Trust

Thanks for your responses to our blog! It’s nice to hear from you and feel your care from far away. Makes the world feel smaller – so take a minute and leave a comment here or send us a short email at lynnandlaurie@gmail.com if you prefer. And it's great to hear about your lives too.

Here’s a story:
Last night I went to get some groceries. It would be a long walk, especially at night and with groceries, and the taxi was only 7 Bolivianos (7B = $1), so it seemed like a good time for a taxi. When I got to the store I realized all I had were “big” bills (100B = about $15). The taxi driver suggested I get smaller change in the store. So I went inside and gave a 100B bill to the cashier who gave me 10B back. I was waiting for the rest, but then he asked me if I’m going to buy something. I said I was and he said he’d just credit the rest toward my bill when I came through to pay. Seemed a bit unorthodox, but what do I know, so I went out and paid the taxi driver and then continued on to do my shopping. As I shopped, I began to wonder if the clerk who had taken my money would still be there when I went to pay. I shouldn’t have worried – when I got to the checkout, there he was. “You gave me 90B already, right?” he asked. “You got it,” I said. Sometimes you just have to trust people. Like the taxi driver had trusted me when I went into the store “to get change.”

It’s hard enough to trust people in your own culture. Being new in a culture, a significant struggle is feeling a lack of control. There are so many things we don’t understand, or don’t fully understand… many times when we have to depend on others. We have great support within MCC and many known people we can trust, but eventually you end up on your own in situations where you have to trust people you don’t know, while trying not to be naïve. There will be times I get burned, but it’s nice to notice the times when I don’t.

Lynn

First days in Bolivia...

Saludos de Santa Cruz, BOLIVIA!
A relaxing Sunday afternoon gives us a chance to update our blog. It has been quite a whirlwind of a week—we arrived here in Santa Cruz on Wednesday morning after a night flight from Miami. We landed first in La Paz, Bolivia and glimpsed the snow capped Andes mountains before flying another hour or so to Santa Cruz. It was great to see some familiar faces waiting for us at the airport. Lizette Miranda and Cesar Flores are the MCC reps (directors) here and we’ve enjoyed catching up with them and seeing how much their kids have grown.

We are currently staying in a house about a ten minute walk from the MCC office. After some time to rest, our days have been full of orientation activities. Here is a sampling—learning to ride the “micros”—mini buses around the city; meeting and greeting the large MCC staff—both support staff, administration and other international volunteers; studying the map of Santa Cruz trying to get our bearings and learning about the different neighborhoods where we might be able to live; getting very sandy digging and building in the sandbox in the middle of the green and spacious MCC office compound (that would be Jesse!); tasting salteñas--a traditional Bolivian empanada-like treat filled with chicken, vegetables, and a sauce that can be quite messy to eat; following Doña Raquel around the local markets learning about where to buy fresh pineapples, toothpaste, birthday party supplies, and almost anything imaginable; learning about the political and geographic divisions in the country and for that matter, the challenges and changes underway in the MCC Bolivia program; the list could go on.

While we are in these orientation activities, Nathan, Maria and Jesse have been spending time with Juana, a veteran child care worker for MCC Bolivia. She is warm and caring and has connected well with the kids despite the language barrier. I think she is also winning them over with candy and popsicles, which wins her big points with our kids. We are very grateful that the first few days have gone well in that regard. I suspect this transition may be harder for me than for them and I do look forward to being more part time after our orientation is over.

Things we are pondering--- where to live and how to balance a reasonable commute to the MCC office (close to downtown) with a neighborhood that matches MCC’s style of living/working; how we can best enter into our roles here being sensitive to the large amount of change and restructuring that the MCCers have experienced in the past year; and finally we are hoping to make some progress on finding a school for Nathan. So we will attempt to relax and have faith that things will slowly fall into place.

Thanks for reading! We are grateful for your thoughts and prayers! Below are some picures of the house we're living in, and the central plaza in downtown Santa Cruz.
~Laurie





Also, here's a little video to show you around our kitchen:

Jeff and Soila's wedding

On our way to Bolivia, we made a one week stop in Honduras for my brother Jeff and Soila's wedding. It was held at Monte Carmelo, a church camp outside of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The weather was lovely with sunny, clear blue skies. I loved the calla lillies that Soila carried. Nathan and Maria both had part in the wedding and Lynn and I, along with some of my relatives, sang two hymns from the Mennonite hymnal. It was great to have some of my aunts and uncles and cousins travel to Honduras for the wedding. We all enjoyed meeting Soila. She is a warm and gracious person. I'm excited to have another sister!

Enjoy some pictures...
Laurie