I had lunch with Julio Cesar today. He’s the fellow I mentioned the other day and asked you to pray for our conversation today. He’s in a difficult situation and I wasn’t sure exactly how to help him. If I start paying for rooms and food and whatnot for people, I’ll have line from here to Brazil of people asking for help. The home will be empty and 70 boys will be camped out on my front lawn. It just wouldn’t work. So trust me, I was praying hard on the way into the city. Julio is living with his girlfriend’s family and it’s not a very good situation. He wants out, but really doesn’t have many options.

Julio came to Miguel’s (the boy’s home where I work) when he was eight. He was being abused by an aunt, so he left. Fortunately he was only on the streets one night before another fellow suggested that he go to Miguel’s. He was there for six years before he up and left one night. I remember arriving the next day and being so disappointed that he’d left. He was one of my favourite guys. (Sound kind of familiar?) =) He’s been gone from the home now for nearly two years.  That’s him on the left in the picture, back a couple of years.  He looks pretty much the same now. 

So today I found myself talking to him and in my head trying to figure out what to do. He seems so broken right now and I didn’t want to just buy him lunch, pat his shoulder and tell him it would all be okay. But like I said, I knew my actions could have ramifications. Then an idea came into my head. Sometimes I have a hard time disengaging my heart from my head and my ideas aren’t always the best. So I decided to seek some council….I called my friend Corina. She’s smarter than I am.

We met with her after lunch, and I explained my idea of finding someone in Canada or the States who could sponsor Julio. Help him with renting a room…paying for his classes…buying groceries. That way, when asked (and I will be asked) I can just say…it’s not me. It lets me off the hook.

We discussed the idea and as usual, Corina presented a couple of things I hadn’t considered, but mostly she thought it was a good idea. Worth a try, she said. This guy deserves the chance.

And so…that’s the plan.

Afterwards, as Julio and I sat in my truck, I explained what was going to happen. I’ve added some conditions to the money, but nothing he minded. He needs to go to church with myself and the guys from the new home. He’ll attend our Bible studies…meet with myself and one of the other leader guys at the home every week…that kind of thing. Stuff that’ll be good for him. He’s only 16…that’s pretty young for being on his own. I want to make sure that we’re being a good support for him. You might be wondering why we don’t just accept him into the new place…and trust me, I considered that. But he doesn’t fit with who we hope to work with…and that’s a door I just can’t open. Again, it would have a lot of consequences. How do I let him move in with us, but not the next kid who shows up at our door.

Julio seemed pretty content and happy with our decision. I know he was feeling a lot of stress about the future and what to do. As I said the other day, he’s pretty much been abandoned by his family. They haven’t tried to contact him in over a year. So I’m excited about being able to help him and reestablish our friendship. I told him that first night I talked to him, that he needed to understand that he wasn’t alone. That there were people who cared for him and who were going to help him. At any rate, we’re getting together next Monday to talk some more. But please pray for him. He’s got some difficult decisions ahead of him. Even with everything that’s happened to him, he’s still one of the most gentle and compassionate guys I’ve met down here. He really is a great kid.
 

This all made me think of what’s been happening lately with some of the guys leaving…specifically Jose Miguel.  It felt like God gently reminded me (as did many of you who wrote me) that His timing isn’t the same as our timing.  It’s not like I don’t know that…I do.  I’ve run into that more than once.  It’s just difficult sometimes in the moment.  I’ve said many times in many situations, that it’s not the end of the story.

Anyhow…that’s that. No new word on the house. I just keep praying. I also met another street kid who I’m going to sit down with tomorrow if he shows up. He’s a teenage guy who seems to be from Argentina but stuck here in Bolivia somehow. At first I was a bit skeptical about his story…he’s pretty clean and shaven for a street kid. But he showed me the big whole in his shorts and how cut up and sore his feet are. He seems to be on the up and up. I’m doing my best to stay soft-hearted about these things without getting taken for a ride. =) I bought him a bag of food and told him to meet me tomorrow in the same place. I talked to Corina and she knows a guy who’ll give him a chance and put him to work if he wants. We’ll see what happens. Pray for him though. His name is Ricardo.

