Bolivia Pics

Finally got my suitcase back.  Yay!!!  Here is just a sampling of a few pictures - I have TONS more!  Stay tuned!

Our First View of the Boat

And The Work Begins....

Sunset on the Amazon

The Iguana Story As Promised...

So we are busy working away on the boat one afternoon when one of the Bolivian boatbuilders who is working about 3 feet away from us calls me over and tells me to bring my camera with me.  I made my way very cautiously around to other side of the boat, not exactly sure what I was going to see.  When I saw Mr. Iguana I was relieved that he wasn't a snake, but slightly grossed out at the size of this lizard.  I start snapping pictures and then Felix starts pointing at the branch on the ground next to the iguana...apparently he had been on that branch in the tree about 30 feet above us, and the branch broke causing him to land at the boatbuilders feet!

I told the team that if that iguana had landed about 3 feet over into our boat, you would have seen tools, water bottles, and a team of 9 Canadians come straight up out of a boat in ten seconds flat!!!  Thanks for dropping by Mr. Iguana!

Where Oh Where Could My Suitcase Be?

No pics yet - my camera battery is dead, and my charger is in my suitcase which is still flying around South America somewhere!!  Hope to have some updates soon.  SO good to be home, but so hard to get back to reality!

The Homestretch

We are having lots of fun today - the boys rented motorbikes for eight dollars a day and are having fun driving the girls around.  I rode with the pastor this morning because I figured he would have a little more experience driving around here.  It was a blast.  The smile on Stan's face is worth it all.  He has certainly earned it.

We went back to the Eco Resort because Derek wanted to swim in the Amazon and this is the closest we could get to it.  I got some great pics of the parrots this time - they put one on my arm and he walked up and started nibbling on my ear and then tried to steal my glasses!  Absolutely beautiful.  One of the young guys took me around and showed me the different animals they had there.  The toucans were beautiful.

I got them to drop me off at the hotel because it is getting too hot out there for me now.  I may go down to the pool in a bit.  The pastor and his wife are supposed to be coming to dinner with us tonight. She is a lovely lady.

We went down and had our pictures taken at the "Genesis".  The guys gave some of their tools to one of the men working on the boat next to us.  He almost cried when we said goodbye.  Gustavo joined us for our prayer time last night and when we finished he said "Look at you, each of you are glowing.  There is aura of light around each one of you.".  That is the highest compliment anyone could pay me.

We are on the homestretch now, and I am truly amazed at how fast the time has gone.  It has been san absolutely incredible experience, and what a wonderful way to end off. 


(Once home I'll be sharing some of my own pictures from this adventure and sharing more of the stories surrounding them, so stay tuned :-)

Bikes and Books... Heaven!

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. 

Bolivia Adventures

Not much to report today - as I've been saying to the team all week, everything is just another shade of warm!  Another really hot day out there, and everyone is feeling the effects, not that it stops them from working on any way.  Crystal and I however, came back to the hotel early because we weren't being that much good to them anyway.  

I just slept for two hours - guess I was more tired than I thought.  At least I feel like I can think now.  I learned that when they were laying the beams across the boat to lay the floor on, that they put a two inch "crown" in the center so that it would be raised up enough in the middle for the water to run off.  I guess they must do that with the mattresses in the beds as well, because not only is my bed as hard as the dining room table, it has a "crown" in the middle as well, so that I feel like I'm sleeping on the top of a mountain when I'm laying there.  I am SO looking forward to a good sleep in my own bed, with my puppy dogs of course.  I hope they haven't forgotten me!  I realized today that we have been here a week.  The time has flown by.

Gustavo took us to the home of another lady from the church who runs a bakery.  Turns out SHE was the one who baked my birthday cake on Sunday.  We were warmly greeted by her husband who does not attend the church, as well as her sister and her husband who shared the meal with us.  We sat outside and waited in the warm, moist evening air, and after a while they started bringing the food to us on trays.  We couldn't believe the amount of food they gave us, and it was all so delicious.  They had made a type of lasagna that was made with a white sauce, there were fried bananas, roasted meat, chicken that had a sauce on it that reminded me of honey garlic chicken at home, and rice.  We ate it all and most of us had seconds.  

Then the lady gave some of us some cake from her bakery - of course you know that I couldn't be rude and not try it!  Gus and the pastor talked for a long time afterwards to the lady's husband and family.  I could understand most of what they were saying.  I like sitting there listening to them speak Spanish because I feel like I am soaking it in through osmosis.  Gus told Mark today that even though it was hard for the team to sit there and listen to a conversation they could not understand, that this was the first opportunity for the pastor to meet this woman's husband, and it was an opportunity for him to make a connection.  Today I was questioning a bit why I am here because I don't feel that I can contribute a lot when they are working on the boat, but the Lord reminded me of what Gus had said, and He reminded me that there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that just our presence here has opened doors for.  That was enough for me.

I miss and appreciate you all back at home, and am counting the days and mintues until I'll be home again - not long now!

