:30, we walked to the event center where the concert was going to be.  Along the way, we stopped for a picture by a fountain, and ran into some friends.

The listed concert time was 9pm, but of course it didn't get started until well after 10.  We spent most of the time chatting with other students from the institute that had also come.  The atmosphere was MUCH different than the Kala Marka concert we went to 6 years ago, which was at a theater, filled with good-natured hooligans.  This was a high-class, sit-at-a-table-and-sip-rum (we refrained) kind of concert.

Kjarkas is celebrating 41 years of existence.  They tour internationally and are a cultural phenomenon.  It was fun to see them in concert, in their hometown (they actually originated in the Capinota province of Cochabamba).

Here's a sampling of the photos we took (more here!)

Bootlegging isn't a problem here - it's an accepted way of life.  I shot video of several of the songs and have uploaded 5 of them to our YouTube account.  The following is one of my favorite songs in the Tinku style, featuring traditional dance and costumes:

This one is by far their best-known song.  As a friend told me, it ranks right up there with the national anthem:

Anniversary of Sacaba

As a part of our church's music team, I have opportunities to get involved in fun cultural events!

All of the instruments that we use at the church are owned by the musicians themselves.  As they work to improve their music and equipment, one of the desires has been to start purchasing instruments for the church.

Because the church budget is tight and there are lots of projects, the worship team took it upon themselves to put in a little elbow grease and raise the money themselves.  Like last year, we went to the anniversary of the town of Sacaba to sell api and pasteles.

To see the rest of the photos of the event, parade, and fairway (with captioned explanations!), click here.

Pasteles, a cheese-filled pastry:

Api, a hot, thick corn drink:

 Pastor Gustavo and I enjoyed a tall, hot glass of api:

Over the course of two nights, they pulled in about $250!  Because the capital was donated by the members of the team, it was all profit.  On Friday morning, I went to town with 3 friends and we bought a guitar!

Progress!!

Kaylee and I both had language evaluations this week, to determine where we are at in the process of learning Spanish.  We are excited to let you know that we both advanced a level! 

Here's where we are at:

The language-learning process requires constant adjustment of expectations.  The higher you get on the scale, the more time it takes to reach the next level.

I also just uploaded a 4th video from my trip to Urubichá.  Even if you've seen the photos (in our last post), this may give you a better feel for the town:

Trip to Urubichá

Here's the link to the photos from the trip!  Click the gecko to go to the album and view the high-resolution photos, or just look at the slideshow below! 

Guarayos Trip, May 2012

Busy, Busy, Busy

I just noticed that it's been a month since we've posted.  It's not that we're being delinquent, it's that we're busy with other things!!

For a period of almost 8 weeks, there was a significant amount of unrest here in Bolivia.  The first 2 weeks of May, we were not able to get into the city normally, due to people blockading the roads in an attempt to force the government to reverse new legislation.  I spent a lot of time watching the news, trying to keep tabs on the situation.  While it was a "break" from our normal routine, it was more stressful than usual, and we still maintained our language study time.

During that time, we did celebrate Lydia's 2nd birthday!

Thankfully, things got worked out between the people and the government just in time for me to take a trip!  I finally got the opportunity to visit the Guarayo region of Bolivia to learn more about our future involvement there.  I'll be sharing more details about that in the future.

Here are a couple videos I took while on my trip:
 

Two days before my trip, my pocket was picked and I lost my Bolivian ID card (among other things).  Because we're in the process of getting a new visa, my passport is in the capital.  Thankfully, we got things squared away before I left and I was able to fly halfway across the country with just a photocopy of my ID!!

Feliz Cumpleaños Sarita!

On Saturday we had an invitation to celebrate the first birthday of Sara Carolina. This little one is set apart in our congregation because of her story. She not only belongs to her adoptive family but also to the entire church body. At less than two weeks old she was brought to the church by an elderly woman and left with the ladies at the weekly ladies meeting. Over the past year she has been adopted by one of the women in the church and has become a regular on Sunday morning. It has been fun to watch her grow and share a bit in her story.

