Photo Friday

Eating out can be a different experience.  First off... What would you choose? Second, yes, there are only 4 options, and they are pretty random.  Never quite know what to expect until you get there.  On a positive note: 25 Bs is less than $4, so soup, salad bar, and a very filling main dish for an affordable price!

A table for 15, please

An update from Dana

When I was living with the McCarten family in the Washington, D. C. area after college, they surprised me for my birthday with a night at the famous Marrakesh Restaurant in the District.  Named for the city in Morocco, this restaurant was simply the most exotic locale and dining experience I’d ever had.  With gorgeous North African tile, Cyrillic writing on the walls, and a belly dancer at our table for dessert, it’s a night I’ll never forget.  We sat on pillows on the floor around the very low tables.  Now whenever I don’t have enough seating for dinner guests, I just say I like to pretend we’re dining in Marrakesh, Morocco, and I put all the kids on the floor around low coffee tables.

Our little tables came in handy when we recently had the pleasure of hosting 15 for lunch.  While the kids didn’t have exotic cushions to sit on, it was fun to host a big group of Bolivians and Australians.  Another lunch at our apartment was with an Argentinean mom and two kids from our school.   A cheery and funny lady, she spoke so fast I barely understood her during the whole visit.  But somehow talking about the kids and school makes a great starting point for a friendship.

Fiestas
Being an avid MSU Bobcat football fan in Bolivia has its disadvantages.  One can’t just go to the sports bar and watch the game.  But in today’s internet age, it is possible to follow some of the action.  While Quinn was recently tracking a game, an opposing player was penalized for “excessive celebration.”   I thought this was funny because that kind of sums up Bolivia’s love for parties.  Almost every weekend here in Cochabamba there’s loads of fireworks around the city and there’s an abundance of holidays sprinkled throughout the year.  

Fun games: the mom caught crossing her legs during the night must  wear a
 "baby" on her back,  in traditional aguayo fabric.

Speaking of celebrations, I was happy to be asked to co-host a baby shower for a friend.  Another ex-pat and I decided to keep the event “low key” and stay away from potentially embarrassing games and the like.  Oh no, this would not do—the women who came to the shower brought their own ideas and supplies for games.  It was a riot, complete with lipstick designs drawn on faces, eating contests while blindfolded, and so on.  The raucous night was a great way to build relationships. 

Kellton and Astoria help out with "Day of the Student" festivities

Kids' party

Kellton and Astoria's class
 learned an elaborate dance for Cochabamba Day

Children here also benefit from the spirit of celebrations.  On back to back Fridays, our kids had an elaborate event for “Cochabamba Day” to commemorate the founding of the city, and then the next Friday had “Day of the Student”—complete with gifts for every child, chocolate dipped marshmallows and 10 kiddie pools set up on the lawn.  And festivities for “Day of the Child” are not far off.  Kind of reminds me of a Savior who is the life of the party and turned water into wine.  Here in Bolivia the celebrations may be excessive, but hey, no penalty.

John 10:10b (NIV) Speaking to some famous party crashers, Jesus said “…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  (emphasis mine).

Does this look like a baby shower with moms?



Astoria wears traditional braid extensions
 and a hard white hat signifying she's "from Cochabamba"

Some last minute dance instructions from Profesora Nancy

It All Adds Up, by Quinn

I loved my job at the Legislative Fiscal Division as a Fiscal Analyst.  But to be honest, when I was focusing on the budget of the Health & Human Services Division, I wasn't exactly operating in my areas of passion.  At the time, my bosses knew I was planning for and working toward leaving for Bolivia within the next year.  So working on the development of an Excel model for tracking and forecasting the cost of Medicaid to the State of Montana often felt like an activity with no connection to the rest of my life, but I hoped it would be helpful to my co-workers at least.


So what did I do last night?  Well, I taught a workshop on Excel, in Spanish, here in Bolivia.  But more than that, at the end of our time together, I learned that two Bolivian ladies I was teaching actually work in an HIV clinic here in Cochabamba, and that they have data going back to 1984, which they are interested in learning to use in a very similar manner.  Now they plan to spend the next month or so trying to get the data into a usable format, and then we will meet again to work together to develop a usable model for them, which will help them operate more efficiently in their clinic, allowing them to better assist people with a very real need.

Using Excel to help people with HIV.  Can't say I saw that one coming.

Compassion International in Bolivia

I had the chance to visit a Fair put on by Compassion International recently.  Compassion has invited us to provide them with some feedback on their plans for encouraging entrepreneurship among their youth as a way to break the cycle of poverty.  It's very cool to see what business can do for people who otherwise have few options.

Compassion International does some great work with kids in dire circumstances.  But I was very impressed to see that they were working hard to help these kids find a way to become self-reliant.

My colleague Duane, from Canadian Baptist Ministries talks to some of the Compassion project directors.

Talking to some girls about their marketing plan.

Combining the idea with the understanding of business processes.

Potential business ideas ran from very traditional, to quite innovative.

Learning some new moves- by Dana

Quinn’s and my time in language school is drawing to a close.  Quinn’s next steps in Business as Mission are a bit more defined than mine.  I’m on the lookout for what ministry opportunities will  arise.  In some ways I feel so helpless with my language skills.  After 3 months, I am about at the level of an 18 month old baby.  Gaining ground in Spanish will open up more ways to serve here.  However I was happy to be asked to speak last weekend at Comunidad Cristiana Belén (Bethlehem Christian Community) on the topic of friendship. 

