boldly going where no 270s have gone before

Went out to the campo this morning with a couple of the girls to visit their family and see their younger sister and brother's school dances.

On the 270 bus

All bundled up because mornings are freezing now!

Our trip out there was scenic, to say the least.  Thanks to a blockade on the main highway, our determined bus driver zigged and zagged through the countryside to get us to Quillacollo, the next town over from Cochabamba.  What normally is about a 30 minute trip took a good hour and a half because we ran into a few obstacles...

The view out the window

Far from where the bus should be

This little bridge caused most cars to turn around and go back the way they came...

...but not our 270.

Just barely fitting

Locals trying to help the tires stay on the bridge

6 seconds of bus pushing

 

Walking the last little bit of the way to their mom's house

The girls' little sister & brother's school dances

Actually none of these kids are the girls siblings

I think all the mommas were Quechua.  I stood out.

a four-fold franciscan blessing

May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God's grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator, 
Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word who is our brother and Saviour, 
and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, 
be with you and remain with you, this day and forevermore.

AMEN

something good

There are good weeks and there are bad weeks.  So far it's only Wednesday, and this week is shaping up to be pretty lousy.  Been thinking, "Seriously, what good can come from all this?"  So I was really encouraged by a short video that Ken put up on his blog.  Ken works with former street kids down in Santa Cruz, and the video he posted is the testimony of one of his boys.  I'm really encouraged to see living, breathing proof that when God gets ahold of these kids' hearts, incredible things happen.  

You can see Ticua's story on Ken's blog here.

llamas!

I pass these furry guys every time I go out to visit one of the homes for street kids...

Momma and baby

Chewing on grass

Grazing on the landscaping at the gas station

They laughed at me for taking these photos, but you never see llamas munching on gas station landscaping back home.

water pump & babies

I think my house hates me.  Since I moved in back in January, my landlords have painted the indoor walls, fixed the closet floor that had a hole to the ground below, replaced all of the plumbing, cleaned out my water tank, built up my exterior wall, and painted the wall and gates. And now my water pump is busted.  So I've been scooping water out of the tank outside with buckets since Sunday, and I'm still waiting for news about when the landlords are going to replace the pump.  

My first thought was to find a place to shower everyday and just eat out so I wouldn't have to do dishes, but I've since then realized that living this way is really not that difficult... It's just like camping, and probably half of this country lives without indoor running water. Everything just takes a little bit longer, and I have to allow time to fill up buckets from the tank out back. Half a bucket of water flushes the toilet, and I can bathe/wash my hair with just one full bucket. This is the ultimate way to conserve water.  And as far as washing dishes goes: one bowl of soapy water + one bowl of clean water for rinse #1 + another bowl for rinse #2 (because no one wants to eat off of soapy dishes) = clean dishes. Easy.

On to ministry updates...

I'm currently working with 3 pregnant teenagers.  Two of them are from the bridge and spend their time sniffing glue all day and sleeping at the night shelter.  I have very little hope for the poor little babies, but I'm going to do everything I can. Tomorrow, I'm taking them to the OB-GYN in the afternoon, and hopefully the doctor can help convince them to lay off the glue a little bit...

The other girl isn't a street kid, but she just turned 17 and is 7 months pregnant.  She and her boyfriend are really great kids, but they come from very poor families and are struggling to make ends meet. They have a room where the boyfriend works, and Skip and I have been helping them out since December. They bought a twin bed and an old stove, and we loaned them money to buy a propane tank. We've given them clothes and kitchen stuff, but other than that, they literally have nothing. This is currently weighing on my mind because I just heard about a big missionary garage sale that's happening on Saturday. In a country full of so many poor and needy people, I hope there is some good reason for missionaries to be selling their things instead of giving them away to people like this couple who really need them.

updates

The girl that was staying at my house for a few weeks is doing well and staying with another woman from the church right now.  She slipped up and spent a few days on the streets with her boyfriend but was open and honest with us about her choices at the time.  And really the whole thing just helped us to understand her thought processes and needs better so that we can help her in a more productive way. 

The boys that Nate and Javier are apprenticing in carpentry have been up and down.  The boy who was making the most progress a week ago has fallen pretty far down.  He left the home he was staying in and decided he wanted to work part-time instead of full-time.  And then yesterday, he didn't show up to go to work at all.  This boy is a little different than the others because he doesn't really ever do drugs. He's a good guy who could go far in life with just a little bit of help, but he's been on the streets for a decade. Transitioning away from that life is difficult and takes time.  

The other boy, who has doing really poorly a week ago, seems to be doing well so far this week. He's battling a serious addiction to drugs and street life, so much so that the idea of sleeping in the night shelter (a requirement for working at the shop) is almost too much for him. We spent a while talking yesterday, and he kept telling me that he just couldn't do it...  Sleeping in the shelter without drugs was too hard, and he knows that he can't work if he doesn't sleep there. So Nate and I were both praying for him throughout the afternoon, and when I went to visit the shelter last night, he was there!

it's may already

I recently had a guest from Chicago staying with me for a couple of weeks, which is always fun.  I love to see the city through the eyes of someone new because all the quirky things about Cochabamba are normal to me now. 

This visitor was especially fun because he gave me his palm pilot!  So generous!!!  I think he saw how terribly unorganized I am and felt pity.  I tend to write my daily schedule on my hand so I don't forget to do things, and I can barely keep track of what day of the week it is... So this palm pilot may be the gateway to a whole new organized life. Exciting!

So this was another busy week, and somehow May completely snuck up on me.  We got one of the boys who is working in carpentry into a home (the second one we've tried) and set him up to work full-time.  It was a big leap forward, and he was doing great, but he only lasted 5 days.  He's back to sleeping at the night shelter and working part-time.  But he's very rarely sniffing glue, and he still wants to move forward...just little by little. He's a hard worker, and we are all really encouraged by his attitude.

A couple photos of him working at Nate's shop:

I woke up yesterday to a phone call from some of the folks who helped put on the soccer game in January at the stadium for the kids from the bridge.  Someone had donated a bunch of sandwiches and juice, and they called to see if we could connect and bring the food up to the kids.  We passed out food and just hung out with the kids for a couple of hours.  They took down the kids' names and sizes and are planning to bring some sweatshirts out to them in the next couple of weeks.  I'm really pleased that they want to keep up a connection with the kids. And I spoke to the women about coordinating and planning some activities at my house for the girls from the bridge, and they're really into the idea.

A few photos of the kids from Saturday: