Sometimes it’s hard to know exactly where to start…

For those of you who were wondering about my Facebook status saying I was stuck in Canada…I was a bit premature with that comment. The night I was leaving Canada we heard reports of trouble at the airport in Santa Cruz (it actually made the Toronto Sun) and I didn’t think I was going to make back. There was a strike at the airport (not that unusual) which resulted in annoyed airport workers stopping an American Airlines flight from leaving (they blocked it on the runway). So our wise and benevolent President decided to send in the military to keep things moving. Possibly a slight overreaction on his part to what was happening. Being that the people of Santa Cruz dislike our president with a intense passion, this resulted in a massive demonstration at the gates to the airport. Some young soldier made the mistake of firing tear gas into the crowd and that escalated things even more. The Vice Governor of our province was a part of the demonstration, so you can imagine the fallout from all of this. Anyhow, the day before I was supposed to leave, the President was saying that the airport would stay under military control for at least 90 days and the people of Santa Cruz were in an uproar. I was having a hard time figuring out what was going on from the Toronto airport, but decided to take a chance and so I got on the plane. And in good Bolivian fashion, by the time I arrived the next day, everyone had gone home and there wasn’t a soldier to be seen anywhere. It was all fine…. =)

Grumpier than that is actually the fact that I came home to fuel shortages. Generally speaking, when we have a shortage (every few months or so) you can manage to find enough to diesel to get by. Unfortunately, this shortage is the worst I’ve seen since coming here. The first time I waited in line at the station, I was there for an hour and just as I drove up to the pumps, they ran out. The second time I lined up, I managed to get enough to last a couple of days (they were rationing it). Then I had to park the truck for over a week and resort back to public transportation (and we all know how much I enjoy that) because there just wasn’t any diesel to be found. This morning our local station finally had some and I waited for an hour and a half. At least they didn’t toy with me this time. They ran out three vehicles before me. They said they wouldn’t have any more until Monday (it’s Thursday). So I got the great idea of going into the city, buying a jerry can of some sort and finding diesel there to bring back. In principle…a good idea. Of course everyone had the same idea, and there wasn’t a jerry can to be found anywhere. I walked around for three hours trying to find some kind of a jug. Oh…and did I mention that it decided to rain. A lot. So I slogged around and finally found a plastic jug and a station that would sell me ten litres. I counted myself lucky, since on the way home on bus, most stations had well over 100 vehicles lined up. I would imagine that’s around a 10 to 12 hour wait. Supposedly Venezuela is going to bail us out and send us some diesel. So next week things should return to normal…hopefully.

So…life’s been a bit of a challenge here lately. But it’s okay. I was actually kind of entertained by the challenges put ahead of me today. By the time I was soaking wet and had stepped in mud up to my ankles by accident I figured I might as well just enjoy my day and not worry about it. I did treat myself to Burger King though. I figured I deserved it. =)

In terms of the ministry side of life. Again, as usual, there are God moments and difficult situations going hand in hand. I ran into one of our guys on the street today. He was with us for well over a year and left the home while I was in Canada. He was wet and dirty (I guess I was too) but I could tell that he was back using drugs as well. He had a hard time convincing the other guys with him that we were friends. As we talked, I could see him getting more and more choked up. It was difficult to watch. He just kept asking me again and again if we were friends, and so I assured him that we were. I told him that I hoped we’d see him back at the home again soon. He’s a good kid, so I pray that he’ll make that decision. If you can pray for him too, that’d be great. His name is Capauedo.

One of the other guys I work with decided to get drunk with some school friends the other night too. That was a bit of a surprise and a frustration. He lied to me about it at first but then acknowledged what he’d done later. The thing that worries me the most about it is that he doesn’t really like to drink, and fully admits that he just did it because his friends wanted him to. That’s not so great. But we talked about it, so we’ll see what happens.

And of course there are lots of good things happening too. There always seem to be good opportunities to talk to guys and pray with them. There are some amazing things on the horizon right now for me (I’m working on a letter to explain everything…you can watch for it next week. And no…it doesn’t involve an engagement…), so that’s exciting. God just keeps bringing the different pieces together. It does mean some big changes for me, but that’s okay. It’s cool to know that God is preparing the way and I don’t have to get all worried about it.

I’m going to close off telling you a bit more about one of the guys I wrote about last time, Jose Miguel. Jose Miguel is a kid who, a year ago, was one of the worst drug addicts I’ve seen at the home. He tells me that a day didn’t go by when he wasn’t high or drunk. When he came to the home, he hadn’t even seen a Bible before, much less read one. After a few months he made a commitment to Christ, and we started a Bible study a month or so after that.

Jose Miguel came to me a couple of days ago to tell me that he’d met a girl. =) She’s really nice and I’m excited for him. We ended up having a big talk about relationships and responsibility. Of course he was very sexually active before he came to the home and that’s a struggle for him. I gave him the big “be careful little hands where you go” speech. It was a bit funny because I thought he’d told me they were dating, but as it turns out…they just like each other. So perhaps the sex talk was a bit premature. But he was fine with it. They’ve decided to take their time and make sure that he’s strong and stable enough for this. Which is great. It flies in the face of just about every other relationship I’ve seen with the guys here. It shows a lot of maturity.

The reason I mention this is to ask you to pray for him and to just share what a joy it is to see a young guy who’s life was so messed up, continue to take step after step towards growth as a person and in his relationship with Christ. It’s been really encouraging. He’s always fun to talk to.

Pray as well for Aradondo. He’s another fellow I’ve written about before. He’s come and gone a lot from the home. I imagine this is probably his last opportunity here. He has a severe drug problem as well. When he’s clean, he’s an amazing kid. But he just can’t seem to stay off the drugs. But…this time we’re talking more and praying together. The last time he was around, my Spanish was fairly limited…so now we’re able to talk more freely and clearly (more or less anyhow). The other night we prayed together, and he started crying. He’s a tough kid, so that was a surprise. But the interesting thing is, later that night he had some kind of attack? For lack of a better description. His words were that he suddenly felt like a whole opened up in him and all kinds of terrible things poured in. Really bad feelings and emotions and memories from before. But then he remembered that he could pray and that he has authority over spiritual things. He prayed and everything was fine again. So he was actually really encouraged by the experience. =) So that’s good. But please pray for him as well.

Anyhow…that’s life today. I’m off to sit in another fuel line with my truck. I’m so focused on finding diesel that the other day I saw a line of vehicles along the road and (thinking there was a gas station with gas nearby) I started to get in line. Then I realized that all the cars were just parked there ‘cause there were a couple of restaurants nearby. Ha… I also have to go looking for a new phone. Somewhere along the way my nice new phone went missing. Probably on the bus. Isabel wanted to know if I was going to buy a new “lucky” red phone again. I think I will…

Thanks as always for praying.

Luego,

Ken