From parenting, to vacationing, to government paperwork, to babies with Roseola, this week has had it all! Last Friday was a bit different than usual Fridays—instead of cleaning and cooking at my house, I was cleaning and cooking and watching the boys at the Leones’ house. Carlo had to go into town for some work and I had the boys throughout the afternoon. After preparing everything for Sabbath, I got them all showered and dressed. They usually comb their hair with lemon as gel, but they didn’t have any lemons and couldn’t find their comb, so I fixed their hair with an orange and a fork! It did the job. As we were walking to vespers, Carlo arrived and I sent them to him with very tired relief. And then, all of a sudden, it made sense to me why my mom was so relieved when my dad would get home and help clean/supervise us on Friday evenings growing up! It’s a lot to watch kids and prepare a house and food for Sabbath all at once!
Vespers came to a close and the student missionaries all came to our house for pizza. After lots of socializing and playing with the kids, we tucked them all in their beds and I did my medicine rounds. Little Otis, the chihuahua belonging to the Leones’, got in the habit of following me to each house and waiting as I took care of the kids. It was fun having a little companion along with me!
Sabbath morning dawned bright and early with Carlo and me practicing for special music and the boys quietly playing and listening around us. It was a peaceful morning, and we enjoyed mango bread for breakfast! Church was very hot, and Otto, the little four-year-old, took apart his paper airplane and turned it into a fan, fanning my face for the first part of the service. It was so cute and thoughtful!
After church, the sm’s gathered to make haystacks. We rolled out tortilla dough and made chips, beans, rice, cabbage, tvp, and even ranch with some powder one of the girls brought along. The boys loved helping in the kitchen and it was a fun activity. Treson and Zoro stayed to help with the boys in the afternoon, which was very nice. I got to facetime the pathfinders for a little while, and even got a nap for 20 minutes!
We prayed with the little ones early and they were off to sleep around 8:30, so the sm’s sat around and talked about parenting styles for an hour or so before going to the various houses. A different topic of conversation than we would have chosen a few months ago!
Sunday morning was weird. Usually we head to the Leones’ at 8am and take over, but we were already there at 6! It was easier in that the boys fell into their normal routine for the day. Zoro and Treson came over to assist as well and gave Carlo and me several hours off. I journaled and facetimed my mom with the boys.
The afternoon was more like a normal Sunday. As I sat at the gate monitoring parent visitations, one of the fathers that usually comes drove up. I called out “Buenas tardes!” As I opened the gate. “Buenas tardes hermana!” came his response. It wasn’t the first time I’d been called “hermana” (sister) this week. The owner of the hotel that we always work at for fundraising projects (to use their wifi) also referred to me as such a few days prior. It made me smile, because in this community it’s a sign of friendship. We’re finally settling into our places in the small community of Rurre.
The Pathfinders finished their camporee on Sunday and traveled home by bus. Around 1am, Carlo and I heard a little knock on the door. We opened it to find Angel, one of the little pathfinders, looking up at us sleepily. They were exhausted, but happy and excited about all their experiences at the camporee! There had been 4,000 pathfinders and they had gotten second place overall for cleanliness, orderliness, uniforms, and activities!
On Monday, we crashed. I accomplished almost nothing in the morning. In the afternoon, Emilianne, Treson, Katie-Jane, and I worked in town on fundraising. By Tuesday, however, I was running around again, unpacking from the Leones’, doing laundry, giving meds, and re-packing and baking muffins for flying to La Paz in the morning with the other student missionaries to get our carnets (Bolivian ID Cards). I was also taking care of baby Jose, who was feverish and coughing. His lungs are weak and I gave him many nebulizer treatments throughout the day. That night, I finished packing and baking and put Jose to bed next to me.
Throughout the night, I checked on Jose, making sure his fever didn’t get too high and holding him when he cried. By morning, he was doing a little better.
Wednesday morning dawned bright and early and the student missionaries headed to the airport with Melissa to go to La Paz. Lisiane didn’t go with us, and graciously agreed to take care of the medicine distribution and care of Jose while we were gone. She would call with an update on how the kids were doing and I would figure out what to do. The first day, Little Jose developed a rash all over his body, and I realized we had our first case of Roseola. Poor little guy! At least he didn’t have a fever anymore, and Lisiane did an amazing job of taking care of him.
When we got to La Paz, we were stunned by the beauty of the city. We spent the remainder of the day in a government office building, applying for our carnets. By evening, everyone except Elizabeth, Maddy, and I had their carnets and our appointments were for the next morning.
