Today was a GREAT day - I thought it was going to be another typical morning at the boat, but at the last minute Gustavo asked me if I wanted to visit the Christian bookstore that Cathy runs here in the city. Cathy is a lady from Switzerland that I met at the church Sunday night. She has been working here in Bolivia for several years as a missionary, and one of the things that she does is help run the bookstore. We went to the church first, and the pastor's wife walked me over to the bookstore. I managed to carry on a half decent conversation with her in Spanish, which made me feel good. The bookstore was beautiful, and I was really impressed. I told Cathy that I had $20 left and that I wanted to buy a Spanish bible. She picked out a small one for me and brought out a selection of beautiful hand embroidered cases to put it in. I picked out one that had some llamas on it - something to remember Bolivia by.
I chatted with Cathy and the pastor's wife for a while, and then she said that she would take me back to the boat ON HER MOTORBIKE. Everyone rides a motorcycle here, and at night they all come out and ride around and around the main plaza. They do it to cool down and enjoy the evening air. I would be doing the same thing if I lived here!!! I jumped on the bike and we took off through the town, weaving in and out of traffic, dogs, people, and even some soldiers out doing a training run. We had to stop at the Immigration office because Cathy had to help a young man from Germany who has come to work with them for a year. We waited for a long time because the lady that he needed to meet with was chatting with her family in her office. There was another young lady who worked there who had her little 1 year old daughter with her. She was the sweetest little thing, and was more than happy to pose for pictures for us. Guess they don't do daycare here...but it certainly didn't seem to be a problem for her to have the little girl there.
Finally Cathy decided that she had better take me back to the boat, so we jumped on her motorcycle again and made our way there. There was the most delicious breeze blowing when we got to the boat, and it was wonderful. We gave Cathy a small tour of the "Genesis", and then she made her way back to the Immigration office to see if the lady was done talking to her family yet. The Lord spoke to me before the trip about making "divine connections" while I was here, and I believe that Cathy is one of them, although I don't know what is to become of it. Of course, she was talking to me about how much work there is to be done here, and how the doors are wide open for mission work. I am overwhelmed by the need here, but oh my, an angel would have to appear to me in my bedroom before I would come back here!!!
We spent a very pleasant morning working on the boat - the day actually felt cool with the breeze, but when I checked the temperature on Mark's thermometer in his backpack, in the shade, under the boat, it still said 30 degrees! We have done almost all of the work that we can do up to this point on the boat because there is no more lumber to work with, and the motor is not ready. The Bolivian boat builders are very pleased with the amount of work that we have done, as well as the quality. The guys on our team are INCREDIBLE, and it was amazing to watch them work.
As much as I am thrilled and excited about tomorrow being our last day in Guayaramerin, I know that I am going to leave a piece of my heart here, and will grieve for the Bolivian friends that I will have to leave behind.
