So last night I was hanging out in the dorms, and one of the guys noticed that my shoes were pretty dusty and scuffed. In a room full of ex-shoe shiners, sitting next to these shoes was the next thing to purgatory. Before I new it, the shoe shine kit was out, and I had a half dozen guys taking turns competing to see who could do the best job polishing the daylights out of my shoes (there’s seems to be something in the snapping of the cloth that I don’t understand but is quite important). I even got the “use a broken piece of mirror to flash light onto the shoe to show how shiny it is” treatment. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that these shoes weren’t actually the kind that should be shined and polished. So they’ll never have that dull semi-rugged look that they had when I bought them again…but I’ve gotten lots of compliments from the other guys, so I guess it’s all good. I also had a long discussion about how woollies (socks) aren’t supposed to be pulled up to your knees, but they’re supposed to be worn pushed down. I finally said, “This is how we wear them in Canada!” to which one guy replied, “Ya well you’re living in Bolivia.” Which is, in all truth, a good answer.

The group from Canada has returned home…so once again it’s just me and 75 people who don’t speak English. It was great having the team here, they were an excellent group. We did quite a bit of painting and work at the second boy’s home just up the road. We painted all the rooms (which were in pretty desperate need of some help), as well as a great sign for the home to put out on the highway. The rooms are nothing if not much brighter than they were before. A little bright for my tastes maybe, but the guys think they’re great. There’s only so much you can do when you’re mixing tints into a 5 gallon pail of paint. It’s always a bit of a surprise what you end up with. That home has never gotten help from North America, so it was exciting for them to have the everyone there each day. I’’m sure “Gringo” (a, shall we say, “high energy” 10 year old) is probably still bouncing off the walls. I know that it was a blessing and encouragement for them for sure.

A slight side note…the team brought down my mountain bike, which has been a great source of diversion for me. Except for the occasional rabid dog trying to bite my ankles on the way past, it’s a nice, peaceful opportunity to get away and do some thinking and praying.

Life at the home is going fairly well. I’ve gotten used to the idea (more or less) that this is a ministry where the atmosphere can change in heartbeat. Right now things seem to be stable, but tomorrow….?

We celebrated our 5 year anniversary a week ago, which was great. Mostly the day involved a lot of running. We had sort of track and field day with relays, long distance running, tug-of-wars and of course soccer. Even the youngest guys did the long distance run. I was situated at the half-way point for the younger fellows, and one of the youngest came marching up to me to get his marker to show that he had completed that portion of the race. I told him good job, and to keep going. He gave me the clearest, “Back off and leave me alone ‘cause this isn’t fun” look I’ve ever seen. Without a word he just turned around and started marching back the way he came.

We gave him a ride back in the truck for the last part, and that seemed to restore his mood. At any rate, the older guys loved the race.

For the relay/obstacle course, near the end everyone started chanting for me to run. I walked towards Miguel and said sure, if Miguel races me. Everyone started laughing and cheering and Miguel, in the clearest English I’ve ever heard him use, whispered to me, “What?! Are you crazy?!”

Some things to be thankful for, and some things to pray for. While the team was here, one of the guys, Abel, came and asked if he could talk to me. I was a little nervous because he was the first of the guys to officially ask to talk, and I wasn’t sure what we would be talking about (trust me, could be anything!). Rebecca (one of the girls on the team who speaks good Spanish) translated for me, and as it turned out, Abel wanted to pray with someone to become a Christian. So that was exciting…and not nearly as stressful as I had anticipated. But if you could pray for him, that would be great. He seems to be doing really well, but these guys can come under attack pretty quickly.

A couple of the older guys have been struggling lately. These are guys that would consider themselves Christians, but I’m not sure how much they understand that commitment. I know that there are some serious sin issues in their lives, and things they need to get straightened out. Both are good friends, and I find myself pretty concerned about the direction they’re heading in. If you could pray for them, that they would have peace about being here, and that they would deal with the sin in their lives. Their names are Sergio and David.

Finally, there is a group of 16 year olds here who are really great guys. Most of them have grown up together here (at least for the past 5 or 6 years) so they’re probably more like brothers. They’re just at that stage where the temptations are starting to come, and I can see them swaying a bit at times. If they can continue on as they have been, and keep supporting each other…they’ll be an amazing group of guys when they get older. Some of their names are…Diego, Andreas, Jesus and one other kid whose name I can’t quite remember at this moment. Pray for him too. =) God knows who I’’m talking about.

And thanks for praying for me as well. You don’t know how much I appreciate it. I’ve already had some incredible highs and some brutal lows…and I’ve only been here a couple of months! I tend to get wrapped up in people’s lives pretty easily, and when there’s as much need as there is here…it’s a bit overwhelming at times. But I see God working every day, and that’s definitely the good part.

Sorry I don’t have any crazy adventure stories to tell this time. I killed a tarantula in my shower the other day if that counts. And for the most part, just being here is a bit of a crazy adventure!

Take care everyone and I hope to hear from you soon!

Ken