David is my name, Bolivia is my game

Harvard kids aren't as nerdy as I previously had thought

2006-07-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

Shortly after my family, left it was back to “work”. So I hopped on a bus down to a city called Cochabamba, to help “lead” short term mission team for the next two weeks. The team consisted of 8 high schoolers from all over the United States, 9 Harvard students and 5 older leaders. I had a lot of concerns as I rode through the Bolivian countryside. For example; I hadn’t even been to this city before, and I was expected to help lead a group there. I was supposed to help with translating…..that’s just scary. And the biggest concern that was on my mind…….. was that Harvard students were coming. I had this whole idea of what students from Harvard were going to be like, and I was scared. But you know what I found,…...they’re normal, or at least the ones that came down were. Yeah sure the probably doubled my SAT score, but they didn’t hold it against me.
So for the next two weeks we worked and played. The work was painting two churches, laying a cobble stone driveway for one of the churches and laying the foundation for another church. We also went and did outreach events at high schools and in plazas, which usually consisted of some dancing, a drama or two and some autograph signing. The days were long and the work was hard, but it bonded the group all the more. So many new relationships were built, as we worked for one purpose, “show God’s incredible love to others.” It was amazing for me to see, how for many the language barrier prevented them from long in depth conversations with the Bolivians, but the words were spoken through their willingness to serve others. It is amazing how the body of Christ can affect people when we all work together as brothers and sisters, not worrying about denominations or theology, but instead worrying about how we are serving others.

In short the trip was a great experience for everyone on it. And the only injuries were; a broken arm, a couple of stitches, a dog bite or two and one came out with typhoid fever (which really isn’t an injury, but oh well.) Not bad huh….?

P.S. I painted and mixed enough concrete to tide me over for a very long time. And to everyone on the trip especially Sarah, if you are reading, I was not the one who tried to flush the fish. Even though I talked the talk about getting rid of them I didn’t walk the walk.

Even better than in the spanish text books

2006-07-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

I have a memory of sitting in 5th grade spanish class, kind of zoning out and looking at a picture of Machu Picchu for almost the entire class. I remember thinking how cool it would be to stand up ontop of those mountains in a whole different country and be right there where that picture was taken. And then 9 years later I found myself standing on that exact mountain that was in the book looking over the amazing construction of the ancient Incas. But it was one notch better than I could have imagined also because my mom, dad and sister were all there with me. It was such a fun time to spend with the fam and see new and amazing things. And let me tell you,...Machu Picchu is amazing! From a semi-nerdy engineer's perspective it was unbelievable. The amount of planning and actual building time that it must have taken blew my mind. The precision with which the Incas built was out of this world. It was so sweet to see that I got to go and see this incredible place because I said yes to God's calling for me to come down here to Bolivia.

So lets rewind a bit. On Saturday the 3rd of June my parents arrived at the El Alto Airport which is about 12,500 ft. in elevation. And with about a day of rest after 20 some hours of plane travel, I threw them all on a fourteen hour bus ride to Cusco, Peru. We then spent four hours on a train gettting to Machu Picchu and another four hour ride back to Cusco the next day. We then had a nice relaxing day exploring the city of Cusco, and that night hopped back on another fourteen hour bus ride back to La Paz, Bolivia. And you know what, not once did my family complain about a thing.......what a bunch of troopers. I then got to spend the next week showing my family around the city, introducing them to the people that I have been building relationships with since I have been down here and showing them all the ways that I work......ok, play, down here. It was such a fun time and so nice to see my family again after 5 months of nothing but phone calls.

Pictures

2006-05-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry I had some difficulties with putting pictures in my last blog so here they are

From the camp with Highlands High School

From the backpacking trip with Colegio Shalom

From Venezuela

I've got some explaining to do...

2006-05-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

So how about this whole "one blog per month" thing? Let me try to explain why it seems like I am such a slacker.

