July 28 - Aug. 3

July 28-29, 2013

What an interesting, long and exhaustive two days!  Yesterday (July 28th) started off like any other day.  Worship, breakfast, get ready for the day.  I finished packing and was ready to leave for town at 8:30, as was planned the night before.  We didn’t end up leaving until about 9:00, which put us in town at 9:30.  I needed to send some emails, buy some things for the trip, get some lunch, buy snacks for the trip and make some phone calls before being at the bus station at 11:30.  So it was a busy morning.  

Sam and I got to the station on time and were on the bus by 11:45.  We were supposed to pull out at 12:00, but was about ten minutes late leaving.  It was quite hot yesterday morning, so the bus was a bit stuffy.  We made it about 40 minutes down the road before we had our first hiccup.  A blown tire.  So they changed the tire and 45 minutes later, we were on the road again.  We got to the next town and they left the tire at a shop to have it fixed while we got something to eat.  They said we’d leave in about 30-45 minutes.  So, Sam and I went to a small restaurant and had supper.  Rice, salad and fried plantains...all for $1.50.  :)  Also got a fresh green coconut to drink the water in it.  It was quite refreshing!  The driver of the bus told us then that he was going down the road to pick up the tire and would be back in 10 minutes to pick us up.  So everybody stood beside the road to wait on him.  We waited....waited....and waited some more.  While we waited, we met a girl from Belgium.  She just graduated high school and is on a two-month trip through Bolivia, Peru and part of Chile.  Two hours had passed since they said they’d be back in 10 minutes, so we finally walked up the road to the tire shop to see what was going on. The men were still working on the tire.  :(  It wasn’t ready for another hour.  So it was after 7:30 when we finally got back on the road.  We rode about an hour, I guess, and the bus started having some other kind of problem.  They stopped and worked on it a few minutes and, evidently, got it fixed because we were back on the road.  We were on a dirt mountain road with lots of curves, so the bus driver had to blow the horn before every curve so that if someone was coming on the other side of the curve, they would know we were there too, since the road wasn’t two-lanes wide.  The road was very narrow.  So while I tried to get some sleep, the constant sound of the driver blowing the horn did a good job at preventing that.  Then, guess what?!  Another blow out!  So they had to stop and change the tire again.  We finally make it to the next big town.  What should have taken us about 5 1/2 hours took us about 8.  It was almost 3:00am when we got there.  Then we got some more “good” news.  The gas station was closed and wouldn’t open until 8:00, so we had to sit there and wait for them to open because we needed gas!  That meant we would miss our connecting bus in La Paz to the other mission office.  So, at this point, Sam and I decided to skip the rest of the bus ride and catch a ride in a taxi to La Paz.  There were 6 of us in this taxi.  We left a little after 3:00am and made it to La Paz by 7:00 am.  It wasn’t as comfortable as the bus, because we were packed pretty tight in there, but at least we made it safely and were there before the bus was even able to get gas.  

We went to the bus station to buy our ticket to head to Las Delicias, the other mission organization.  The bus was supposed to leave at 7:30 and they said it would take about 4 hours to get there.  This is the part of the trip that would go through “Death Road” or “Death Pass” (as some call it).  If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a very narrow road on the side of several steep mountains.  Several buses and cars have gone over the side of the mountain over the years...hence, the name.  I was kinda excited about going through this area because I’ve read about it several times.  Well, just so we wouldn’t get used to things happening on time, we didn’t leave until almost 9.  The passengers on the bus were starting to get angry about the delay and got out to fuss/yell at the driver, bus owner, etc.  And to make matters worse, there was some kind of march/demonstration this morning.  People were everywhere!  I don’t know what it was about, but they were carrying different posters, playing instruments, had flags and banners, etc.  We almost didn’t make it out of the bus station because the streets were so crowded.  But, thank the Lord, we did and soon were heading out of La Paz.  One nice thing was that Sammy and I got to sit in the front with the driver, so we had a nice view of everything and were separate from all the fussing with the other passengers.  :)

The view of the city upon entering La Paz.

