Sleepless in Bolivia

PC: Treson

“What are we going to do if the escaped prisoners actually show up?” One of the student missionaries nervously asked. “Well,” said another, “Zoro has a machete… Treson has a really good scary voice, Elizabeth has taken martial arts—” “And I’m a good prayer warrior! But yeah nothing else!” Chimed in Katie-Jane.

It was Sunday night. The morning had gone pretty normally, with Carlo and me watching our kids play and enjoying the nice weather. They were so well behaved!

Chacho pretending to be sleepy at breakfast because he didn’t want his bread

The plate cracked, and after being supervised by a nurse for a few months, they decided this was the best treatment!

Such little monkeys! They scared us!

Lunch shenanigans

After a lunch of quesadillas and salad, I walked to the gate as usual to monitor family visitations. Soon after I arrived, a lady I didn’t recognize got there. When I asked who she was here for, she said baby Jose. Something wasn’t quite right. I turned and called to Melissa, who came quickly and started asking questions through the gate. Very soon we started suspecting through her lies that this was his mother, the one who had tried to murder him just a month and a half ago. But she was supposed to be in prison! How did she get out?

After sending her away, Melissa called social services and found out that it was indeed Jose’s mother that had tried to sneak in and that she was working with his father, a burglar with a warrant out for his arrest, to try and get baby Jose back. The social workers said they suspected the parents would try to break in after dark, so I was delegated to start organizing gate security teams, leaving us stretched very thin across campus. But there was another part of the story as well—Jose was not actually at Familia Feliz. He was very sick and dehydrated in the hospital with Zoro. With so many jobs needing to be filled, there was only one student missionary in every house, and one in the clinic, leading to organized chaos.

When each child was tucked in bed and every door locked with the permanent house parents back home from their days off, all the student missionaries gathered at the entrance. And there we sat, from 9pm until 1am, facing all different directions, watching for movement or the slightest sound. A little after 1, we walked around the jungle perimeter with our flashlights and found the campus silent. The social workers didn’t think they would arrive that late, so we finally went to bed.

The beginning of night watch

Midnight hot chocolate

The days preceding Sunday consisted of me sitting in the clinic taking care of our little girl that was sick last week. The further her symptoms progressed, the more sure I became that she had dengue. I put up my hammock in the clinic and spent the days and nights giving her medicine and trying to cool her down. My break consisted of cooking lunch on Sabbath for the Harding house with Zoro and Lisiane (our Bolivian cooking is improving!). By Monday, she was feeling better and was able to move back to her house where I could monitor her every few hours.

Our cooking--rice, lentil patties, and tomato cucumber salad

Night nursing

Early morning view

Jose also came home Monday, which was a happy thing! Things were looking up for campus.

In the afternoon, I asked to run into town to pay for my parent’s plane tickets since you can’t book tickets to here online. Little did I realize that I would be riding on the back of Raul’s (a local volunteer’s) motorcycle! It was quite the adventure, as first I’ve never ridden a motorcycle, and second, Raul has quite the lead foot. It was also an adventure because I didn’t actually succeed in paying for the tickets. The complications at the bank took 2 hours and I walked out without having paid, but with a whole lot more knowledge of how Bolivian banks work!

Tuesday was more successful. I was able to go into town with Melissa (a much smoother motorcycle ride!) and finish booking the tickets. Tuesday evening, however, erupted in chaos. I had been about to head to supper when a boy with an earache, one who cut his foot, several with colds, one with a jammed finger, some vomiting, and one little 3-year-old who stepped on a nail came pouring into the clinic. After taking care of everyone, I walked over to supper. Suddenly, I could feel my stomach starting to ache. I pushed the thought out of my head and ran around to do house visits for the evening. Kids were dropping like flies! At 11:30, I finally trudged to my house, exhausted and hoping everyone would be healthier in the morning.

Wednesday morning dawned bright and early with a call from outside my window. More kids were sick. I went running to one house to treat three kids. Then another for 3 more. When I got to the main house, I found over 15 people sick with fevers and stomach issues, from the 4-month-old, to one of the local volunteers. I quickly made lists and started taking temperatures and administering medications. Within a few hours, I had the entire sick population on campus on the same medicine schedule.

Zoe, a volunteer from Argentina, Melissa, and I were trying to decide whether or not to close school down for the day when we found out Social Services was coming for an inspection. We were having school. We put the sickest ones to bed and rushed everyone else out the door to classes. Thankfully, the officials chose to skip visiting the houses this time which was a huge blessing!

As I walked back and forth from one sick house to another throughout the day, I started going slower and slower. I hadn’t been hungry since the night before, and I was starting to feel feverish. Abi, one of the local volunteers, kindly made me a roma milkshake, which helped my blood sugar and temperature. As I left Abi’s house, I heard a strange crackling noise. Looking far ahead to the gated entrance of Familia Feliz, I saw 50 foot flames leaping into the air. The other side of the road was on fire! Quickly everyone ran toward the gate and looked in shock as the flames engulfed the foliage. Hermano Juan got there soon and assured us that it couldn’t cross the wide road. However, 15 minutes later we heard a yell from a child, alerting us that our bridge was starting to smoke. Four of us started running back and forth from the guys’ house, bringing every big container we could find full of water. Soon our bridge was drenched and the the smoke gone from our side of the street. Thankfully, the greenness of the foliage on the other side forced the fire to weaken soon and danger was averted.

When the fire began to calm

As evening began, Elizabeth and Carlo thoughtfully helped me distribute groceries and afterward, I fell into bed. As I lay there, I texted each house parent, answering questions and checking on kids. The other student missionaries quickly volunteered to help and soon were running across campus with medicines and the thermometer for me, texting me the results. Emilianne, Lisiane, Elizabeth, and Treson volunteered to do the 1:30am and 5:30am night meds, which was so kind of them. Zoro spent his evening cooking me onion soup, which was delicious and a lot like what my mom cooked me when I was sick growing up. I was so grateful for all of their help!

This morning, I woke up with a mild stomach ache, but no fever. Carlo volunteered to do all the medicines and the last of the groceries, which meant I only had to do house visits for those who were newly sick or getting worse. Treson, Zoro, Emilianne, Lisiane, and I walked out to the road to hail a taxi and go into town for a half-day off just before lunch. As we waited for one to come into sight for 30 minutes or so, we started talking about how God answers even the smallest prayers. Suddenly, someone suggested we pray for a taxi. We huddled in a little circle on the side of the road and asked God to send one soon. We opened our eyes to see a van coming down the road toward us! We waved him down and he let us hop in the back. As we started driving, he started explaining that he was actually a lawyer in Rurrenabaque and wasn’t even a taxi! He asked many questions about Familia Feliz and was very pleased to hear about its mission. When we got to town, he didn’t even charge us for the ride. God is so good at making us smile through the little things!

As you can see from above, this week was a challenge. I didn’t sleep straight through a single night and worked from when I woke up to when I fell asleep. But it’s weeks like these that remind me why I’m here. Sure, I’m here for the good weeks when it isn’t stressful and there’s more time to relax and socialize, but most importantly, I’m here to serve God and that’s true even when it’s exhausting. I was listening to one of my new favorite songs earlier, Firm Foundation by CAIN. It’s words encouraged me so much:

I've still got joy in chaos

I've got peace that makes no sense

And I won't be going under

I'm not held by my own strength

'Cause I've built my life on Jesus

He's never let me down

He's faithful through every season

So why would He fail now?

This week may have been tough, but my God is tougher. He carried me through this week and He can do the same for you too!

A picture to make you smile! One of the little ones decided to join high school for a morning! She decided she needed a pair of glasses to look older.