Well the 29th of April thru the 1st of May Randy took some of the shoe shiners on a backpacking trip down the Choro trail. We had planned to leave at about 8:00 am on the 29th with group of 9, but as I have learned down here, plans and what actually happenes are two increadibly different things. We ended up having two of the guys show up 2 1/2 hours late. Now this brought up a question between Randy and I. How late is too late. I feel like in the states if you are 15 minutes late to something ( and trust me I have had a lot of experience with this) you are really pushing the limits. So let's do the math 2.5 - .25 = 2.25 hours later than the standard in the states. I feel like the two cultures are a little different.....maybe. But other than that we had a great time. The two guys that came were strong hikers and many times I found myself feeling like I was making great time, and yet sucking wind at the back of the group. We had some good times of just getting to know those two a little deeper. It was very refreshing.

Next, Randy and I sent the two shoe shiners back while we stayed and prepared for a youth camp with an international school that we have been working with every once in a while. I was a little nervious for two reasons, most of the kids coming were kids that I had never met before and Randy asked me to help him lead worship with him for the camp. The first fear seemed to be manifesting when the kids got there. I was put incharge of a room in which I knew absolutely none of the kids, but it is quite amazing to me how God uses the uncomfortable, awkward situations for the betterment of his kindom. By the end of the camp I felt like God had built some pretty good bonds between me and a couple of the guys. It was very encouraging to see that as nervious as I was, God could still use me. The second fear showed me a lot, not so much spiritually, but a lot about how good I could fake playing the guitar. I had so many expectations for myself, and as soon as I got up on stage they all went right out the window. But I guess this experience really did teach me spiritually. It taught me that God is not a God bounded by our expectations. I would venture to say that God actually never follows our expectations.

We got back from the camp on that Friday at around 4 pm and from there turned around and took a group of 20 highschoolers(that most of us had never met until that Friday night) and 6 leaders on another backpacking trip the next morning. This tip was quite a bit different from the last one where we had 2 guys myself and Randy. On the first trip we finished a hike of about 60 Km in about 2 days, where as on this one we finished a 30 Km hike in 2-1/2 days. I feel like the slow pace of the trip was very healthy for me though. I felt like I could relax and get to know the students that were with us and really have some time to think about the important things that God has been unraveling in my life. The students had a blast. For most if not all of them it was the first backpacking trip they had ever been on. It was really encouraging to be part of that blessing for those kids.

We then returned home and had about a week to prepare for a 11 day trip to Caracas, Venezuela.

The main purposes that we had for going to Caracas were; to participate in a conference for Youth for Christ South America, and to find Randy a wife. Now if you feel like a 50% success rate is good, then we did well. We had a great time at the conference. I got to meet other Youth for Christ staff and volunteers all the way from Chile to Jamaica to Canada. It was an amazing eye-oppening experience for me to see that God is a God without borders, and that we as believers are family. I feel like I could go to any off the countries of the people that were at the conference and have a home with doors wide open waiting for me to come in. It was also encouraging to see all the wisdom and experience of a group in the same room, working for the betterment of YFC and God's kingdom. It was all in all a great experience! Not to mention that I got to go to the beach yet again since I have been down here. Suffering for my faith, that's all I have to say.

So we got back to La Paz Friday night after about 24 hours of traveling, and as much as I loved seeing different parts of Sout America, it felt so good to be back in my own bed, and I felt so ready to get back to work with the shoe shiner guys. So.....here I go again!

Like the Sahara with ocean front property!

2006-04-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

This last week time came that I had to renew my visa, which reminded me I have been here for three months already. I can’t believe how fast the time is going. Anyway, Hannah, Ali, Pedro and I all hopped on a buss and headed down to a little beach town in northern Chile named Arica. Now if you look up Arica, Chile you will find the fact that it is one of the driest places on earth. This just boggled my mind, how could a beach town be one of the driest places on this planet? And like most things here I tried to figure it out, but eventually gave up and remembered that most things here just don’t make sense and there is nothing I can do about it. The town was great, I ate McDonalds for the first time in three months. The beaches were very nice and had very few people on them. The sunsets were amazing, and the waves were huge, so huge that we almost lost Pedro to them. I love the beach, that is all there is to it. If I could find somewhere where I could ski and be close to the beach……well lets just call that heaven. It was just a good time for some rest and relaxation before the storm. Now I am ready to take the next month head on.

