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.