One of the snow-capped mountains just outside La Paz.

Me and Sammy in the bus heading to Irupana.

Wild Llamas (Alpacas) on the side of the road!  :)

Farming on the side of the mountain.  Very typical sight in this area.  What's planted??  Why, coca plants (the plant cocaine is made from), of course!  Many people chew the leaves here.  Wikipedia says, "Fresh samples of the dried leaves are uncurled, are of a deep green on the upper, and a grey-green on the lower surface, and have a strong tea-like odor. When chewed, they produce a pleasurable numbness in the mouth, and have a pleasant, pungent taste. They are traditionally chewed with lime to increase the release of the active ingredients from the leaf."

The trip down “Death Pass” wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.  True, the road was very narrow in some places and there were A LOT of sharp curves.  But I imagined it worse in my head I guess.  The real danger wasn’t so much with the road itself but with not being able to see around the curves.  Several times, we found ourselves face-to-face with another car and big semi truck and had to slam on brakes and each one maneuver just right so we could get back.  Again, the driver was blowing the horn at every curve to warn any possible vehicle on the other side of our presence.  As we were riding through this part, several object lessons came to mind and I made note of them for the next time I have to give a sermon.  :)  I will say this, though.  This bus ride was probably the most scenic bus ride I’ve ever been on!  The views on “Death Pass” were absolutely stunning!  The mountains, waterfalls, rushing river...just beautiful!  I really did enjoy it.  

Part of Death Pass on the side of the mountain.  That's the road!  :)

Part of the road on Death Pass.

One of the many close, head-on encounters we had on the THREE bus trips on Death Pass!  I think I need a T-shirt!!  :)

There was one bad part to it, however.  It wasn’t a 4-hour bus trip.  Turned out to be a 6 1/2-hour bus ride!  But we finally made it to the bus station in the town nearest to Las Delicias.  Then, after a 45-minute taxi ride, we finally made it to our destination!!  It took exactly 28 hours and 15 minutes!  :(  Way more than I had thought and hoped for.  I’m totally over these long bus rides, that for sure!  :) 

Me in Irupana, Bolivia.

It sure did feel good, though, to get out of the sitting position!  We were very well-welcomed at Las Delicias and food was waiting for us when we arrived.  They fed us VERY well!  Then we took a tour around the property.  Las Delicias is a lifestyle center and healthy living school. It is beautiful as well!  Babbling brook in the front of the property, fruit trees all over, a thriving garden, chapel, cabins, classrooms....very nice indeed.  

After the tour, we took our showers, talked with the staff here some more and now I’m getting ready to call it a night.  I’ve been working on less than 3 hours sleep for the past 36 hours, so I’m good for much of anything now.  :)  Gonna take advantage of this nice bed tonight because tomorrow we’ve got to head back to La Paz with the paperwork we get from here for me to get my extended visa.  I’m praying all goes well.  Good night and God bless each of you!

Maranatha!

July 30, 2013

Today started early.  Everyone here at Las Delicias gets up at 4:00 and has their personal devotion time from 4:00-5:15.  Then, at 5:30, there’s a general worship service.  They asked Sam to lead that out today.  Then, from 6:30-7:30, they work on odd projects around the property.  Breakfast is from 7:30-8:30.  Then, everyone heads back to work or classes until lunch, around 1:00.  Sam and I toured the property some more and helped in the garden.  Sandra asked me to have the evening worship service tonight, so I spent some time getting ready for that. I also spent some time on the phone, talking with Jodi, and trying to work out all the details on my visa situation. 

Jorge, Sandra’s husband and the director of Las Delicias’, is in La Paz trying to get all the necessary paperwork for my visa application.  Well, Sandra told me this morning he called and said that the governmental office in charge of legalizing the some of the documents I need for my visa is closed all this week. They are having some meetings and won’t be open to the public again until Monday.  So, I called Jodi to let her know what was going on and we decided we’d stay the weekend to get that done then.