Banana Pancakes

2006-04-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

First things first, Bolivians know how to barbeque! It is like a dream come true. Tons and tons of perfectly seasoned meat, and all I can eat, wow!!!......that is all I can say.

Secondly, banana pancakes are incredible! I think they might be my new favorite food. And eating banana pancakes while listening to the song Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson is an almost out of body experience.

Ok, now to the less serious stuff. Our shoeshinner church has really been flourishing lately. We have had anywhere from 4 to 16 guys attending every week. One week I actually lead the study…..in Spanish, talk about a scary experience. We have gone through 30 Bibles, ten of which we left at the store that we bought them at and haven’t seen since, but 20 that we have given to all the guys that have come. Now all these numbers and all are great, but really mean nothing, what is really great is that this study is not just us talking the whole time, it is a place where we start off the conversation on a certain topic and the guys take it from there, asking questions, and dialoging with us about this whole thing we call Christianity. It is a safe community where the guys can talk about what they really think, they are very involved, and I can really see God changing their hearts, and that is so incredible to watch.

Business has really slowed down for me in the area of shoe shinning. I guess I just had beginners luck at first, making 4 Bs. (50 cents) per day. Now I am averaging about 50 centavos (6.25 cents) per day. I think that I may have to start looking for another day job. But all money matters aside, I am really having a great time spending time with the guys on the streets. I am making my way into their world. Charlie had a really encouraging comment for me last week, he said, “to most people here you look like a gringo, but to me you look like one of us.” That got me so pumped. God is good… no ve (you know)!

Sheer madness

2006-04-26T06:29:00.000-07:00

Man I have really been slacking on the whole blogging thing. Sorry to all you who keep taking your time to check up on me, and find that I haven’t updated you for close to a month. I will try my best to be more on top of things, but I am not promising that it will get a whole lot better. These next 5-6 weeks are going to be sheer madness. Here is the list of my schedule:
Weekend of April 29th: Taking a group of about 6 shoeshiner guys(who weren’t able to attend the previous trip) on a backpacking trip into the Bolivian jungle.
Once we arrive to our final destination Randy and I will send the guys back to La Paz, but we will be staying the next week at a youth camp. We will be doing everything from leading worship to being group leaders.
The next weekend we then have another backpacking trip with a group of 20 Bolivian high scholars. We’ll see how that one turns out. Were going to need some big time prayer support for that one.
We get back from that and the following weekend travel to a Bolivian city called Oruro.
We return from Oruro, and the next week we are off to Venezuela for 10 days more or less, for a Youth for Christ Leaders Conference. I am so excited for that. The Caribbean, doesn’t that just sound amazing.
We will get back a few days before we have a group consisting of my family, Ali’s parents, Ross’s dad, Hannah’s sister and a couple of Randy’s friends. The day after the group arrives we will be hopping on a buss to Peru, where we will be visiting the ancient ruins of Machu Pichu.
After the families and friends leave a short term mission team is coming in and we will be heading to a city called Cochabamba for the next 10 days or so.
Then finally we will be returning back to La Paz for about a month of normal life…..or as normal as it gets around here.
So that is my next month + in a nutshell. I am so excited for all of it, and also not excited at all for how exhausted I am going to be in the end.

2006-03-30T10:18:00.000-08:00

Hmmmmmmm......
Well, where do I start? Sorry for the log absence from my blogging. I have been extremely busy, and there is so much to blog about that I am a little afraid to start now. But here we go. Last weekend we took a group of 13 shoe shiners, and 12 high scholars from an international school on a backpacking trip. We hiked a trail called Tekshi, which in the native Aymaran language means, “ all down hill.”( Ok, I don’t know any Aymaran, and that last statement is not a fact, but it could be, who knows). The trip went very smoothly and I got to spend a lot of good quality time with the guys. Probably the most exciting and terrifying part of the whole trip though was the ride home. We took a road named “Camino de las Yungas” which in all respect was more like a trail that allowed tour busses to drive on it. The “road” was a narrow one-lane, dirt road that for about 90% of the trip dropped of hundreds of feet on one side or the other. All the shoeshinner guys seemed to love it, while I was sweating, clutching the chair in front of me and leaning thinking that my weight shift might help the bus stay on the road. It really got me thinking, “How much do I trust that God has a plan for my life.” No other car ride has ever made me think this deep about my life. We obviously made it back, I was a little sore the next day from my whole body being tense for a good hour and a half, but the trip as a whole went rather well.

