On a lighter note...

Buen tarde, Friends,

Just thought I would let you know about some of the more light hearted moments of my trip:

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On our last day with MCC before changing over to the service part of our trip, our team went to eat at a Brazilian resteraunt in Santa Cruz. While browsing the buffet I stumbled accross a bowl of lemonade. While I was pondering whether I might want some of this lemonade, Matt, one of our faculty leaders, approached me and told me that that lemonade had something special in it.

"Limes?" I asked.

"No, something a little more special than limes," he replied.

"Oh, that kind of special," I said, chuckling and nodding my head with enlightenment.

Later, as one of my friends (who will remain unnamed until he or she is willing to own this story) entered the patio where we were eating, that person coughed and made this statement:

"Man, this is really strong lemonade."

They had already had a glass and a half.

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On the first night with my host family, I had gotten pretty fed up with the fact that I had no watch or generally any way of being able to tell what time it was when I discovered that my electronic dictionary had a clock in it. Since I had no way of knowing what time it is in order to set the clock, I decided in my brilliance to simply guess the time (based on my estimation of how many hours had passed since the seven o´clock church service that we had attended).

This probably would not have been so bad, except throughout the night and the next morning, I kept time according to the clock in my dictionary, causing much confusion to myself.

I have since bought a watch.

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Last Sunday our team returned from a visit to an archeological sight in Samaipata with the plan of eating dinner with our host families. The host mom for my house was gone to a party that night and left instructions for my house mates and I to heat up dinner while she was gone.

The instructions were fairly simple: put the garlic bread in the oven for three minutes with the setting on "grill." I put the garlic bread in and set the dial, but when I returned a few minutes later, the bread was uncooked. As one of my friends and I examined the uncooked bread, we recalled that we were operating a gas stove, and that we would need to light the gas in order to cook the bread.

"See, this is the ignition here isn´t it?" I asked, my finger poised to press the button on the front of the stove.

Thankfully, three minutes worth of gas is only enough for a funny story (without any singed eyebrows, trips to the hospital or calls to the fire department). The explosion was mostly contained within the oven.

Lesson learned?

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Today (Aug. 6) is Independance Day in Bolivia. Google is celebrating accordingly:

Blessings,

Sam

P.S. -- After some medicine, a good nights sleep and your prayers I´m feeling much better--although I kind of need to blow ny nose right now. Thank you for praying, and thank the Lord for my improvement. Keep praying for the health of the rest of my team as well.

Let us not love with words or tongue...

Hello, Friends,

The face melting moments have been scarce on this trip, but I think that God is still speaking. A pair of anecdotes may demonstrate sufficiently:

As a group of us were exploring the city of Sucre on our way to Potosí, an indigenous man with a piece of paper approached us. He was a Quechua man with a thin, square and well worn face--a feature that he shares with many of his people. In broken Spanish he explained to my friend Gonzalo that he needed 20 Bolivianos (about three dollars) to pay the fee to obtain his identification, and he asked if we could spare ten Bs. or so to help him out. The five of us stood around awkwardly for a few minutes while Gonzalo explained to us what he had said and continued to converse with him. We all seemed to have the same feeling of reluctance in regard to giving him anything (lest he should spend it on alchohol). Finally, Gonzalo offered to buy him something to eat (which he gladly accepted) and we went awkwardly on our way.

A few days later, a much larger group left the MCC house in Santa Cruz to go to phone and internet business and call home. The clerk at the phone place graciously allowed me to take a glass bottle of Coke with me when we left (normally I would only be able to purchase the soda and the glass bottle would be reused). When we stopped in a plaza to buy caramel apples on our way back, a little boy approached me with longing eyes and pointed at my Coke. Feeling partly the pressure of a cute little boys desire to drink Coke, and partly the pressure of the group of people around me, and popped the cap off and let him chug it down. Then I took a picture with him (almost like a real tourist).

A felt a tinge of regret on both occasions. On the first, I realized shortly afterwords that I really believed the indeginous man who asked us for money. He may have been a scam artist (and a pretty good liar) but the only part of me that really though he was lying was the part of me that has been taught to hold onto its money because of what might be the case. Maybe I can use it to buy a coffee in the States later.

