Bolivia: First Impressions

Whew... I´m finally here! I arrived in Santa Cruz 5 days ago and I can hardly believe I´m here! The MCC complex is beautiful! I really love it. There are some awesome people here, too. Actually, everyone here is awesome. They are all so friendly and hospitable and lovely.


It´s been a little crazy getting use to the new environment here. It´s a lot more crowded and traffic is all over the place! It´s pretty exciting, but it will definitely take a little while to get use to it.

One of my favourite parts of being here is being able to see all the different vegetation and wildlife. I see palm trees and mango trees and mandarine orange trees and papaya trees and yucca plants and cool looking birds with unknown names. I love standing outside and realizing that I´m in Bolivia. It´s so different from anything that I´ve ever known.

I´ve begun to realize that as often as I´ve seen pictures of poverty, I´ve never really understood it. I also realize that I still don´t understand it. But, I can see poverty first hand now... that makes it so much more real. I see Bolivians scraping up what money they can by racing through parked cars, trying to sell a newspaper or some bananas... and I see stall workers so exhausted that they´ve fallen asleep on their seats. I saw a lady without shoes a few days ago and I felt so bad. But, what can I do? I can afford many shoes... many nice shoes, and she can´t afford any. I probably won´t ever see her again and even if I did, could I give her my shoes? I don´t know.

Anyways, that kind of paints a depressing picture of Bolivia. It´s not actually that depressing. Some parts are sad and others are quite happy. The people here are hard working and friendly and wonderful. I really love everyone I´ve met.

Yesterday, all of us SALTers and YAMEN (except for one who was in Concepcion...did I spell that right?) piled into a jeep/truck/car and headed off to an Old Mennonite Colony with two MCC workers who work with the colonies. It was an amazing experience. It took about 1 hour to get down there and suddenly everyone was in overalls or traditional Mennonite dresses. We drove down many many roads that held no understanding of the concept of ´smooth´or ´flat´. It was actually pretty fun driving over them... especially riding in the back with no seatbelts.
Our first stop at the colony was to their cheese factory, which was pretty awesome. I really wish I´d brought my camera (apparently they don´t mind cameras here). The process was pretty cool. It would´ve been fun to try. Mixing cheese pieces (that looked an awful lot like cottage cheese) with your hands and shoveling them into boxes to be squashed together and de-juiced. Was pretty cool. Everyone there had huge smiles and were quite happy to show us what they do. They let us try a piece of cheese, which was quite good, but very very salty!
Then we headed over to a Mennonite store. It held lots of cloth for clothes (interesting patterns...) and shoes and baby stuff. It was pretty interesting. Apparently they are not allowed to wear regular buttons, so they have snap buttons instead. They showed us how they put those onto shirts, which was pretty cool.
For lunch we headed over to the house of one of the colony families. They were so friendly and his wife made a ton of wonderful food for us! Mennonites certainly do eat a good amount of food.
They took us to the River (I don´t know how to spell the name...), which was nearly all dried up...it was almost like a miniture canyon. I think the bottom was about 5 meters below us...and in the rainy season it fills up to about 1 meter below the top. Pretty incredible because it is incredibly wide! We managed to find a way down into the riverbed (which was an interesting climb in my skirt... skirts were required for all us girls) and walked along it for a ways before finding another way out. That was a lot of fun. All-in-all it was an amazing experience I probably won´t ever forget.

Today we visited Talita Cumi (where one of the SALTers I traveled with is going to be working) and to Guaderia Moises (where I and one other SALTer will be working). It´s an incredible place! It´s absolutely beautiful with lots of green field space and playgrounds and nice classrooms and preschool area. They even have a few cows and a pig! I´m looking forward to working there. Apparently I will be working mainly with the toddlers and babies (so cute!), but also may be asked to cover for some volunteers in the after school program. I´m glad I can do both. I like a variety of work. I took a bunch of pictures and hope to post those soon-ish... although I keep saying that to myself and it never happens.