Thanks for checking out the blog. I’ll keep trying to post here most days when I can. There always seems to be something to write about. Thanks again to everyone who wrote to encourage me. I appreciate it. I’m feelin’ the love people… =)

Well…there nothing like a little self-pity to generate some e-mail traffic. =) Thanks to all of you who wrote and said nice things and told me you were praying for me. I actually had a moment last night when it felt like I could physically sense that people were praying. It was encouraging for sure! I had a Bible study with a group of the guys (which was okay) but then afterwards one of the guys stayed, and asked me a bunch of questions about what he was reading in the Bible. He’s an astute kid and he’s reading through the Old Testament. So I was scrambling a bit to come up with answers to his questions and preserve my “Youth Pastors Know All” status (Yea, yea I know…that ship sailed a long time ago, but still…I try). It was fun though. We had a good conversation about what’s happening spiritually in his life and how important it is to make that heart connection with God and not just a surface “change my actions and make everyone happy” decision. We prayed together and it was a good moment. The pastor at the home actually mentioned him later too in a conversation, and said that he’d noticed a growing passion in this young guy and that he’s been a real help to him (the pastor). I’ll write more another day about this guy (his name is Ernesto) but for now, please pray for him.

I also found out a bit more about Jose Miguel (the fellow who left). The pastor was telling me that everything seemed fine and that there was no indication that he had plans to leave. He thinks something may have happened with one of the other guys and in a moment of frustration, Jose Miguel gave into the temptation and left. It’s sad really. The problem is, when he left, he stole some things from some of the other guys (which is fairly common here…the guy leaving needs money). Unfortunately, that makes it very difficult for the guy who left to come back. Not only do they have to face whatever consequence or punishment there might be from the staff, he has to face the boys he stole from. So…that makes it a bit unlikely that Jose Miguel will be back any time soon. But please pray for him. I keep thinking that God’s not finished with him yet and despite everything, he may still decide to return to the home.

And…I still have to deal with the situation with the guys in my house and the fellows who decided it was a good idea to put up posters of naked women on their wall. =) Yep…it’s bound to be an interesting evening. Feel free to pray about that as well.

But some good news. I may have found a house for the new home. It’s a bit more than I had planned to pay, but the flip side is that it’s worth a lot more than what they’re asking. I’m not sure if I’ve explained this before, but my plan is to get a house with something we call “Anticredico” here. Basically you pay a portion of the value of the house and then have use of the property for a year or two (depending on your contract with the owner). When the contract is fulfilled and the time is up, you get all your initial money back. So you have use of the house while the owner has use of your money. It’s a very common legal practice here. So far I’ve been looking for houses in the $10,000 to $15,000 range, but unfortunately they’ve all been too small or in bad neighborhoods. This house is actually $20,000 but should probably be closer to $30,000 or $35,000. It’s a bit farther out from the centre of town which is why it’s a bit cheaper I think. But wow…is it nice! Just what we’re looking for. There are other people interested as well, however. So please pray that the owner finds favour with the gringo!! And also that the extra money we need will come in.

On that note, as well…thanks so much to those of you who have committed to sponsoring one of the guys this year. We’re about at the halfway mark with having funds for all the guys for this first year. I’m going to put together a letter with pictures and a bit of a testimony of each of the guys, so you’ll better know who they are…but if you feel that God is leading you to sponsor one of the guys, it’d be great to hear from you. =) We need to start paying for classes in February and classes start the beginning of March, so time is becoming a bit of a factor. Please pray for these guys as well. I can sense that there’s definitely a spiritual battle happening in some of their lives right now. I’m sure it’s related to this new step they’ll be taking, and it’d be good for them to know that people are praying for them.

I’m having lunch tomorrow with the fellow I mentioned yesterday, Julio. Please pray that it goes well and that I have wisdom in what I say. I’m not really sure what the answers are for him right now, so I need some direction. But I’m looking forward to reconnecting more with him. He’s a great kid.

I’m in an internet café right now and there’s another gringo having a LOUD conversation with someone over the internet. It’s kind of entertaining. Not sure he realizes that he’s including everyone in the building…

Lots of prayer requests here. Thanks for praying! It’s definitely needed. Corina’s letter is below…  Next time I’ll tell you about my latest “nearly getting killed on a bus” story. It’s kind of funny….

Miss you all. Don’t miss the -50 C.

Luego,

Ken

Letter from Corina Clements with the ministry “El Jordan”…

Well… “Christmas on the Streets” is gone for another year!!! We hope and pray that the seeds planted will grow and give fruit in the future… I had a phone call from someone who took the Christmas meal into jail to a group of 120 prisoners. They had the opportunity to present the gospel of Christ’s love and sacrifice… and twenty people said that they believed that message for the first time… Pray for these and others who received a physical demonstration of God’s love in a special meal and gift, combined with hearing of God’s saving gift to us…

We’ve had several days to just sit back… sleep…eat… and do NOTHING!!! …a needed and special treat after so much activity…. Let me take you through the last couple weeks…

