Let’s just say, shall we, that I’m not always the best boyfriend in the world. I’m easily distracted. Sometimes I get caught up in whatever’s happening in the moment and I forget to call when I said I would. I have a tendency to forget important dates…

But today is Valentine’s Day and I baked my girlfriend cookies. Say what you will…and I’m sure you all will…but I’m proud of the accomplishment. They were only sugar cookies…and the icing leaves a bit to be desired… I think it’s lacking a bit of sugar. And somehow the icing turned out a bit brighter pink than I had planned. A lot “brighter pink” actually…in the range of fuschia. At least what I understand fuschia to be….

The funny thing was the timing of it. I did, in fact, have all afternoon to bake said cookies…but I chose not to. For reasons I’ll not get into, but that mostly involved laziness. I figured I’d come back from the home in lots of time to whip something up. Of course I got back late but decided to do it anyhow. And then half way through the process realized we had no flour. Kind of important that. So at 10:30 PM I was driving around looking for a store that was still open that sold flour. This isn’t Canada…there aren’t exactly late night supermarkets open (at least where I live). Eventually I found some…after a very funny conversation with three ladies in the store where I tried to describe what I was looking for…

“You know…white stuff that you use to make bread. It’s very common!”

“Uh…milk?”

“No no…it’s not liquid. But it’s…white…”

“Salt?”

“SALT? Come on…” Okay…I didn’t say that last part, but I was thinking it. How could you pick salt over flour when you’re talking about making bread? Seriously.

Eventually someone guessed flour and we were good to go. I knew the word for flour, but I had a bit of a brain freeze in the moment. It happens to me a lot. I speak amazing Spanish when I’m laying in bed at night practicing in my head. Reality is a bit more of a challenge some days.

Anyhow…long story short (more or less) I managed to go to bed at around 2:30 AM. But my girlfriend has sugar cookies for Valentine’s Day and that’s what counts. Of course, lots of times Bolivians don’t like North American desserts very much. So…I may end up eating them myself. But I think I can live with that possibility…

It’s been a busy week. As I said, our two guys who were in the military this past year, are home now. So I’ve been meeting with them about what’s going to happen now with the new place. Plus I guess a lot of other things just seemed to come up during the week. But it was all good. And the really great news is that all three of the guys who took the exam to enter university, passed. That’s amazing news. Last year there was only about a 40% pass rate. So we celebrated at the home with a special supper. I was proud of the guys. They worked hard.

The search for a house continues. Thanks for praying with me about this. I know God has a plan, but it’s difficult some days to have patience. I know the guys are anxious too. So please continue to pray about that. Not just that we find a place, but also that we’ll be able to trust God and be at peace through the process.

I also have to help Julio Cesar find a room to rent for this year. I talked to my friend Corina today about how to do that. It’s a bit…complicated shall we say. First we go to the school where he wants to study. Then we find a bus that passes nearby and follow it out past the fourth ring (where places will be cheaper) and find a neighborhood that seems promising. Then we just walk around until we find a place that has a notice on their front gate that they want to rent a room. It seems a little…random to me. But…that’s how it works here. Some prayer about this would be appreciated as well.

That about covers it I guess. Please continue praying for the guys who live with me as well. The one guy, especially, is dealing with some fairly intense things and could use your prayers. Also, if you could please pray for my relationships with the staff at the home. I have a meeting with the social workers tomorrow (Friday) afternoon that might not be completely pleasant. I definitely need wisdom and patience…

On a final and completely random note…hopefully on Sunday I’ll be off to the final game in a local soccer tournament we’ve been having here in Bolivia. You can read about my first soccer game experience HERE.  My team made it to this last game…so here’s hoping! My girlfriend does NOT feel the same. Her team got bounced a couple of weeks ago. So sad really… =) I’ll write more about that game tomorrow if you’re interested. It was one of the funnier moments I’ve had here. Let’s just say it involved police barricades…sitting in the opposing teams stands…cheerleaders who didn’t do much cheering…but no one seemed to care…and my gringo butt hanging out of a bus and me thinking that my final moments had finally arrived…

So stay tuned.

Thanks for praying everyone!

My co-worker Marcee is back after a two month visit home to Canada. It’s very good to have her back…she makes the BEST squares and cakes for our weekly Bible study. I’ve missed them…uh…her. =) Actually it is great to have her home. We missed her lots and it’s fun to have someone else to talk to in English. She’s always got great insights and things to share at the prayer meeting thing we do too…I’d forgotten how much I appreciate what she says.

