Sunday night I went to a futbol (soccer) game. I’ve been to professional games before, but this was my first “clasico”, a game between the two major teams in Santa Cruz, Blooming (my team) and Oriente (my girlfriend’s team by the way…it keeps life interesting). I knew that people here take futbol seriously…but I had no idea.

I went with a couple of the guys and we arrived late. That is, we didn’t arrive two hours early. Of course they keep selling tickets even if there’s no place to sit down. So you don’t know until you get in that you’ll be trying to look over and in between the heads of everyone crammed into the doorway of the stadium. As a good Canadian, I left three inches between me and the guy in front of me, and in good Latin fashion someone managed to squeeze in.

Fortunately I tend to be a good four or five inches taller than most Bolivians, so it wasn’t so bad. Not much happened in the first half, and in the second half we managed to find a place to sit when everyone left to go to the bathroom.

I wish I could communicate what it’s like… There’s a group of three hundred people or so who line up in the stands behind the goal. They never stop jumping…dancing…shouting…singing…whistling the entire game. Not once. They’ve got flags and banners and drums and they are truly hardcore. I get tired just watching them. I’m not sure if they actually know what’s happening in the game or just see it as their duty to support their team no matter what. Then add to that hundreds more who are only slightly more subdued and you start to understand. Each team has their own songs that you must learn to be a true fan. If you don’t know the songs there are guys walking around selling CDs so you can learn them in your spare time. My girlfriend has Oriente’s song recorded on her cell phone. I’m not quite such a good fan yet.

Oriente scored the first goal which sent my side of the stands (Blooming) into hysterics. Oriente’s side was in hysterics too, but theirs were happy hysterics. My side…not so much. I learned some new words. A kid in the next section over was wearing a green and white Oriente jersey and started jumping around and mocking the Blooming fans. I guess he felt that the eight foot chainlink fence would keep him safe. But he decided to leave when people started whipping two litre pop bottles at him. Full two litre pop bottles.

Then with 15 minutes left in the game, Blooming scored and it was nothing less than complete insanity. I live in a country where fireworks are considered an appropriate way to express joy and happiness. Of course I also live in a country where fireworks only cost a dollar. Most of them arced and then landed on the field before they exploded. It didn’t seem to impress or actually bother the players that much. I imagine one can get accustomed to pretty much anything…even balls of fire exploding by your feet. Then there were the paper streamers and confetti. It was like being in a snow storm. And then finally…in a glorious moment with only five minutes left in the game Blooming scored again and it was all over. Oh the pandemonium. I did learn one other thing that night. As it turns out, there’s a very fine line between being happy your team won and gloating when talking to your girlfriend about the game…and it’s best not to cross that line.

So anyhow, that’s futbol in Bolivia. Entertaining to say the least. Fully worth the $5 it costs to get in.

This was an interesting week. I was kind of grumpy. It’s been crazy hot and humid again and really smokey (this is the season for burning off the sugar cane fields). For whatever reason (and I’ll stick to the above excuses) I could have happily driven over any number of taxis and their drivers and never even looked back. And don’t even get me started on those dumb stereo speakers at the bar next door.

But…amazingly God stays faithful in the midst of everything and all my stupidity. As most of you know, I work at a home for street guys. These guys are not given to showing much emotion. Don’t get me wrong, they laugh and joke (and mock me) and everything. But when it comes to personal issues…they’re not much known for going around the circle and sharing. They’ve learned to put up thick walls for protection and very rarely do those walls come down. And yet…having said that, it doesn’t seem like a week goes by where I don’t see God moving and healing and breaking down those walls. These guys, who I would never have expected it from, are often moved to tears.

I took one of the guys through the “Steps to Freedom” last week. If you’re not familiar, it’s a serious of steps to help you deal with issues and pain and such from your past. I’ve found it to be a fairly effective tool to use with the guys here. There’s a lot of bondage issues in these guy’s lives and these steps help break that and bring it out to the surface. Anyhow…it’s interesting, because you never know what part will affect any given person. This young guy went through the different sections and then came to the step that deals with forgiveness and forgiving the people who’ve hurt you from your past. Obviously that can be a painful experience for some of the guys…they’ve been hurt pretty horribly. As a part of that step you thank God for His forgiveness and you choose to forgive yourself. As this young guy prayed that, he got more and more choked up until he could hardly talk. Big tears were rolling off his face. He really hadn’t been emotional at all until that point, but somehow acknowledging what he’d done, and that God had forgiven him and he could move on, was a powerful experience for him. It was a good moment.