Monday, December 10^th, two weeks before our “big day”, we concentrated “full time” on the preps for “Christmas on the Streets”… Eight HUGE bags of “puffed corn” arrived… I mean HUGE!!! Each bag is at least 2 meters HIGH and about 80 or 90 cms across… It’s cheaper buying in bulk… and then we rebag it into 9000 little bags – two each for every Christmas gift bag… That, and gift wrapping the 4500 gifts for the Christmas bags are our main jobs that first week… plus… getting gifts together for the ladies who study the Bible with me in jail… and for the men at two rehabilitation centers we always remember at Christmas time… In addition to that, we had our “Christmas” for our students and their children… (another 100+ gifts)…. For most of them, the gifts they get here are the only ones they’ll get…

Anyhow… There are people in charge of different areas and my job is just making sure everyone has what they need to work… bags… tape… wrapping paper… gifts… etc, etc, etc… and working on organizing the numbers, orders and timing for Christmas day (here the 24^th).

Everything went really smoothly… we were ready to put the gift bags together on Monday the 17^th… Hmmm… imagine… 4500 bags… 4500 tracts or booklets… 4500 wrapped gifts… 4500 each of two kinds of puffed corn… 9000 lollipops… 27,000 pieces of gum… and 45,000 candies… and 4500 knots! That’s what it takes to make up 4500 gift bags!

We probably had 60 people come to help make up the bags the first afternoon… There were 7 kids between 6 and 8 years old that were too small to help in the assembly line… I rolled my eyes wondering how was I going to keep them “entertained”, working all afternoon??? I got out the 4000+ disposable plates and set the kids up around our patio table… The plates stick together, and there is NO time on the 24^th to be picking them apart… so we cut strips of paper to put between each plate… The kids were incredible… I was so proud of them… I thought they’d lose their interest after a couple hundred plates each… but they finished ALL the plates!!!! Maybe it was the prize I promised them if they worked well!!!! (I took them to eat ice cream around the corner after!)

We finished half of the bags that first afternoon… and finished everything the next day… Then the bags have to be divided up according to the “orders” for Christmas… for example… 30 at 12:30 p.m. for Gloria to take to Maximum Security. 120 at 1 p.m. for Iver to take to a group in regular jail… 40 at 1 p.m. for here… and another 40 at 1 p.m. for there… etc… To further complicate matters, some of the places (like jail and some areas on the streets) are mainly adults… other places are mainly children… others are families – so we try and send gifts and tracts that are appropriate… Hmm… I’m glad I’m not in charge of arranging all of that!!!!

Amazingly, we had to tell people to quit coming to help!!!! …to only come in the mornings from Wednesday to Saturday because we were so ahead of schedule… We borrowed trucks to bring the industrial ovens (12), pots, gas tanks (23) and freezers (3)… All the plastic containers for the food and pans for the ovens had to be scrubbed and washed… The spoons (cutlery) put with the serviettes… juice packets divided according to the different places we were going to…

150 chickens were delivered on Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning… to be cut up and spiced before going into the freezers… a total of 450 chickens… We had a system down and I’ve never seen it go so well… We had a couple ladies come to cook… the first day we had chicken feet soup… hmm… I happened to get a bowl with THREE feet in it… Oh dear!!! The next day they got out the barbeque and made heart and gizzard shish kabobs which I enjoyed better than chewing on the feet!!!

Of course… there were a few little snags along the way…

“We have a problem… we miscounted and we’re lacking 300 gifts…”

“Corina… that freezer that we borrowed isn’t freezing… the 150 chickens haven’t frozen at all!!!” (Pretty serious when it is terribly hot and it’s only 7 in the morning… and we have another 150 chickens we have to put into the freezer!!!)

They say if your kids are really quiet… beware!!! …well, with everything sailing so smoothly for Christmas, could it last? Well… we had a bit of problem with the pork… We ordered “at least 850 kilos” of pork from the boys’ home… more wouldn’t be a problem because I knew there was money to pay for it… and since pork is so important for Christmas here in Bolivia, I wanted everyone to have a nice piece… The meat was to be delivered at noon… helpers were supposed to come at 2 to help spice it etc.. The meat was supposed to arrive cold – “almost frozen”… so there wasn’t supposed to be a problem with the timing… Well… 1080 kilos of pork arrived… at 11 in the morning… and it wasn’t very cold!!! There wasn’t anybody at El Jordan… the people delivering the meat were afraid it might go bad in the plastic bins with the heat… SO… they dumped it out on tarps… in El Jordan’s living room… under the fans going full blast… with ice on top of it… in hopes it would keep okay until we got there… Hmm…. My sister, nephew and I arrived, with more ice, at about 1… by then, bloody water had spread everywhere… and under everything!!! …under the door and onto the patio… into the rice… under our plates… under the gas tanks… everywhere… Of course when we REALLY needed 60 people to help us they weren’t there… It was a crazy hour or two… trying to keep everything under control until people starting arriving to help… 