After lunch, we had some free time.  Then at 4:00, they have an English (ESL) class and asked me to join them.  I was planning on going just to observe and support.  I guess I should start learning that things don’t usually go as I plan.  :)  The teacher asked me to help her check the students’ homework, then wanted me to teach them the chorus of “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” in English.  Then, I had to lead them in singing it 4-5 times.  Definitely got me out of my comfort zone, because I do not sing in front of people.  I just wasn’t blessed with the gift of song.  But I pulled through it ok.  Good thing, too, because they had me up there singing it with them on two more different occasions during the class.  After the song session, the students had a test to take.  It was their first test, as the classes recently started.  They did pretty good.  :)

After ESL class, I was asked to present Familia Feliz and talk about our mission their, the kids, etc.  We showed them lots of pictures of the kids, the facilities and grounds, etc.  They were extremely interested and asked many questions.  This lasted over an hour.  Several have said they want to go and help serve there when they finish here at Las Delicias.  We then ate supper and got ready for worship.  Worship went very well.  We had a good study.

After worship, it was time for bed...but, Jorge (the director of Las Delicias and Sandra’s husband) arrived from La Paz, so we went to talk with him.  Sam knows them very well from Venezuela and they had a lot to catch up on.  He wanted to get to know me as well.  Jorge is a very kind and sincere Christian man...willing to go out of his way to help whoever needs it.  It was a pleasure to meet both him and Sandra.  We stayed there talking with them until 11:00!  Now, it’s time to hit the sack...4:00 was going to come all to soon!  Planning on leaving for La Paz again tomorrow.  We’ll see how things go.  Good night!  

Maranatha!

July 31, 2013

Well, what did I say yesterday?!  Gotta learn that things don’t always go as planned.  I got another couple of lessons on that today.  We were supposed to leave this morning to head to the nearest town to catch the noon bus to La Paz.  That would put us in the city by 7:00.  We called the taxi to pick us up at 10:30.  He never showed up.  Turns out he had to go out of town or something and couldn’t make it here in time.  So we missed the bus this morning.  The next one leaves at 11:00 pm tonight.  So we’ll shoot for that one and get to La Paz around 6:00am in the morning.  That was lesson #1.

Lesson #2 was a bit harder to chew.  It looks as though I’m not going to have any luck with my visa here.  When Jorge got here last night, we filled us in a bit more on the situation in La Paz.  He said there’s some kind of problem in the governmental office and they are not wanting to legalize documents until that issue is solved.  So even if we go on Monday, we probably won’t leave with the stamp we need.  Problem #2 is that I need a residency document and that takes 10-14 business days to process here.  And I have to have that before I can get a local background check done at the police station.  So that puts me here almost 3 weeks.  If that wasn’t enough, the main computer here at Las Delicias crashed this morning when we went to print off some of the other documents we needed.  We haven’t been able to restore it nor access any of the files.  And there isn’t a computer repair shop/technician in the local town.  It will have to be sent to La Paz to be fixed and I’m not sure when they’ll be able to do that.  And I can’t submit my visa application without the documents on this computer.  So...it’s looking like the Lord is telling me this isn’t the path I need to take at this point.  I must admit it’s a bit frustration, especially when I think of how long it took to get here and the expense of the trip (it wasn’t that much, but still...).  However, I know that God is in charge and for some reason, we were supposed to be here this week.  Perhaps it was to encourage the missionaries here, to speak a kind word, to share our testimonies, etc.  And if we have fulfilled the purpose for which God has us come (as I pray we have), then the trip was not in vain.  

So...as of right now (12:32 pm), the plan is to travel to La Paz tonight by bus.  Tomorrow, Sam needs to go to the Venezuelan Embassy and process his Bolivian ID card (since he already has his extended visa).  I’m hoping he can get all of that done tomorrow.  If that’s the case, we’ll head back home to Rurre tomorrow afternoon/evening/night.  We’ll see how it goes....

Now, I’m going to do a little reading I think until lunch.  I’ll check back in later.

