Thankful...

Thankful…

Although Thanksgiving has come and gone, we are deeply thankful for this experience, and have found ourselves talking often about how grateful we are for the relationships we are developing here.  We have been fortunate to cross paths with incredible people who have taught us, challenged us, supported us, and adopted us.

 A group of Catholic women (and a few men from time to time) from a local Catholic church downtown have quickly become one of the most unexpected and fantastic blessings to us here in Cochabamba.  When we first arrived, another family on our team, the Morels, and Scott and I decided to start a homeless ministry.  We started going downtown to the main plaza every Thursday night to pass out rice and chicken, meat sandwiches, or hot oatmeal, bread, and fruit.  We started to notice that a group of women seemed to be doing something similar on Thursdays, only they were passing out coffee, tea, warm milk, and bread.  After talking to them one night in the street, they warmly invited us to come to their church, San Francisco, early the next Thursday to meet them so we could all go together.  We had no idea, at the time, what a huge blessing this would be.  The next week we all prayed together and sang together before we left.  These volunteers know EVERY homeless person in that area BY NAME.  They know parts of their life stories, why they are on the street, and they have developed personal relationships with these people.  The peoples’ faces light up when they see this group coming, and they have come to trust us because of our tie to this group.  We have met many single moms, men who are alcoholics, people with psychological issues, and boys and girls whose parents have passed away leaving them with nowhere else to go.  One of the men, Alfredo, is an unbelievable historian.  He can tell you anything and everything about the history of Bolivia- the government, the people, and the traditions.  We have cultivated a unique friendship with this group of people, and they have made it a point to teach us about Cochabamba and to help us experience as much of Bolivian culture as we can.  When Jenny was here, they took us to an authentic Bolivian restaurant that was packed! 

The picture above is just a few of the people we see every week, but from left to right is Lis, Joanna, Scott, me, Jenny, Jackie, and Silvia and Lucy (Jackie's mom) are in the front.  We never would have known about the restaurant, and we got to have great food and great conversation.  By the end of it, Jackie’s mom was my Bolivian mom (picture below) and I am now affectionately known as Jackie’s American sister. 

We plan to go and help with a huge Christmas lunch on Christmas day at the San Francisco church.

We have also cultivated some incredible relationships with the “tias” or women who care for the children at the Casa de Amor orphanage here in Cochabamba.  You don’t have to spend much time at Casa de Amor to see that these women are angels who have incredible patience and genuine love for the kids who live in the orphanage.  One of the women, Adelaida, has become a very good friend.  She invited us to her house to meet her family, share lunch, and play soccer and volleyball.  As she was inviting us, she told me that she wanted to make sure I understood that they were poor.  She was worried because their house is not complete.  This is very typical in Bolivia, as you pay for what you can afford.  Many Bolivians have partially constructed houses or rebar sticking up from the top of the first level awaiting a future second story. 

Our experience with Ade’s family was incredible.  She and her husband have three kids, Nicole, who is about 9, Gabriel, who is about 7, and Josue, who is just under 2.  We got to be part of a Bolivian family as we ate silpancho (a typical dish in Cochabamba with fried beef and a fried egg on top of rice and potatoes with tomato, onion, and their version of fresh jalapeno).  We played soccer and volleyball, talked, laughed, and enjoyed each other’s company.  Here are pics of us playing, and you can see the goals for the soccer field marked with cans.

We realized quickly that their values are very different from typical American values.  They buy what they can afford, which meant that Ade, her husband, and the baby sleep in one complete room and the other two kids sleep in another complete room.  They have a kitchen that is complete, also, so their house is safe and functional.  They are slowly adding rooms on a second story as they can pay for them, but are in no hurry, as what they have now is paid for and works well for what they need.  Despite a lack of riches, they shared everything they had with us- their food, their family, their home, and their time.  Below is a picture of us with their family.  The second picture is of us with Ade's family, their extended family, and some of the neighbors who played soccer and volleyball with us.

We have Christmas gifts to drop off to them this week- a new soccer ball and a new volleyball in thanks for the great day we got to spend with them and in gratefulness for their genuine friendship. 

We are also really involved in the young couples group at our church.  Some of our closest friends are couples from this group, so we invited over four of the couples and made a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for them.  

They loved trying the new food, and we loved having great friends in our home.  In the picture above, from left to right, are Ademar and Maria Jose, Mily and John Mark (he is Canadian-American and married to Mily who is Bolivian), Fabiola and Mauro, and Carla and Rolando.  We spent the night eating, talking, and celebrating great friendships.

Rolando brought his guitar, and he and Carla sang traditional Bolivian songs and worship songs.  As I sat there watching people sing and relax and enjoy each other's company, I couldn't help but get a little teary-eyed and thank God for our time here in Bolivia and the people that have made our experience so incredible.  Although this worship song that Rolando and Carla are singing is in Spanish, the words are, "I'll sing to You, Lord, a hymn of love for Your faithfulness to me.  And I'm carried in everlasting arms; you'll never let me go through it all."  While this first six months has brough challenges and homesickness, we have so much to be thankful for, and we are looking forward to another six months with many more blessings, people, and experiences to come.