I wanted to add pictures, but the internet was not loading them. Too slow. I will try to add later.
We are officially underway in Bolivia. It was touch and go at the beginning. We arrived at the La Paz airport at aprox. 5:30AM on July 4th. As soon as the door to the airplane opened it was apparent tit would be rough getting acclimated to the altitude. You see, El Alto, where we are staying, is at almost 14,000 ft. We then spent the first few hours going through customs and getting visas. All while we try to suck in as much oxygen as possible, without passing out or throwing up. Welcome to Bolivia.
After security, we made it to our house(casa) at Mission Adulam. We were so ready to begin ministering to the young adults at Adulam’s three homes. Our bodies, however, were not. We knew we needed a day or so to acclimate to the environment here. We rested all of the 4th and went to bed at about 7PM. Our bodies were needing rest. We thought July 4th was over. Haha.
At about 11PM, my team leader Derek, woke me up asking about what we could do for some teammates about altitude sickness. Three of them were up vomiting and I was the one who researched altitude sickness as the Squad Risk and Safety Coordinator. I knew we could do nothing with what we had. We needed oxygen or medication, neither of which we had or could get this late at night. The only thing we could do was pray and ask God for healing to make it through the night. We prayed and sang, asking for his peace and guidance. Derek and I made the decision to wait till morning and see how they were feeling. Then head to a doctor.
The next morning everyone had seemed to be improving except for Rachel. She had been up vomiting and was feeling worse. We asked our contact to take us to a clinic to get her checked out. I went because I knew the most Spanish on our team. Today would begin my delve back into high school spanish. I needed to communicate with our contact what she was feeling so he could help let the doctor know what the problem was. It was finally decided to put her on an IV for dehydration and to clean her system out in case there was a parasite as well. The doctor said it would take 8 hours to complete the IV.
After getting Rachel situated, we had to go back to the house to inform the team what was going on. We would return in a few hours(we couldn’t stay because the clinic had set visiting hours). I went back and stayed the last half of her treatment with another teammate. She seemed to be doing well when we got there. About an hour later she started getting worse again. We had no idea what to do. Outside the clinic, a weekly festival had begun and they were playing music, singing and dancing. The noise was deafening. We could not leave her here, but it looked like she needed treatment over night.
Finally a couple hours later the doctor cleared her to go home and if she was not better in the morning to bring her back. The next morning she was much better. It looked like she was out of the woods. We decided to stay in and have team church Sunday morning. We all rested and were ready for ministry to start on Monday.
Spending a whole day in a foreign clinic, trying to translate, and having pulse pounding music when you already have a headache was not my idea of kicking of the World Race. I did not enjoy sitting in a tiny plastic chair for hours on end. By the end of the ordeal I was feeling pretty exhausted and wondering why God would put us through something our first day on the race. After team debrief Sunday night, I had my answer. Each person played a role in the day’s events, whether small or large.
Even though Rachel was sick and didn’t “do” anything but sleep with an IV. We learned she needed to relinquish her trust to her team for the next year. Others were encouragers and prayer warriors. Derek was thrown into his leadership role and coordinated between the team and the clinic and the AIM leadership across the city. Justin played the role of car security while our driver was in the clinic. I was translating and staying there as much as I could in case something happened to be able to help the doctor understand. I literally had someones life in my hands. If I said something wrong and the doctors gave the wrong treatment, she could get even worse. It scared me a little. I never had someone put that much trust in me. It made me realize that as a team we will need to trust each other fully over this next year.
I cannot wait to share what our ministry entails this month.
Thank you to all who support me through prayers and financial giving. I cannot believe that I have started the World Race. It is all thanks to you that I am here.
Prayer Request: Pray for the wellness of all of the teams in El Alto. The altitude has affected many people on the three teams in the area.
