Hey Everyone,
We our presenting our story on Sunday, October 10th from 4-5:30pm at San Luis Obispo United Methodist church. We will also have emapanadas and Coca Cola. Please come and hear about our experience.
In Him,
The Bolivia Team
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Mas moments
Hey Everyone,
I copied Andrew and wrote about some moments I experienced. Some things that Andrew wrote about really touched me too. ALSO, we are planning to have a night here in SLO where we can present pictures of our time in Bolivia and be available to talk to. We'll post when we know the date. God bless!
Chad Carpenter
Most Beautiful Moment:
The Hawaii of Trinidad is located on sandy beaches in the middle of the Mamore River. There are pink dolphins swimming up the river. This site was contrasted by a drowning incident that we witnessed that evening as the colored sun set and the dolphins swam upstream seemingly unaware of the occurring tragedy. Many left in tears that evening and that bus ride home reminded us of the shortness of our lives.
Silliest Moments:
There are many. One is Gaucho the dog who belongs to Lucho and Lorna. Gaucho followed us everywhere including on the bus, to school every day and to eat lunch with us and the kids. He walked down the street with us and over to a church family’s house to have dinner one night.
I also got a haircut for $2 with my name shaved on the back of my head. I looked pretty abnormal, but it was worth it.
We also went to the circus in Trinidad and there was this robot guy dressed mostly in white who could do some really extraordinary moves. He even came into the audience to chase the Bolivian girls. They ran because he was so scary and unpredictable.
Difficult Moments:
To say the least it is very awkward trying to bring up God in a language where you are not a native speaker. I found it difficult to accurately translate the power of our God in our lives and to accurately tell how much he means to us. It was hard to translate as fast as you were thinking and I ran into many stumbling blocks where I had to go around the idea or try to explain the concept because I didn’t know how to call it. Through this, I became intrigued and fascinated by their language and I learned it was a unique part of who they are. I learned to be satisfied with appreciating the gift of language they had and I thanked them for that. As Carlos Hugo, the pastor said, we will all speak one language in heaven.
Thoughtful Moments:
All of Carlos Hugo’s sermons hit us like a rock and knocked us down. He talked of thinking lovely thoughts (Philippians 4.7-9), forgiveness and how close to his heart these things have hit. Carlos Hugo had to forgive his Dad for abusing, threatening and disowning him. I wish I could have caught all the details because he speaks so fast, but his delivery and presence were enough to communicate what I did understand of his message.
Every family that we encountered through the church gave more to us than any of us would have probably given them if they came to the US. They made us dinner and invited us to their homes to serve us and talk. Now I feel bad for all the times I was shy and didn’t feel like talking because I was afraid I would sound incompetent.
Bolivian Moment:
A very Bolivian thing they do in Bolivia is fit whole families on a motorcycle usually 4 and sometimes 5. When we first arrived the image of seeing a whole family on a moto was comical, but we quickly became used to it.
We also had breakfast one morning with the teachers, pastor and secretary of the school. They brought out the food and much to our amazement it was chocolate cake and coca-cola. You should have seen our faces.
Most Fun Moment:
We had camp with the older high school age kids at an unfarmed plot of land called Chaco. There was a lot of vegetation, a few ponds, parrots and macaws that flew over and woke you early in the am. Even a group of monkeys decided to wander through our camp in the surrounding trees. We danced during worship with the kids, performed skits, played soccer and participated in many games. Just being there with them was worth it entirely.
Carli, Stephanie, Bryce and I were able to go to the Laguna with a church family who had 2 kids. The Laguna is only a few feet deep so the kids are able to stand. We played horsey and chased them all over the Laguna. That afternoon felt much longer than a simple afternoon because we had so much fun with kids.
Most Exciting Moment:
4th of July we found a lot of cheap fireworks. They were cheap in the money and construction aspect so that made our 4th of July was very exciting. One firework was named the “Statue of Liberty” and you are supposed to hold it like the Statue of Liberty and it shoots 3 pops out of the top, but these shot 2 out of the top and 1 out of the bottom straight at your foot. Thankfully, nobody was injured. We also had a firework called “Big Daddy” that had a 5 second fuse followed by a huge ear splitting crack. We tried to light as many of those as possible as the same time.