The next week there was a celebration called “Dia del mar” for those of you who don’t hablar espanol it means Day of the sea. Sounds like a totally normal holiday, …….right? Well if you look at a map you will find that Bolivia is the only land locked country in all of South America. Hmmmmm… I finally put my logic aside and went out to walk the streets with Randy. We were on a crowded side street when I saw a car out of the corner of my eye, coming strangely close to Randy. When I took a closer look I noticed that the car was going backwards, and not only was it going backward, it was lacking a driver. The car proceeded to barely miss at least 15 people and crash into a store, where it finally came to rest, and where Randy and I noticed that there were two kids in it as well. We rushed to the scene, Randy pulled the kids out, checked them for injuries, gave them to their hysterical mother and we went on our way. Just another day on the streets of Bolivia.

Getting tired of reading yet? Don’t worry there is still plenty more. So that brings me to last weekend. Saturday night we had an outreach night, which consisted of Mario Cart, Street Fighter Live (I would explain it but it would take a while, and it is something that I want to bring back with me and selfishly claim as my own), and all you could eat cereal. Let me just say, that was a dream come true. Ever since I could remember I have dreamed of the day that I could eat all the cereal I wanted with nothing holding me back, I guess there are some benefits to this ministry thing.

One of the most exciting parts of the last two weeks was Wednesday night. We, as a group of gringos, have had a dream to start a shoeshiner church, and Wednesday those dreams were brought to life. We had our first “church service”. We had 11 shiners show up ready and eager to listen and ask questions. We talked for about an hour out of Acts about the first church and community. One thing that is different about this church is that the guys were like a family beforehand, so community is something that they have been doing all along. All we did was showed them what they already had, and how God fits into the picture. I feel that Rob Bell puts it well when he says, “ Missions is less about transportation of God from one place to another and more about the identification of the God who is already there.” This is our goal with the guys, not to bring God into their lives, but point out to them where He already is.

So that brings me to right now. Right now I am sitting in an office working. Doing what? You might ask. Well this is another dream come true. I am substitute teaching for the high school PE class at the international school here in La Paz. I am subbing for about three classes a day, playing softball, racquetball, soccer and lifting weights. It’s a rough job but someone has to do it. Another thing that makes it fun is that the “kids” that I am teaching, range from only 1 to 3 years younger than me. When did you ever have a teacher that was 1 year older then you? I have kept this detail to myself, in fear that if they only knew there would be some kind of mutiny. And with the beard that I am in the process of growing I feel that my little secret is safe.

Throughout all these fun activities these last couple weeks I ran into something more important. I really saw what the lives of the guys were like. I saw the good times, and the bad. This last week I saw a lot of pain, a lot of hurt, a lot of tears. I came to realize that these guys are really hurting, they are really looking for something, anything. I saw that life really isn’t fair, in the worst kinds of ways. And through all this I saw God working. I feel that He is really breaking some of the guys down, and readying them to be picked back up. Things are going to start happening, and I am so ready.

