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