Most Frightening Moment:
We drove motorcycles around the outskirts of town and I had one close incident that frightened me. I also watched other members of our team try to mount and drive a motorcycle without success. We also saw huge anacondas at the animal park and I just hoped that I would not encounter one in the wild.
Favorite Day:
A lot of days were my favorites. One day we got a lot of fresh fish at the river and took it home so it could be made into 3 different dishes, one of fried fish, the other was balls of fish meat that were fried also. The 3rd dish was a fish soup with lots of sauce that tasted extremely delicious over rice. I also liked the days we were able to eat lunch with the kids. We served them food and talked when we got a chance because they never stopped talking to us. We were able to meet a lot of kids at the school and we continually interacted with them as soccer practice, basketball practice, church, youth group, prayer meetings, in home church family dinners and soccer games.
Powerful Moment:
We went to a lady’s house to pray for her because the day before she lost her baby giving birth. The lady was still sore and it hit us hard the limited medical expertise and how the 2 extremes, life and death, were more evident in a 3rd world country. We prayed in Spanish and English and it didn’t matter because what we were saying was for the Lord, our God, in heaven.
Brief Summary of Our Trip:
1st week: We got adjusted to the town of Trinidad and began to paint the long term missions house that was a few minute walk from La Palmera.
2nd week/3rd week: We continued to paint the house and also went out to Chaco to prepare for camp by clearing out the weeds, wiring electrical and painting the tree trunks with bug repellent.
3rd week: A couple, Lorna and David, came from England to help us out at camp. We were all leaders and darn good ones too.
4th week: We started working on the garage for the truck and school bus/van across the street from La Palmera.
5th week: The weather was cold and we were bummed because the little kid version of campamento was scheduled for this week, but the weather was so cold that kids up in La Paz were dying because it was so cold outside on their way to school. Thus there was another week of vacation from school for the kids. So we continued working on the garage when we were able, but a few days it was even too cold for the locals to be outside.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Moments in Bolivia with Andrew
Dear Friends and Family,
I have been back in the states for three weeks now and I’d like to share some moments of my trip with you. I stole this letter format from another missionary I should mention. She went to Mozambique and her name is Katie Atkinson.
Most Beautiful Moments: Bolivia is gorgeous. We got to see the beautiful countryside while taking bus rides but my favorite part of Bolivia was the place where we had church camp. I and my team were small group leaders at a Christian high school camp. It was out in the jungle and the sunsets there were amazing. There were palm trees with parrots flying by and after the sun sets the night sky glows very brightly on a perfectly black background because there was no light pollution. It was special to get to see the stars on the southern side of the hemisphere.
Most Difficult Moments: The bad thing about church camp was we had to get up at 6:30 in the morning to do some exercise. One nerve-racking moment was when we had to give a short goodbye speech to the church entirely in Spanish. Very few Bolivians can speak English. Some of us had something prepared but I didn’t.
Silliest Moments: At the church camp they had amazing worship. Everyone dances around in circles like an Irish pub or forms a giant Congo line and runs around everyone else. Jonathan Presley (one of my mission team members) and I would go into the center of the circle and make up silly dances that all the kids loved.
Most Thoughtful Moments: We were blessed to have been invited to dinners of many families. Even though the church families didn’t have much they were so generous with us and provided the most delicious food. We got to know a few families fairly well. We were with the church pastor’s family most and he would tell us stories of God’s faithfulness in his life.
Saddest Moment: One day we were at the river just playing and watching pink dolphins pop out when we noticed a large group of people watching a few guys do something with large sticks. There was yelling and we thought it might be some kind of game but quickly we figured out that it was serious. Two brothers had fallen down into a deep part of the river where the current is strong and only one had been rescued. It was too dangerous to go and swim after him so the people yelled for the boats to come. The boats were too slow and the guy a few years younger than me drown. His body was never found and we went home that evening, staring at a beautiful red sunset, contemplating the frailty and uncertainty of life. We didn’t know that river was dangerous and it could have been any of us that made the same mistake.