2006-03-13T18:18:00.000-08:00

Working Hard

Well it is going to sound like I do nothing here but play ... which is kind of true .... but I promise I really do "work" every once in a while. This week we went down to the southern zone, with the international students, and had an intense game of penguin football. For those of you who haven't heard of this sport, I am sorry that you have had to go so many years deprived of this source of hours of fun. This game consists of two teams, one of girls and the other of guys. It is a game of full contact backyard football, but there is a catch, the guys have to ductape their feet together (thus the penguin). This allows any girl, no matter how small she is, to flatten almost any guy that she wants. It is so great because it really evens the playing feild. The guys have to play with all that they have in order to save their pride, and the girls get to take out any frusterations on any guy without fear of a fast retaliation. In the game to two touchdowns the girls came out strong putting the first touchdown on the board early on. But I guess that is what it took to scare the guys into playing their hearts out, and in the end emerge victorious. It was a hard fought game, and the girls put up quite the fight, but in the end the right team, although exhausted and sore, came off the field holding their heads a little higher. I am not going to lie I got flattened quite a few times but I was just sacrificing for the betterment of the team.

The event was actually for the International youth group. We were able to get about 1/3 of the highschool to come join us. We are hoping to get a club going with this school where students can come hear a quick talk, and then just have a good time with us and eachother. It was encouraging to have such a turn out, and I know that God is going to move through some of the kids.

2006-03-06T18:44:00.000-08:00

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball

How many people do you know, who can say that they have won a dodgeball tournament in La Paz, Bolivia? Well ..... now you know one more. Last saturday, wrenches in hand, the team consisting of Randy, Jon, Hannah, Ali, Ross and myself entered the gymnasium in which we were to become champions. Our team also known as "the mechanics" started off the day by losing our first game to a team called the "Elder Force", (which consisted of 6 adults who had probably played their first game of dodgeball 20 years before I was even born) but throughout the next five hours we would emerge victorious. With plays like dual carborater, under the hood, the socket wrench and the midus touch and a intimidating pregame chant we struck fear into the hearts of our opponents and generations to come in the dodgeball world. We are now awaiting our invitation into Bolivian Dodgeball Association of Bolivia hall of fame, and learning to cope with increadible amounts of publicity. Randy is working on a contract with Nike, and Ross is starring in a new Gatorade commercial. We were informed that highlights of the championship would be run on ESPN 8 "the ocho". I hope you will all be able to tune in and see the physical brillince with wich we played.

Disclaimer: The last 4 sentences of this blog entery are a complete exaggeration and are not to be taken seriously. In fact nothing in them is true except for the "physical brilliance" part. This is the first championship that I have ever won in anything, so sorry if I got a little carried away.

2006-02-28T10:23:00.000-08:00

Shining...the right career choice for me

I have know decided that I am in no need of a college education any more. A real job in the United States has no draw for me as of last Wednessday. I started a new career... shoe shinning. Now you may be thinking, there is no money in shinning shoes, but I beg to differ, there is some. After my calculations I found that I can at least make $260 a year with one week vacation. And that is if business doesn't pick up any time soon.
Well I have started shining with the guys that I have been working with. It is an amazing way for me to get to spend some quality one on one time with the guys. Work is a little slow, making about 1 boliviano(12.5 cents)/hour but I'll manage. Sitting out in the afternoon sun speaking spanish with a shoeshiner guy, and shining a few shoes here and there has been one of my dreams since I made it down here. It has also been one of my dreams to be able to walk down the streets of La Paz and not be labeled as a gringo, and with my new stylish shoe shining attire I can do just that. It is an excelent opportunity for me to really reach into the lives of the guys, and build strong relationships with them. They have been increadibly accepting of me comming and sharing their turf(which was one thing I was a little worried about), and it is starting to open up other doors for me as well. One of the guys named Charlie took me to the house where about 200 shiners live last week. We just sat and talked, I got to meet tons of other shiners, and I even got to practice the dance that all the shiners were doing in the Carnival(the water baloon holiday) parade with them. Tommorow I am off again to shine, and later in the evening Charlie asked me to go and play pool with him and a couple of his buddies. I am just amazed at how God is opening doors left and right for me down here.

One thing that I have realized about how God works since I have been down here is that he will put you where you don't think you want to be, or in situations you don't want to be in. For example, this Charlie guy that I keep talking about was the one guy that when I got down here, I felt like I had no way of reaching out to, or even becoming friends for tha that matter. He was the older tough guy that seemed a little more than just rough on the edges. Well look at me now tomorrow I will be shining and playing pool with him. Isn't it funny how that works. And through talking with him I have found that as tough as he tries to be he really has a great heart. He is the older brother figure for most of the shoe shiners, and has an increadible heart for his family. Every day down here I am amazed at how God is showing himself to me more and more.

