Some basics for those of you just now dropping in: My sister and I are on an 11-month Christian mission trip to 11 different countries across 4 continents. We’re headed to: Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Cambodia, and Thailand. The work will range from country to country in partnership with established ministries in each area.
It’s month 3. My team is in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
We’re working with a Compassion International center.
Our room here is on the second floor of a three story cement building. It’s a classroom, one of four on this level. Above us there’s a meeting room and a small library outfitted with three desktop computers. Below is an office and a sanctuary and a small kitchen. The hermanas begin cooking for the children at 7:00 am every morning: plantains and meat and lentils and lots and lots of rice.
My teammates sit on the spiral staircase out front to read the Bible or journal or call home. It’s a good spot on account of the breeze. From the top you can see the rows of trees between adobe orange rooftops.
The treetops are my favorite part. Palms intermingled with something else (I don’t know a lot about trees), and they’re all bright bright green. The green seems to me very rebellious in this overwhelming heat.
Small parrots fly from treetop to treetop. They’re also bright green except for a little bit of red over their throats. You can really only see them when they’re flying. Once they land they match the leaves so perfectly that you find yourself wondering if that’s really a bird or just a bird-shaped leaf. And just as you are wondering it takes off to another tree, and the cycle begins again.
Sometimes I stare at the palms and squint my eyes and pretend I’m back on my island. I’m getting pretty good at this. I can even smell the salty air. This is an impressive feat if you know anything about Bolivia. And especially if that thing that you know about Bolivia is that Bolivia is landlocked.
In the mornings the Compassion kids crowd around our door and wait for us to come out. Some days there’s 50; some days, 150. We teach English classes and basketball in the afternoons. Basketball is a new sport for them, and they’ve caught on very quickly. Whenever we’ve finished, soccer balls appear (from nowhere, it seems), and suddenly the cement court is a soft green fútbol field. The fútbol games are three times as competitive as the basketball games. Every single Bolivian kid has the skill of Lionel Messi. That may not be a perfect comparison, because Lionel Messi is the only fútbol player I can name.
When we have extra time we walk to the plaza for ice cream and WiFi. The plaza is very small park, but you can’t call it a park because the distinction is very, very important to South Americans. Parks, apparently, are much larger (think Central). But in the plaza there are trees and fountains and park benches and just go ahead and imagine a small park, okay?
The most interesting thing about the plaza is that there are sloths living in it. Wild sloths are pretty common, I guess, because people thought it very funny that we were excited over them. The sloths hang out in trees and eat eggs out of nests and smile goofy smiles. When one tried to cross the street a Bolivian gentleman ran over, picked it up, and deposited the little guy safely back in the grass. He held it by the scruff of its neck like you would a kitten and the thing just hung there: arms dangling, shoulders hunched around its ears, completely unbothered.
I think I’ll end on that visual. We like Bolivia very much, except for the heat which is horrendous. Actually that reminds me. I have an apology to make. It’s to my mother. The rest of you can stop reading here. Thank you and God bless!
Mom,
Remember that towel you bought me from Costco that stays cool after you wet it? And remember how I said that it was silly and probably didn’t work? And remember how I almost didn’t bring it with me? I only packed it because you looked a little crestfallen. Well, you were 100% correct and it totally works and it is my most favorite thing that I own right now. I put it on my face at night, and I’m the only one on my team that can sleep through the heat. So thank you, and I’m sorry. Mother knows best.
XOXO, Sarah.
