It was great to connect with everyone by Skype this morning. Seeing you all and telling you a bit of our story gave us a lift. Your love and prayers have been a great encouragement.

We have been catching our breath for the last two days before heading up to Llallagua. We all caught up on our sleep Friday night and woke up refreshed. The morning was relaxing with a bit of laundry and a walk over to a nearby market. Alex came by around noon to take us over to Ivan’s for lunch. Ivan is pastoring a group of Brazilian students who are at university here. He and his wife, Christina, had invited them over for a party and we got to join in.

When we arrived about 25 students were sitting around tables in Ivan’s backyard. The food arrived and we settled in with a typical Bolivian meal: meat, potatoes, rice, noodles, and vegetable. After we ate Ivan got out his guitar and his brother-in-law Wilson joined him on churango. They are both very good musicians. Wilson had to leave after a couple of songs and Ivan and the students began singing some Brazilian music. He even twisted our arms to sing a few hymns that we could all remember. Many of our hymns have been translated and are quite common here, so the students joined in Portuguese whenever they recognized a melody.

See a short video clip of the entertainment here:  Brazilian Party

They were quite curious about Cuba. They are all medical students and are familiar with Cuban doctors who have come to South America. Melba held forth a length, describing life in Cuba and answering lots of questions. We talked a bit about Canada and hopefully dispelled the myth that it is covered by ice and snow 12 months of the year. It was a great afternoon. The students were a lot fun, very engaged and full of energy.

In the evening we sat in on a young adult service at the Baptist Church. When we arrived there were about 30 people in the church singing Spanish choruses, accompanied by a small band. They welcomed us with the traditional Bolivian wave and made us feel right at home. A visiting pastor from Brazil gave a message on Daniel that was translated into Spanish by Ivan. Melba translated into English for us. He spoke about the challenge of modeling the life of Christ in a secular world, holding up Daniel as our example. It was a good reminder to keep our focus in a world that presents a lot of distractions.

See a video clip of the service here:  Young adult service

This morning we woke up to the most wonderful peace and quiet. Not a car to be heard. Judicial elections were held in Bolivia today, so everything was shut down. No motorized vehicles were allowed on the streets. Public gatherings were forbidden including church services. Ivan came by to take us over to his parent’s house for lunch. We walked over, strolling down the middle of streets that are usually clogged with traffic. It was warm and sunny and lots of people were out doing the same thing.

We had a wonderful lunch after talking to all of you back in Edmonton. Ivan’s family was all there plus Barney, who arrived this morning from Ontario to scout out a project he is planning in Chiquitana. Chiquitana is a very poor area in tropical northern Bolivia. He is hoping to send three teams down to construct a training centre for local pastors.

After lunch we wandered over to the polling station to look at the voting. It was quite orderly. Aside from a group of police officers lounging around looking bored, it appeared similar to voting day in Canada. Voting is mandatory in Bolivia so there was a good turnout. In fact, Ivan’s brother Ariel (aka Yayo) was town from La Paz to vote. He is living temporarily in La Paz, so hasn’t transferred his address from Cochabamba. The polling station was in a school, so we also got a quick look at some typical Bolivian classrooms. They were definitely more barebones that what our children are used to.

In the afternoon, Ivan talked about his vision for a mobile medical clinic to serve outlying areas like Mizque and Llallagua. His recent gall bladder operation and his involvement with the Brazilian medical students have opened his eyes to the medical challenges faced in rural areas and he is excited about the possibilities. He also talked about the challenges in Llallagua. The miners are quite fatalistic about their lives. Not surprising considering the danger they face in old crumbling mines with little or no safety equipment. The local churches have some unhelpful politics that are distracting from their mission. We’ll learn more over the next few days.

We will be leaving for Llallagua tomorrow and those of us who have been there before are looking forward to our return visit. It is a hard area in many ways and much in need of prayer. It is also home to many beautiful people, who we remember from our last visit. Pray that we will be an encouragement and that Christ’s love will shine through us to everyone we meet.

Click here for a very good article about Llallagua

Before and after pictures!

