I was lying on my bed this afternoon (I’ve had the flu for a couple of days) when suddenly there was a rumble and the whole house shook. I wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened…I thought maybe I’d finally got to experience my first earthquake.  But when I went outside, it became clear that it was probably worse than a minor earthquake.

Today they moved the huge tank that supplies the home with water. They had a crane in earlier today, and it lifted the tank onto a new cement support that was higher than the old one, which would have provided better water pressure….that is until the whole thing fell over onto one of the dormitories.

The tank itself missed the dorm by a couple of feet (and it missed Miguel by even less than that), but when the cement support collapsed, it took out part of the roof. All things considered, it could have been much worse. There were guys standing all around watching and had it fallen in the other direction, we would probably be mourning a number of deaths. Miguel and one of the boys (Chilli) were standing right underneath the tank when it fell, and they’re not entirely sure how they got out of the way. It’s really just by God’s provision that no one was hurt badly. One fellow had to get 5 stiches on his foot. He stepped on broken pieces of the roof, but he’s fine.

We do, however, have a big problem. When the tank fell, it of course emptied itself of what it was holding…all of our water. Even Miguel smiled for a moment when one of the boys tried to save enough water to wash his shirt. The rest of the water rushed through the bathroom and shower area. As well, the huge tank is now laying on the ground with no support and one of the dorms is missing a chunk of it’s roof.

If you could pray for a couple of things….Miguel is taking this pretty hard. He didn’t get enough advice about the supports, and now he feels that it’s his fault this happened. He was telling me that after the tank fell, he was yelling Chilli’s name and Chilli wasn’t answering. Chilli was okay, but for that moment, Miguel thought that he’d been killed. It’s going to take awhile for him to get over that moment I think.

As well, there is the financial aspect of this. Miguel’s a bit worried about it, but I’m not so much. This is one of the benefits of me being here. I’m able to provide some financial resources that otherwise wouldn’t be available. And this is, after all, Bolivia. When they were talking about bringing the crane back again tomorrow to put the tank back onto it’s old support, I was thinking like a Canadian. I asked Edly how much it was going to cost and bracing myself for the couple of thousand we would have to pay I heard her say, “Well for sure it’s probably going to be $100 US!”

There will be more than that of course. The roof of the dorm will have to be taken down and rebuilt. And we still have to get that tank up higher (at that moment I will find myself standing a considerable distance away…). But I know that God will provide. We have a team coming down from Delisle, SK in August and they have some ministry money available (hear that Myron? Get ready to fix a roof!). But please pray that we will be patient and faithful as we wait on Him for what we need.

There was a good moment tonight. After supper, Miguel and Edly and I were up at the main house, when we heard the guys singing. On their own, they had decided to give thanks to God for His protection. We went down and joined them, and Miguel shared a bit about how he was feeling. I think this experience served to draw everyone a little closer together, which is good.

On a completely separate note…some of my luggage arrived yesterday which was a happy moment. I put on clean underwear for the first time since last Friday. On an unhappy note, our shower was busted and there was no hot water…but one can’t always have everything in life. I am still missing a bag, so if you could pray that it arrives. As well, I’ve been pretty sick for the last couple of days. I’m pretty sure I’ll live, but it’s kind of lame to arrive and then be stuck in bed. I’m off to a doctor tomorrow to make sure that I haven’t contracted some strange South American bug. (That’s a joke Mom….don’t freak out…).

Thanks to all of you who wrote me little notes in response to my last update. You may get a lot of these if it means e-mails for me. I’ll try and write back personally when I get the chance, but please know that they were appreciated.

Take care and I’ll talk to you soon.

Ken

Hola mis amigos! Como estan? So I made it to Bolivia…..barely…..

I will try to keep this brief, but I’m warning you now, that may not happen. So, I’m in Calgary (where I’m flying out of) with my family (and Chad, who just seems to follow us around) when I go to check my flights and I realize that I don’t have my tickets or passport. They were in my fanny pack and somehow got left in my car out at the farm. They fell down in between the seats, and we (I) didn’t seem them. I’m supposed to be leaving in just over 4 hours, and my ticket is at least 6 hours away. Not the happiest moment ever. Chad and I booted it over to the airport, but we couldn’t find anyone from Delta to help us. Eventually the next morning I talked to someone and they said that there wasn’t anything they could do without the tickets in front of them. So my Dad (being the great guy he is) hops on his motorbike and brings them to me. Chad and I head back to the airport, and for the next three hours try to figure out what to do. At one point I was going to have to pay for a new ticket…then that dropped to paying $800. We just kept praying…….and eventually the price dropped to $101…..which was fine with me. And yea, it was nice to have Chad there to keep me company through all the stress. =)

So I ended up with an extra day with my family and my Dad got to be at the airport to say goodbye. I was actually kind of happy about it all….once the craziness went away. I did have another moment of “what am I doing?!” when I said goodbye to the family, but it’s okay now. And as it turned out, I didn’t have much time after that to think about it, on the rest of the trip.

I arrived in Salt Lake City fine, but as we taxied out to the runway to leave for Los Angeles, the pilot came on and said that we were having some problems with something or other and we had to return to the terminal. Two hours later we finally left, but since I only had a two hour layover in L.A., I was a bit nervous about making my connection. When I talked to the stewardess, she said no problem, you’ll make it fine. In hind sight, I probably should have asked about my luggage too.

I did make my connecting flight to Mexico City (they were about to close the door when I came running around the corner), and the stewardess assured me with a smile that there was no chance my bags would be on the plane.

