Finishing Strong in Bolivia: Concrete, Wildlife, and a Whole Lot of Pizza

We finished up the workweek on Thursday - the steel-tying is done and new piles of rock, sand, and cement await us for concrete mixing and pouring on this Monday morning! Folks hardly use wood to build here- it’s too expensive and termites abound. Anyway, sore muscles have had time to recover and they’re ready to nail the last 3 workdays RUNNING FOR JESUS. We’ve had many encouraging talks recently about finishing strong and with Godly team unity. Still, pray for strength and unity as the work is physically demanding and in the heat, we need to keep loving each other well.

Last Friday we packed into a mini bus headed for Santa Cruz to experience a super cool nature preserve called Guembe. Many frigid pools with waterfalls and slides were a refreshing hit. We dined at a meat-fest buffet and we all left stuffed! Then we took a guided tour through a giant aviary with all kinds of exotic birds that are native to Bolivia including toucans, parrots, and macaws. One macaw flew onto Paul S. and picked its way through his bag until it could steal a peanut butter cracker! We saw yellow and brown tortoises the size of 5-gallon buckets. Some played mini-golf, while others played soccer and volleyball. After leaving there, we stopped at an enormous plush mall to dine in their food court for dinner. Most everyone chose a burger and ice cream…we were WIPED OUT after that!

Spiritually we’re also making the most of our time here. Mr. Robbie has been protecting some time on Saturdays to rest from all work and even evangelism (EV). We took a prayer walk listening for what the Lord may be saying to us and then shared with each other. On Monday they will be able to work from their rest! Saturday night we attended a beautiful church called Getsemene- it’s a church that’s planted 3 other churches in the area! Mr. Robbie preached with Mr. Ferney interpreting and then Mr. Josiah and Mr. Jamey led the team in a condensed version of our presentation. The church loves the TMI song, “Rock, Sword, Shield” and did the motions with us. There were A LOT of teenagers who were very attentive to these American teens! After the services on Saturday and Sunday morning some Bolivian ladies made us piping hot carne (beef) empanadas- melt in your mouth! It’s like a savory meat pie. Garrick B. already had a goal to find one here, so he knocked that one out of the park. Mr. Josiah had mistakenly bought some sweet pastry that day, thinking it was an empanada, so he too was beyond happy.

On Sunday, the Lord gave us a triple-header…THREE separate EV events.
1. 8am-We split into 3 groups: Adults (Mr. Robbie preached with Ms. Jen, Shepherd and Everest), Teens (Mr. Jamey led Dawson M., Lizzy S., Jack N., and Alex G., and Malachi A.), and Kids (Mr. Josiah and Ms. Amanda led Lito S., Asha C., Grant R., Jake W., Lucas H., Simeon M., Garrick B, Paul S., and Matthew F.)
2. 2:30pm- we split into the same 3 groups but this time, the adult class was actually a class of mostly moms that Ms. Jen was asked to speak to with a Bible student as her interpreter. The teen class gave their testimonies to the myriad of young people their same ages- how cool! The kids group got to teach Biblical lessons and play soccer. The church graciously made cake and passed out soda afterwards.
3. 8pm- After a treat of carryout pizza locally, we got to attend a Pentecostal church where we were able to give our presentation and Mr. Robbie preached again.

I say the pizza was “a treat” because a sweet family donated some extra to the team to be able to do a few extra fun things with! We’ve gotten fried chicken and fries for the team (KP for those leftovers for a week!), a delectable Dulce de Leche cake, and mucho pizzas- I laugh to remember them diving to the serving table for seconds and thirds…and we have enough leftovers that they can take it for lunch tomorrow! What an unexpected blessing for all of us!

We will go shopping on Thursday in Santa Cruz and then attend a church service for another EV opportunity. Friday will be pack-out and cleanup day. Saturday evening will be our last EV event because we’ll head to the airport directly from there. Very exciting!