Anyhow…this is just a quick note to let you know a couple of things. I’ll start with the grumpy news and end with the good stuff. Grumpy…we lost the house we were looking at. Long story short, the owner is out of country and can’t get back anytime soon. So he’s getting friends of his to move in for the next year until he comes back. He has to be here to sign the contract with, so if he’s not…nothing can happen. So the search continues… Please pray! We really need to find something. Isabel and I are off to look at some other places tonight. But now it’s going to be harder…this last place was amazing and it’s hard to not compare other options to that.

But good news…or at least encouraging news…or at least encouraging. It’s not really news… I had a couple of great days with some of the guys. I’ve mentioned before, the three older guys who live in a small room on the edge of the property of the home. I’ve been a bit worried about two of them…they just seemed more and more distant lately. So Friday night I took pop and cookies and we had a “fiesta” in their room. It was a great time to just hang out with them and reconnect. We had some good laughs.

Then on Sunday two of those guys and Ticua (one of the guys who’ll be in the new place) wrote their entrance exam for university (which is crazy hard by the way). Afterwards the three of them, four other guys who aren’t at the home anymore and myself, all got together for lunch. It was just a really fun time of hanging out away from the home. We don’t get the chance to do that much. One of the guys, Franz, has been away for a year doing his military service. Sunday was the first day we’ve seen him since last January. So that was great too.

There are still a couple of difficult situations I have to deal with this week. I can’t really get into it, but I would sure appreciate your prayers. And keep praying for the staff relationship at the three homes…mostly between the leadership and the foreign staff (North Americans). It’s difficult at times and can be a cause of stress. We all really want to feel like we’re on the same page and moving in the same direction.

Thanks for praying everyone!

PS: Oh yea…one more funny aftermath of Carnival. There are four white geese who live at the house next door to me. They are my sworn, mortal enemies. Well…at any rate, I don’t like them much. I used to have this great palm tree plant on my deck until they ate it. They also poop a lot in front of my house.

I saw them yesterday…painted all the colours of the rainbow. Victims of a gang of little kids with paint in their water guns no doubt.

I laughed and it felt good.

It’s funny how sometimes you pray things…and you’re sincere in your prayers…but somehow you don’t really expect God to answer or for things to change.

All I can say is that I’m thankful for God’s graciousness and faithfulness…

Jose Miguel came back yesterday. Of course that’s what I was praying for, but I have to admit that I kind of thought it was a longshot. But the great thing is…God’s pretty good with the longshots. =) He came back and returned all the things he’d stolen when he left. He still had to shave his head (the required punishment for leaving) and he’s going to lose this semester of school…which is sad because this is his last year. But if a boy leaves…they’re not allowed to go back to school for up to a year. Another day I’ll talk about how I feel about this…all I’ll say now is that it’s complicated, but it’s not a rule I’m very fond of.

Anyhow…when I got to the home yesterday, there he was. We talked and prayed together, and I tried to encourage him while still addressing the fact that what he did was pretty dumb. I think he gets that part. I think I mentioned that Reuben came back this week too, as did Yedi (or Jedi as I like to call him). Jedi was at the home on Tuesday to get the rest of his clothes, so I took him aside and talked to him. I asked him if things were good at his house and he said no. So I told him that I thought maybe he needed to suck it up and even though it would be hard, he needed to ask for forgiveness from the staff at the home and come back (some of the guys can get a bit prideful and don’t like admitting what they did was wrong). He didn’t say much…but I guess he was listening (it’s hard to tell with him sometimes…he’s young and easily distracted). It was good to see him back last night though. I always make sure to tell the guys how happy I am that they’re back (no matter what they did when they left)…and then I mock their shaved heads and tell them how guapo (handsome) their bald heads are. =) It usually makes them laugh. Which helps I think…

And the story doesn’t end there. There was one last guy that left, Pablo (we call him Chino). He’s one of my favourites too. He was at the home for well over a year and seemed pretty stable. But then last week he was gone. Anyhow, I was having lunch with another of the guys, Edwardo, and we were heading for the restaurant. We were talking about Chino and how sad it was that he left. All of a sudden Edwardo points and says, “Hey…there he is!” Sure enough, there was Chino with another kid standing on the corner. You have to realize…Santa Cruz is a big place (well over a million people), so the chances of randomly seeing Chino were small. But God has a plan and there’s not much you can do about it! =)

So we stopped and Edwardo went and got him. He came over to the truck and we chatted for a bit. I told him that we were all sad that he left and that I was praying for him. I gave him my cell number, so hopefully he’ll call. Please pray for him though. He’s another really good kid who shouldn’t be back on the streets…not that any of them should be of course.