2006-02-28T09:47:00.000-08:00

Water Baloons

A lot of things around here don't make much sense to me.

Stop signs (the few that there are here) don't really mean stop, I haven't really figured out their real purpose yet.
If you ask someone for directions they will give you fake directions before they tell you that they don't know.
People not using their head lights at night in order to get better gas mileage.
Why a majority of the presidents in the last hundred years havent been able to last over a year in office.
And why you can buy a good sized steak dinner for about a dollar.

But this week I found something that makes a lot of sense. A city wide, 4 day long, water baloon fight. These bolivian people are geniuses. What a better way for people to let out all of their frustrations from the year before than to throw water baloons at anyone in sight. What a liberating feeling it is to drench an unsuspecting stranger for no real reason at all other than to see the look on their face. The only rule is that you can't hit small children or elderly persons, unless the are armed with some sort of water weapon. When I return to the United States I plan to start a petition to try to make a national water fight holiday, I think it will be a real hit.

2006-02-19T16:02:00.000-08:00

The Surreal Life

You know how a lot of times you imagine how something is going to be, and then it doesn't quite turn out like you thought it would. Well in this situation that wasn't the case. This past Friday night I found myself standing in awe of how amazing my life is down here. I found myself on a soccer field, with dirt and rocks in place of grass, playing soccer with a group of shoe shiners (that have probably been playing soccer since they could walk) all dressed in the attire of their favorite soccer teams. The setting was something straight out of my imagination. The sun was setting, the cloudless sky turning a dark blue as the temperture droped to a nearly perfect 65, a snowcapped Illimani(a towering mountain) on the horizon, lights of the city below us starting to ficker on, Bloivian music in the air and friends laughing while playing the sport they love. I couldn't help but just stand in awe of how much God is blessing me down here, of how he knows exactly what he is doing, of how surreal this life is sometimes. In that moment there was absolutely nothing that could have made it any better. John 10:10 says, " The theif comes only to steal and kill and destroy, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." Ross(one of the roomies) has a saying, " I want to live life richly." That is exactly what God is allowing me to do down here. Life is more rich than I could have ever imagined.

2006-02-13T13:17:00.000-08:00

Golf, not a sport......?
At about 11:00 pm Febuary 12, 2006 everything that I believed in for the last 8 years of my life was suddenly turned upside down. After thourough research and deep debate a conclusion was reached between the members of our house that golf is not a sport. I couldn't believe it, I spent my whole highschool career playing nothing more than a game or a pastime. But this is just the findings of a few here in La Paz, and I am not giving up hope. If anyone has any legitimante proof that golf is a sport, please contact me as soon as possible.

On a more serious note life here is becoming a little more routine. I am helping out with shoe shiner basketball practice every tuesday, friday and saturday, and getting to know the guys a little better. I am also helping run english classes for the shoe shiners, and anyone else who want to see a bunch of gringos pretend like they know how to teach, every tuesday, thursday and saturday. The ages of the people attending these classes range from 5 all the way to somewhere in the 50 year range. This makes it a little difficult to find material that spans the whole range. But the classes, though difficult, are going well, it is awsome for me to see how responsive and excited to learn all the kids/not kids are. Through the basketball parctices, and the english classes one shoe shiner guy named William(referred to by the gringos as William Wallace) has really started to stick out to me. He has really been quite open with me, and has started to ask me questions about Christianity. I am increadibly excited to see what God does in the life of William. I have also started to develop an interest in the ministry Jon ( one of my roomies) has started with the international school here in La Paz. It seems a little weird to me that I am down here in Bolivia, and yet am feeling called to minister to a bunch of American kids. I see amazing potential is some of them, and feel like I can relate with them pretty well. I just know that of the little time that I have known the guys, I feel amazingly accepted by them.