Today was our return trip to Cochabamba. We luxuriated in bed until 8AM this morning. After breakfast we divided up the extra work clothes, gloves, boots, etc for the Sebastien, Julien, Lucho and Roberto. Aida came by for breakfast and when we left the hotel Julien was outside waiting to say goodbye. We all went over Sebastien and Angela’s house for one last look. Angela wasn’t there but Sebastien and their youngest, Yanet Cari, were there. He already had glass panes in the large new window and the finished cement floor looked great. We cleaned our shoes on some empty cement bags and went inside for a final group picture. We are all glad we were able to finish the house before leaving; it gives a welcome sense of accomplishment and closure.

We presented Sebastien with some of the work clothes and a Canadian flag and he seemed genuinely pleased. Alex gave him a bible, which he passed on Yanet Cari, explaining that he can’t read or write, but she would read it to him. We were sorry that Angela wasn’t there. She had waited for us for a while, but had to go before we arrived. Of all the people we have worked with this week, she is the one we probably know the least. She is very quiet and only speaks Quechua so we have not been able to talk to her directly. Even so, our shared work has been enough for us to develop a bond with her. That bond might be richer if we could talk to each other, but after four days of working together at least we have one story that we share without the need for words.

We presented Julien with some work clothes as well, and he gave another little speech echoing his words from Thursday night. He told us that the Chagas projects were sowing good seed and there would be a harvest from it. Julien and his family, we have discovered, attend the Pentecostal church. (There are three churches in Mizque: Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, and Baptist.) We also left work clothes for Roberto and Lucho, which Aida will deliver.

We keep learning more from Aida, who seems to know everyone. Roberto, the young man who is apprenticing, grew up very poor, with just his mother and 5 sisters. He has worked hard since his teens to get a trade so that he can help support them. Despite his hardships, he is always smiling and was a lot of fun to work with. Lucho we know the least about. He has four children; the oldest is 20. He is certainly a skilled carpenter and plasterer.

After saying our goodbyes, we headed out of town and made it to the main road after only a couple of tries. A road construction crew descended on the town just after we arrived and every other street seems to be ripped up. Just like home. We made a brief stop at the cheese factory just north of town. It is a small but modern operation run by a Bolivian family with some roots in the United States. Eddie, toured us around the operation and we bought some cheese for our breakfasts in Cochabamba. Eddie, who is in his early 30’s, is quite committed to the area. He showed us his grape vines, which will produce their first crop this year. Apparently the Mizque valley produced wine in Spanish times, but the Spaniards destroyed the vines in retaliation for some kind of misdeeds. Eddie is interested in the possibility of reintroducing wine production some day. He also gave us some samples of gouda cheese that he is learning to make and sold us some delicious mora (blackberry) jam.

From the cheese factory, we headed down the road to Cochabamba. A good part of the road is also under construction. The government is upgrading the road, which is narrow, and graveled or paved with stones at the moment. It is to become part of the main route between Santa Cruz and Sucre. It’s a beautiful road, winding around narrow gorges and through dry hills, then up and over a high pass lined with pine trees until it drops down into the Cochabamba valley.

We probably felt more culture shock arriving in Cochabamba from Mizque than we did from Edmonton. After the slow pace of life in Mizque, Cochabamba’s narrow streets, clogged with traffic and pedestrians, seem a bit overwhelming. The disparity between the two communities is striking. Jon, ever the accountant, pointed out at supper that our ice cream sundaes cost almost as much as a return bus ticket from Mizque to Cochabamba.

When we arrived in Cochabamba Ivan met us and after a bit of time to catch our breath, we went for supper and then dropped by his parents place to meet Yayo, Ivan’s brother. Yayo accompanied the last team to Llallagua and now lives in La Paz, so it was great to catch up with him and meet Ivan’s parents again. He sends his greetings to everyone he met during the past trips. We did some grocery shopping and headed back to our home away from home at the Baptist Bolivian Union offices.

It will probably take some time to process everything we experienced in Mizque. Mizque faces a lot of challenges: poverty, lack of economic opportunity, alcohol abuse, isolation. Yet it is not without hope. The church works hard to be a light in Mizque. The Chagas Program brings the gospel in action to the whole community. When the new road from Cochabamba to Sucre is complete, transportation will be much easier and new economic opportunities will develop. And people like Aida, Alex, Julien, Eddie and others will be there to offer leadership, each in his or her own way. We need to pray for them and for the churches throughout the Mizque area. They are salt and light, offering the life-changing love of God to a community that is on the cusp of change.