When I arrived in Mexico City, I found my way down to the huge immigration room where over a thousand people were lined up waiting…to go through one of FOUR open immigration desks. On the upside, during the three and a half hour wait, I made some good friends. I met Japanese girl whose family had emigrated to Mexico and a nice American couple who were also going to Bolivia (the husband was from Bolivia originally but hasn’t lived there for over 25 years). As it turned out, we were going to be on the same flight from Mexico into Santa Cruz…..had I actually made that flight.

At 10:15 PM I finally made it through immigration with just enough time to check in with LAB (Bolivia’s airline) and make it to the gate for the 11:30 flight. At 10:17 I realized I had another problem (but those two minutes of stress-free travel were nice). In L.A., in her haste, the agent at the counter took the wrong part of my ticket and I no longer had a ticket for the flight to Santa Cruz. I went to the LAB desk and they said there wasn’t anything they could do. They instructed me to go to the Delta office and talk to them. I would just like to add that they gave me VERY specific directions to the Delta office…which as it turns out doesn’t actually exist. I returned to the LAB desk and they very politely told me to go away and come back when I had a ticket.

At this point it’s after midnight and I’m getting tired (not to mention sweaty and smelly). I looked at my itinerary and realized that although it was Delta who issued the ticket, I had forgotten that it was Areomexico that messed up in LA. I figured someone was paying for a hotel room and it might as well be them. I walked the ENTIRE length of the Mexico City airport and found the main Areomexico desk (where you complain about stuff). As a side note here, I ended up in line with many raging and wailing people…..quite dramatic really. But a nice guy named Gorge completely agreed with me that it was their fault and got me a hotel.

It was a very nice hotel in fact. And the next day when I was supposed to check out at 1 PM I decided that I would rather wait there than spend the next 12 hours at the airport wandering around. So I told the lady at the front desk that I wouldn’t be checking out quite yet, and that if there was a problem she should talk to Areomexico. And I would like another coupon for lunch please.

So I stayed in my room and slept and watched TV and relaxed. It was good. Every once in awhile the phone would ring with a nice reminder that I really should get out of the room, but I found that pretty easy to ignore. When I did finally leave, everyone was fine about it…so I figured no hard feelings.

I returned to the Areomexico desk and after explaining my situation 15 more times I eventually got another ticket to Santa Cruz. I then went to the LAB desk for a boarding pass…and this is the conversation that took place….

“You have a return ticket out of Bolivia?”

“Uh…no….”

“I’m gonna have to ask you to purchase one now or you’ll have problems with Bolivian immigration.”

“Uh…I don’t think…”

“Okay then…(he leaves for awhile and talks to his supervisor)….yes, so just tell them you have an e-ticket and you don’t have a copy of it with you.”

“Uh….I should lie to Bolivian immigration?” (Okay, that part I didn’t say out loud, but I was thinking it.)

“You’re gonna land in Guyatiana (not the real name, but I can’t pronounce it and I don’t know where it is), and also maybe in El Salvador although we can’t confirm that at this time. You will be leaving from Gate 25 although that is just a provisional gate and we can’t confirm that at this time.”

“Uh…okay…”

“Have a good trip and good luck getting your gringo butt to Santa Cruz.” (Okay, he didn’t really say that, but I’m pretty sure he was thinking it.)

I walked away with a big smile on my face, thinking “Man, you just can’t make this stuff up!” Our gate did in fact change, and after three announcements and a two and a half hour wait…we were on our way!

So…here I am…back in Bolivia. Except this time I’m here for two years straight and that’s a little overwhelming at times. But I’m excited…I think. =) It’s just going to take a little getting used to. I was surprised to find myself a little nervous when I got out of the truck yesterday. But I shouldn’t have been…there were lots of smiles and handshakes and hugs from the guys. As usual, there were lots of familiar faces and lots of new ones. They all wanted to know how long I would be here this time, and when I said two years, their eyes all got big and there was the occasional, “Whoa…”

Miguel and Edly are doing their best to help me feel comfortable here. Miguel is ready to add a room to the back of his house for me until I find a house for myself, and he says he’s going to get the other truck working for me so I have something to drive (by the way, the other truck is a one ton with cattle racks. Anyone smiling at the prospect of me cruising around in it?).

Even in six months, it feels like there’s been lots of changes here. The library is finished and looks great. For those of you who are familiar with the place, they moved the fire pit in the kitchen. They built on to the outside of the building and moved it so that the kitchen doesn’t fill with smoke anymore. They’re also in the process of knocking out the wall between the kitchen and the office and expanding the kitchen. For all that, the food tastes pretty much the same. =)

Again, for those of you who are familiar with the guys…..Roberto Negro is still here and seems to be doing well (and is quite excited that Natasha is coming down). Feliciano is back, which is kind of nice (he says hi Chad!). Luis (mi jefe) is gone (the fellow who lost your sandal Wanda), but I’m hoping he’ll show up again. Iguana is back as well (my future brother-in-law and Wanda’s future husband supposedly….and yes Wanda, he asked about you). Many of the guys I knew are gone…some back to the streets and some back to various family members, but there are enough here that I feel comfortable.

The only other news is that we have a couple coming from Australia next year for 7 months. He’s a classically trained musician, and he wants to teach the boys guitar and saxophone and such. So that’s exciting. They just found the home off the web page and felt that God was leading them here.

Well, I just realized that this is probably the longest e-mail yet. Sorry about that, but I figured everyone should appreciate my travel experience. I’ll cut back a little next time. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support. Please continue to pray. As I said, I’m a little overwhelmed here…. =)

It’s almost 6 PM (and pitch black out), and I should go and try to learn some Spanish…..

Take care everyone! Hope to hear from you soon.

Hasta luego,

Ken

PS: Please pray that my luggage shows up eventually. Miguel offered me a clean shirt and underwear (I accepted the shirt) but I would really like my own clothes back…..