Okay...so once again, things do not tend to go as planned.  At 1:30, the taxi driver that was supposed to be here at 10:30 am showed up to take us into town.  :(  So, our plans changed yet again and we quickly said goodbye to Las Delicias and headed to Irupana, the nearest town.  From there, we caught a mini-bus to the next town over, where we took a bus to La Paz.  On the way to La Paz, we had to go through Death Pass again.  This time, the name really hit home a bit more.  A car when off the road a couple of hours before we passed that spot!  The car was still at the bottom of the cliff when we passed.  I’m not sure if the person made it or not.  I pray he/she did.  It appears, though, from what was said, that the person may have gone to sleep at the wheel.  I sure hope they’re ok...

We got to La Paz at about 11:30 pm.  We found a hotel and got settled in.  It’s a bit chilly here in La Paz (a little below freezing), so we made sure the hotel had hot water (a luxury many hostels and hotels don’t have).  A hot shower really made a BIG difference!!  Well, nows it’s off to bed.  I’m pretty tired...still trying to catch up on sleep from this week.  Talk to you tomorrow!  God bless!

Maranatha!

August 1, 2013

What an event-filled day today as well!  We got up and had breakfast at the hotel.  They had a nice little complimentary buffet of fruit, bread, jellies, cookies, teas, cereal and juice.  The food was good and the view was even better!  The breakfast area was on the 8th floor, surround by windows overlooking the city.  It was quite picturesque.  

After breakfast, Sam headed to the Venezuelan Embassy and to the Immigrations office to do the paperwork he needed to do.  I went to run a couple of errands, wash some laundry and use the internet for a bit.  Then, I went back to the hotel and checked us out and went to get some lunch.  There was a fantastic vegetarian/vegan restaurant just a block from our hotel.  The food was amazing!  While there, Sam called me and said that his paperwork won’t be ready until Monday or Wednesday of next week (Tuesday is a holiday).  So, he has to stay in La Paz until then.  I will be heading back to Rurre today, as Warren has to go to Santa Cruz this next week and I need to be there to help with the kids.  

So, I ordered supper to go for later and headed to the bus station.  When I arrived, I found out that there were no buses leaving to Rurre today.  The next one would leave tomorrow at 1:00 pm and get to Rurre around 7:00 am on Saturday morning.  That wasn’t what I wanted to hear!  I wanted to be home by Sabbath.  Plus, I didn’t want to have to pay for another night at a hotel.  Money is tight.  So I found a taxi shuttle that was going to Caravari, a town about 4 hours from La Paz and booked a seat on it.  From Caravari, I could take another  taxi shuttle to Rurre.  It would cost a little bit more than the bus, but I should be in Rurre in about 11 hours instead of 19-20.  So off we went.  

One lsat view of La Paz.

On the way to Caravari, I got a text from Jodi about Janet.  It wasn’t the news I was hoping to hear.  The doctor said that Janet has pneumothorax.  One of her lungs is filled with air and pushing up against her heart, causing it to malfunction.  They have admitted her into the hospital and will do emergency surgery on her tonight to deflate the lung.  The doctor said if she didn’t have the surgery tonight, she could die.  :(  He also said she may have some kidney problems, but he won’t know for sure until the lung situation is resolved.  I feel so bad for poor little Janet.  :(  I wish there was something I could do to help her.  I’m praying, though, and that is the best thing anyone can do for her.  Please continue to keep her in your prayers.  I’ll update you when I hear anything new.

When I arrived in Caravari, I found a car going to Rurre and purchased a ticket.  We left at 10:00pm.  That should put us in Rurre around 4:30-5:00 am.  We rode for about 2 hours before I got the next piece of bad news.  We came upon a long line of cars, trucks and buses stopped and parked on the side of the road, with most everyone out of the vehicles and looking ahead.  It turns out there was a landslide just moments before we got here and the road is completely blocked!  As I type this, I’m sitting on the side of the road, along with about 500 other people, and am watching dirt, rocks and trees continue to slide down the mountain.  I’ve never seen a landslide before, so it’s pretty interesting (aside from the fact that it’s ruining my travel plans!).  We’ve been here over 2 hours now.  It looks like we’ll spend the night here on the side of the road and hope that the city will send someone to remove the debris from the road tomorrow.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed because tomorrow is a holiday here I was told and they’re not sure if anyone will come to clean or not.  So....so much for being home by the morning!  It’s going to take several hours, if not a full day or more to clean the road off.  I am very thankful that it happened when it did and we were not riding on that part of the road when it happened.  I’m also thankful no one else was and no one was hurt.  It could have been a LOT worse.  God is Good and is always watching over His children!