Then yesterday I had a conversation with another of the guys. I asked him how he was doing and he told me fine. This is a guy who God is really working on and I’ve seen him growing a lot lately. I imagine at one point in his life he could lie with the best of them and no one would ever know. But the thing is…now that God is changing his heart, he’s about the worst liar I’ve ever seen. He couldn’t make eye contact, and his whole body was twitching and moving. He couldn’t sit still at all. He probably thinks I’ve got some kind of strange spiritual insight because I just told him outright that I didn’t believe him and I knew something was wrong. He did tell me what was happening…and I could just see the pain in him. And yet again…it was a good moment because God started the healing process in him. I imagine for probably the first time ever in recent years, he was honest about something in his life. His biggest fear was that I would decide that he was a bad person and that I wouldn’t want to continue being his friend. It was overwhelming him to the point he could hardly talk. But…that had been his experience his whole life with everyone he cared about.

So, it was cool to be able to be a small example of God’s grace and love to him. In all honesty, I really didn’t do that much. I just talked with him and prayed with him. But again, he cried and cried.

I guess I know this (I write about it all the time) but somehow in the everyday craziness of laughing and goofing off with the guys, I sometimes forget how much pain and sorrow there is in these guys still. It’s a tough road being here some days. I wish I could say that I’m super missionary guy and all that…but…yea, driving over taxis and not looking back. That’s more the reality most days. But like I’ve said many times…God is faithful. He uses us in the midst of our inadequacies and that’s cool.

So…there you go. Lots of other things I could tell you about, but I used up most of this e-mail telling you about a cracy futbol game. So next time. I’m off to Canada tomorrow for two weeks for a friends wedding…so for some of you we can talk in person…over an Ice Cap at Tim’s if possible. The rest…thanks for praying and being interested.

PS: And for the funny story of the day…remember when I told you about that guy who brought out the box and opened it to show me a momma rat and her baby rats that the guys were keeping as pets in the dorm. Yea…so I think I can beat that. Saturday one of the younger guys (7 or 8 probably) took me to his bunk and pulled back his pillow to show me…four fish. Still alive. Gasping their little lungs out. Under his pillow! I imagine they came from the river nearby, although none of the guys are supposed to be down there. I suggested a pail of water would be appropriate. And that keeping fish under his pillow might not be such a great idea….

Until next time.

So……there’s an outside chance that I may have caused the first case of frostbite ever seen in the Santa Cruz area. That’s got to be some kind of missionary record in a tropical country. I was icing a kid’s sprained ankle the other day and was possible a bit distracted. Normally the guys tell me if the ice is too cold and I don’t actually have to pay that much attention. This kid didn’t say anything. Then a couple of days later he showed me these kind of brutal purple sploches on his leg and ankle and even two small blisters. He’d been to the doctor that day and the doctor didn’t have a clue what they were. But…I have to say they did look suspiciously like frostbite. Oops. I asked him if the ice had been hurting and he said yes. So I asked him why he didn’t say anything! He said he thought it was supposed to hurt. Hmmm…. Anyhow, I apologized profusely and I imagine he’ll live.

I also had a funny language moment last week. Normally I do okay with my Spanish skills, but I do find that in moments of stress or excitement occasionally much of my Spanish more or less goes out the window.

This can cause problems.

So I’m teaching one of the guys to drive my truck. Can you see where this is going? He’s doing pretty good actually…until we approach one of the many speed bumps scattered throughout the Bolivian countryside. I calmly encourage him to step on the brake…which he does not do. We continue to approach said speed bump at a rather high speed, and I end up yelling, “Brake! Brake! BRAKE!” The word for brake is “freno” by the way. I was not using “freno”. In the midst of the excitement I was actually saying “foco”. I was, in fact, yelling, “Lightbulb! Lightbulb! LIGHTBULB!” You can see where he got confused.

Anyhow, I own a four wheel drive truck, so it was all good…

I started up my Bible studies this week. I had planned to start last week, but ended up getting a brutal head/chest cold, and wasn’t really in the mood. I work with 70 little virus factories who constantly like to shake your hand or put their hands over your eyes in a game of guess who…or pass the disease as I like to call it. So it’s always just a matter of time. I’m on the mend though. Tonight’s Bible study went well I think (it was a group of 14 to 16 year olds). The guys are always happy because I bring pop and cookies, so it’s a bit tough to gauge their reactions to the actual study. We had another spiritual attack of some kind last night, and the fellow that it happened to was in this group. He was pretty concerned and upset, so we spent most of the evening talking about what happened and what our response should be to these kinds of things.