From there on, things didn’t stop until “Christmas” was over… Literally, there was a ton of pork to be washed, cut and spiced… 30 big stalks of bananas to be separated, cut and counted… 875 pounds of potatoes to be counted… and peeled… washed and cut… and counted again… Even my nephews were peeling potatoes!!! 8 teenagers from the boys home work 12 and a half hours STRAIGHT with no stopping to prepare our 1000 pounds of rice…

Words can’t describe what it is like to see so many people coming together… working… and making an incredible feat possible… So many people worked SO hard… One of our newest volunteers, a Mennonite lady, really wanted to help… but because she has to tend to her family, she and her teenage daughter came from 11 p.m. until dawn!!! My sister was another one who was up all night, helping with the potatoes… the meat… and so much more… For roasting the pork and chicken, Eulogio and Abraham (our volunteers) always have boys – who have been on the streets or are still on the streets – that show up to help… They work all night long as well…

With so many volunteers working such long hours… we try to get people to donate refreshments… I got a phone call from one restaurant who we understood was going to bring us lunch on Monday for our volunteers… that “Sorry, we can’t bring any food… but could you come right away? There are four bags of duck innards in our freezer… We need the space… could you pick it up right away?” Sigh. I tried to be thankful as I drove to pick it up… I had flashbacks of the cow stomachs, livers and hearts that were donated for “Christmas on the Streets” years ago… I imagined duck heads, feet and everything… in the end it was all gizzards and necks… so it wasn’t that bad…

Medin, our honorary volunteer, that comes to El Jordan once a year to make cookie plates for the people who locally support our center, left cookie dough in our freezer… so those got made up at about three in the morning on the 24^th… They were a special treat! Our pizza man from around the corner came through and brought over 10 pizzas for our helpers on the 24^th… So everything works out in the end…

At noon, the assembly line is set up… and the food is served… Our first order goes out at 12:30… By one, 450 plates go out… at 1:30 – 358; 2… 650; 2:30 – 400; 3:00 – 650; 3:30 – 350; 4:00 – 410; 4:30 – 340… The students come and pick up for their families between 12 and 2… that is another 300 plates… …so in 4 hours, 4500 + plates are served and sent out into almost 100 parts of the city… Amazing… but I think you have to see it to really imagine it…

Our priority, as the name “Christmas on the Streets” suggests, is to the people who live on the streets… Over the years we have broadened that to include “extreme poor”… another group in the city who are often overlooked… and who usually expect, nor hope for anything for Christmas… They are another group of people who can use a good plate of food… and whose hearts might be touched by this display of love – and knowledge that there is a God who loves and cares for them… We say “extreme”… not to keep up with the TV shows in the north, but because there are “poor” people… and then there are people whose poverty is truly extreme… We desire to encourage churches to look beyond their comfort zone and reach out to the many, many needy people surrounding them… Isn’t that what Christ did - even when others were appalled? I think the great response locally to “Christmas on the Streets” – in donations and participation – is evidence that those attitudes are developing in our churches…

I always go out to an area on the streets that no one else takes – but at the very end, when I’m sure everything has ended well… This year, I don’t know how, we ran out of chicken and potatoes early… and we had pork, rice and meat left over… By this time there were only maybe 20 of us left at El Jordan… I shut off the music so everyone would listen to me… “Does anyone know of anyone is very poor who you could take some food to?”

“I know a physically handicapped home near my house – there are about 23 people there… They don’t have anything… I could take there!” “I had wanted to take to a ver poor home for old folks, but I was told there wasn’t going to be enough food… I could take some there!!!” “I know two families who are extremely poor.” “I know some people who are extremely poor…” “I can take some to the mentally handicapped home nearby…” “I can take to where we took Christmas on the Streets last year… I wasn’t going to because it was too late to put in my order… but now I can!” …and so at last minute… we divided up the food that was left… I sent some people in taxis… Marco took others… and with everyone helping out, we were able to get the extra food to people who really needed it… Some of the comments that came back from these last minute options, “I thought you had forgotten about us!!!” “We weren’t going to have anything for Christmas!!” “Thank you so much!”

