To Be a Mary Not a Martha

The Bible has a story about two sisters named Mary and Martha. Jesus went to visit their house and Martha was concerned and preoccupied by all the mundaine and minut e tasks around the house. Mary sat at Jesus´feet and listen to what he had to say, forming a relationship with him. Martha was mad at her sister for not helping her prepare the water, the food, and clean the house. Jesus replied gently to Martha that Mary understood the necessities in live, she focused on the importance of forming relationships, knowing Christ, and less on tasks and productivity.

This last week has been really great for us because we are slowly learning to be Mary´s and not Marthas´s; learning to focus our minds more on the relationships we´re creating, friendships we´re forming and impact that being made on our lives. Lately, it has been raining off and on here. Today I am wearing a fleece and a raincoat over the top. Us Californians are loving it, but the Bolivians aren´t as prepared or accustomed to the cold weather. Some days the rain left us with little work to do, which at first made us weary and doubtful as to our purpose here. If we are not painting a house, building a garage, cleaning the school, than why are we here? We spent time together in devotions and praying for guidance and a revelation as to our purpose here besides our outward productivity of physical things. My eyes have truly been opened to the great fulfillness that comes from taking my focus off a timed schedule, the obessive productive nature that is bred into us Americans, and on the Bolivian way of life. Bolivians take their time, they are content with what they have and feel no need to rush or constantly strive for more materials things. Bolivians find great joy out of being close with their families, squishing in a small house made out of bamboo, cement and dirt floors, making hot chocolate and empanadas. They laugh, joke, and play together as a family cherising the blessings God has put in their lives.

We have been so blessed to meet the family of Mariano and Julia. Mariano and Julia are a wonderful couple who are expecting their 7th child at the end of August. They made us dinner during our 2nd weekend here, inviting us to share in a delicious meal that they had prepared with love. We ate empanadas con queso, which are like flour biscuits stuffed with cheese and fried, and charque, which is smashed bananas and sun dried steak. After our dinner, I invited them all out to ice cream with us and we had a great time trying to eat our ice cream before it all melted down our arm because it was so hot. The youngest daughter Ruth wrote me a really sweet letter telling me how much she loved me and was glad we were friends. She said she hoped that God would bring me back someday to see her again. It was really touching. After that, we knew they would be a big part in our lives. Everyday we talk with the only son, Armando aslo goes by Frie, who is so sweet and kind hearted. He is turning 20 the day after we leave Trinidad and has expressed to us that in the past he has been friends with the volunteers who come to Bolivia, but he has never had a friendship with them in the say way he has with us. His older and younger sisters play basketball and frisbie with us and earlier this week showed us all how to make empanadas in the small kiosk where they work. The family works in a small Kiosk outside La Palmera school so they are right across the street from where we live everyday. Julia is seven months pregnant and is a hard worker. She showed us how to make empanadas by rolling out the dough with a glass bottle, putting cheese in the middle, and bending the edges to make them look pretty. They made us hot chocolate by shasving down a big piece of chocolate, adding water and bringing it to a boil while stiring it together. It was delicious!

Today, since it is really cold, I gave each member of their family one of the scarves I had made back in high school. I brought about 11 scarves that I have made over the years and at first was worried that the people here would have no need for them and that I´d never give them away. But I took advantage of the cold day and let them all choose the scarf of their choice. I even got Armando to wear a green scarf! They were very thankful and we took some cute pictures of all of our scarves. Forming such amazing relationships is the most rewarding thing about being here. I´ve realized that it is so much more rewarding than only focusing on producing a tangible product, things like that are definitely needed as well, but I feel that I get the most joy out of the relationships that I have with these wonderful people.

Yesterday, all of us got invited to the house of one of the Pastor´s for La Palmera, Milton, and had a delicious meal of potatoe salad, fried rice and baked chicken. We sat around the table with Milton and his wife, CarmenRuth, and had wonderful conversations about God, how they met, school, comparisons and contrast between the US, Bolivia and England (in case you didn´t know, there are two volunteers here right now from England). After the lunch, Stephanie and I got invited back by our dear friend Amalia, a sixty year old woman who has the heart and spunk of a 20 year old, to have our nails done at her house. Who would have thought I´d get a manicure and pedicure in Bolivia?? I sure didn´t! A girl from the church came by with all her nail stuff and did our nails in more detail than I´ve ever had. It took her 3 hours to do them. We chatted about our families back home, relationships, and had a great time together. I can really see myself coming back here in the future to do more work for their ministry. Bolivia is a wonderful place!

Love, Carli