Sebastien and Angela’s house renovations are done. We weren’t sure the project would be completed before we had to leave, but everyone worked hard to make it happen. On the way over to the jobsite, we stopped to pick up an electric cement mixer. It didn’t have a hitch so we dragged it by hand down the dusty lane for a couple of blocks to the house. When we arrived, Julien was putting some finishing touches on the plaster and the others had resumed laying rock on the floor. By mid morning all the rock was in place. After a coffee break, we began mixing the cement, hauling it by the wheelbarrow full into the house, and spreading it over the stones. By one o’clock the floor had been poured and was ready to cure before applying the finish coat. Our work was done. Julien and his crew came back later in the day to put on the finish coat.

Jon & Julien

Angela & Aida

Mixing Cement

Hauling the Cement Mixer

It is kind of an odd feeling. We arrived last Saturday to a strange new place that now is starting to feel familiar. Julien and his crew were strangers when we first met on Monday and now we have begun to know each other. And it was only four days ago that we stepped into Sebastien and Angela’s house to find a dirt floor, walls of rough black adobe brick, two rooms, one window with no glass, and a door that wouldn’t close. The door still doesn’t close; that will have to be another project. But now both rooms have windows with frames, smooth white walls and ceiling, and a level concrete floor. No home for any Venchuca bugs here.

We would like to have made similar progress with our relationships, but such things take longer. Even so, last Sunday, we had fifteen or so shy children who were not sure what to make of us and now, if our paths cross in town, we get a grin and an “Hola”. Most of the people are so reserved that it is hard to judge what sort of connection we are making, but when we had a farewell service at the church tonight, many people came up to give us a kiss or a handshake and backslap in the traditional Bolivian manner. We presented them with a picture of our First Baptist congregation and their interest was apparent, a reminder of the importance that personal connections have for these wonderful people.

Moises & Friends

The service was intended both for the church and for beneficiaries of the Chagas Program. Sebastien and Angela came and so did Julien with his wife, daughter Evelin and young baby. Moises, a leader of the tiny church in Tucma Alta about 7km from Misque, came with two other men and gave a closing prayer in Quechua. Leslie, Sam, and Gordon gave testimonies and we sang some songs for them. We presented the Misque and Tucma Alta churches with some gifts, mostly things for Sunday School. Perhaps the most moving part of the service for us was when Aida thanked us for our work in the Chagas program and then, to our surprise, Sebastien got up and gave us a short thank you speech. Then Julien did the same. It was a moment of affirmation for us.

Presentations

Sebastien's Thank-You

We closed out the day by interviewing Juana after the service. Her parents became believers as a result of Canadian missionaries Pedro (Peter?) and Mima. Juana was born in 1936 and has a wonderful story of faithfulness to God. She is a living testimony to the faithfulness of those missionaries so long ago. We will try to post the video and some other video clips when we get back to Cochabamba and a faster internet connection.

Tomorrow we will leave with mixed feelings. The second half of our trip awaits and for those of us who have been before it will be good to see Llallagua (Llallagua is a mine town that is located next to the most populated mining camp in Bolivia) again. But we feel a bit of sadness to be leaving so soon, too soon to have forged the depth of relationship that we would like to have with these remarkable people. We walked Juana back to the little shop that is her home and as we left she said, “I’m sure God will bring you back again. Remember to pray for us.”

To view a satellite image of Cochabamba click here (you can zoom in and out)

We finished plastering Sebastien and Angela’s house today. Hooray! The house looks completely different inside. Some precision pickaxe work opened a new window through the adobe bricks in the larger room and now, with a smooth white coat of plaster on the walls and roof, the place looks clean and bright. We’re not quite done, though. Tomorrow morning we have to finish laying rocks on the dirt floor so that the crew can pour cement in the afternoon. Everything should be done by the end of the day.