One other piece of cool news. My Bible College (Briercrest) has a contest, I guess you could say, as a part of their big youth conference the end of February. Youth groups can present projects and then receive up to $8000 to help fund their idea. My friend Cheryl and her youth put in an application for me…to furnish the new home. I found out today that we’re one of the 10 finalists. Now on the weekend of YQ the kids at the conference will vote on who should get the money. Last year four different groups won. So….pray about that too! Let’s just say that I could probably use $8000! =)

Thanks again for taking the time to read this and to pray. I appreciate it! Sorry that the blog takes so much time to load some days. I’m working on fixing that….

I drove into a hole today. I’m not sure of the how’s or why’s of what happens to me on daily basis, but I really don’t plan these things. I was taking one of the guys, Andres, to his physical therapy (bad ankle) and I pulled in parallel to the wall around the property. Then I decided I should park better and so I backed up and pulled in at an angle…and my front left tire promptly dropped three feet into the ground and my bumper banged into the dirt. At first I thought it was some kind of ditch along the wall that I didn’t see. So I hopped out to take a look…

Nope…no ditch. Just a hole. And the only hole in sight for a good three or four hundred yards too. And I didn’t sort of catch it and slide into it…I drove straight in like I planned it. Which I didn’t.

Once again the four-wheel drive capabilities of my truck came in handy…

Anyhow…a couple of updates and prayer requests. Jose Miguel called me this morning. If you remember, he’s my friend who left last week. I was happy to hear from him…I think we’re going to try and get together tomorrow. It’s hard to know what to say (although don’t worry…I have a few things I plan to tell him)…and in the end, there’s not much I can do to help him right now. But please pray for that conversation. I need a lot of wisdom to know how to proceed. I want him to know that I care and that I’m not going to walk away just because he did something dumb. But at the same time…there are consequences to his actions and I can’t just start giving him money or paying for things.

Another of the guys who’ll be going into the new home, Ovando, called me this morning too. He’s living with family for the time being, and I think he’s kind of struggling a bit. He’s had a bag drug problem in the past, but he’s been clean now for quite awhile. But this is the first time he’s been on his own (away from the home) for this amount of time. He’s doing okay, but I think he was feeling a bit down today. I’m going to get together with him too tomorrow. But please pray for peace and for strength for him.

This morning three different guys showed up at the house (along with the two guys who are staying with me), so we all ended up having lunch together. It was a lot of fun. It made me excited for opening the new place. I know it’s not all going to be sunshine and flowers, but I really enjoy being able to hang out with the guys in a more “normal” environment. The guys seemed to enjoy themselves too (the fact that I bought chicken probably helped too mind you…). Anyhow, please keep praying for these guys. I think some of them feel a little bit in limbo as they wait for the future.

And finally, I really need wisdom about how to proceed with the situation of the guy who’s been staying with me. I asked him to move out yesterday…and it’s been tough. We talked more today, and I think he understands…but I’m finding it really hard. I know that he needs to make his own decisions, but I’m just not sure what’s going to happen. So if you could pray for him and for me…I’d appreciate it.

There you go. As a side note…the weather is weird today. This morning it was cold, windy and kind of rainy. Then by 10 AM it was HOT and sunny. Then it rained…and then it was sunny. Right now the rain is coming down so hard you can hardly see across the road.

One funny thing…as Andres and I were coming into the city, I could have sworn there was snow and ice on the road. For the life of me it looked like ice on the pavement and snow drifted up against the curb. It was actually some kind of foam. Even though you couldn’t see it when the road was dry, I think there was a residue of foam on the pavement left over from the thousands of cans of spray foam that were emptied over the weekend with Carnival. When it rained (and it rained hard) it caused the foam to…well, foam up (I’m at a bit of a loss for words to describe this). And it ended up covering the whole road and made drifts along the curbs. But it really looked like winter here briefly. And with my air conditioning on…it almost felt like it too…

Well…kind of…

Thanks for praying. I’ll be back tomorrow….

