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.