Sam and Gordon made a couple of trips with Alex to pick up cement. Six 50 kg sacks each trip. No need for a gym membership here. It is interesting to watch Alex at work. Everyone seems to know him, even though he lives in Cochabamba. People wanting to get into the Chagas Program frequently approach him on the street. And everyone respects him. He is a great ambassador for the Program.

With Melba’s help we are learning a bit more about Sebastien and Angela Gonzalez Zapata, the owners of the house we are plastering. Sebastien is Flora’s brother. Flora and Pedro are the leaders in the tiny little church at Buena Vista that we visited last night. Sebastien and Angela don’t attend church. This is not a barrier to participating the Chagas Program, which is open to all. Sebastien and Angela lived in Buena Vista until 2 years ago; when they sold their small plot of land and bought this property in Mizque. They built the house and although it looked pretty rough, it was a step up from the house they lived in at Buena Vista. They grow potatoes and other vegetables, have a few chickens, and repair and resell bicycles.

If a brief look at their house and possessions isn’t enough, the fact that we are helping with their house indicates their level of poverty. Under the Chagas Program, the owner of the house is required to supply the laborers while the program supplies the materials. Sebastien and Angela are paying for 3 laborers, Julien, Roberto and Luca. A master plasterer, like Julien, earns about 130 Bolivianos (~$40) per day. His apprentice Roberto earns about 100 Bolivianos (~$34) per day. (To put that in perspective food and rent use up about 800 to 1000 Bolivanos per month.) It takes several more people to keep up with mixing and applying the plaster. If a homeowner can’t afford to supply the all labour, they are put on the list for volunteer team. And here we are.

Sebastien is 57, Angela is 59 and they have 8 children, ranging in age from 17 to 30. Four live in Mizque and the other four are in Ailiqula, the town that we visited on Sunday afternoon. The post secondary school there offers different opportunities than the technical school in Mizque that teaches mechanics and agriculture. Sebastien is not quite sure what they are studying. Their youngest child, Yanet Cari (not sure of the spelling) is finished secondary school and would like to move to Cochabamba and continue her studies, but can’t afford it. Jobs are hard to come by in Mizque so for now she lives at home and helps Angela. One of Sebastien and Angela’s other daughters, Celia, has three children. Celia lives in Mizque, so her children are often at their grandparents for the day.

Sebastien has a keen interest in hunting treasure. Bolivia has a lot of archeological artifacts and things of value are found fairly often. Sebastien asked Melba whether we could get him a good metal detector. He has owned some cheap ones in the past that broke, but he heard that it is possible to buy good quality metal detectors in Canada and the United States. Melba dodged the question diplomatically. But it is interesting that even someone as poor as Sebastien dreams beyond his circumstances.

We are getting to know Julien a bit better as well. He is married with two children, a 1 year old boy and a 5 year old girl named Evelin. His wife is a plasterer too. Evelin stayed at the jobsite all afternoon today and was delightful. As the plastering came down to the final coat, we weren’t quite as busy and could take a little playtime. Julien and his wife have saved up enough money to buy a small house. It needs fixing up but he is too busy working to spend as much time on it as he would like. Sound familiar? He is very good at what he does and is very patient with a bunch of green horns that don’t speak Spanish. Today he brought us some beautiful roses and other flowers from his garden because, he said, “You are such hard workers.”

Aida is another person that we are coming to know and respect. She is a deacon at the Mizque church (Moderator might convey her role better) and she seems to be involved in everything from the church to the Chagas Program to the outlying churches in Mizque. She has a house in Cochabamba, where her husband is living, but she stays in Mizque to look after her mother, who is 96, in poor health, and doesn’t want to leave Mizque. Aida is looking after two girls, Rebecca and Helen, whose mother is working in Spain. It is common for Bolivians to leave their families to find work in other countries because there are so few economic opportunities here. Aida also teaches kindergarten at the local school. She seems to the sort of person who keeps everything running, without the slightest effort.

We all went out for supper tonight, the three plasterers Julien with Evelin, Roberto, and Luch, Sebastien, Aida, Rebecca and Helen, and Alex and the five of us. We had a fine meal of chicken, beets, french fries, rice, and noodles. In fact, that’s what we eat every night. It was kind of bitter sweet because it means our time together is coming to an end. Despite the language barrier, we got the job done. Everyone worked hard, worked as a team, and showed each other respect. It was an act of love. No better way to build good relationships.