In short God is slowing giving me a schedule, and opening doors for me to start building relationship down here, and I am increadibly excited to see what he does in me and through me while I am down here.

2006-02-08T07:18:00.000-08:00

Being the tourist
I have found that here in Bolivia it is not "all work and no play". In fact I am wondering if it is the opposite "all play and no work". My job description consists of playing basketball with the local shoe shiner guys, teaching them english, showing short term mission teams around the area(and pretending that I know everything that there is to know about La Paz) and going and doing the tourist thing with them at the end of their stay. This last week we went to an ancient Incan ruin called Tiawanacu. It was very interesting to me to see the increadible engineering that was behind all of it. These people were amazingly advanced. One theory, and the most credible in my book is that aliens helped them, and that is the only way I can explain to myself how some of this stuff was built.

The next stop was lake Titicaca, the highest navigatable lake in the world, or so they say. It was beautiful. The Cordillera mountain range seemed to shoot right out of the water. Once again I was reminded of how huge God is and how small I am (The mountains just seem to have this effect on me).
So when I say, "the tourist thing" you probably think it might be a little costly. Well let me put Bolivia's idea of pricey tourism into perspective for you. I stayed in a hotel, payed for a breakfast, lunch and dinner, took a ferrie out to Isla del Sol(where some believe to be the Garden of Eden) where we were given a guided tour of some of the Incan ruins and took a "luxury" bus ride home for about $15. How sweet is that!
So for all of you that are worried that I am having a rough time down here in Bolivia, don't worry, it will be tough, but I will make it through.

2006-02-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

Her name is Olivia
Well we have a new criusing mobile here in La Paz. Her name is Olivia. Now there are a few things that you need to know about Olivia; 1. Don't let the feminine name fool you this peta(bug) is a force to be reconed with. 2.Olivia's first tank of gas in Randy's possesion was cyphoned from another car. 3. She is 5 years my elder. 4. She can hold a total of 6 people and 5 backpacks before the wheels start to come into contact with the wheel wells. 5. And she has an amazing neon light around the liscence plate who's color is yet to be determined due to the fact that it doesn't work.
In short this is a fine automobile. Whether it is handling the sharp switchback turns of the Costenera or criusing the Prado trying to pick up chicks.....it is the perfect all around vehicle.

2006-02-01T16:17:00.000-08:00

Well I have made it to Bolivia. The moment that I first saw this city I knew that this is where God wants me. The beautiful mountains were a wonderful reassurance that God knows what he is doing. Our appartment is great. The view that I have out of my bedroom window is amazing. We are on the top two floors of a four story house. An extreemly nice missionary family lives below us. The city of La Paz is great. It is a maze of steep streets, open plazas and buildings built on top of other buildings. The streets are filled with crazy taxi drivers. The first day I was here I found that the way to get around town was a complex and intensily real game of frogger. The people here at first seem very reserved, but once you crack their outer shell they are extreemly friendly. All in all I love this place.

Within the first week that I we arrived Randy, the main man of our house, decided to take us for a nice 3 day backpacking trip through the Andes mountains. It sounded nice so we all jumped at the chance. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into. We saw some amazing scenery and learned alot about ourselves and our reliance on Christ to get us through the hard times (which was pretty much the whole trip). In short, rain and snow make for a rough backpacking trip.

We made it out of the Andes with only sore feet and fatigued bodies, but I know that at least I had been rejuvinated. It was awsome for me to realize how small I really am and yet God loves me and has a plan for me and can do more than I could ever imagine through me.

Life has strarted to slow down towards a feasible pace, which is waht I needed after that first week. We just got a team of engineers (EMI) in on saturday. They are here to help us start moving in the right direction towards building the "Best Camp in Bolivia". This camp will eventually serve as a way for Youth for Christ to reach out to the youth of La Paz and other surrounding areas. We have had a few kinks thrown into the process already, but it is increadibly inspiring to see how Pedro ( the head of YFC Bolivia) is looking at things that seem to me to be nothing but bad, and finding nothing but the good. Pedro says, "There is no such thing as problems, only solutions." And seeing him work on this you can tell that he really believes it.