In the second case I realized that as much as it may have felt good in the moment, giving a Coke to a random kid on the street may not have been such a great idea. Besides the fact that he didn´t really need it, I risked contributing to a spirit of dependency and may have offended his mother, who I later realized was close by. Moreover, I gave in partly out of a desire to be seen by others on my team in an act of kindness rather than one of rejection, and ended up making a hero of myself to them and a fool of myself in reality as I took on the demeanor of a "benevolent" [North] American.

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." (1 John 3:18)

Lesson learned?

Our God is a God who is concerned with the real needs of those who are in need. I hope I can learn to be a little more like Him.

Yeesh. It´s hard to tell what God´s doing. We´ve been about a week working at the daycare in Santa Cruz now, and I think our work is beginning to make more sense to me. I can see why it´s important (i.e. the little children), but the vertical connection has been difficult in the past few weeks. Keep our team in your prayers in that regard--that our service in these last few days would not be simply to people, but to God and through the power and with the energy of the Holy Spirit.

Because we don´t have anything worth blogging about apart from the work of the One through whom we´ve been crucified to the patterns and desires of this world.

Thank you, Jesus.

Blessings,

Sam

P.S. -- A few of my teamates and I are wishing right about now that we had taken the school nurses advice and gotten seasonal flu shots before we came. Keep that in your prayers as well.

Las Primeras Palabras...

Buen Noche, Amigos,

It´s been a little more than a week since I´ve left, and I´m sure some of you are eager for some form of communication from me. I would have liked to write to you sooner, I think, but when I arrived here I did not have much to write about—or much motivation to write it—and by the time there was something to tell you we were departing to remoter parts of Bolivia where a computer was not readily available.

I´ve been experiencing a bit of ´mission culture´ shock since I´ve been here. The change of setting has not so far been unsettling, but I´ve been surprised by how we are interacting with the culture around us. As you may be able to tell from my last post, I came expecting to hit the ground running, abandoning my own needs in order to meet the needs of the community. Our itinerary hasn´t exactly matched my expectations.

Beginning last Thursday and continuing through this Saturday, our team has been on a learning tour hosted by the Mennonite Central Committee (alternatively MCC or CCM depending on which language you are speaking). Our time has involved much eating, touring, cultural experience and team bonding. I expected to come giving, but I just keep receiving, and I think it´s throwing me off a little bit.

Our hosts, however, have been extremely gracious. Whether Lynn, Lorry, Carl and Kathy at the MCC site in Santa Cruz, Ramont and Liz in small town Charagua, or Mennonite Colonists in the Chaco (more on that interesting twist to come), our team has been shown tremendous hospitality this last week.

Of course, there will still be a chance to freely give coming up shortly. On Sunday, MCC will be handing us over to Mennonite Mission Network for the service project to begin. Perhaps I can even find some opportunities to do so before then, if I look hard enough.

Keep our health in your prayer. Our team has been experiencing a bit of sickness. Some of my team has been experiencing a lot of sickness. Additionally, tomorrow we will be flying to Sucre and then driving to Potosi (which I learned tonight is not only the highest city in Bolivia, but, at 13,000 feet, is actually the highest city in the world) to learn about issues with water and mining, and your prayers against altitude sickness would definitely be welcome

Blessings,

Sam

A Mennonite Colonist drilling a well.

Night shot of the church and plaza in Charagua.

Temperatures were reaching record lows when we arrived. It´s warmer now.

"Freely You have Received..."

Hello, friends,

Here’s a list of ways that grace has been shown to me as I have prepared for this trip:

· During our car wash at First Presbyterian, we did a little bit to earn our way to Bolivia. However, much of our profit came from those (numerous) people who donated ten or twenty dollars for a mediocre car wash from a group of college kids going on a mission trip to Bolivia. Grace.