Most Bolivian Moment: Twice we had to go to something called La Cena de Amnistad which means dinner of friendship. However I’m not sure if it was really friendship that was being promoted. You asked a partner of the opposite sex or a partner asked you to go with them or if neither occurred partners were assigned to a dinner were you would dress up and enter with arms locked like a prom and then the guys would bring the dinner to their partners. One of the dinners was with people 5-10 years younger than us and the other was with people our age. I did enjoy both of them however. For some reason during the dinner with the kids from camp they played weird/funny internet videos during the dinner. In Bolivia there are very into the dating scene.
Most Fun Moments: There was a lot of fun during this trip but a lot of it came when we were just playing with the kids. We played jump rope, volleyball, basketball, and most of all soccer. We played with the kids almost every day when we weren’t working.
Most Exciting Moments: Soccer is huge in virtually every country except the US. We watched the World Cup Final game in a small room with about twenty people with the game projected on the wall. I wanted the Netherlands to win but all the Bolivians were happy when Spain did.
Most Frightening Moments: The first was flying into Trinidad for the first time. We were on a small plane and for some reason the airport had old crashed planes off on the side of the runway where we were to land. The second was going into the river with the piranha for the first time. They only nibble on you if you have an open wound but we could see them jumping out of the water and sometimes they got pretty close.
My Favorite Day: I know this isn’t a moment but my Birthday in Bolivia was a very good one. It was a Saturday so it was a day off for us. We woke up early to get cow head soup for breakfast. They were out of eyes, brain and tongue even though we got there a little after seven so we had cow cheek soup which was very delicious followed by a banana milkshake. Then me and Jonathan went to the barbers and hand a clean shave from a straightedge razor. Then we went to the zoo which had free-roaming emus, deer, and a crocodile. I got close to the deer and he started licking my hand. There was also a giant anaconda in a large enclosure. I had a surprise cake with a huge firework thing on top and then I was tricked into having my face mashed into it which was a fun change.
Most Delicious Moment: The day before we left Trinidad we had an especially good breakfast. It was chocolate cake and Coca-Cola. They know how to live.
Brief Summary of Trip: The first week we were there we painted the entire outside of a lady from the church’s house. The second week we were leaders for the high school camp. From the third week on we were constructing a garage for the school’s bus they use to transport us around and the kids. We also went once to a small town to sing songs and preach Jesus to the children there and the parents that came. Then we played games with them and game them candy. We were unable to be leaders of the children’s church camp because bad weather delayed the camp. We were living at the church which is also an elementary school through high school, but most of the time we were there they were on vacation. We attended bible studies about 10 times a week but we had the weekends off from work and usually went to rivers or lakes and relaxed.
These are just a few moments and stories that happened. I had an awesome time. I got to know some more friends there that I want to keep in contact with. I want to thank everyone that helped make this trip possible for me and for your prayers. I have a very large desire to return soon to Bolivia.
Love,
Andrew
I have been back in the states for three weeks now and I’d like to share some moments of my trip with you. I stole this letter format from another missionary I should mention. She went to Mozambique and her name is Katie Atkinson.
Most Beautiful Moments: Bolivia is gorgeous. We got to see the beautiful countryside while taking bus rides but my favorite part of Bolivia was the place where we had church camp. I and my team were small group leaders at a Christian high school camp. It was out in the jungle and the sunsets there were amazing. There were palm trees with parrots flying by and after the sun sets the night sky glows very brightly on a perfectly black background because there was no light pollution. It was special to get to see the stars on the southern side of the hemisphere.
Most Difficult Moments: The bad thing about church camp was we had to get up at 6:30 in the morning to do some exercise. One nerve-racking moment was when we had to give a short goodbye speech to the church entirely in Spanish. Very few Bolivians can speak English. Some of us had something prepared but I didn’t.
Silliest Moments: At the church camp they had amazing worship. Everyone dances around in circles like an Irish pub or forms a giant Congo line and runs around everyone else. Jonathan Presley (one of my mission team members) and I would go into the center of the circle and make up silly dances that all the kids loved.
Most Thoughtful Moments: We were blessed to have been invited to dinners of many families. Even though the church families didn’t have much they were so generous with us and provided the most delicious food. We got to know a few families fairly well. We were with the church pastor’s family most and he would tell us stories of God’s faithfulness in his life.