Saturday we attended Sara's first birthday party. The invitation said the party would begin at 1:30 pm. When we arrived no one else appeared to be around so we headed back home. Around 1:50 we headed back down and joined the decorating crew! After much preparation and waiting, the party started at 3:15 pm. We were thankful for the delay so that Nathan and Lydia could join us "right on time" after her nap!

Part of the decorating committee

We celebrated in traditional Bolivian style including: lots of balloons, a couple of clowns, jello, cake, games and fellowship. Over all we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. There was a slight melt down when our girls couldn't get in the crowd to grab goodies that fell from the piñata. But after some tears, and the generosity of some of the older kids, all was right in the world again.

Jello: a party "must have"

With the birthday girl

Easter in Bolivia, take 2

Our second Easter in Bolivia.  What can we say?  Well, to start, it was much, much different than last year.  During Easter 2011, we had only been in Bolivia about 2 months.  Kaylee was dealing with a pretty severe case of initial culture shock/stress.  We went on a weekend retreat with our church, which turned out to be a very tough experience. 

One of the hard balances to find as missionaries is between becoming a member of the host culture and retaining our culture of origin.  For us, Easter is one of the biggest days of the year, especially as believers.  Here in Bolivia, many evangelical churches (including ours) do not celebrate it at all!  It's not wrong, just different.

Because we did nothing special last year, we decided to make this year different.  We found out that our church was going to do a campout for the annual retreat.  Because of the kids, unknown conditions, and other factors, we (wisely) decided that only I would attend for part of it, and the rest of the week would be spent celebrating the Resurrection in a way that is meaningful to us.

 (There are a lot more photos here, in the "Easter 2012" album!!)

Kaylee recently purchased a new flannelgraph and our inaugural story was the Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday.  We continued using it throughout the week in our daily Bible story time, and the girls love it!!

We also sprang for white eggs (very unusual here) for dyeing:

On Friday morning, I loaded up in the back of a truck with a bunch of friends and headed out for Pairumani Ecological Park:

I took a very heavy 80-pound duffel and had to haul it up a 1/2 mile, 21% slope.  But it was worth it!  I took tarps (boy were they handy!) and several tools that made their way all over camp, being helpful.  There were 36 tents in camp, plus my hammock.  We were split into 6 groups.  Here's my team's encampment:

Using the hatchet I brought, several friends and I made ourselves useful cutting down dead eucalyptus.  I have a feeling that after this weekend, my friends have a much better understanding of who I am.  I really am more comfortable in the woods than in town!

My sleeping situation was very unusual.  Everyone was worried that I'd get cold, even after I assured them that I have slept this way in Montana, below freezing.  I was quite comfortable, and probably slept better than anyone else, considering the rockiness of the ground.

On Saturday afternoon, we got a whopper of a rain storm.  My team was thankful for my tarps, and many others came to enjoy our fire (more pictures!).

 When I got home, I discovered that Kaylee and the girls had been having fun as well, exploring some of our culture's Easter silliness:

On Sunday morning, we did another flannelgraph story about the Resurrection, and turned the girls loose to look for eggs in the living room (yes, more pictures!):

The highlight of the weekend was church, followed by lunch with a few other missionary families.  Because our host church was still in the woods, we took advantage of the opportunity to go to a different church.  We chose to go to the Cochabamba International Church and thoroughly enjoyed our first church service in English in 15 months.  We enjoyed singing familiar songs and an excellent sermon. 

Not only was it a blessing, it demonstrated to me, personally, the importance of being taught in your heart language!

The Worst Stage of Language Learning

As I (Nathan) move into the Advanced levels of language, my progress gets harder and slower.  To continue progressing, I have to fine-tune my pronunciation.  I have to increase my speed and grammatical accuracy.  I have to speak in paragraphs.

My biggest roadblock at this point is learning and incorporating higher-level connectors.  You know, the ones that show purpose, reason, cause/effect, and hypotheses; words and phrases that express complete thoughts.

Essentially, I'm learning how to speak like an adult, but not just any adult.  I want to speak as someone educated, well-spoken, and confident, with the ability to influence people through my speech.

I'm trying to accomplish in 6 months, in a second language, what took me about 15 years in my first.

