Let me start this by saying I cannot believe I flooded a bathroom in a coffee shop. My team and I had finally made it to wifi and talk to our families and update blogs. It was so nice to be able to see my family and hear from them, even if they are in Disney and I am pretty jealous of that. I go to use the bathroom and I’m not gonna go into details but the toilet flushes and as it flushes, water is flowing out of the toilet and onto the floor and under the door. I haven’t even been in this coffee shop 10 minutes and I have just flooded their bathroom. Needless to say I couldn’t look the lady who worked there in the eye. I told her what happened. I didn’t just walk off and say nothing. I’m not that bad. So first experience in La Paz and I blow the bathroom up.
On a lighter note, Sunday my team and I went to an English speaking church. This is the first time we have heard good English since we got here. We are welcomed and sing hymns and listen to Jose David give a message. It felt so much like home because we were singing songs like Victory in Jesus and Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. I remember growing up and singing those songs as a kid at Ancient City Baptist Church. I love singing the old hymns and it was really cool to come to Bolivia and sing those songs again. After church Jose David invited us to go out to lunch with him and have saltenas. They were amazing to say the least. He ordered us some juice that he said was the best thing in the world. It was milk with lemonade and it was so good. It may sound terrible but don’t knock it til you’ve tried it. It was nice to finally speak to someone who understood us because we are getting by with our spanish but it was great to have someone who spoke English and could help translate. We had made a new friend and he even gave us his card so that we could use the teleferico which is a tram that goes up the mountain from La Paz to El Alto. The view was incredible! Getting a birds eye view of the city and the mountains in the background was pretty awesome.
Back at our ministry site, we are still sanding chairs. Feels like everyday there are new chairs that pop up. Some of the boys come and help us sand so that it doesn’t take all month. There are so many! The food is so good here and I believe we are getting spoiled big time here. Most days it’s soup and then a main course of rice, chicken, potatoes, and corn. After lunch Derek, Dillion, and I usually head back to the house where we stay and have some downtime and then head back at 3 to go hang out with the boys some more. It’s so cool to see how playing games with the boys is opening up so many doors and they are talking more to us and wanting us to play with them. Some days I play Dos with David and it’s just like Uno the card game but with double the cards and different rules. I still have no idea what the joker does but these kids make up a rule every time and I couldn’t tell you what that card does. My Spanish is still not so good but I can tell God is opening up doors because everyday we are all laughing and having fun together. Though my Spanish isn’t good I am still able to communicate and talk to the boys. These kids live in a house for addicted and troubled teens and they go through a 14 month program where they live at the house and do chores and work through a program. They range from the youngest which is 13 to the oldest which is 18.
So we had finally finished sanding chairs, so now our task was to organize the closet with all the clothes and anything else you can think of. No lie there was somehow a turd on a book under the blankets with chicken bones and moldy old rock hard bread. Needless to say this is a pretty nasty closet. There are clothes everywhere and we have to organize and get everything in a nice order. It takes us about 2 hours to get everything out and somewhat organized before the boys come in and finish off everything else. After most of the day in a closet organizing, we paint the chairs we had been sanding after we finish that task. I don’t know how but some of the boys actually have paint all over their clothes. The painting didn’t take too long and once we finished that, our job with the chairs was complete.
The other day Dillion and I were at the boys home and we left and went to a soccer game where Gonzolo was playing. He is one of the boys at the house. So we went to his game all the boys and me and Dillion and it was great just to enjoy the time and watch these kids do what they love. Gonzolo was playing pretty good and the rest of us were cheering him and the team on. Though the game ended in a 0-0 tie, it was still a great time. At halftime all the boys ran out on the field and were playing a game of their own til the half was over. I have to say me and Dillion played a game of soccer with the boys and you don’t realize how out of shape you are until you’re running constantly at 14,000 feet of elevation. These kids are running circles around us. I did score 3 goals so I was the MVP in my mind. These kids are one big family. They play, they fight, they pour hot sauce into each other’s soup while the other person is out of the room. It’s obvious God is here in Bolivia. He is here in a big way. From the staff who take care of the boys and teach them about God to the new friends we have made here. God is here. I am loving the time at Mision Adulam and am loving to have the opportunity to be a part of these boys lives for this month.
