How could I not do something to help?
I was finally willing, ready and able to do something. The first orphanage I helped to fix the bridge on the swingset, the kids have a fun place to play. The rest of the week I was involved in helping repaint an orphanage on the other side of town. We helped with baby washing, and then the next Monday we left…for the rainforest…where the test came…
Just how far are you willing to go to help? We arrived after several hours in a bus (I’m getting used to spending countless hours traveling!) to Chapare, a village a LONG way down a cobblestone path…I felt as though I had actually went to the edges of the earth this time. There was no real “town” just a simple road of houses and small tiendas (a tienda is a SMALL store, usually with raw meat sitting around, snacks, and if you are lucky, cold drinks). Long walks down the road in either direction yielded very little in the way of civilization. We pitched tents in the orphanage that was 1/2 done…the sun had already started setting, so pitching our tents in the dark is beginning to become a normal thing in life as well. Night drew on quickly as the mosquitos ate…no…the mosquitos feasted once again on our bodies. We fell asleep and woke up to the roosters…at 4…5…6:00 am. Our first complete day in the jungle allowed me to see what we were up against…they had a ladder to climb to the second floor…they needed a stairway…the entire place needed painted…the outside needed cleared out and trees cleared. We had a lot to do…it was time to get busy. Our entire team went straight to work…wasting no time. The sun beat down heating the area VERY quickly…and if you know me, the heat and I don’t get along…we fight all the time. It was the first test…remember, Mark…you are doing this for the orphaned kids…the kids like you met just a week ago. I pressed on, and accepted the heat as I started cutting stair stringers to build a stairway to the 2nd floor of the orphanage.
Lunch is ready…GOOD…I’m hungry, it’s hot…lunch is a good thing. I walked over to the lunch area to find that lunch was prepared…soup….hot soup…hot day…hot soup…are you for real? yep. I embraced it with a not so big smile on my face, but I was there, afterall, not for me but for the orphans…I ate the soup. Kept on with the stairway, cutting many of the timbers used for the landing with a chainsaw…yet another new experience. Afternoon drew to an end, and the painters were all tired and worn down, it was time to quit for the day…hit the shower? hmmmmm….maybe I can wait another day…the shower consists of one shower in the middle of the yard with boards around it…not exactly ideal…I’ll wait. Dinner? Chicken, potatoes and rice of course! mmmmm…ok, I can do this. We ate dinner together, and quickly found ourselves swatting at those mosquitos once again. Oh, and sharing one bathroom for our entire squad. Day two was nearly a repeat of day one…remember Mark, it’s for Jesus and the orphans…you can do this! I braved the shower on day 2.
After you get used to these conditions, it’s really not that bad. After soup for lunch every day I walked with some of the others to one of the tiendas to get apple juice in a bag and some cookies…it was what got me through the days sometimes! Eventually we transpired into bathing in the river together…last month we used Amazon river water to bathe in, this month it’s a random river in Bolivia…this really is my life! The week continued with many many stories of building stairs, painting with watered down paint, varnishing bricks with a varnish / gas mixture, cutting down trees, digging holes, and one fun day of river boating and swimming, we were ready to go…we’d earned our keep that week, and our scent agreed…it was time to go home.
As our bus pulled away Wednesday morning in the rain, I looked at the place that had transformed in a week and a half’s time. The orphanage went from a 1/2 done place to a place nearly ready to be opened. Remberto, the builder in charge was very greatful for our help, he has not much more to do…a railing for the stairway, screens for the windows (no glass, too hot), tile in the kitchen. Remberto is ready to be done, he and his family moved to the jungle over a year ago to build this orphanage, he is a missionary to his own people in Bolivia. His plans when done: a vacation….a well deserved vacation.
I’ve learned this month that we can survive many conditions that we would never think possible. I look at the past 3 months and think of all the times that the itchy legs and arms kept me up at night, and wonder how I did it…how did I manage to make it through sweating all night in a tent, bites raging at me, showering out of a bucket…and yet I see it all as a gain in life. I love my life, serving Christ Jesus in ways that most shutter at…gaining experiences and memories that go for a lifetime. This journey is as much about transforming my life as it is transforming the lives of those I come in contact with throughout the year.
PS….the GPS coordinates for where we were in the rainforest/jungle:
S 16° 46.064
W 65° 20.185
My current support level is at $9,800 with monthly / quarterly supporters raising the total to around $11,000…if you would like to support me to allow me to finish the year off in full I am in need of $2,800. Any amount helps chip away at that total! To support me click on the “Support Me!” link to the left!
THANK YOU to ALL of my supporters! Next week is a large travel week, we leave Cochabamba, Bolivia on Tuesday, head to La Paz where we start 3 full days of flights to get to South Africa where we will board a bus the next day to get to Swaziland….5 full days of pure travel ahead of me…please pray for patience and travel safety!