Saddest Moment: One day we were at the river just playing and watching pink dolphins pop out when we noticed a large group of people watching a few guys do something with large sticks. There was yelling and we thought it might be some kind of game but quickly we figured out that it was serious. Two brothers had fallen down into a deep part of the river where the current is strong and only one had been rescued. It was too dangerous to go and swim after him so the people yelled for the boats to come. The boats were too slow and the guy a few years younger than me drown. His body was never found and we went home that evening, staring at a beautiful red sunset, contemplating the frailty and uncertainty of life. We didn’t know that river was dangerous and it could have been any of us that made the same mistake.
Most Bolivian Moment: Twice we had to go to something called La Cena de Amnistad which means dinner of friendship. However I’m not sure if it was really friendship that was being promoted. You asked a partner of the opposite sex or a partner asked you to go with them or if neither occurred partners were assigned to a dinner were you would dress up and enter with arms locked like a prom and then the guys would bring the dinner to their partners. One of the dinners was with people 5-10 years younger than us and the other was with people our age. I did enjoy both of them however. For some reason during the dinner with the kids from camp they played weird/funny internet videos during the dinner. In Bolivia there are very into the dating scene.
Most Fun Moments: There was a lot of fun during this trip but a lot of it came when we were just playing with the kids. We played jump rope, volleyball, basketball, and most of all soccer. We played with the kids almost every day when we weren’t working.
Most Exciting Moments: Soccer is huge in virtually every country except the US. We watched the World Cup Final game in a small room with about twenty people with the game projected on the wall. I wanted the Netherlands to win but all the Bolivians were happy when Spain did.
Most Frightening Moments: The first was flying into Trinidad for the first time. We were on a small plane and for some reason the airport had old crashed planes off on the side of the runway where we were to land. The second was going into the river with the piranha for the first time. They only nibble on you if you have an open wound but we could see them jumping out of the water and sometimes they got pretty close.
My Favorite Day: I know this isn’t a moment but my Birthday in Bolivia was a very good one. It was a Saturday so it was a day off for us. We woke up early to get cow head soup for breakfast. They were out of eyes, brain and tongue even though we got there a little after seven so we had cow cheek soup which was very delicious followed by a banana milkshake. Then me and Jonathan went to the barbers and hand a clean shave from a straightedge razor. Then we went to the zoo which had free-roaming emus, deer, and a crocodile. I got close to the deer and he started licking my hand. There was also a giant anaconda in a large enclosure. I had a surprise cake with a huge firework thing on top and then I was tricked into having my face mashed into it which was a fun change.
Most Delicious Moment: The day before we left Trinidad we had an especially good breakfast. It was chocolate cake and Coca-Cola. They know how to live.
Brief Summary of Trip: The first week we were there we painted the entire outside of a lady from the church’s house. The second week we were leaders for the high school camp. From the third week on we were constructing a garage for the school’s bus they use to transport us around and the kids. We also went once to a small town to sing songs and preach Jesus to the children there and the parents that came. Then we played games with them and game them candy. We were unable to be leaders of the children’s church camp because bad weather delayed the camp. We were living at the church which is also an elementary school through high school, but most of the time we were there they were on vacation. We attended bible studies about 10 times a week but we had the weekends off from work and usually went to rivers or lakes and relaxed.
These are just a few moments and stories that happened. I had an awesome time. I got to know some more friends there that I want to keep in contact with. I want to thank everyone that helped make this trip possible for me and for your prayers. I have a very large desire to return soon to Bolivia.
Love,
Andrew
Monday, July 26, 2010
Busy, busy, busy!
Wow, I can't believe it's been this long since we've blogged. Time has just seemed to fly by! We leave Trinidad tomorrow at around noon. The time here has been incredible. . . More than I ever expected. The friendships we have made here will last forever. Frey, Ruffo, Pippo, Stephen, Ruddy, Carlos Hugo, Yosimi, Yosi, Ruth, Ana, Julia, Justa, Nancy, Celeste, Mary Triny, Diego, Bebicha, Delila, Amelia, Erika, Belin, Carla, Guiden, Emmanuel, Grecia, Sheril, Ruth, Milton, Tio Eddy, Juanchiny, David . . . I could go on and on and these are just some of the people I've met and know well . . . all of the others have people that they connected with on a deeper level as well. Last night we had our farewell party and it was really a nice way of saying goodbye to a lot of our friends here. They sung us a song, we sunged them a song: He's got the whole world in His hands with Andrew playing the flute. We danced with them, we all had a chance to say something about our time here and some of them said some very nice things about us. Then they layed their hands on us and prayed with us. It was incredibly powerful! What a party! I can feel God's love so prevalent in this place! We have mixed feelings of sadness and excitement as we get ready to leave. It is sad to say goodbye to all of these great friends but at the same time we can be so thankful for the friendships that we have formed. We will miss Bryce and Andrew as we continue onto the touristy part of our trip, but we are excited for the adventures ahead! Thanks for all your prayers and support! God bless you all and I hope we can keep you updated on things.
