Travel by the numbers 2, 5, 17, 1, 26, 2

With 2 small children, 5 flights, 17 pieces of luggage, 1 epic airport sprint, 26 travel hours and 2 weary parents, at long last we made it to Bolivia.

Thankfully, we made a “last call” flight in Houston.  This connection was very tight and it seemed to take forever to get off our previous flight so we could begin the race to our Panama City plane.  Poor Quinn, he was carrying 100+ pounds of luggage and a whining Astoria up on his shoulders.  I am not sure how he did it.  We were very thankful to make that plane.

Once we got to Panama City Airport Astoria was befriended by a Bolivian woman from Santa Cruz, and it was a nice introduction to the friendliness of Bolivians.  Her name is Blanca and eventually she asked if I’d pray for her and her two university-aged kids.  It was great to make a new friend, mainly struck up as Blanca loved getting Astoria to hug her and wave to her.

PHOTO of APT:  Our apartment for our first two weeks is clean and has two full bathrooms, three bedrooms, and a kitchen and sitting room.  The slick parquet flooring is much to Kellton’s liking as he slides down the hall in his socks.  We are careful not to brush our teeth in the tap water, nor flush toilet paper down the toilet (there’s small garbage cans next to the toilets). Kellton initially begged many times to go back to Montana.  However, he is delighted to see palm trees, cacti, double decker busses, and the whole open cityscape--the view he’s seen in our pictures of Cochabamba from last November.  His recognition of the panoramic view was a neat realization for him.  For years we’ve talked about moving here, and finally we are here.

Wednesday 2/27/13:

Kellton loved riding in the cramped Taxi Trufis and made a new friend, Ben, the Collins’ middle child.  He was taught to play the game Battleship with their eldest, Naomi, and enjoyed this game.  The Collins’ girls both greeted me wearing their “Cloud Nine Design” t shirts I’d brought them last year.  While our kids played with the Collins’ kids, we met other teammates and Dan’s close colleague, Duane Guthrie of Canada, who helped us set the mindset for what we’ll be learning culturally, including some of the frequent mistakes North Americans typically make in Bolivia.

A huge joy was coming back to the Collins’ condo, high up on a cobblestone street and finding that our kids were having a ball and didn’t want to leave their home.  (Astoria actually hid from me).  Poor Kellton hasn’t eaten much at all but has found that he loves drinkable yogurt.  Even our dependable eater Astoria hasn’t eaten much, but I am sure this will change soon. 

Thursday 2/28/13

Today we had a packed day ahead of us.  The night before, I laid out all clothes, breakfast, city travel supplies, anticipating that we’d have to wake up the kids in the am.  Kellton was wiped out still from Wednesday.  All three of us sat on his bed while his corpse-like self resisted any attempts to join the day.  After breakfast, we headed out with Dan and Daryl Collins to learn about three school options:  Carachipampa Christian School (CCS), Rise and Shine, and Despertad (which means Wake Up) Montessori School.  CCS is a lush oasis at 7K marker out of town, instantly transporting you away from the noise and graffiti of the city.  Green grass, sculpted bushes, gorgeous rose gardens give an air of peace and learning.  Dan and Darryl recently switched their three kids to this English-speaking missions school.  The pre-kinder and kinder classes do not meet simultaneously however and so this Serving In Mission (SIM) school isn’t a good fit for us.  Also, we want to send our kids to a Spanish-speaking school (much to Kellton’s dislike).  Rise and Shine preschool is dear to us as the owner/director is a recipient of a loan through the Emprendimiento Munial (the Business as Mission arm of the work here).  The final school we visited, Despertad, immediately won our hearts and minds (with our tired, cranky and hungry touring kids in tow).  It is a Spanish language Montessori environment that would be a particularly good fit for Kellton.  The Bilingual director, also a pastor with her husband, was impressive:  articulate, knowledgeable of child development and a great spokesperson for the value of a non-competitive self-paced environment.  Also, there are a few English speaking children at the school (including a girl Kellton’s age who also wears glasses).  Plus, Astoria would be close at hand as the classes are multi-grade environments.  Also a plus, the school is in the same area as our office and has nice grounds even in this busy city.

After the school tours, we made a grocery run to I.C. Norte, a pretty modern grocery.  I was thankful I’d compiled a list, and had it on hand.  After a quick bite to eat at home from our first round of groceries, we were off to Interpol at the town centre.  If only I had a picture of Astoria (wearing clothes no longer white in color) crouched on the side of a dirty building off the main Piazza.  Quinn and I were furiously filling out forms with our Bolivian staff person Jhonny and Tom, from Oregon, and Javier who arrived the same day as us.  One does not fill out these forms in the office, nor in the building.  So we were passing around and checking our most sensitive documents street side with scores of people walking by.  Thankfully Kellton and Astoria didn’t wander off while we were distracted.  With all pigeons around the Piazza, it’s a possibility.  It’s Astoria’s dream to get a bird to land on her arm, and we figured out that back at our apartment she’d been putting crackers crumbs on her window sill to entice them into “visiting”.  All four of us wrapped up our police station visit by having 10 fingers inked and fingerprinted.

Government buildings facing the Piazza

As we walk around the city, I keep asking myself, “How will we make a positive difference?  How can we learn enough, quickly enough, to be effective?  What will God have us do?”  As I knew I would, we’ve seen a child beggar and elderly people street begging reminding me of the real reason we are here.  Not being able to speak the language yet, makes it hard.  However, I am so thankful that Liz Flynn reminded me of Katie Davis’ poignant observation* that showing love needs no translation.  A simple smile’s meaning is clear.  So I keep smiling, shrugging ignorance, smiling again and saying “Gracias” and “Buenos Dias.”

I have one more reflection to share from our visit to Tom and Abbey’s apartment.  This young couple is from Oregon and have been serving with the Collins, and as I type this, are at the hospital having their first child.  Soon after we arrived at their place, it began to rain.  So since we were on foot, we stayed a bit longer and I enjoyed the weather’s excuse.  Just before the storm, Kellton, Quinn, Astoria and Tom went up the roof of the apartment building.  Astoria came down ecstatic.  “Mommy-I’ve never been up on a roof before! And from there you can see the whole world!”  Her little Helena, Montana world is opening up so much, and it makes me happy to hear her chatter, and her delight in saying all words she knows in Spanish, and Kellton’s keen observations of plants, different vehicles and appliances, his love of Taxi Trufis and their new ways of playing.  We are all seeing more of the “whole world.”

 * “Kisses from Katie” is a book I’ve been greatly inspired by and highly recommend.