As we explored the town, we saw a blue dumpster on the side of the road. Emilianne had some trash that she needed to throw away and promptly slid open the side door. To her shock, she looked in to see a person staring back at her! Apparently it was a street vendor that was closed for the evening hanging out in his “trailer”! With a yelp she slammed it shut. Quite the surprise!
In La Paz, they have gondolas in place of a metro system. It’s an absolutely beautiful way to travel, and only 2 bolivianos per person (about 30 cents)! We decided to take one at sunset. We watched in awe as the city turned various shades of the sunset and finally settled into a sparkling black.
Thursday morning came early for Elizabeth, Maddy, and me. La Paz had such a peaceful feeling as everyone came out of their houses and started walking to work while we retraced our steps to the government building around 7. After sitting for two hours, we left, carnets in hand! Such a relief after a 3 month process and loads of paperwork. We are now residents, can work here, and can get our driver’s licenses! Afterward, we walked to a beautiful café for breakfast. It was a much-needed slow morning, followed by a fun afternoon of hanging out all together.
In the afternoon, I volunteered to go buy veggie meat for Melissa. She told Zoro to go with me and sent us to a nearby city, El Alto, to buy veggie meat for the campus. We took the gondola up the mountainside and then walked for about 30 minutes, only to find that the veggie meat store had closed permanently. As we searched around nearby, we came across another health food store. After struggling to convince them to sell us 132 pounds of tvp, we finally walked out with four giant bags. We struggled to carry two each along with our backpacks as we went in search of a taxi station that would drive them to Rurrenabaque for us. The one Melissa had directed us to said they would only do it for an extremely high price because their route had changed, but they got us a taxi to take us to the bus station to drop the food of there. Unfortunately, the bus station was closed! The driver kindly got information about another station from someone on the road and drove us there. Closed again. After stopping for more information, the taxi driver offered to drive us to another bus station about 45 minutes away that closed in an hour, but could take the tvp if we got there in time. He agreed to only charge us a little more, and we were off. Down the mountain range, through La Paz, and up the mountain range on the other side we flew. When we finally arrived, it was closed too! At this point, the taxi driver just stopped every few minutes asking for another bus or taxi station. We ended up at three more that wouldn’t take the veggie meat. As I sat in the back seat, I prayed, thanking God profusely for this angel of a taxi driver that had taken our mission on as his own for nearly 2 hours at this point and requesting that God would keep the next taxi station we were going open. As we pulled to a stop outside of the little office building, we saw light and people inside. It was open!! The taxi driver quickly unloaded the tvp for us and he only asked for 100bs, the equivalent of about $15. So generous! We thanked him, paid him a little extra and ran into the taxi station. After we dropped of the tvp, the station closed and we walked in search of another gondola station to find the other sm’s. God was so good to us. He sent that taxi driver, and the amount of money Melissa had given us was exactly what we needed down to the boliviano.
After a delicious supper and beautiful walk back to the hotel, we slept a few hours before boarding a plane to Rurrenabaque once again. As we stepped into the humid climate, a wave of excitement washed over us as we realized we were home. Hermano Juan drove us back to Familia Feliz where there was a happy reunion with the kids. The first thing that was said to me was by little Florita. “Teacher! Mira mi uña!” I was back to being a nurse again!
This last week has seemed very, very long because so many things have happened! Throughout the variety, I have been reminded again and again the value of community. From the help of the volunteers as Carlo and I cared for the Leones’, to being “hermana”, to the kind taxi driver, to the happiness of reuniting with the kids, I realized how valuable making connections with those around you is. Jesus based his whole ministry on making connections with those around him. I’m so blessed to have this community here to support me, and I want to make it my primary goal to share Jesus’ love with them. I challenge you to join me in making it a goal to share Jesus with your communities this week, whether it be by making food for someone, praying with a person, or even just listening to them. God can do amazing things through you for other people!
Your reports are fascinating! What an amazing job you're doing for those little children and the community there. God bless you and keep you safe, give you wisdom and strength (and patience! I suppose that's needed occasionally). I accept your challenge to share Jesus with those about me. Those mountains look rocky and dry and rough. So now you are residents and can start working! I guess you've just been "visiting" so far! Besides helping the children, I'm sure you're a big help to the house parents of the children's homes. Thanks for writing about what you're doing, and for sending pictures. Love you. Grandma