Carnival finished up yesterday. I thought I’d avoided the worst of it (except for the bright purple streak down the side of my truck). I wasn’t much of a target this year…I got my air conditioning fixed last September, so I could drive with my windows open (unlike last Carnival…just ask Nathan Epp who was visiting and became the unlucky target of a very accurately thrown water balloon…right in the window of my truck…square in the chest. You have to admire that really…). Plus my truck was really dirty (by plan) and so no one cared about spraying me with ink tinted water (most buses and taxis smear mud or grease all over their vehicles to protect them). Except for that one purple streak…which should wash off easily enough with the mud. So yea…I thought I was safe.

Then I pulled into the home and I saw the crowd of boys armed with water balloons…

I managed to intimidate them for about 30 seconds. Then it was pretty much over and I was wet for the rest of the night. One guy, Saipina, really deserves a mention here. I got him with a water balloon…but just one mind you. Later I was standing in front of the dorm talking to him (for like 5 minutes!). He just bided his time until one of the other guys called my name. I turned to see who and then turned back towards him…just in time to get nailed by the pail of water he had hidden around the corner. It was flawlessly executed. You have to appreciate that.

Then later I took three of the guys and two pails of water balloons for a quick drive to the nearest town for a little payback. Groups of kids (and adults) stand by the side of the road waiting for vehicles to go by (especially by speedbumps when you have to slow down)…and then they attack you. So the guys would crouch down in the back and when we came to such groups…we had a little fun of our own. The funniest part was when one of the guys told me I needed to speed up faster afterwards when the people on the ground would recover and start throwing balloons back at us. “The water balloons hurt!” he said.

He’s launching water balloons at stationary targets from a vehicle moving 20 or 30 km/h. And he’s whining about when the odd balloon comes back at him. So…being the good friend that I am…I gave the next group of kids ample time to retaliate before I “sped up”. Ha…

So passes Carnival for another year.

A couple of prayer requests of a more serious note. We lost another guy this week. Another good friend of mine. I have no idea really, what happened with him. But Reuben (one of the fellows I wrote about, who left earlier this week) is back. He came back the next day. He still had to shave his head though (the punishment for leaving without permission). But I’m glad he’s back. And the other fellow I spoke to last week who was planning to leave, told me last night that he’s feeling much more at peace. So thanks for praying everyone! I don’t think he’s planning anything now.

And one final prayer request. I had to ask one of the guys staying with me to move out. It was very sad and very hard. I’m not going to get into it really. But if you could pray for him and for me. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with him. I’m not going to abandon him or anything…I plan to still be involved in his life if he lets me. But I’m pretty sure he sees it as an abandonment. That’s been his experience up until now. But…it had to happen. I just pray that God uses this to change the direction of this young guy’s life. He’s an amazing kid…but with a lot of issues.

No new word on the house, by the way. The fellow living there thinks he’ll know more on Saturday…

Thanks for reading and for praying. It makes a difference here!

For those of you who asked…here’s a picture of the house I’m hoping to get for the new home.  It’s what we call a “casa bonita”…a pretty house.  =)  The owner is still travelling with work, so I haven’t heard anything new.  The people who are living there seem to like us, and I’m praying will put in a good word to the owner.

Anyhow…please keep praying.  This is by far the best option I’ve seen in the past few months.  One place (for $15,000) was BRIGHT pink and blue.  And not very nice…

If you could also pray for a couple of conversations I need to have tomorrow.  The one especially, isn’t going to be very pleasant.  And we lost two more guys this week who are friends and involved in one of the Bible studies I lead.  I’m hoping these guys will show up again (Jedi and Rueben).  They’ve been with us for awhile and I think were just having a grumpy moment the day they left.  We’re coming under some spiritual attack I think, but also the guys are nearing the end of their summer vacations, and to be honest…I think some of them are bored and have too much time on their hands.  It’ll be good once school starts again. 

Thanks for praying! 

And in the category of things I didn’t expect to see today….the winner is…

…some random guy standing in the middle of the freeway flying a kite.

I’m not adding commentary…I’m just telling you. I’ve swerved around dogs, cats, cows, pigs, drunk people, the occasional guy on a bike. But never a guy flying a kite.