To back up a bit, last night he woke up at around 1 AM and realized he wasn’t able to speak. His body was shaking and he couldn’t move, although he seemed to think that his thoughts weren’t affected. One of the older guys was up doing homework and realized something was wrong. So he and three other younger guys spent an hour sitting and praying with this fellow. Eventually he was okay, but like I said, he was pretty shook up. His name is Ernesto if you’d like to pray for him. I also met with the other guys in his dorm (all of whom are fairly young) to make sure they weren’t scared or upset. We talked about it and prayed together (they all wanted to pray, which was fine…it just becomes somewhat time consuming when we all have to thank God for every blessing we’ve had in the past month or so….). =) It was a good moment though.

So…that was that. Tomorrow I start another study with a group of guys who are fairly new Christians or even just new to the idea of Christianity. That should be interesting. It’d be great if you could pray for that study if you have a moment. I’m looking forward to it, but I think it’s going to be a bit of a challenge. Also, if you could pray for Jose Miguel, Dardo and Edwardo, three of the older guys. I’ve talked about them before I think. I had a good conversation with them Sunday night. Jose Miguel especially, is a cool story. A year ago he arrived at the home with a severe drug problem. He’d never heard anything about God or even seen a Bible. He became a Christian sometime around Christmas, and in January he and I and a couple of other guys started meeting together. I didn’t know him that well, but felt like God was leading me to ask him to join the group. He just ate up everything I could through at him. I’ve never met anyone who’s grown spiritually as quickly as he has. It’s amazing. He told me Sunday night that he think’s God is calling him to be a missionary. He sees so many people hurting, he says, and he wants to help them. He’s got the ability and maturity to do it too. But…he also said that it’s still tough some days. He still faces a lot of temptation and day to day battles. So if you could remember him, that’d be great. We start up our Bible study again on Friday afternoon.

So that’s life this week. Thanks for reading and taking the time to pray. It makes a huge difference down here. I’ve been talking a lot this week with some of the guys about how we’re all a part of a family and that they have brothers and sisters who care about them and who are praying for them. They like that. =) As do I!

Have a good week! Hasta luego…

Ken

Remember how sometimes you don’t hear from me for months and then suddenly you get two or more updates in less than a week?

Yep.

So life’s been interesting these past what? Two days since I sent out the last update? For most of you that seems about right for me. But it’s actually been more interesting than normal. But in a good way.

Saturday night we had youth group out at the home. The retired pastor who’s working with us leads it. It can be…long. It finished up around 9:30 or so and I was talking with one of the guys out by my truck when we heard the guys start singing again. My first thought was, “Are you kidding me? We’re doing church again?!”

So we wandered over to the dining hall where everyone was gathered, and right away I noticed one of the guys with Miguel wasn’t doing well. He was twitching and jerking around and obviously in a bad state. I knew right away by the way things were proceeding that Miguel and the pastor believed that some kind of demonic activity was happening. At first I wasn’t sure I was convinced. The way his hands were clenched and he was convulsing I thought he might be having some kind of seizure. But as things proceeded, I became more convinced that Miguel was right. I was trying not to overstep my boundaries, but I was anxious to go over to the fellow and pray for him. But…this is Bolivia and so I waited until I was invited to participate. I understood what Miguel was trying to do, but I kind of felt he was going down the wrong road in dealing with this. He and the pastor were trying to get the guy to say that he accepted Christ as his Saviour. But the kid wasn’t in any kind of place to be able to do that. What did convince me that this was a spiritual issue rather than a physical one, was when I did have the opportunity to pray for him, I just put my hand on him and started taking authority over whatever was attacking him in the name of Jesus and commanding it to leave. Eventually the pastor and Miguel understood what was going on and joined in. Even though I was praying for him in English, right away there was a difference in his countenance. It took a few minutes for him to completely calm down, but that was definitely the moment when things started to get better.

It was an interesting experience. I don’t want to sound like this was all about me or that I knew exactly what to do. I’ve just done some reading about all of this and that’s given me some insights when these moments come along. I don’t think I’ve ever run into anything quite this obvious, but to varying degrees you run into demonic activity fairly often down here. It kind of comes with the territory, with the experiences and backgrounds these guys bring to the home.

