Wow I have been in Bolivia for 2 months and I cannot believe
how fast the time has passed. So far its been a roller coaster ride and I have
not even begun mission yet. Gratefully, most of my time has been thrilling spent
on top of the peaks. Tomorrow I will be leaving Cochabamba and spending the
entire day traveling to my mission site located in Okinawa, Bolivia. Before I
leave, I would like to share some of my experiences that I had here in this
beautiful city.
So let us get the nitty gritty stuff out of the way. One of
my major obstacles I foresaw before coming to Bolivia was the challenge of
becoming accustomed to the food. First and foremost, I ate all the same food
that my Bolivian host family ate and listened to the advice about avoiding
eating food from the venders on the street. However despite my effort in taking
precautions, I still received Giardia, Amoebas, and a bacterial infection within
a 2 week time period….and the stomachs of my Bolivian family were absolutely
fine, go figure. Not being perfect with Spanish, the back to back hospital and
clinic visits were kind of scary but now with great joy and relief, I can
announce that my stomach is doing much better.
Thursday happened to be the last day of language school
because normally no one works on Good Friday here in this city where more than
80% of the people are Catholics. Two weeks ago I came to the realization that I
was not going to be fluent in Spanish by the end of the eight week immersion
program. On my last day of school my teacher Chichi told me that when I go to
my mission site that I need to be patient with “the Spanish and the people.” I
have let her words sink into me. When I think about it I have learned more Spanish
here than I ever had in high school back in the USA. Looking back at my time
here, I was able to carry out the following actions in SPANISH and ALONE. I made
transactions with the bank tellers, took taxis and gave directions, went grocery
shopping, filled out paper work and letters in Spanish, made phone calls, made multiple
hospital and clinic visits, and even made confessions in Spanish. All of these
experiences here (even the parasite experiences) have given me the confidence
and hope that I need for my mission. As long as I continue to be patient with
the culture and continually reflect on my progress, I will be just fine here in
Bolivia.
I would not know all
the Spanish I learned if it was not for my teachers Chichi and Fernando. I
talked about Chichi significantly in my last blog, so I will just focus on
Fernando here. Fernando is the friendliest teacher I have ever had. On Holy
Thursday he told me that I’m not just his student but his friend. It is so easy
to see Jesus in him. John 15:15 popped into my head when Fernando told me I was
his friend. (Jesus said, “I no longer call you slaves…I have called you friends.”)
Fernando has shown I’m not just some student he has to teach from 10:30am-12:00
every day. When I was sick, he knew I wanted to see the Cristo statue that
overlooks Cochabamba on top of a small mountain. I was too weak to make the
hike, so he paid for a taxi and took me to the top. He even let me have shotgun
in the cab!. He has been my own personal guide showing me around Cochabamba and
helping me with logistical things involving health insurance and passport stuff
which I don’t want to talk about ehhh. On Holy Thursday he invited me to go
church hopping with him and his wife. Cochabamba has over 100 beautiful churches.
After visiting and praying in about 9 churches I told him I was little tired
and he said in Spanish, “aww don’t worry we will only visit 6 more”. Ha, only 6
more!! It was so worth it though and very impactful on me. I told him I couldn’t
believe how alive and faithful the city is during Holy week. Fernando even invited me to spend Easter with
him and his family which I took him up on his offer. He showed me around the outskirts of Cochabamba where there are some poor villages and we walked around them on Easter day. We also visited 3 more beautiful churches in the outskirts. I hope that I can be as great of a teacher to the kids
I’m going to teach in Okinawa as Fernando was to me. God certainly put a wonderful example in my
life of what it is to be a Holy catholic man and considerate teacher.
So I’m in the process of packing my bags for my travel day
tomorrow. I’m taking a 10 hour bus ride to my new home. I fell in love with my
future mission site, Okinawa, more than a year ago when I first started thinking
about volunteering. I cannot wait to meet my site partners and the community
there. I have been waiting so long to see everyone and I cannot believe my
arrival day is the day after the joyful resurrection of the Lord. God’s timing
is certainly profound and impeccable. I certainly experienced a terrific week
long going away “party” here in Cochabamba. I now look forward to the unknown
things God has planned to show me in this upcoming year in the rural town of
OkInAwA.
