The Leones

The road through campus

I’m writing this in a different environment than usual! Instead of being in town on a day off, I’m sitting in the Leones’ house with a four-year-old hanging onto one arm and 7 little boys plus a dog sitting next to me!

Otto and me as I write

This week was like a roller coaster that starts really slowly and all of a sudden takes off—in a good way! Friday was very calm. There was no school because of a holiday, and we spent the morning planning our Christmas break trip. We then cleaned and helped the other houses until Sabbath, when we had worship and went to bed.

Sabbath morning dawned with 5 little ones returning from a few days with their extended family. As I watched the two-year-old run as fast as her legs could carry her to give Melissa a hug, I was reminded of how great a blessing these house parents are to their kids. They work so hard, and I’m so grateful to get to help them a little! As the afternoon came to a close, Zoro and I went to the Harding house to start supper. The student missionaries have all been craving Taco Bell for a couple weeks, so we decided to make spicy potato soft tacos! We made the sauce, tortillas, and potatoes all from scratch for 35 people. Partway through the process, the other student missionaries joined in cooking. We had so much fun hanging out along the way!

Cooking Saturday night

Sunday was another day at the Leones’ for Carlo and me. It was strange because we knew we would also have them Wednesday through next Sunday as well! The pathfinders are at a national camporee, and the director and assistant director are the Leones’ house parents, so we’re filling in for them. The kids were great and we had a lot of fun. There was a worm problem and the rice was filled with them, so Carlo and I had a challenge trying to remove the extra protein from the meal!

There has been a blockade in the big cities across Bolivia because of some political struggles for the last two weeks. On Sunday, we found out that it was getting worse and would most likely spread to the smaller towns across the country as well. Everyone was worried that the Pathfinders wouldn’t be able to leave for their trip, so we started praying very hard for them.

Monday was a very productive day, as I charted a ton of information from the last week and a half of everyone being sick and getting better. A super exciting thing happened in the evening! I mentioned a little boy who had a deep undermining wound in his leg a few weeks ago. I’ve been packing the wound every evening since then, and Monday was the first day I didn’t need to pack it! It’s looking amazing!

After Monday, the roller coaster hit! Tuesday started off with me finishing my charting and then proceeding to hand-sew the much-needed curtains for the clinic. After an hour or so passed, Melissa walked in saying, “Hermana Emi wants to know if you’ll make your oatmeal cookies for the Pathfinder trip, she says there the best ones she’s ever had.” I looked at her in confusion and replied, “I’m happy to make oatmeal cookies, but I’ve never made any here for her to try!”

We both tried to figure out where she had tried something that she would have thought were my cookies for quite a while when all of a sudden it clicked. One day a while back, Carlo and I had been trying to figure out what to do with extra chocolate oatmeal from a Sunday breakfast with the Leones when I found a cookie recipe that called for leftover oatmeal. We made around 60 for supper and felt quite accomplished! Until we tried them. They were chewy and hardly sweet! Not a good recipe. We decided to tell the kids they were oatmeal breakfast pastries since that seemed like a better label for them and stuck them in the refrigerator. The next day Hermana Emi had thanked me for the cookies and said they were delicious, but I assumed they hadn’t liked them super well. Apparently I was wrong!

Following lunch, Emilianne and I went and made oatmeal with cocoa powder and let it cool until it was old and sticky just like the previous time I made the cookies. Once it looked nice and gooey, we proceeded to follow the recipe. They turned out just as bad as last time, so I think we were successful!

The rest of the day was filled with taking care of injuries, doing laundry, preparing to be away from the clinic for a few days, and writing out medical instructions for the pathfinder counselors. In the evening, Treson suggested the sm’s all get together for a movie night since it was Carlo’s and my last evening before having to put the Leones’ boys to bed after supper. About half of us even stayed awake for the whole movie, which is a record because we’re usually all so exhausted from the day that we decide to watch something and then wake up with the movie being finishing!

Yesterday was a flurry of activity as I finished packing the Pathfinders’ medical supplies and taking care of everything. I came to the house to make lunch for everyone around 11, and the two oldest boys, the house parents, and the house parents’ two children left with the rest of the older kids on campus around one, blockade and all! Thankfully the blockade didn’t expand as much as we thought it would, so the roads they needed to travel on were passable. We’re so grateful they were able to go.

For supper, 6 of the student missionaries ate with us, along with the youngest boy from the Guerrero household. He moved in with Zoro and Treson for the week because the rest of the boys from that house are on the Pathfinder trip. It was so fun all eating together! Kind of like a potluck.

Today started at 5:30 with getting up, making breakfast, monitoring the boys as they did their chores, leading worship, and giving medicines. As I walked across campus, the little dog from the Leones’, Otis, followed alongside me. Otis likes to bite and has tried to sink his teeth into my toes during several meals since I got here. However, when I found out a month ago that I was going to have to dog-sit him this week, I started trying to become friends with him. It worked! He’s a cute little companion now and follows me all over. I also made sopa de mani today, a Bolivian peanut soup! It turned out really well!

Sopa de Maní

Now the little boys are making burger buns with Maddy for tomorrow’s lunch! It’s fun having a little change of pace for this last part of this week. While I love taking care of the 7 little boys, it tests my patience sometimes. It has made me think about how patient God is with us. We are such a handful, and there are billions of us for him to look after! Yet He is so kind and forgiving, so ready to listen to us even when we go against what He says. As you go into this weekend, I hope you remember how incredibly much God loves you and cares about you!

Cooking with Maddy

Some little kittens that liked my pockets! One fell asleep!

The sunset from the kitchen door