As an addition to my ongoing list of “Things that happen to me in buses” I present the following…

Monday I was coming back from Santa Cruz and feeling pretty tired. I was almost to the home and was looking forward to supper and then getting some sleep. I looked out of the bus just in time to see a taxi come flying across the road and slam into the bus right below my window. It hit us at an angle, so the bus grinded down the side of the taxi and then the taxi disappeared into the darkness behind the bus. As it turned out…the taxi decided not to stop. The next thing I knew, the bus was turning around and we were suddenly engaged in a high speed chase…in a bus…full of people…

We eventually got in front of the taxi and forced him to stop. A bunch of guys from our bus jumped out and ran back to the taxi, all ready to defend the honour of our bus driver (who, I’m sure, they didn’t know from Adam). They started punching through the window of the taxi, and for a moment I was pretty concerned for the driver. Then they hauled him out onto the pavement. No lie, he must have weighed 300 lbs. He hadn’t been fazed at all by the punching. He whipped off his shirt (well…as much as a 300 lbs. man can whip off his shirt. This is, by the way, the Bolivian version of dropping your gloves) and proceed to take on all comers. You would think that it couldn’t get any worse than watching a 300 lbs. shirtless man try and drop-kick his opponent…but by golly, it can. In the initial punching in the car, it seemed he burst the snap off the front of his jeans and was having a hard time keeping them up. As it turned out, he was wearing…well, I guess you’d call it a thong. I’m sorry to have to share that, but in the interest of helping you understand the missionary life…there it is.

Eventually we all filed off the bus, collected our change (for the incomplete trip) and I started walking back into town to try and catch another ride. Eventually I was able to hop another bus, and when we passed all the commotion a half hour later they were still “negotiating” who was going to pay for the damage to the bus.

Well, for those of you who e-mailed me and were worried that I wouldn’t get any turkey for Thanksgiving (and then proceeded to described everything they ate), I want to assure you that I did in fact have a great Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey, stuffing, cranberries and, of course, pumpkin pie! Before I even realized what day Thanksgiving was, I had made plans to go up to Cochabamba for a week, to study Spanish in my old language school (and to get a bit of a break from being at the home). My friend Therese wrote me a couple of days after I made my plans, upset that I wouldn’t be around for Thanksgiving this year (last year we had a great time). But then I suddenly realized that I would in fact be in Cochabamba. She was pretty excited when I told her…she said it felt like family was coming! So that made me feel good. =) And she’s an amazing cook…so that made me feel even better. Her husband is Bolivian and isn’t a big fan of Canadian food, so I made up the shortfall. Actually, I was pretty proud of Therese…she’s a tiny little blond thing, and she matched me bite for bite. Negro laughed at how full my plate was and then turned around and saw his wife’s plate fuller than mine! =) It was good to enjoy Canadian food and be able to converse in English for a change. God definitely blessed me.

I was also able to stay in a little hotel for a couple of days while I was in the city, courtesy of a good friend who paid my way. It’s been a rough few weeks at the home (I’ll write more about that later), and I was feeling pretty burned out. So the chance to sit and study by the pool and watch cable TV in English was a great change of pace. Again God really blessed me. Funny thing…it’d been raining in Cochabamba for a couple of weeks when I got there (it’s the rainy season), so I was kind of disappointed. I wanted to catch some rays by the pool (being the shallow missionary that I am). I was like, “Okay God…it sure would be nice to have a little sun this week!” The first morning in the hotel I woke up to an amazing blue sky, and for the next two days there wasn’t a cloud in the sky (I have sunburned shoulders to prove it). An hour after checking out I was sitting in my class and suddenly the wind started to howl and the rain came down in buckets!

Believe what you will…but I’m convinced… =)

It’s always encouraging when you look back over your life and realize that God has a plan and a purpose for you. In the day to day grind, that’s a bit easy to miss at times. Recently I’ve been realizing just how many experiences in life and ministry I’ve had over the years, that God is using in the place He’s called me now. There are any number of moments where I feel in over my head and I get that panicky feeling. I’ve had a rougher time adjusting to being back here this time. There have been moments when I’ve wondering what in the world I’m doing here…is this actually where God wants me to be? I can barely speak English…what makes me think that I’ll ever be able to speak Spanish? And then God gently reminds me that He’s not abandoned me before…why do I expect that this time will be different? And suddenly the words I need are there (well…kind of there…they’re there in my head…they’re more or less there in the Spanish that comes out of my mouth…).

If you could pray for a few of the guys, that would be great. Please continue to pray for David (I’ve talked about him before). We had an amazing conversation a couple of weeks or so ago, and he made some serious and (for him) very difficult decisions. So far he’s doing really well. I know he has his difficult days, but he’s standing pretty firm.

Another young guy, Roly, and I have been getting together to talk and pray every few days. He’s kind of a quiet kid and someone who I thought had had a fairly normal upbringing (for these guys). But then I heard his story, and I realized that you can’t make surface judgements of anyone here. He’s working through some pretty serious issues, and so if you could pray for strength and peace for him as well. It’s been encouraging to see him open up and share some of what he’s dealing with.

My friend Carlos (who lives in Santa Cruz now) had a rough experience last week. He and I had supper together, and then walked back to where we had to catch our buses. I gave him a bit of money to buy some food and then prayed with him before we took off. I guess a couple of plain-clothed police were watching and after I left (of course) they grabbed Carlos and roughed him up a bit. They claimed that he was selling me drugs (but like I said…they waited until after I left to grab him). So he ended up spending four days in jail and they took all the money.

Please pray for Carlos. He really needs to get some things sorted out as well. I think he’s doing much better, but he doesn’t have a job, and I’m actually not entirely sure how he’s surviving. I want to help him get his identity papers so that he can find some work. Pray that God keeps him safe, and also that he stays motivated to improve what’s going on in his life. I think it would be really easy for him to lose his motivation and slide back into street life.

And finally! =) If I could ask you to pray for me. As I said, it’s been rougher this time around. Some weeks are great…but some are pretty tough. I need to have peace and understanding, and of course, lots of wisdom. As well…safety has been a bit of an issue lately. The day I arrived in Cochabamba I had an experience with a taxi driver that left my adrenaline pumping pretty good. He picked me up at the airport and then just before he pulled out of the parking lot, he stopped for another “tourist”. That’s pretty unusual, so alarm bells started going off in my head. Then, sure enough, a few minutes later we stopped for a “police inspection”. The “police” showed us their ID cards (which I’m sure were fake) and then proceeded to “look for drugs”. Everyone was assuring me that this was normal and fine…which I knew it wasn’t. Suddenly the police said that we needed to go to the police station. This has happened to me before, but the last time they were trying to get me and a friend into the car. This time I was already in it. The “tourist” guy was sitting on one side of me, and I’m sure the idea was that one of the police guys would sit on the other side of me and box me in, in the back seat. But the police guy went to the wrong side of the car and the tourist ended up in the middle (God’s protection). At this point I hopped out and pushed my way past the other guy who was standing by my door. My backpack was still in the trunk, so I started banging on the car. The driver (who I think still thought things were in play) opened up the trunk and pretended to show the cop who was standing there, that there wasn’t anything under the carpets or anything. I grabbed by bag and took off. Of course they didn’t say anything or call to me….which made it more obvious that it was all planned. On the up side, they took me halfway to my friend’s house, so when I caught another taxi, I only payed half the usual fare. =) But ya…prayer for protection would be a good thing!

Anyhow…once again this is long (I think even longer than usual!). Thanks for taking the time to read it all. I appreciate all the prayer and support that everyone’s been giving me. It means a lot!

Take care! Hasta luego.

Ken