This morning, we woke up at 6 to leave at 7. Breakfast was perfect: I made a PB&J on pita bread. :) A small group of 7 (me, April, Barb, Ian, Hannah, Melanie, Abby, and Andres) got in the Land Cruiser (which ended up with a flat tire later in the day) for a 45 minute drive to this small community. Our objective: chasing and catching 40 alpacas. Yes, we are just awesome like that. The alpacas needed to have oral and injection medications, so we had to corner them, grab them around the neck, hold on to their tails, and wait for the medicine people to come over to us. I actually ended up catching 2 adults and 2 babies…not the ones that wrangled out of my intense grip (exaggeration). To add to the excitement, we got lost on the way back to the camp…Andrew lost the road (using the term “road” very loosely)…we caught some good air and bottomed out several times…how many people can say that they’ve been off-roading in Bolivia after wrestling alpacas? We got back a little bit before the bigger group (who were taking care of alpacas and llamas), so I got to write for a while…it was refreshing.
We all loaded up in the bus for the hour ride back to the church we went to yesterday…we had our (now) traditional sound-off…my number is 2…I am second. (And yes, I did fight with someone else to have that number…which doesn’t exactly obey Philippians 2:3-4…grrr.) Since we had more people today, the clearing was much faster and more efficient. I would say that we finished about half of what needed to be done…which I think is very good, considering the amount of clay and the altitude at which we are working. We worked until lunch time…llama and potatoes again…so I stealthily transferred my plate to someone who hadn’t gotten one yet and then had some peanut butter crackers and a granola bar on the bus.
After we ate, the pastor of the church and a few of the members sang us two songs. We sang the Animal Song and Amazing Grace to them and then laid hands on them to pray for the church and community. One of the most humbling moments of the day was seeing people who were at least 80 years old kneel down on the ground when we told them we were going to pray. What a picture of sheer reverence to the Creator of all…the Ruling Sustainer. Then we loaded the bus again (with a sound-off) and embarked on the 4 hour drive back to La Paz.
No matter how long I’ve been here, it still scares me to no end when the cars, buses, and trucks drive so recklessly close together. That was one of the best bus rides I’ve had this trip…it was just me and God. About 15 people were sitting in the back of the bus playing mafia, the others were dozing on and off, and I was able to just be still and read and think and listen and know that He is God! When we got to the hotel, it was time for dinner…we checked in, dropped our stuff off, and then left to walk to the place we were eating. Pollos Copacabana. What an experience. They had burgers and fried chicken. Let’s just say I can’t wait to be able to go to Chick-fil-a…I’m also having sweet tea withdrawals.
After dinner, we were finally able to take showers…praise the Lord for the gracious gift of running water! At 9, we met for devotions. April talked about fear…and mentioned 2 of my favorite verses: 2 Timothy 1:7 and 1 John 4:18. In our small group time after that, we talked about how we had seen God work this week, what He has taught us, and who we need to tell specific things about the trip. It was very good. This week has flown by and seemed like an entire month all at the same time. I’m very ready to be back at home and then go to school, but I wouldn’t trade this time here for anything (or nearly anything) in the world. I have a feeling that I will be talking about this trip to anyone who will listen for a very long time to come. God is good…so very good! His faithful love endures forever.
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