I´m not sure how often I´ll be able to blog after this because on Sunday I´m going to head off to live with my host family (which I´m pretty excited about) and I don´t think they have a computer. I´ll try to get over to the MCC center regularily, though.

Tomorrow we´re sleeping in and having a pancake breakfast (awesome!). Aftwards I think we´ll head off to the market to do some shopping... which will be super nice. I am in much need of shampoo/conditioner (although I was told I should use soap...don´t know if I´m convinced of that yet). Chao!

Akron

Akron is beautiful. It's a super tiny town, but it is really gorgeous. There are many rolling hills and lots of green trees and grass. The complex here is amazing! There are four different "houses" with about 12 bedrooms each (2 people to a bedroom), a living area and a "kitchen." They are really fun. I have a fantastic roommate who is from Santa Cruz, Bolivia (where I'm going) and we have a lot of fun teaching each other Spanish and English and learning about each other's culture.

I absolutely love meeting so many people from all over the world. There are about 50 of us from North America and 60 from elsewhere. There are a lot of different languages echoing around here. I'm enjoying my time here, although every now and then I get a pang of homesickness when I realize what I'm doing. It's comforting, though, to know I'm not the only one who feels the same way.

One of the things I love the most about being here in Akron is the chance to see people from all over the world praising God in different languages. We've sung a few songs in a few different languages and it's awesome to know that it doesn't matter if you're singing in English or Cambodian, God understands both. I had someone from Korea pray for me in Korean and that was no less powerful than it would've been if she prayed for me in English. At the commissioning service there were many many people praying to God in their own languages. It was beautiful... not necessarily because the language was beautiful, but because I realized that there is no language barrier with God. It sounds so obvious when I'm writing that, but it's so profound and awesome when you finally understand it! We're all different in language and customs and physical appearance, but there is something greater than any physical difference could hope to be and that is the love of the one God. God is the same in Nanaimo as He is in Santa Cruz as He is in Cairo as He is in that little village just outside Mexico City. That is very encouraging to know.

As all of us SALTers are getting ready to go (the IVEPers have already all left... :(... sad), we're all feeling the same anxieties and excitement. We're terrified, but thrilled at the opportunity. It's like one of my friends here said, we have to remind our selves of the simple truths, of God's steady promises. Remembering these things strengthens our courage and determination to persevere. The leaders of my Going Global small group gave me a helpful saying to remember. It says "God is Good. He knows what He's doing. I can trust Him." That helps. It helps to know that this is where God wants me, so I'm going to be OK. It helps to know that everyone goes through culture shock and that what I will be feeling is normal. I'm very scared, but I'm also terribly excited to see how God is going to use this experience to strengthen my faith and trust in Him.

Oh! And another HUGE praise item! I was sure I had at least $1500 owing to MCC when I got here, but when I received my donations report I had nothing due! Thank you sooo much to everyone who supported me financially through this! It was an amazing God moment to read that statement and realize that God is certainly taking care of my needs as I trust Him.

am I actually doing this??

Wow, I'm scared. I leave for Pennsylvania on Saturday. That only leaves me 3 more days here in Canada with my family. I keep wondering if I'm actually, really truely, going to Bolivia.

I feel different from all the other SALTers - more unprepared. But I suppose that's not a fair assumption since I don't know what experiences the other SALTers have had overseas. I've never been overseas before. Not even for a week-long missions to Mexico. I really have no idea what to expect from Bolivian culture. I don't understand much Spanish, either. I know a few phrases and words, but not much at all. That's also very frightening for me. I have been away from my family before... when I'm off at college, but I've always had my twin with me. Now I'm going somewhere by myself. Whew... what an adventure!

Thank you so much to those who have been supporting me through donations and prayers. I really can't express how grateful I am! It means so much to know that there are people here who care so much for me... no matter where I am.

I could really use prayer for confidence and that I'd remember everything I need to do before I go. Also for my language studies and calmed nerves. Thank you, again!