So...quite the day!  It isn’t everyday I get to see a car over a cliff and a landslide within 24 hours!  :)  Well, I guess I’ll sign off now.  It’s almost 2:30am and I’m going to try to find a soft spot beside the road to lay down and rest.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get home sometime tomorrow.  Thanks again for all of your prayers!  God bless you!

Maranatha!

August 2, 2013

Okay...so what an interesting and LONG day is has been today!  Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep during the night.  I was in the back seat of a car between two people with no headrest behind me...so it wasn’t the most idea position for sleeping.  :)  Plus, people were outside walking, talking, etc. all night.  I finally decided it was useless to try to sleep, so I got out of the car around 6:30.  A few minutes later, the workmen arrived to start trying to clear the mess.  Praise God!  They worked for three hours before making a road sturdy and safe enough for cars to get by.  Everyone rushed to their vehicles and were more than ready to get across to continue our trips.  However, only 3 cars were able to get across before the dirt and rocks started sliding and falling again.  In a matter of seconds, the newly constructed road was non-existent.  So they had to start all over again.  :(

Machines at work to clear the landslide.

Not sure if you can tell from the picture or not, but this electricity tower is only about 5 feet from the edge of the landslide.  If this falls, there will be serious trouble!

More work...

A small portion of the people I spent 17 hours with.  :)  Everyone waiting anxiously for a path to be made for us to cross.

Slowly making progress...

It took them another 5 hours before they could get the dirt/rocks moved and a new road “paved” in the dirt.  This time, it was a bit more successful.  My car was able to get across....THANK THE LORD!!  You have no idea how excited I was and happy that we were able to finally head home!!  We were there for more than 17 hours!  Way too long...

Everyone, however, wasn’t so lucky.  We found out later that the dirt shifted again and knocked out the road.  It was too late in the day for the workers to start over, so everyone that was still there had to wait until tomorrow (at the earliest) before they could get across.  Plus, none of the big trucks or buses to pass because the road wasn’t stable enough for that much weight.  They said it would be late Saturday or even Monday before the buses could get through.  :(  I feel so bad for those passengers...

We continued on our journey, however, and arrived at Yucumo (the next town where I would get another car for my final leg home) around 9 pm.  I bought my ticket and we left about 9:45.   I finally made it to Familia Feliz about 12:15 am...31 hours after starting my trip!  Words cannot express my contentment with being home and able to sleep in my bed!  What a blessing!  :)  

I took a shower, unpacked the necessary items for the next morning and and got ready for bed.  Now, my friends, I’m signing off!  If I don’t post tomorrow it’s because I slept through the day!  :)  God bless!

Maranatha!

August 3, 2013

Good morning to you!  As you can see (or read!), there’s an entry for today so I didn’t get to sleep all day.  :)  I got up at 7:00 for breakfast and to find out if we were staying on campus for church or if we were going into town.  It was ALL I could do to force myself to get up, but I’m glad I did.  It was a busy morning and everyone’s help was needed.  

At breakfast, I found out that Melissa and Warren had to take little Crystal (the new baby) to the emergency room in the middle of the night.  She had stopped breathing and was turning blue!  It is only by the grace of God that they made it to the hospital before anything worse happened.  They got her breathing and stabilized, but at this small, rural hospital, they couldn’t find anything wrong with her so they sent them home.  Needless to say, everyone was a bit shaken up and concerned.  With all of that going on with Warren and Melissa, I had to help with church.  We got the kids separated into their Sabbath School classes and I had to teach the 7-8th graders.  Warren had the sermon and asked me to translate for him.  So I kept pretty busy during the morning.  And, obviously, we kept a close eye on little Crystal.