Miguel asked if I would sleep in the dorm with the guys that night. Often after an experience like that, Miguel was worried that some of the guys would freak out and take off. So I just tried to be relaxed (actually I really was…this whole thing didn’t really get me that worked up…chalk it up to the whole peace beyond understanding thing) and talk with the guys. I explained that this was more about Satan trying to mess with us and make us afraid…and that this was really something to celebrate. Our brother was free now. Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. Then I puffed out my chest and said, besides I was sleeping in the dorm that night and I was a pastor and we can do anything. Ha…not so true, but it made them laugh anyhow.

It did end up being a late night though as there were a few guys who wanted to talk. I noticed one guy making the rounds walking and not going to bed. I took him aside and asked him if he was okay and if he was a bit afraid. He put his thumb and finger together and said, just that much. =) So we talked and prayed and eventually he was ready to sleep. I mostly just listened to him to be honest. It was late and I was tired. I was only understanding about every third word. But it seemed to work. =)

I went back out to the home on Sunday afternoon and the fellow who’d had the problems was out playing futbol with the guys. He seemed to be doing okay. I’ll talk more with him tonight when I go out there. Interestingly, he was one of the guys I wrote about last time who wanted to have a Bible study with me because he was tired of all the stuff going on in his life. So we’ll talk more about that.

The other thing I wanted to mention quickly was church on Sunday morning. I took a fellow with me, thinking it would be a good experience for him. It was…but not in the way I expected exactly. I knew this guy struggles with being in situations where he thinks people are watching him or even aware of him. It goes back to some of the issues from his past. But I didn’t realize how deep it went until we sat down and church started. He was very agitated and tense. Then during the offering time (everyone comes up to the front to put their offering in a box and it’s sort of a greeting time too) one of the girls came over to say hi to us. She did the normal kiss us on the cheek thing and asked this guy his name. He could barely say his name. Then another girl came over and he couldn’t even speak. He just looked at me with the most ‘deer caught in the headlights’ look I’ve ever seen. I just introduced him and it was mostly fine.

The reason I mention this is first of all, to ask you to pray for him. But to also say that it’s cool how God uses every situation for good. We’ve been talking through his past and whatnot and this gave me the opportunity to explain to him that this is not what God wants for him. He deserves to have a family and community of Believers that he can be a part of. Satan wants to take that from him. It was a good conversation and he’s committed to returning. The funny thing is, he really liked the church and wants to be a part of it. So like I said, if you could pray for him, that’d be great.

My only other comment is….I got pulled over by the police again today. Supposedly my windows were tinted too dark and the officer wanted 200 Bs. That’s A LOT! So I said let’s go to transito (the police station). He really didn’t want to do that… =) But then….neither did I. It would take a long time and be annoying. So we agreed that maybe 100 Bs would be okay for me to pay. That’s still way too much ($20) but I just figured I was doing my part to forward the Bolivian economy. Marcee (my co-worker) was with me and we had a good laugh about it as we drove away. Ah life….

So…that was my weekend. I also had a couple of great opportunities to talk with a couple of the guys. One fellow that’s been my favourite for a long time but just can’t kick his drug habit, showed up this weekend. He comes and goes as his addiction dictates really. When he’s clean he’s one of the greatest guys you’d want to meet. But…every few months the addiction kicks in and away he goes for a few months. We talked about this and I hope I was able to encourage him that freedom and change are possible. You can pray for him too…

Thanks for reading and praying. I appreciate it! =)

Ken

PS….Oh yea…I bought a cool new cell phone (mine was stolen while I was in Canada). It’s a dark red and silver and it’s got lots of good features. Who knew that red is a ‘girl’s colour’. I’ve taken more grief over that dumb phone. Guys can wear the pinkest shirts going and slick their hair into the girliest hairdos I’ve ever seen. But a red phone? Girly. I told my girlfriend that I don’t care and that I like my phone. She replied that that was good and she just won’t tell her friends that her boyfriend has a red phone.

Good grief….

So…as of last Sunday, I’m back in Bolivia…

How can I tell you ask? Good question.

Well, there’s the obvious…heat, humidity and wind….and the fact that everyone speaks a different language.

More “inspection” stickers/ID stickers/pretty coloured stickers that the government has decided I need for my truck. So for now I have to drive somewhat circulous routes everywhere I go, to avoid the common spots where the police wait, until I can purchase said stickers. I guess I should just be happy I have my truck…

Also, I got the universal “friendly wave” the other night from a taxi driver for not running a yellow light and making him stop behind me. I also got a lecture (yelled at me from his car) questioning where I learned to drive. That would be Canada actually.

For lunch today the guys at the home had some kind of random soup with floaty pieces of various pig parts.