My group arrived late to “our” spot on the streets… Only two girls were still waiting for us… the rest had given up and left… …but it wasn’t long before they started coming back again… A couple prostitutes looked on from afar but then turned to leave. I recognized “Paola” (not our student), who had expressed interest in coming to El Jordan and getting out of that lifestyle, so I followed them… Their “boss” wouldn’t let them come… but they showed me where they’d be… and I promised to take them something afterwards… We pray that “Christmas on the Streets” would break down barriers and fears that some of the kids have… so that they’ll feel free to come to El Jordan to look for help… Other people we saw on the streets that night… “Jorge” – whose older brother and sister both have died on the streets… He is only about 15… but has been on the streets for at least 9 years… “Lorena” – Oliver’s mom… “Gordito” – Doña Gorda’s son… and over 50 others… I asked them if they knew why we brought them food and gifts… (because its Christmas… because we celebrate Jesus’ birth)… then I asked if they thought God could love them if they were on the streets, sniffing glue, stealing etc… I looked around… With sad, empty eyes… they shook their heads “no”… In their own eyes, they are rejects… unlovables… Unfortunately, society and even churches, often confirm rather than dispel their suspicions. God DOES love them!!! He doesn’t like what they do… but that doesn’t change His love for them… We were able to talk to them a bit… and also invite them to El Jordan…

From there… a couple of us continued on to a few families on the outskirts of the city… We arrived to one place, a mud shack with a teeny, tiny window… … it looked as if no one was home… I called out the boys names… nothing… After a few more yells, a neighbor came out and confirmed… “No one is home… they all went out!” I turned to go… when I heard a child’s desperate little voice from inside the darkened shack… “Tía??? (Auntie??? That is what these kids call me) Tía??? Is that you??? Don’t go away!!! Please don’t go away! Tía??? Are you leaving???” It just about made me cry… They were locked in their dark room, they couldn’t get out… nor could I get in… but they were afraid that I was going to leave…

Fortunately, a neighbor lady had the key to unlock the door… Out tumbled two little boys… Their older brothers (10 and 12 years old) were out “working”… Their mom… who knows where she is (she works on the streets)… They were alone with their baby sister… Sigh… (This is the same family who a couple Christmas’ ago, the mom had locked her kids in the room because she thought she’d just be a couple hours at a doctors’ appointment… but then ended up in the hospital… She had the keys… and didn’t know who could help her…. In the middle of Christmas preparations, I had to follow her directions to find the little house and bring the kids home with me… The neighbors had already cut the chain off the door and let the kids out… but that is another story.)

We had one more stop to make before heading home… Tired out… but satisfied… with a joy that comes from giving… instead of receiving… I have received so much… how can I not share with others?

Thanks to all of you who gave who made this “Christmas on the Streets” possible… In the end, we were able to share “Christmas” with about 4650 people… Thanks…

We trust your Christmas was special as well… and that in this New Year, God would continue to guide and use each one of us…You might not have the chance to reach out to a child on the streets… or a prostitute that wants to change… or people in “extreme poverty”… but where ever we are, there are always people who need a touch of Christ’s love… they might have everything under the sun… but still be the poorest, emptiest person around…

May God bless you richly…

Lots of love,

Corina (for Marco too)

A comment from Ken…

The last picture is of Corina with a baby born on the streets.  The little girls is two weeks old.

Sorry I haven’t been around much lately. There are reasons…none of which I’m going to get into right now. I’ll write more soon. This note is just to ask you to pray about some things. It’s been a rough couple of weeks, culminating in a rough day today.

I’ve been feeling like things are spiraling downwards a bit. Let me start by saying that I’m tired and that never helps. But in the last couple of weeks a couple of guys I was working with up and left unexpectedly. And now I just got a phone call from the home asking if one of the guys, Jose Miguel, had contacted me, because he left this morning. I just had a great Bible study with him last night and was telling Isabel over lunch, that God has really been transforming this kid’s life. And now…. He was one of the few guys who seemed to be doing well. I know that the story isn’t over and that things could still be fine. I don’t know why he left or what his plans are. But it’s still frustrating and sad.

There have just been a series of events that have discouraged me recently. Some of the older guys are living in a little one room trailer we have at the home and when I went in to see them on Sunday, they had a big poster of a half-naked girl on the wall (I’m not sure how that passed inspection at the home). These are guys that know better, but just don’t seem to care right now. I’m also worried about the guys living with me. Especially the one guy. He’s not doing anything wrong exactly, but it feels like he’s starting to slip away and I’m not exactly sure what to do.

At some point you start to question the reality of what you’re accomplishing here. It just feels like all the steps forward I’ve taken in the past year or so, haven’t resulted in anything all that tangible.