Con mucho amor,

Bolivia's Gifts To Me

It's getting close to 100 degrees out there this afternoon, so I decided to pack it in and come back to the hotel.  Everyone is feeling the heat today - there is no breeze, and the humidity is very high.  I am amazed at how those guys can work in this heat, and Crystal and Heather too!  Lorne's shorts and shirt are so soaked he looks like he jumped in the river.  One of my duties is to make sure everyone is drinking lots of water on a regular basis - hopefully they will remember to do that this afternoon.

I wanted to give an update on the weekend before I forget all of the details - we decided to only work until 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, and then Gustavo was going to take the team across the river to visit the market in Brazil.  I decided to stay behind because it was so hot, and the pool was calling my name.  I'm so glad I did because when they got over there everything was closed and they had to turn around and come back! 

In the evening Gustavo took us to an Eco resort which is just outside of town for supper. He told us to wear our bathing suits because we could swim in the lake if we wanted to, but upon inspecting the murky brown water with little fish jumping out of it, suddenly no one felt the urge to cool off anymore...not sure why.  We sat outside and took tons of pictures of the sunset, as well as of the beautiful red, blue and green parrots that were posing for us just a few feet away.  We asked Gus if these parrots had been tamed, but he said no, that the man who built the resort planted a lot of mango trees there and the parrots stay because they love them so much. It was amazing to be so close to them.  We enjoyed a delicious meal (again) of fish and chicken, and fought off the bugs, who came out in droves once the sun went down.  There were two little kitty cats there who were meowing forlornly at my end of the table - the rest of the team didn't know it, but I was feeding them chicken left right and center because they were so thin.  Everything is thin down here, and I find it very depressing.

We went to church on Sunday morning, and Mark did a great job at speaking.  The longer we sat in the service the more we felt like we were in a sauna - obviously no air conditioning in this church!  The service was over around 11:00 and we walked to the main square and waited for an hour and a half while the people from the church prepared a meal for us consisting of fresh local fish baked in an outdoor oven.  The fish was some of the best that I have ever tasted, and was so tender and mouthwatering.  The food has been absolutely delicious here - and they serve us so much of it; we eat about six times a day here!  We actually had to ask the church people to cut back on the amount of food they were bringing us at the boat because we couldn't possibly eat it all!

We then returned to the hotel to relax for the afternoon before going to a Bolivian family's house for supper, and then to the evening church service.  I was feeling a bit homesick because Sunday was my birthday, and I was thinking about my family back home.  My mum and I share the same birthday so that makes it even more special.  I had decided not to tell anyone on the team because that's just not my thing - the less attention I have the better.  I called home and my mum got after me for not telling anyone, so I told her that I would announce it at church that night when I sang. 

Gus took us to the home of a family from the church who prepared the evening meal for us - it was a dish that reminded me of chicken cacciatore, and it was so delicious there wasn't a scrap left!  Some of the guys even ate the chicken's feet that were in there too!  It is so humbling to be loved and served by these people the way we are - I know that they do not have an abundance of anything, and it is very humbling to be lavished on in this way.  And I felt so sorry for those ladies working so hard in the kitchen in all of this heat, especially after just preparing the huge meal at the church.  They assured me that it was no trouble at all for them.  Right... 

I enjoyed the evening service much more than the morning - you could feel the people warming up to us, and I could feel God's presence there with us very strongly.  I told the people (in Spanish) before I sang that it was my birthday, and that I was very happy to be sharing it with my family in Bolivia.  I sang two songs, and the whole time it kept going through my head "How awesome is this, to be singing in a church in Bolivia for your birthday?"  At the end of the service I heard them say my name and they asked me to come up to the front of the church.  At first I thought that they were asking me to sing another song and I panicked for a second because I didn't have anything prepared.  Then I realized that they were asking me to come to the front of the church because it was my birthday and they were going to sing to me!  While they did, everyone from the church came up and wished me a happy birthday.  I felt their love for me, and as those beautiful Bolivian ladies embraced me and kissed me on the cheek I felt absolutely overwhelmed, and knew that I could not have been given a greater gift.  I was beyond words and beyond tears.

It seems though, that someone else had let the cat out of the bag, because when I walked into the pastor's house afterwards everyone started singing Happy Birthday to me, and they presented me with a chocolate cake that the pastor's wife had baked for me that afternoon...again, in the incredible heat, and after preparing that huge meal for us.  I still can't quite believe that the Lord did that for me - I felt so loved, by Him, and by these beautiful people.

I love it when that feeling of connection comes with the people, and you feel so loved and honored.  It humbles me beyond anything I have ever experienced in my life, and is one of the greatest feelings in the world.  I think it's part of why I take these crazy trips, and go on adventures that I could never have dreamed up on my own.  The Lord can take care of us and watch over us from any place in the world, and let us know that we are special to Him in ways that are beyond our imagination.  He is the love of my life.