Did I mention the heat and humidity? Oh yea, and the fact that my landlady sold my house while I was gone? Supposedly my new landlord (who I have yet to meet) seems to be okay with inheriting a gringo with the house…

Ah yes….life.

But…there were also the big smiles and a million handshakes when I got out of my truck at the home. Everyone gathering around me and wanting to know how my trip was and if my family was okay. That’s a big deal here.

To be honest, I have to admit that I did have a rough first week…which I think lots of missionaries go through. It’s great being home in Canada…but then you leave and you realize what you’re missing when you’re gone. Close friends, family…being able to flush toilet paper…

It’s not the first time I’ve had to sit down since moving here and do some serious praying. I definitely had a week of needing God to restore the love I have for Bolivia and to remind me of what it is exactly I’m doing here and why He called me here in the first place.

So here’s what He showed me…

First there’s Rudy…very gifted kid. I’ve talked a bit about him before. Incredibly musical…amazing soccer player….  He’s one of the guys that I was getting together with before I left for Canada last spring. The night after I got back here, he showed up at my house. For various reasons he’d left the home to live with his grandma. Then she told him that she didn’t want him living with her anymore. He’d spent the last couple of weeks pretty hungry and just sleeping on park benches or wherever he could find a place. Obviously that couldn’t continue. So…he’s now moved into my living room and is crashing on an extra mattress I had. He joins David who was staying here while I was in Canada and who has moved into my office. =)

It’s been no problem…the guys have been great. Rudy’s like the most organized kid I’ve ever met. He washes all our dishes and the other day he unpacked my suitcases while I was gone and even folded the dirty clothes I’d thrown behind my bedroom door. He’s like a machine. I can feel myself getting lazier as I sit here and write this. Although…he’s also got this crazy idea of us starting to work out and go running every day.

But the thing is, you realize that, as gifted as Rudy is, in his mind at least, he’d run out of options. He couldn’t see a future at all. But as we talked that first night about the life that Christ has for us, and how gifted he really is and some of the possibilities for his future…I could see that hope start coming back into his eyes. It was a good moment.

Tonight I sat down with a couple of other guys I’d been meeting with before I left. We’d been talking a lot about freedom from bondage issues and again, what God has promised for them. A pretty common thread here for the guys, is the feeling that they have no future or the thought that it’s not possible good things will ever happen to them. They struggle a lot with the idea of an “abundant life”. Which makes sense when you think about where they’ve come from and what they’ve experienced up to this point in their lives.

Anyhow, these guys had continued meeting and reading the book we’d been studying. They said they didn’t understand everything, but I can’t even tell you how excited and how filled with joy they were. They could hardly stop talking. This from two guys who less than a year ago, were very high on the “extremely messed up” list. The one fellow showed up last January so strung out he was hearing voices and seeing demons.

Later in the evening, two other guys came up and started asking me if we can start going through the same study, because they’ve seen the changes in those first guys and they want to have that same experience. Pretty cool. So the plan is, next week we’ll be starting up two new groups, along with the ones that’ll continue from before. It’s great to see some of these guys who had pretty much given up hope of ever experiencing a normal life, suddenly catch a glimpse of what might be possible.

Anyhow, as it’s 2 AM I’m going to cut this short and just say that there were lots of other great conversations and laughing and discussions of who should be aloud to marry my remaining single sisters. I’m “cunuado” (brother-in-law) to somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 guys or so….I’m still waiting for some kind of loaves and fishes miracle ‘cause I’ve only got four more sisters…

So…I’m feeling much better. It’d be great if you could continue to pray though. There are still some stresses and issues on the horizon that no doubt are going to be difficult. I’m going to need a lot of wisdom and peace I imagine. But if I’ve learned nothing else these past couple of years, I’ve learned about God’s faithfulness. So many times when I’m not sure how things could possible turn out for good…God intervenes in ways I couldn’t have imagined.

Keep an eye out for me…I’m actually back in Canada for a wedding in October. If you’d be interested in having me share a bit about what I’m doing down here, in your church (or living room) just let me know. There are some pretty cool things coming in the future (which I’ll be explaining here soon) and it’d be great to talk more about some of those possibilities.

Thanks again for reading this and keeping in touch. And of course, thanks for praying. I’ll be in touch again soon….

Ken

Oh yea…it was also pretty cool to see my girlfriend again. That was a good moment too….

But the sad news….the bar across the lot behind my house bought new speakers while I was gone. BIG stupid speakers. That’s wasn’t so happy.