Things once again have the potential to flare up politically here. In response to the trashing and occupation of a number of government offices here in Santa Cruz a couple of weeks ago, supporters of our president, Evo Morales, are marching towards the city. They’re coming from two different directions, the north and also the southwest (for those of you familiar with Bolivia, that group is now in El Torno, where I used to live). The group coming in from El Torno numbers around 1500 while the group in the north is much larger (in the thousands). Both these groups are armed and…not very happy.

Last week, all of the presidents of the various South American countries met to discuss the situation here. They declared their support for Evo, but also put a caveat on that support. They said that he had to call a halt to these marches and not allow them to enter the city. So far, that has not happened. The leaders of the Departmentos (provinces) here in Bolivia are meeting and talking right now, and reports are positive with regards to those meetings. But so far, these groups continue to move towards the city. It’s expected that they will arrive sometime on Monday.

As of today, the US government has pulled out all non-essential personal from Bolivia, including DEA officials, the Peace Corp and embassy staff. As well, some evangelical missions have begun to evacuate their people. But bear in mind that there are still a number of missions and ministries that continue to work here, and that so far have not made any decisions regarding whether to leave or not. On a more positive note, both the Mormons and JW’s pulled out as well. =)

It’s difficult to say exactly what the future holds. There’s much potential for peace…and much potential for conflict. I guess we would just ask you to continue to pray. There’s not much else we can do. Marcee and I have evacuation plans in place, but to be honest, it will take a lot for me to decide to leave. I’ve already told the boys that we’re in this together. I want them to know that I’m not about to abandon them.

For those of you who have plans to visit Bolivia in the coming months, I would ask you to just sit back and be calm for the time being. By all means pray, but also understand that this could calm down and be over very quickly. There’s no sense getting worked up over something that may not, in the end, be very big.

If the people here in Santa Cruz are any indication, there’s nothing to fear. People seem calm and life is continuing as normal. This weekend, Santa Cruz is hosting “ExpoCruz” an annual business fair (very similar to Agribition). It’s a huge deal for the city. One of our friends made the joke that ExpoCruz is all anyone is really concerned about right now. If the news is any judge, that’s true. That’s mostly what everyone is talking about. I’m planning to go anyhow… =)

So please keep praying, and I’ll try to keep you updated as much as possible.

Thanks everyone!