· I sent out a number of support letters, which many of you received, and received back an abundant amount of financial help for my trip—so much so, in fact, that two weeks after the letters were in the mail I was relieved completely of the pressure of fundraising. Among those who contributed: A roommate’s parents, whom I have never met, who sent a surprisingly generous gift and a note promising to pray; two high school students and one junior higher who decided to dip into their pockets to help send me along; two poor college students; two women who specifically asked me to send them letters so that they could support me; and some especially generous gifts from a mentor and from my church in Coarsegold. Grace.

· The fact that Mennonite Missions Network pays $1000 of my cost without compensation. Grace.

· That so many of you have promised to pray, and so many of you I know are praying even though you haven't said anything. Grace.

The point I’m trying to make is that I haven’t in any way earned this trip to Bolivia. It’s been given to me. God has blessed me with the opportunity and the means to do this almost without me even realizing what has happened.

And now I am expectantly waiting to see what other grace I’m going to find when I arrive.

In Matthew 10:8, as He is sending His disciples out to preach the Kingdom of Heaven in Israel, the Lord tells them: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.”

And as I have freely received from God through Fresno Pacific University, Mennonite Missions Network, MCC and all of you this opportunity to serve in Bolivia, I hope to freely, and fully, give of myself there.

Yeesh. I already know from experience that that’s not easy. Even just last night after I came home from Bible study in Fresno I ran into a sort of spiritual brick wall, and the thought of giving freely of myself is not a very pleasant one at the moment. I'm having to realize more and more how small I am, and needing more and more to trust how big God is. And He's big. And this is all His.

At least I hope it is. I guess that's where your prayers come in.

At 10pm tonight I’ll be rolling out of Fresno Pacific University in a van with my team on our way to LAX, and (hopefully) by a little after midnight on Thursday we’ll be on the tarmac in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. See you all in four weeks.

Blessings, and thanks be to God (from Whom all blessings flow),

Sam

Two more weeks...

Hello Friends,

I just wanted to let you know that on Friday I got back from the Global Anabaptist Peacebuilding Institute (or GAP) at Fresno Pacific University. About half of our mission team attended this conference where we got to spend a little time with each other before our trip, and where we learned a little bit more about what it means to be a part of bringing God’s Shalom to this world.

Bolivia is a little more than two weeks away, and I’m not quite sure I’m aware of it yet. I’m still feeling a little separated from the reality of the coming trip, but hopefully I will be able to make some time in the next few weeks to pray for my team and myself as we prepare to depart. We would appreciate your continued prayers as well.

I also want to mention that as a result of the generosity that many of you have shown, I have been able to raise all of my support for the trip. I am abundantly thankful to the Lord and to all of you for being able to raise so much in such a short time, and I am hoping that it is a reflection of what He has planned for me there.

If anyone would still like to support our team, some of my teammates are still struggling to complete their fundraising. Any contribution above my total will be going toward their cost, and I’m sure that they will be appreciative of any help that they can receive. We are hoping to have at least one more yard sale to raise support for our trip, though we have not set a date yet. Those of you who have been looking for the perfect opportunity to combine thriftiness with mission support can look forward to the coming announcement.

And of course, your prayers are always appreciated and coveted (that is, a good sort of coveted).

Thanks in Christ,

Sam

It could be yours...

Hey everyone. Below are some pictures of me with things that could be yours if you come our yard sale tomorrow (June 5th) near Fresno City College at 519 E. Cornell Ave., Fresno, CA 93704. Proceeds will support our trip to Bolivia.

This informative literature could be yours.

This round thing could be yours.

This cute (Ty manufactured) dog could be yours.

This state of the art entertainment system could be yours.

These size 10 women's snowboarding boots could be yours.

This electric candle could be yours.

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Go here ^

Thanks,

Sam

Car wash update...

Hello friends,

I just wanted to let you know that due to an unfortunate misunderstanding about city policy regarding car washes, we will not be having a car wash at Clinton and Blackstone this Saturday, the 28th. Sorry about the inconvenience.

However, we will still be blessing the congregants at First Presbyterian Church with car washes (for a $5 donation) from 10:30 am until 1:00 pm this Sunday, the 30th, if you were really looking forward to having your car, bicycle or moped cleaned up.

Thanks,

Sam

We'll be across the street from the church in the Pink House parking lot.

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