Don’t get me wrong. Even as I write this, I recognize that it’s not really true. I understand that God is still faithful and that good things have and will continue to happen. I’m just telling you how I feel… =)

But it’s true that many of these guys have never really had an encounter with Christ. They make a “commitment” (which I’m sure is sincere for many of them…I just question what they actually understand about it) and then learn how to act. For many of them, there continue to be issues and struggles under the surface that they don’t understand or know how to deal with. So unless their faith is being propped up by some outside force…or when that outside force isn’t sufficient…they fall hard. And trust me…you never quite know when that’s coming. As today is a good example of…

So, if you can pray for them…and for me…it would be appreciated.

Sunday we also had a visitor who I hadn’t seen in awhile. A young guy named Julio. He left the home about a year and a half ago, after being there for nearly six years. He left very unexpectedly as well. I hadn’t seen him since (although he’s in the video I made, so I think about him whenever I watch it and wonder how he’s doing). On Sunday this kid came up and shook my hand and said hello. We’ve had a lot of new guys lately, so I didn’t realize at first who it was. When I recognized him, I started laughing and gave him a big hug. He was a kid I really liked a lot.

Later that night as I was about to leave, we went out to my truck and talked for a bit. He was just at the home to visit and pick up his “papers” that he needed to get his ID card. I asked him about his life and how he was doing. It was painful to hear. He’s living with his girlfriend and her family…who he doesn’t like (the girlfriend and the family). He wants to leave, but doesn’t know where to go. He talked about his mom who left to work in another city and hasn’t tried to contact him. He doesn’t know where she is. As he told me this, I was watching him and you could see the pain in his eyes.

Eventually in the conversation, I asked him how old he was now. Sixteen. He left us when he was fourteen. I’d forgotten he was still so young. What a sad existence for that age. I tried to encourage him that he should come back to the home. I also told him that he wasn’t alone…that I would be there to help him. We’re going to get together on Thursday for lunch to talk some more. So please pray for him as well.

The only other prayer request I have is to find a house for the new home. I’ve been looking and nothing has come up that suites us. I don’t want to settle for something that doesn’t really serve our needs, but time is becoming an issue and I’m definitely feeling the pressure. Please pray that God directs us to the place He has for us, and that I can have peace and patience until then! =)

Sorry this letter is a bit mellow and down. But such is life some days.  Thanks for praying. I appreciate it. I’ll get back to you soon on how things are going.

One encouraging note is that I hear it’s freaking cold in Saskatchewan right now. Ha.

So I had my second swing at Christmas yesterday. Or at least the presents part of Christmas. My box of Christmas cheer from the family arrived yesterday. I was happy…or at least I was happy once I eventually got the box. Let me share with you this experience…

Let me start by saying that yesterday was probably the hottest day we’ve had so far here. It was HOT! The kind of hot that makes the paint peel on your truck and causes your sunglasses to leave a permanent scar on your nose when you put them on after they’ve been sitting on the dashboard all morning. The kind of hot that makes you a believer in global warming.

My friend Corina told me that the notice that I’d been waiting for had arrived (my mail goes to her house). A box from Canada! Along with a scattering of Christmas cards as well. I could pick it all up at 3 PM when she had a break in some meetings. You could say I was excited I guess…

After picking up the notice that I’d need to get my box, I was racing off to the post office…in rush hour traffic…which is to say I was mostly sitting in unmoving traffic and honking my horn. For some reason, the post office was built a block off the main plaza in downtown. That probably made sense twenty years ago…not so much now. By the time I got downtown and parked, I was racing the clock. I rushed into the office where the packages from overseas are kept…and then helped a nice lady and man search for my box for half an hour in the midst of stacked and kind of shifting piles of packages.

Eventually I found the one with my loving mother’s handwriting…and discovered that, to my dismay, she’d put the value of the contents of the packing slip. We’d talked about that. It meant that I was going to be paying some tax. A lot of tax as it turned out… $50 on a $100 box.

Let’s just leave that alone, and go to the next part of the story.

You can’t pay the taxes at the post office. You have to pay them at a nearby bank. This bank had a name that sounded different from the way it was written. That caused some confusion. I was racing around looking for a building that didn’t actually exist. Although many people were helpful in giving me directions to this non-existent building. Even the taxi driver I hired, who drove me around for twenty minutes looking for the place.

After forty minutes…running 15 blocks…a twenty minute cab ride to nowhere…I was back at the post office trying to get better directions. The man looked at me in confusion and asked me what the heck I’d been doing for the past hour. Looking for the bank, I replied. It’s two blocks away, he said…how hard is that?

Harder than you’d think obviously!

I made it to the bank and back to the post office in record time. And yes…it was only two blocks away. I thought about waiting until I got home to open my gifts…but only for about 10 seconds. Then I ripped into that baby…actually while I was still driving. Mom didn’t skimp on packing tape, that’s for sure. If I’d had an accident, it would have been her fault.