Carnival has come to Bolivia and it’s kind of messing up my life. Today David and I drove into town this morning for church, only to find that no one was there. Most Christians do abandon the city during Carnival, but no one said anything last week at church (at least that we heard). So it was a bit of a surprise. But we went for breakfast and that was fun.

It also means every person you see is armed with waterguns and water balloons. And I do mean everyone. Doesn’t matter if you’re 80 and can barely lift your arms, you’ve got a water gun and you’re ready to attack…

It’s really something to see. Eight million Bolivians armed and ready to take on all comers. Mostly it’s a lot of fun, except for the last day or so when the water balloons aren’t filled with water anymore….

Everyone walks around in these mumu/smock outfits to protect their clothes. They’re all brightly coloured with big pockets in the front for your watergun/water balloons/cans of spray foam. It’s kind of a pride thing to be with all your buddies wearing matching mumu’s. Again…no commentary…I’m just saying…

Anyhow, my only real grumpiness came yesterday when I got detoured off the main road into town. They were preparing for the big parade that night and had blocked off the road…but way sooner than I expected. Out at the sixth ring…which doesn’t really exist in any significant way. But that didn’t stop a caravan of trucks and busses and cars and me from trying. At some points the “road” was just a couple of tracks through the grass…

After winding our way through all of this for awhile, we came to an actual road and joined the traffic there. I ended up behind a bus that travels from my community in the countryside, into the city. So I figured he’d likely be going somewhere I wanted to go. Yes, yes, I get it…hindsight is always 20/20 as they say. But in the moment…it made sense to me.

When we left the pavement, I should have known that I was in trouble. But in my defense, that far out…there are lots of dirt roads that eventually end up being paved again.

When we left all buildings and were surrounded only by fields of sugar cane and palm trees, I really probably should have known that I was in trouble. But by that time, I’d been bouncing along on one of the bumpiest roads I’ve ever driven on (I actually hit my head on the ceiling of my truck a couple of times) and I didn’t want to turn back. I have this problem you see…I’m forever the optimist and keep thinking that somewhere soon I’ll pass the exact road I need that leads me directly back into the city exactly to where I want to go.

I knew the city was somewhere to my left and so when my bus driver buddy came to an intersection and turned right…I knew I was pretty much toast. Obviously he wasn’t going where I wanted to go…

So I turned left back towards civilization. I couldn’t actually see the city…or any buildings really…but I had faith. My faith faltered slightly when the road I was on (which was actually more of a river) widened into…well, an actual river. But what the heck…that’s why I bought a 4 wheel drive instead of a station wagon, right? I blundered ahead (I’m not sure if “blundered” is a word exactly, but it kind of describes the situation better than anything else I can come up with), and happily discovered that my road/river wasn’t actually that deep and my truck was once again proving it’s worth. My faith faltered again momentarily when I came around the corner and “road” part became a walking path on one side of the “river” which had washed out into a gully that even my truck wasn’t about to get past.

So…I did what every gringo with no brains does…I pushed on and hoped for the best.

I’m now driving at a 45 degree angle with two tires up on the bank along the edge of the road and in the bush…and two tires on the “road”. At this point I pass two young guys out for an afternoon walk. They gave me that look that I’ve become oh so familiar with. It’s kind of hard to describe…it’s a mix of surprise (eyes widening at first), with amusement (a smirk on their lips) and finally contempt (shaking of the head with a bit of a sneer). But that’s okay….I was taking up the whole road, so they had to hustle their contemptuous little butts out of my way or face being run over by a tired gringo without much patience or sense of humour.

I take pleasure from the little things…

Finally I got back to where there were scattered houses around and I saw a micro (bus). They usually go back to civilization at some point, so I just got in behind him and drove the same 30 km/h he was doing. Then glorious moment beyond all glorious moments…I came around a corner and there was a paved road. I didn’t really care where it went…I got on it anyhow. It was like driving on the autobahn.

I think I may have actually yelled “NOOOO!!” out loud a couple of minutes later when I passed a church I’d noticed when I’d been driving going the other direction an hour earlier. Yes, yes…I was back on the original road… And two minutes later I randomly turned onto a road that took me directly to exactly where I wanted to go. See…that road did exist. I just missed the turn…

There’s probably a sermon illustration or some kind of explanation of my life in that…but whatever.

At any rate…once again I survived to get lost another day.

Viva carnival…