You might think by the title of this blog post that Liz and I are having difficulty with the 9200+ elevation in Sucre, but that is not the case. Instead, I simply mean that since we landed in Sucre we have hit the ground running so to speak. We´ve been getting started by 8am the last two days and haven´t got back to our hotel until after 10:30pm. Whew! But let me just say that it has been INCREDIBLE and AMAZING. Words cannot quite adequately describe what all is going on here and how Food for the Hungry is the real deal!
I want to give you a brief rundown of what we´ve done the last two day. Please keep in mind that EACH of these items could easily take up an entire blog post. We started yesterday morning meeting the community center in Horno Ckasa B. FH (Food for the Hungry) operates this center and does many programs there.
We started off Tuesday with Part 1 of Worldview Training by John (FH full time staff). John is a great guy and has a real heart for the people in Sucre. Following that, we broke into three teams and helped out with winter vacation school. Strange part is that winter vacation is over. How then were we doing this? Well, the regular schools are only a half day-some kids go in the morning and some in the afternoon. So we worked with these "at-risk" kids at three locations to help them with math. I was able to work with 6 kids and we even got a little English-Spanish instruction in. I think they knew more English than I did Spanish that is for sure! After that the FH team showed us the Wall of Success in the community center. There are currently 9 kids on this wall and the number has grown by 7 since last year. I´m fairly certain that this will be growing rapidly as time progresses. This Wall of Success shows kids that have been involved in FH and have attained success. One of the students is currently in medical school. This may not seem big to us, but it is to all the kids in Horno Ckasa B as it shows that by God´s grace they can reach their potential through the unique gifts and talents He has given them. After lunch we were involved in a painting competition with kids where we judged a competition they were having. Later we made a visit to the soccer (football down here) that FH is sponsoring. Let me tell you this is one of FH´s big projects. They have around 80 kids involved and are teaching everything from nutrition to conduct to work ethic to the game itself. One of the coaches is Juan Javier who is on the Wall of Fame mentioned above. Juan Javier is currently studying Accounting at the Universidad and is heavily involved in his church. I hope to write more on the soccer school at a later time. After a presentation, our team played one of their teams (ages ranged from probably 9 to 12 years old). I should note that this field was not grass - it was dirt, with lots and lots of rocks (photos later). At least it was level. In trips past, we gringos get pasted and beat to a pulp. But we had a secret weapon this year - her name was Erin who played for the University of New Mexico team. She organized us well and anchored the defense (the game was mostly played near our goal). Our goalie Kevin also made some great saves and the result was USA 1, Bolivia 1. At least we didn´t lose like the USA women did in the World Cup. But then again we didn´t have penalty kicks to determine the winner. After dinner we visited went and visited a local church that FH works with. I want to mention here that FH works with several local churches. What you don´t know is how amazing this is and product of God´s grace and work. You see, in Bolivia (and throughout much of Latin America) churches tend to very inward focused and territorial. They don´t like to invite outsiders in for fear that they might lose members to another church. So we headed to Shekina Church where they were having their youth meeting. I was asked late in the afternoon (around 4:30pm) if I could come with a talk. I didn´t have paper to write on nor a lot of time to prepare so I did feel a bit of pressure. To add to it, when we got there our team leader Matt told me the interpreter has only been speaking English for two weeks and that I needed to only use one and two syllable words. I understand the look on my face was priceless. Matt is quite the practical joker. There was lots of singing and one of our team members Patty played the guitar and sang a song in Spanish. As for my talk, I went to Romans 12:1-2 and focused on the word "transform" and how we are transformed in relationships in all areas of life - with others, with creation, with self and with God. I then shared the gospel - God, Man, Sin, Jesus, Response and talked about how it is the gospel that transforms us i.e. gospel transformation. We didn´t finish until 10:15pm. And I thought our SDG meeting on Wednesday nights went late!
On Wednesday we started the day with Part 2 of Worldview training with John. Again it was excellent. After that we broke up into to two groups to do sex education from a biblical worldview to teenagers. Several team members got up and talked about different aspects focusing on 1 Cor 6:19 (body as a temple). I was the last to talk and my part was on pornography. I spoke about how scripture says "be holy for I am holy" and went to Galatians 5 where it speaks of the battle between the flesh and the spirit. I told the kids they need to back to the cross and how Jesus died for the sins, that they needed to pray and memorize scripture in order to fight the temptation. I then tied it back to 1 Cor 6 part of being bought with a price and glorify God with their bodies. We then did an entire group prayer where they made a covenant promise of purity and holiness. I thought it went extremely well. After lunch we were supposed to build a speed bump, but that somehow fell through, so we did a community service project of cleaning up trash in the neighborhood. I should mention to the folks back home in 100 degree heat that I did this activity with a sweatshirt on for part of the time! After dinner we attended another church named Iglesia Mantiel de Vida. Our team participated with music and a skit. The skit was excellent we did it with no words yet it conveyed the message extremely well. One of members Jacob also gave a talk and did an excellent job. And once again it was after 10pm when we left there to head back to the hotel. I should also note that each night we get together in our leader´s room and talk about the day and the devotion we are to read at some point during the day. The devotion is a booklet that FH provides focusing on certain scripture in reference to poverty.
This "quick" rundown of events turned out to be pretty long. I didn´t even get to scratch the surface and talk more about specific things that have struck me during this. With it being late, I will have to save this until tomorrow. Hopefully.
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