In the end, my truck looked like our living room at home on Christmas morning. Wrapping paper everywhere! =) My family was good to me!! It helps living on another continent. I’m the proud owner of some decent Saskatchewan Roughrider merchandise and a new jacket that I’m still waiting for it to be cold enough to wear. I have it in my truck just in case. My sister also gave me a three pack of some good Canadian winter socks…which there might be one day in July (our winter) that’ll be cold enough to wear them. But that’s okay…I can wear one pair in the morning, one pair in the afternoon and one pair in the night. I showed them to Isabel and she started laughing and said, “They really don’t understand where you live do they?”

That’s okay Natasha! I like them!!

Anyhow…that was Christmas for me. It came earlier than last year at any rate, when the box showed up in April…

I’m sitting in a little outdoor café that I come to a lot to make use of the free wireless internet they provide. It’s beautiful and sunny today, but I have to say that the dumb car alarm that keeps going off every 30 seconds nearby is getting to be a bit much. I’m not sure what the problem is, but it’s been doing that for the past half hour or so. I realize I live in the land of car alarms, and most days that’s fine. Today however….

Yep…there it goes again…

I was here the other day, and it seems I made some friends (and at least one enemy). As I was working on my computer and eating lunch, I noticed five little shoe-shiner guys come into the deck area. They were looking to shine shoes of the people in the restaurant. I would have been happy to have my shoes shined, but I wasn’t wearing shinable shoes. I also didn’t have any change or coins on me or I would have given them something. So I smiled at them and told them sorry but no.

For the rest of the afternoon, I kept seeing them on the corner across the street. It seemed to be home base. They’d disappear for awhile, and then show up there again…then disappear…then come back. I decided that, even if I didn’t have shoes to shine, I should do something to help them out. So I grabbed the waiter and ordered five french fries to go. I think the waiter thought I was a bit crazy, but whatever. The fries showed up, and I ran them across the street and gave them to the guys.

So yea…that was a nice thing. I had the warm fuzzies and all. Of course it didn’t last. A bit later another fellow came up to my table. He was older and I think mentally handicapped. He didn’t look like he was a street person, and I found out later that he’s well known in the area and that he actually has a fairly well-off family. Anyhow, I was distracted and honestly…I didn’t have any change. So I just politely said no to his request for money, and went back to work.

Well…did I ever annoy him! He proceeded to go to every table and, as a part of his request for money, he also preached a little mini-sermon on how terrible the gringo in the back was. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I could see him motioning to me and pointing. Then when he finally left the restaurant he stopped again on the street and proceed to (loudly) tell me again what a horrible person I was (I may have even been sworn at I think…). Everyone in the restaurant started laughing (I was laughing too…it was kind of funny) and I just gave them a “what can you do” look.

You can’t keep everyone happy all the time.

I’m actually back in that same restaurant today, and my little buddies just finished joining me for another round of papa fritas. I have a feeling this may become a weekly thing. But that’s okay. I’m not sure how the restaurant feels about it exactly, but they’ll get over it. I also need to find a better place to buy the french fries. They’re not exactly cheap here.

At any rate, I found out today that they’re five brothers ranging from age 5 to age 12. At least that’s what they told me. For sure three of them are brothers…I can see the resemblance. I’m not as sure about the other two. They say they live with their parents (or at least mom) but come down here everyday to work (shine shoes). They’re very cute little guys…especially the youngest. He fell off his chair and was a bit upset about it. So I stuck my head under the table and asked if he was okay or if he was going to die. That got a laugh (that’s funny to the guys at the home too for some reason). Right now the five of them are “helping” a Mitsubishi SUV parallel park in front of the restaurant. Maybe they’ll get lucky and the driver will give them a Boliviano (20 cents or so). It makes you smile, but it’s also makes you sad. Little guys like that shouldn’t be out here “working” trying to earn enough for supper. Maybe for now they’re going back their house to sleep at night, but it won’t be long before they just stay on the streets. I’ve heard the same story a hundred times. So please pray for them. The youngest is Fernando and the middle one is Christian. The other three had unpronounceable names from my perspective, but God knows who you’re talking about….

So now the digging out starts…

At least for my neighbors anyhow. My house sits a bit higher than the rest of the houses around me, so I was spared the wave of mud and “other stuff” that washed through the homes of most of the people around me on Tuesday.