Tyler
Tyler
Monday, July 19, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Content to just be
Sorry it´s been so long since I´ve blogged . . . it´s not really because we´ve been all that busy, but it seems that the time has flown by the past week. It has been very cold here so we haven´t been working a whole lot. The church youth leader and good friend Milton told us that yesterday was the coldest day he has experienced in his 10 years living in Trinidad!! Wow! It definitely took me by surprise. I had to buy an extra layer at the market yesterday. It is a used blue wool sweater with sparkles in it . . . looks like something from the 80´s but it was only about 3 dollars and it keeps me warm so I don´t really care! haha
This past week has been good in a lot of ways. I feel like it has been a good recovery from the rollercoaster ride of emotions the first two weeks. It has given us time to just think a lot more and just ¨be¨. Sometimes our culture in the United States looks down on ¨wasted time¨. Any time that isn´t spent being productive is often considered wasted. Being down here has helped me to realized that it´s ok not to be productive all the time. I had a chat with one of our good friends Pippo (the younger brother of the pastor Carlos Hugo) about this very issue. He talked how he used to live in Spain and how it was so busy and hectic. People didn´t even have time to spend with their kids. He said it´s the same way in the big cities of Bolivia like La Paz and Santa Cruz. People are so busy that they don´t take time to enjoy God´s abundant blessings around them. They are so worried about making more money so they can buy more things and be ¨happier¨. Pippo said the people in Trinidad aren´t rich with things, but they are rich in the important things like spending time with family. It was really cool to have a deep conversation in another language! All of the others have really been improving with their spanish as well. Our conversations have gone from a simple ¨what is your name¨to deep conversations about faith and God.
Though we haven´t physically accomplished a lot this week I think we have done so much as far as deepening relationships. I really feel like that´s what this trip is really about anyway. . . forming relationships with our brothers and sisters in Bolivia. The more I get to know these people down here, the more I realize that they are just like us. Just people who love and want to be loved. People who love God. We might have different cultures and speak different languages, but we are very similiar, we are all brothers and sisters in God´s family. It´s such a blessing just to ¨be¨in this human family and realize how connected we all are.
This past week has been good in a lot of ways. I feel like it has been a good recovery from the rollercoaster ride of emotions the first two weeks. It has given us time to just think a lot more and just ¨be¨. Sometimes our culture in the United States looks down on ¨wasted time¨. Any time that isn´t spent being productive is often considered wasted. Being down here has helped me to realized that it´s ok not to be productive all the time. I had a chat with one of our good friends Pippo (the younger brother of the pastor Carlos Hugo) about this very issue. He talked how he used to live in Spain and how it was so busy and hectic. People didn´t even have time to spend with their kids. He said it´s the same way in the big cities of Bolivia like La Paz and Santa Cruz. People are so busy that they don´t take time to enjoy God´s abundant blessings around them. They are so worried about making more money so they can buy more things and be ¨happier¨. Pippo said the people in Trinidad aren´t rich with things, but they are rich in the important things like spending time with family. It was really cool to have a deep conversation in another language! All of the others have really been improving with their spanish as well. Our conversations have gone from a simple ¨what is your name¨to deep conversations about faith and God.
Though we haven´t physically accomplished a lot this week I think we have done so much as far as deepening relationships. I really feel like that´s what this trip is really about anyway. . . forming relationships with our brothers and sisters in Bolivia. The more I get to know these people down here, the more I realize that they are just like us. Just people who love and want to be loved. People who love God. We might have different cultures and speak different languages, but we are very similiar, we are all brothers and sisters in God´s family. It´s such a blessing just to ¨be¨in this human family and realize how connected we all are.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)