Angelica and Dana speaking together

One of the directors of our language school is Angelica Echalar.  She’s a bright, caring and committed Christian.  Quinn and I both have enjoyed classes with her as she’s engaging and expressive and anything she says in her native language sounds so beautiful and romantic.  My Spanish will never mimic hers I’m afraid!   Today in Bolivia is Día de la Amistad, a day to express friendship through cards and the like. 

So when she asked me to speak at her church, I was honored.  Angelica translated my message sentence by sentence or phrase by phrase if I got too wordy.  At first when I put together my thoughts on friendship, I worried that there wouldn't be any “meat” to the topic.  And yet as I dug into examples of Jesus’ friendship and the many passages throughout Scripture on friendship, I was quickly surprised at how much I wanted to say.

After the message, a young woman asked me again for some of the Scripture references and said she thought the talk was “just for her.”  She said she’d been missing her friends during her time away from her regular friends and family, and she was encouraged by the talk.  This feedback made my day.

Paola and the Sparkle kids

Taking the lead from Mother Theresa’s wise quote that, “We can only do small things with great love,” I have also been helping a local group launch “Sparkle,” a music and movement class for toddlers.  My friend Paola (the one who helped us find our apartment) is the leader and she hopes to use the Sparkle classes to bless small children and their moms, while gently introducing young families to the love of God.  She has the support of her church, sister, and our children’s school.  And yet she still craves a bit of help with the dishes and has needed “practice kids” so she can rehearse teaching before the first class.

And so Kellton and Astoria have learned the Spanish songs and the fun movements, and I have helped in small ways washing the dishes and serving refreshments after class.  At the very first class, I enjoyed seeing a grandmother and toddler, and several moms who appeared to come from very different walks of life, all enjoying Coca tea and chocolate cake at the end of class.  The love of God was there and I am thankful to have this tangible opportunity to pray for and help with this creative outreach.

A good description of Angelica and Paola is found in Proverbs 11:24-26 (NIV)  One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.  A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.  (emphasis mine)

The moms enjoys some tea and cake while the babies play.

Astoria enjoys the dancing in Sparkle.

Work as Worship

It seems like I've been inundated with information, questions, and reminders concerning the idea of a theology of work lately.  Some of this has been from other missionaries, some from local Bolivians, and even some from friends back in the states.  I hope to share some more information regarding this topic in the future, but for now I just want to share a video from the Work as Worship Network that I hope gives you something to think about.  The reality is that many of you in the workplace have more opportunity to impact non-Christians than those working in full-time ministry.  I hope you enjoy...

Ducks in an Apartment Building, by Quinn

We continue to have experiences that remind us that we are not in Kansas anymore... Or Helena, or Indianapolis, or Bozeman, or anywhere else familiar for that matter.

Last week, Kellton and Astoria came home from school with two baby ducks.  Dana thought it was quite funny to just set the box on the table and have me open it without explanation...  I have to admit the ranch kid in me just about lost it.  What was my wife doing buying ducks as pets?  Doesn't she know... well, the smell, the odds of survival, the smell, we live in an apartment building, did I mention the smell?  OK, so it was actually homework from the kids' school and we only had to have them for two days, but she still loves to tell people of the look on my face when I first opened the box.  And yes, for only two days, I can admit they were very cute.  OK, and my kids are pretty stinkin' cute with them!

For two days and nights, we fed and watered them, and kept them in our shower.  Kellton and Astoria kept a vigilant watch on them, and those ducks generally tried to make themselves at home in our shower.  I couldn't help but wonder what kind of reception they would receive if they escaped though.  Imagine a couple of ducks wandering through the halls of our apartment building, cheeping fairly innocuously, but leaving behind messy reminders of their passing, that probably wouldn't be so well received.  And then it occurred to me:  I'm a duck!

As I wander around the city of Cochabamba, I generally stick out like a duck in an apartment building.  I try to communicate to the best of my ability, and for the most part, people are very accepting of my 'cheeping' and making noises that obviously aren't local!  And my communication continues to improve.  That's not the problem.  What am I leaving behind?  Hopefully the reminders and legacy I leave behind don't stink and require a lot of cleanup on the part of others.  (Yes, cleaning the shower required bleach, and leaving the bathroom window open for several days to air it out.)  The tough thing about trying to operate in such a way that it is building others up, and not creating more problems, is that time is required just to understand the culture, the business environment, the local laws and expectations; and figuring out what aspects of my former education and experience need to be discarded in order to appropriately apply other aspects.  This means that things don't happen on MY timetable.  It is often difficult to feel like I am 'accomplishing' anything, when much of my job is to observe, learn more language, and observe some more.

Speaking of time tables:  Dana & I were both a little shocked to be told that winter break may be moved up because it is so cold here.  First off, I haven't stopped wearing short-sleeve shirts and have only worn my coat once, because it was raining.  So "because it was so cold" seemed a bit different from a snow-day back in Helena.  But secondly...  you can just change the dates of the school vacations?  Don't people plan around that?  How are we supposed to plan for our language school classes, when we don't know where the kids will be?  When we have tried to express our surprise to others about this, they have just laughed and replied that "everyone knows" the vacation schedule is never the actual schedule...  Yep, still working my mind around that one.


In the meantime, I can only hope that being a duck means I am half as cute as this...