Translating at church.

Immediately after the sermon, Sandra (the oldest girl here at the orphanage) asked me if she could talk to me and Warren after church.  We, of course, said yes and went inside to talk.  She started crying and wanted to thank us for the sermon (which was on the Word of God and it’s importance in our lives).  She said that she had never realized the importance of the Bible and wanted to start making it what it should be in her life.  She also apologized to Warren because she had lied to him last week and hadn’t followed the rules.  She gave her reasons behind it, but said that she knew no reason justified her actions, so she again apologized and ask for his forgiveness.  We had a very nice conversation and ended with a special prayer.  It was a very touching moment for all of us, because of what has been going on with this girl during the past couple of weeks.  It was pretty awesome to see her heart touched and hear her testimony.  God is so GOOD!

Afterwards, we went for lunch and then told the kids there would be 2 hours of quiet time (for reading, praying, taking a nap, etc.).  Then, at 3:15, we’d put on a Bible story for them to watch.  I was completely happy with this because I needed a nap!  :)

I woke up and got the computer read to show the video to the kids.  When I headed over to the Big House, though, I saw that Warren and Melissa were pulling up in the truck.  I went over to see what was going on.  Little Crystal had stopped breathing again and they had to go back to the hospital.  :(  The doctor here says he thinks she has asthma.  Evidently, there’s some inflammation in her nasal passage which is causing it to be blocked.  Then, when she eats, since she can’t breath out of her nose, her body just stops breathing.  They gave her some breathing treatments and said that she needed to get to La Paz soon to be seen and treated by a specialist there.  So this is the second child in a week that has to be transported to the city for medical problems.  :(

Precious little Crystal.  

By the way, I’ll take a moment her to let you know that Janet is doing really well!  God has heard and answered all of our prayers!  The surgery went well, they’ve drained more than a liter of fluid from her lung and her heart seems to be working fine now.  The swelling in her extremities has also gone down and are almost back  to normal now.  They are going to re-check everything on Monday and, if all goes well, she can be released then.  Praise God!  However, she will need to stay in Santa Cruz for a month to be monitored.  As it turns out, the doctor that treated her is a fellow SDA and works with children with medical problems.  It looks like he is going to keep her, care for her and give her the supplemental vitamins, etc. that she needs.  It’s amazing how God works everything out!  Thank you all again for your prayers!

So, I went and put the videos on for the kids and then went to talk to Melissa about Crystal and the plans.  It was decided that she would leave in the morning on a flight to La Paz.  Liselle (a 19-year old girl that helps Melissa) will watch the younger kids and I will keep the 4 older boys in my house while Melissa’s gone.  We finalized plans and headed for worship.  At worship, I went over to see Crystal.  Her color is not good at all and she was very lethargic.  Her eyes were rolling back in her head.  I’m really worried about her.

We had supper and I was talking with Oriel, Nickisha and Velissa when Warren came up and told us that Crystal’s condition was worsening and he and Melissa were going to take her back to town to the doctor, then just get a hotel room in town to be closer in case something happened during the night.  Then, Melissa would get out on the first flight in the morning to La Paz.  So, I had Melissa’s four boys (Edgar, Efraim, Alex and Clever) get their stuff and take it my house.  And since Warren was going to be gone the night as well, the two boys that live with him had to come to my house too...so I have 6 boys in the house with me until tomorrow, then it will just be Melissa’s four until she gets back (which we don’t know when that will be).  The water was out again, so I sent the boys to the creek to take a bath, then we had worship and got ready for bed.  Tomorrow, we have to go to town early because the Pathfinders have to practice marching, as they will be participating in the Independence Day parade in town on Monday and Tuesday.  We have to leave at 6:30, so I have to get everyone up at 5:00.  So, I’m off to bed now.  I have a feeling it’s going to be an interesting week.  I’ll keep you posted on things.  Please keep both Janet and Crystal in your prayers.  God bless!

Maranatha!