See a short video of the final stages of plastering here:  Plastering choreography

short video on CBM’s CHAGAS program - click here 

11 October. Día de la Mujer Boliviana.   Bolivian Woman’s Day.
Commemorates all Bolivian women in memory of the courageous women of all races and ages who fought together and gave their lives (actually they were brutally massacred by order of the Spanish) at the battle of La Coronilla in present-day Cochabamba when Bolivia (still part of Alto Perú) was fighting for its independence from Spain.

We left for Sebastien and Angela’s house at 8AM this morning and worked steadily until 6PM.  The renovations are starting to take shape.  We finished plastering the smaller of the two rooms by lunchtime.  It looks completely different with the rough adobe bricks covered by a coat of smooth white plaster.  Julien is a master and the walls hardly have a flaw when he is done.  The scaffolding was moved into the larger room so that Melba and the local workers could start plastering the roof and upper walls.  Leslie kept mixing plaster with Sebastien.  Meanwhile, Sam, Jon, and Gordon hauled rocks to lay on the floor of the smaller room in preparation for pouring a concrete floor later this week.   A local carpenter came to install a window in the larger room, which was windowless.

At our morning coffee break at Aida’s house, Alex treated Leslie and Melba to flowers, in honour of Bolivian Women’s Day.  Then Sam, Jon, and Gordon helped him deliver flowers to Aida and her daughters.   No one seemed to mind that we were covered in plaster and sweat.

After work, we cleaned up and grabbed a shower and a quick bite to eat before heading out to a tiny church in a nearby community called Buena Vista.  It was dark when we arrived and we could see the Jesus video playing on an old TV at the front of the room.  A loudspeaker sat outside the church carrying the sound of the video out to the few houses that were scattered along the road beside the church.  Pedro and Flora came out to greet us with handshake and kiss.  They are a wonderful, gentle local couple who have taken on the leadership of the church out of love and with very little assistance. Inside 19 people, about half of them children, sat on rough wood benches watching the video. They ranged in age from a small baby to two elderly couples.  At the back of the church two young women, maybe in their late teens, sat on a mattress that lay on the dirt floor, with three small children napping behind them.

We were welcomed warmly, although there was a slight groan from the children when the video was turned off.   Pedro and Flora led the congregation in some Quechua hymns, Pedro playing a churango, Flora a guitar, and their young son keeping time on a broken drum.  The hymns were beautiful and, having only two hymnbooks, the people sang from memory.  We were introduced and brought greetings; then Jon gave a short sermon, with Melba translating into Spanish, and Flora translating the Spanish into Quechua.  Most of the people speak very little Spanish.  It was lesson in the difficulties of cross-cultural communication.  Flora was a bit nervous and her Spanish was not quite good enough to catch everything Melba was translating. But everyone proceeded gamely.  The people are quite reserved and it is hard to say how much they understood, though one elderly man nodded frequently with Flora gave the translation.  From what Alex told us, the people aren’t used to having someone bring a message.  They meet three times a week but are too small and isolated to have a pastor, so their services typically consist of singing, scripture reading and videos to engage the children. Juan, the retired pastor who takes the bus from Cochabamba to help with the church in Mizque every weekend, sometimes travels out to Buena Vista by taxi and then walks the 7 km back to Cochabamba.

It is hard to convey the atmosphere of the church in words:  A dirt floor and adobe walls carefully plastered with mud.  A few vases of artificial flowers in front of small painted lectern.  A few rows of well worn wooden benches occupied by a few people who were either old or young; not many in between.  A TV and VCR, donated by Pedro and Flora, at the front of the church for watching Christian videos. Bright melodies of the Quechua hymns sung to the accompaniment of a charango.

We sang Jesus Loves Me in English and Spanish, while Pedro followed on his guitar.  Then we passed out some candies for all the kids, and since we had extra, to the adults too.  We gave them some gifts and left after saying good bye, feeling a bit helpless, frankly.  “Don’t forget us”, Pedro said.   How can we after that?

See a video clip of the service here:  Buena Vista