Bilingual Baby

While Kaylee and I put in many hours a week studying Spanish, our girls obviously don't.  We do informal teaching with them, of course, and they do spend a couple hours per week in Sunday school.  Anne and Addi are quite capable of being polite in the language (when they're not being shy), and Anne often asks us questions about words that demonstrate that she understands quite a lot.

Now it's Lydia's turn.  She has turned into quite a little chatterbox and loves to point at everything and say what it is.  I took this video of her on Oct 31 when she was a couple days from 18 months old:

Today she turned 22 months, and I finally captured her saying the same thing, in Spanish, something she started doing over a month ago:

The best part?  She picked up "Hola" by herself.

Live from Santa Cruz: Vehicle Search!

On location in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia:

I flew down early this morning and was greeted by a heavily pounding rain, punctuated by lightning and thunder.  Not exactly the type of day you want for a vehicle search.  So I spent the morning sitting in my cozy room in the guesthouse, listening to the rain fall and staring at my computer.  The rain let up around noon, so I went across the plaza to the grocery store and bought some lunch, then headed out at 2:00.

There are two places in this town where cars are sold everyday.  They're basically just long sandy strips alongside a road, where all the sellers come with what they've got.

I went to La Cuchilla first, mostly because it's bigger and the vehicles are easier to spot.  I didn't get a quarter of the way down the strip, when I saw this:

It's a 1992 Toyota HDJ80 Land Cruiser.  It has a turbo diesel engine.  It has a manual transmission.  It's in excellent shape.  It's original left-hand drive, not transformed.  It even has good tires.

There are three ways that it does not fit into the "perfect" vehicle list I posted on Saturday:
    -It's nice looking.  Kaylee said (and I quote), "I WOULD RIDE IN THAT."  Obviously, not a bad thing.
    -It doesn't have differential locks.  A non-essential, honestly, that can be added down the road if desired.
    -The asking price is $2500 more than what we currently have in our vehicle fund.  Yep, that's a problem.

I should be able to talk him down.  All vehicle sellers tell you a price that is "charlable" or chattable.  They expect you to point out all the flaws and kick the tires and lowball them, then come to an agreement somewhere in the middle.

The problem is that I don't think I can talk him down that much.  So what do I do?

Well, I'm going to pray.  I know that God has a vehicle for us here.  I just have to wait for Him to show it to me, while doing everything I can to find it.  Is this it?  I don't know, but it's by far the closest thing I've found to this point.

Our First Year in Bolivia!

We have just celebrated our first year here in Bolivia!  One of our supporting churches asked us to make a video, so I spent a couple weeks summarizing our first year here. You can see the squished, low-res version here:




If you would like to see it in it's true form, download the small file here:
http://www.4shared.com/video/geenW9Kl/Our_First_Year_in_Bolivia__sma.html?refurl=d1url

or you can download the full-resolution version here:
http://www.4shared.com/file/FPOUft-G/Our_First_Year_in_Bolivia.html?refurl=d1url

Vehicle Project: Specific Prayer!

Over the past six months, we have prayed for the funds needed to purchase a vehicle here.  We are continually thankful to God as we see Him answer that prayer, and to all of you who have been a vital part of the process as you have prayed and/or given.  As we approached 90% of our goal last month, I began to search in earnest.  We are still short of our goal, but I believe there is now a more urgent prayer need.

Last month I had a few opportunities to look at the car sales in Santa Cruz, another major city in Bolivia.  I discovered that I could find similar vehicles there for a few thousand dollars cheaper than here in Cochabamba.  I am going there twice more in the next two weeks for other reasons, plan to hit the car sales again, and am praying that I find something to buy on one of these trips. 

Time and time again over the last few years, we have seen God give specific answers to specific requests.  While I am still open to other vehicles (or different options), the following is what I would consider to be the perfect truck for the job, and it should be within reach once we get to 100% of our financial goal.  This is what I am praying for.  Will you join me?

- Toyota Land Cruiser 80

- Turbo-diesel engine

- Manual transmission

- Solid frame and body

- Lockers

- Not pretty, but mechanically strong

- Original left-hand drive

To give you an idea of what I'm looking for, I did find this 1992 a month ago.  It is all of the above, except that it has an auto tranny and is a transformer (originally right-hand drive).  Asking price: $15,000