It was month three and after over 50 hours of travel on 3 buses we made it to Apollo, Bolivia. Apollo is a cute, quiet town with a thriving town center park with people everywhere living life as it comes to them. This month was special because it was MANistry which means all the guys from the squad served together.
One day, we left the house to head to ministry without a clue of what was in store for us. We headed out of town and walked to the base of the mountains to a small plot of land surrounded by modern brick and adobe mud walls. Once we got there we learned that we would be digging a ditch to help divert the water when it rains. As we started, I looked over to see a small framed man standing about 5’5’’ with a bucket hat and coveralls. I saw him preparing for his day; getting his tools together and prepping his worksite.
I immediately had a connection with this man. He felt fatherly and for good reason. For most of my life, me father has worked in construction and mostly as a brick mason. Throughout the years, I have had the “pleasure” of working with my dad on projects around the house or small jobs that he had picked up on the side. So with my limited skill set and basic knowledge of laying brick, I headed over to see if I could help. In my broken Spanish, I told him my father is a mason and I jumped in carrying brick and mortar, setting up, and doing anything I knew that needed to be done.
Before long, I was on the wall, laying brick with him. It was a lot different than the way we do it at home but it works for them so I leaned to lay brick like a Bolivian. As we worked, I attempted to ask about his life. I learned he has a little girl and he had recently moved back from La Paz. He was a Christian and he learned to lay brick from helping other masons. I helped him all that morning up until we had to leave for lunch. I cleaned up my trowel and thanked him for letting me help him.
Looking back on that day, I was so thankful for the days I had helped my dad and the little I knew about masonry. It gave me a skill set to be able to connect to someone in a way that no one on my team would have ever been able to. I may never see that man again but I will never forget the day I got to help lay brick in Bolivia.
