I couldn't decide on a good title.

So I've been really lazy in posting here the last couple weeks. I've definitely had the time, just not the willpower I guess. Ha. So here is a quick(?) overview of what's happened:

Went to Oruro (a 4-hour drive in bus) for a Friday - Saturday trip with Maite and 2 of her co-workers/friends. One of the girls has family that lives there, so we stayed with them Friday night and explored the city Saturday. We went to the market, to an old mine (the city was once a huge mining town before the mineral resources were exhausted), and to some other interesting landmarks around the city. We also went swimming in a hot spring- AMAZING! Oh, and I ate llama meat for the first time- not too bad.

That same Saturday night, we got a new guest in my house! She's only here until next Monday (about 2 weeks total that she'll have been here), but so far it's been fun having another extranjera in the house. Her name is Katarina and she's from Switzerland. Her dad is actually originally from Oruro, so she came to Bolivia to learn Spanish and visit her many family members whom she has never met. She's a modern history researcher/expert(?), and she teaches history, English, French, and Latin in addition to her inconsistent researching and article-writing jobs. I am amazed at her language skills. Before coming here, she had only studied Spanish by herself for 2 months, and practiced a few times with a friend from Venezuela. But her Spanish is amazingly good! She can basically get around, although she doesn't always understand everything that's being said. She speaks English pretty much fluently, but I talk to her in a mix of Spanish and English. Kind of interesting/fun. She's been taking classes with Maite's school and just hanging out with us and exploring Cochabamba. After she finishes her time here, she'll go to La Paz for 2 weeks to stay with her family.

The last couple weeks at CDA, in addition to my other housework and hanging with the kids, I have been organizing the depósito, the storage room where we keep extra clothes and supplies. It was a total wreck, but I (with the help of a couple of the tias) have made it a little more organized. We threw out a ton of clothes and shoes that we won't use for our kids because they are worn out, with holes and major stains. We're donating a lot of it to different organizations, mainly ones that work with street kids (as far as I know). We've also separated the clothes that are too big for the kids at House 1 (the baby home- the kids are babies - about 5 years old), and given them to House 2 (the older kids- age 5 - 7ish). The clothes I brought almost 2 months ago weren't even out of the bags I brought them in(!), so I took those and put them away on the shelves. It still needs some more work, but the tias have also been getting rid of some clothes from the house that the kids use now but that are very worn out, and replacing it with the things from the depósito, so that's helped. Also, there is a group of 20 people(!!) coming this Friday(!!!!) from McKinney, TX, and they will be bringing clothes and other donations too. I might have to grab a couple of them to help me separate and organize what they bring, along with finishing the other organizing in the storage room.

I've gotten into a Sunday School study on 1 Peter before the service at my church. I think I mentioned it before, but it's in English! Maite was going with me too, but this past Sunday she didn't go because she says she can't understand very much of it. So now it's me, the teacher (an older American man), and 3 older Bolivian men who are learning English. I feel a little out of place, but it's an interesting study, and it's in English so that's a plus too! And after the study this week the Bolivian guys were talking to me, and they're nice. They want to practice their English so it was kind of fun for me and good for them too.

For the last couple weeks in my house, we haven't had consistent running water. I've taken many showers by pouring a bucket of water over my head. The last week the same thing has happened at the baby home, and all around the city. There are some days that we do have water, and the last few days it's actually been better, but I've heard that water is going to be a problem until the rainy season (another 4-5 months!). I've also seen stories on the news of water shortage problems in La Paz and other cities in Bolivia. Last week I prayed for rain, because I thought maybe it would help a little with the water problem. But even as I prayed, I knew that it wasn't going to happen. We're in the dry season, and it just does not rain during this time. Even as I talked to Maite about it, I said that I wished it would rain but I knew it wouldn't. Well, 2 days after I prayed for rain, I woke up to a gray, cloudy sky and wet ground! It had rained a little the night before, and that morning and night it rained some more! Also on my way to work that morning, while walking in the rain (which I didn't even mind because it was so refreshing!), I saw a beautiful rainbow. I like to think that God was telling me that when we ask for something, even if it seems impossible, he can provide it. That day I definitely repented for doubting His ability to make something happen even when common sense says that it won't. Also, this week there has been snow on the mountaintops! That's also uncommon here, and it's completely gorgeous.

