T.I.B.

To those loyal followers of this blog I must apologize for my lack of an update last week. Unfortunately, however, I spent most of last Monday through Thursday at home trying to get over the worst non-amoeba illness I've had here. It was really just another cold, except that in addition to the standard stuffed nose and cough I had some pretty bad headaches and my mind felt like it was lost in a think fog. The biggest problem with being at home was that I really didn't have much to do to pass the time, since I have neither a TV nor a computer, and reading was pretty much out of the question. I was also unable to nap to pass the time, since I was sleeping 11 hours or so each night. To avoid going stir crazy, I actually got out of the house once per day, but the heat outside just generally made me feel worse. As of Friday though I was able to return to both CAT and Nasaret, which made me happy. I am now almost fully better, except for a bit of a lingering runny nose and a slight cough.

In addition to the cold, while out on Tuesday, someone managed to pick-pocket my cellphone, which I wasn't exactly pleased about. It has now been replaced, but I had an interesting few days in which I was unable to call anyone, since I store all my phone numbers in my phone! All in all though, I am in a strange way thankful that my cellphone was pick-pocketed, and can't really complain all that much. In the week before Dave left Cochabamba, he had his cellphone (and wallet) stolen from him at knife-point. I also know three Catholic missionaries here who have been robbed at gun-point. So really, of all the ways for my cellphone to be stolen, pick-pocketing isn't really that bad. I also learned two important lessons as a result: 1) I shouldn't go out while not well enough to pay attention to my pockets; and 2) For all the advances technology has made over the years, pen and paper is still a pretty good way to store phone numbers.

I have also spent the past two Saturdays working at various projects. This past Saturday I spent my morning helping to paint what will eventually be a community centre, and the prior Saturday I spent the morning and afternoon very far South, in an area of town called Pucara. I basically spent my time shoveling dirt and rocks, and picking the ground to remove more dirt and rocks. The church I go to here, Calama, is helping out another Baptist pastor, who lives down there with his 4 kids, of whom 2 are blind. His wife is currently in Italy, working to try and get some money to support the family, and it is very hard for him to look after the children and work at the same time. The reason we were moving the dirt is to make room for some big water tanks which will be buried in the ground. This area of town doesn't have running water, and so the residents have barrels of water which are filled by water trucks that come by. The problem however is that this pastor's house is on a hill, and so the house is about 1.5 stories up from where the barrels holding the water, which sit on the edge of his property next to the road, are located. The plan is to install some big water tanks which will store a lot of water, and then to put in a pump that will transport water up to the house. Given that the ground is made up of hard clay and rocks though, progress was quite slow. For this reason, I think that Hans (the same Hans as from the Mosoj Yan project) is going to hire a bulldozer to assist in the dirt removal. While I have enjoyed the chance to help out a little bit at some different things over the past few weekends, I think that my plans for the coming Saturday are going to be to rest and relax a bit.

The other thing that I did this past Saturday was attend a wedding in the evening. I was invited by one of the nurses to CAT, who was relieved when she saw me on Friday and was able to invite me. When I hadn't been at CAT Monday through Thursday, she was worried that I had already gone home. The wedding was pretty good, although it went very late (I left the reception at 1:45am and it was still going) and it would have been nice to go with someone. That being said, it was nice to see some of the staff from CAT outside of work. Also, the start time of the wedding ceremony ended up providing a few laughs. Now what you have to understand is that Bolivia does not exactly operate on North American/European time, and so things here usually happen later than scheduled. For instance, when I went to Boris and Claudia's wedding back in January, I arrived 45 minutes late and still had to wait another 45 minutes before most people showed up (and an additional 20 or so until the bride and groom did). Nevertheless, I decided it would be a good idea to arrive on time, and so I got to the church at 5pm on the dot, the time that my invitation said the ceremony would start. The church was empty and there were 3 people waiting outside. By 5:10 there were about 12 of us standing outside the church, inlcuding the groom, but no bride yet. We then heard someone inside the church speaking, and looked inside to discover that the priest officiating the ceremony had already started the wedding mass! Unsure of what exactly to do, some people went in while others stayed outside. At about 5:20 the groom walked up the aisle, and took his place on a bench at the front of the church. The wedding service continued for another 5 minutes—still with no bride present!—before finally the priest's reading from 1 John was interrupted when the Mariachi band outside began playing "here comes the bride," and Sonia (the bride) walked up the aisle to join her soon-to-be husband. I had been told once during language school that the Catholic weddings here are quite punctual, but it was rather something to see the wedding service start without the bride! Later in the service, the priest even started joking about how Sonia had arrived late. While taking about the need for commitment in marriage, he even said "I just want to make sure you understand this because, you know, you showed up late for your own wedding." It was absolutely hilarious!

This week I had originally planned on going to Trinidad (a city in the Beni region, not the country) to visit a missionary from my home church in Toronto who lives and works there. However, my plans ended up changing, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to go now. Winter vacations, originally scheduled to begin on June 30th, have been moved up. On Thursday June 12, the Bolivian government announced that vacations would be starting the following day, June 13th. Since the boys from Nasaret are enrolled in a 5-on-5 soccer tournament taking place over the vacations, and I'm taking them to it, my travel plans got pushed aside. "T.I.B.: This is Bolivia."

The boys actually had their first game in the tournament this past Friday, and I was incredibly proud of them. I felt like some odd mixture of coach and father watching them play, and was really happy for them. We have two teams in the tournament, one in the 9 and under category and another in the 12 and under category. Our sub-9 team won their first game 3-0, and the sub-12 team won theirs 5-2! As someone who spent a lot of time with John training them over the prior few weeks, it was good to see them play so well. Also, watching them play against other kids their own age, I was able to see just how good they really are. Yesterday our sub-9 team won 8-1, and the sub-12 team won their game 5-4. Today only the sub-9's played, and they tied the game 0-0. (The other team's goalie was very good). Neither of our teams have another game until Monday, and so I'm going to take advantage of this by spending the next few days training with them. Since the boys are on vacation now and don't have homework in the afternoons, I'll also be able to take them to play frisbee. And if you're worried about me working them too hard, I assure you that with their endless supplies of energy, the boys will be finishing the next few days feeling less tired than I will!

Wishing everyone reading this a happy, healthy week. God bless.