It started in the morning with a fairly typical tropical rain. It was heavy for sure…but that’s not unusual here. Generally it’ll rain heavy for a bit, then lighten up a bit…and then repeat that process off and on. But this time it didn’t stop. I was in my bedroom when Rudy yelled at me to come outside. I couldn’t believe what I saw when I stepped out of the house. Where the street in front of my house had once been, there was now a rushing river. I threw on a rain coat and waded out into the water to see what was happening, and I have to say it was one of the crazier things I’ve seen!

The water was over my knees and moving so quickly that it was hard to stand up. My property was an island in the midst of all the water. My neighbors had tried to build dams to stop the water from going into their yards and houses, but most weren’t very successful. Fortunately houses here are mostly cement and brick, so while it’s a difficult process, cleaning up is possible without too much damage.

After awhile Rudy came out with me to survey the situation. Of course we ended up having a water fight and got soaked. This was to the great amusement of my neighbors who I think are pretty convinced that the gringo is a little “off” but still a good source of entertainment. I’ll just pretend I don’t live in a farming community with pigs and cows and such and that the water was probably only two thirds rain.

I went into town later and saw that the flooding had been even worse in some of the areas around me in El Torno. That night it was even on the Santa Cruz news. It’s strange though…last year we had a record amount of rain (it was an El Nina year) and yet this never happened in my neighborhood. In January last year, a small creek near me became a raging river during one rainstorm and the riverbanks collapsed and took four houses with it (similar to this picture from Tuesday of another normally dry riverbed nearby). They’ve been doing a lot of work to fix the problem of water drainage around me since then, but somehow that seems to have resulted in my street flooding. Hmmm….

The funniest moment came when I was standing on my deck after everything, video taping the storm…and Rudy came barreling around the corner right into the view of the camera in only his underwear (he’d hung his wet shorts and shirt on our clothesline around the corner of the house). Seeing the camera he did a quick u-turn and with a yell that I’m sure once again attracted the attention of all our neighbors, went barreling back around the corner. He also spent a significant amount of time rescuing a number of bugs and beetles who were clinging to the long grass and bushes above the water, making the statement that “they want to live too…”.

Some people have a much more developed sense of compassion and goodwill than I do…

Most of the guys are off to summer camp this week in a small town up in the moutains. I think we took around 65 of our girls and guys up to the camp on Monday. Two busses and my truck were pretty packed. This is the second year we’ve done this. For the first-timers, it’s fairly intimidating. Many of our guys don’t do well with new situations or meeting new people. But the guys who went last year loved it. Even the guys I wouldn’t have expected to like it. I remember the day the camp started last year and feeling bad for some of the guys…they were so angry that they had to be there. I couldn’t figure out what to do to help. I was driving up to Cochabamba with three of my friends who were visiting last Christmas, so I raided our junk food stash for the trip and gave away all our Oreo’s… =)

After camp though, the guys had great stories of what God had done in their lives. Andres told me later that it was the first time he’d ever experienced God’s peace in his life. So I’m praying for (and expecting) good experiences for the guys this year too. You can pray for them…especially Americo and Jose Manuel. They’re two of the first-timers I mentioned, and they were having a hard time when I left. Americo had decided he was going to go to the younger kids camp that’s hosted near our home every year, even though he’s too old. It’s easier and less intimidating. But I told him that I thought he was old enough to start trying things even if he was afraid….that his fears shouldn’t control or dictate his actions. A few days later he came to me and said that he’d decided to go to the older kids camp. =) I helped him pack the night before (wow there’s some serious thought that needs to go into what clothes to take and how to organize them!) and then prayed with him. I really love that kid. He’s got such a great heart and he tries so hard. Even though this experience was tough for him, he decided to do it anyhow. I’m sure he’ll have a good time. I asked one of the older guys to keep an eye out for him, and from what I saw, that guy took me seriously. =) Every time I saw Americo, Dardo was right there with him making sure he was okay….

So there you go. I’m taking advantage of the week off so I’m heading up to Cochabamba today, to visit my friend Amy who I worked with when I first came down to Bolivia. She’s back here in Bolivia for the next couple of years to work at the drop-in centre where I used to work as well. It’ll be fun to see her and catch up….and eat at all my favourite Cochabamba restaurants!

Welcome to the blog by the way. It’s only been in the making for two and a half years or so. =) My plan is to try and update this on a regular basis. I’ll still send out my e-mail updates every once in a while, but if you want to stay current on the craziness…come back and check this out. There are always lots of prayer requests or funny experiences that don’t make it into the updates, that I hope to throw up here. I’ve also posted all my old update letters so if you’re interested in a little history, check them out too. I might even post a couple of pictures of the girlfriend…that should generate some traffic here eh? =)

Have a great day everyone! Thanks for praying!