Last night I stayed the night with the now 5-month-old triplets! The last time I did that, they did not sleep AT ALL and neither did I, as I was up basically all night trying to calm the screaming babies. It was a pretty stressful night overall. Then this last week I had heard from their mom and the other tias that had stayed the nights with them that they weren't sleeping much during the night. I wasn't exactly looking forward to last night as you could imagine. My mom and the tias encouraged me to pray that they would sleep, and I did yesterday and last night when I first got there. And surprisingly, it was a really good night! I heard them wake up throughout the night but they never cried, only made little noises and moved around. I only had to get up twice all night, and those were when the babies were crying for milk at their normal feeding times! 2 of them woke up and ate 1 time each (one at 2 and one at 5), and the other woke up both of those same times. So I only had to feed and change 2 at a time! And even the times I woke up to feed them, I felt a calm and peace in the room, and they didn't cry before going back to sleep either. I actually enjoyed my time with them. For some reason I didn't sleep very much anyway (maybe I was anticipating the crying that never came?), but I still feel well-rested today. Thank you God for another answered prayer.

I think that's about all I have for now...Today is my day off, I'm about to eat lunch, and Katarina will be home soon so I might go to the market with her. Thanks for reading- hope it was enjoyable!

Happy 4th of July!

Yes, I know I'm a day late. But this is my 4th of July post.

Here in Bolivia, July 4th doesn't really mean anything special (except to all the Americans who live here...and I guess the English too :p). But I still celebrated our holiday, in the most unique (and possibly most fun) way ever!

My day started with a Sunday school Bible study at Cochabamba International Church with Maite. It was the 3rd week of this particular study, and Maite and I had been wanting to go, but this was our first time actually getting to. It's about 1 Peter (and I think we'll go into 2 Peter too, and maybe other books if it continues?), and it's in English! However, I was the only native English-speaker there beside the American teacher. The study was great, and I'm planning on going every week from now on. Then we went to the church service, which was also great as always. After church, Maite and I picked up some chicken nuggets (I was pretty excited about that) from IMBA (chicken company) with a side of yucca. We took a trufi home, ate our nuggets, and I changed clothes. I then went to IC Norte (this huge grocery store near my house) to pick up some apples and vanilla ice cream. From there I went to CDA 1 to bring the goods and help Jennifer make apple pies. We took pictures of the triplets (see Jen's blog for some cute ones!) while the pies were baking.

Once everything was ready, we took the pies and ice cream and headed to the bridge where a lot of street kids Jen works with live. We ended up taking several of them to pick up some other kids from the market. After driving around and finally finding the people we were looking for, we were heading back to the bridge to eat our pie and ice cream to celebrate the 4th, but first we made a little stop. While we were driving, we saw all these people with different painted backgrounds and props in the median area (pretty big, kind of like a mini park) of the road. I asked what all of it was and Jen explained that the people who live way out in the country come into town to get there pictures "professionally" taken. I guess it's a really cool thing to do for them. But the backgrounds and props were soooo cheesy and tacky (to me anyway), and I thought it was hilarious. I said jokingly that I wanted to get my picture taken there, and Jen and I laughed. She told the kids in Spanish what I said, and one of the kids was like, "Let's get all of our pictures taken here!" Then everyone in the car got excited and they really wanted to do it, so after gathering up all the people we were looking for, we parked on the side of the street and walked over to the picture area. We got so many weird looks, and I'm sure we did look pretty strange, but we ended up getting our picture taken with 2 different backgrounds and buying 1 of each. Jen has the prints, and she's supposed to scan and email them to me soon! I'll post them as soon as I get them, because they're great! Anyway, after all that, we went to the bridge (we didn't actually go under, just stayed at the intersection on top where the kids wash windows for change), ate our sweets, and hung out for a while. The kids took my camera and Jen's (with permission) and took lots of pictures of us and each other (those will also be posted as soon as I can!). Jen drove me home after, and I hung out with Maite and Teresa the rest of the night.

It was the craziest 4th I've ever had, but so much fun! The kids are hilarious and (mostly) sweet, and I think the ridiculousness of the pictures we got, plus having tons of people squashed into Jen's tiny car made it even more fun. Plus the pie was totally delicious! Tonight Maite and I are going to celebrate July 4th again by going out to eat hamburgers- my first time to have one since being here..yum!

Happy Independence Day! I hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday!