Christmas in the summertime

My family and I are about to head out to a friend's house for an asado (Argentine barbeque) to celebrate Christmas. I know that most of you who are in the northern hemisphere right now are probably freezing. I thought I would share this image of this week's forecast with you.

Happy holidays.

Another move...*sigh*

The time has come for yet another move in my life. My internship with Samaritan's Purse ends in a few days. Sometimes I'm tempted to brag about how much transition I've had in my 23 years of life but at other times I'm reminded of how much pain is involved with saying good-bye so many times. Too many houses that I can't call home, too many accents affecting my Spanish and English, too many schools, too many goodbyes... It's really hard to say goodbye to people, things and activities.

One thing that I've been learning is that without goodbyes (as painful as they may be) it would be impossible to say 'hello' to new things. I wouldn't have spent an amazing six months in Bolivia without saying goodbye to Taylor and everything I had grown accustomed to there. Keep looking to God for the future and trust that he has the best for you...no matter how frustrating it might feel at times.

No beard now, this photo was taken in August

Photos from the Vivero

I haven't been taking many photos of the tree nursery (or other projects) that I have been working on, but I did take a few two weeks ago.

These are baby pinus radiata. Cute, no?

This is a small elm tree. It's about a month old here! I like this picture because it shows the "new" in the foreground and the "old" in the background. :)

This is a picture of my friend Valentin who is helping out at the tree nursery. He's seperating the trees to plant them in individual plastic planting bags (we grow them in mass production).

The Wonders of the Altiplano

It's amazing what the sun and a few months of forgetting to brush my teeth does to the body here in the Altiplano. I took this picture of myself about 4 days ago and thought that I looked pretty good in it.


What does the word "Altiplano" even mean? It's actually a word describing the landscape of the area where I work. "Alti" comes from alto (high) while "plano" means flat. It's crazy to think that I work at 4,000 meters and yet there are only a few hills around. Once the trees from the tree nursery I work at take off, people won't know the difference between the Altiplano and Pennsylvania. ;)

I'm a...

Copacabana, Bolivia

Dear Diary, I´m in Copacabana...Copacabana, Bolivia, not Copacabana, Brazil! The weather here is great with a lot of sun. I rented a motorcycle for half an hour and thought it was going to break down any second. Maybe it did. I dunno. My friends and I also rented a row boat and had a blast on the lake. I think something was wrong with it because it would never go in a strait line. Maybe it had something to do with my friend being quite a bit bigger than I am. I dunno. The trout we ate tasted great, even though it wasn't enough to fill my tummy. :( I have a feeling that I'll be back to visit this lovely town in January with some friends. I dunno.

Mateo 28

Mateo 28 is an outreach run by my church once a month. Last Saturday we went to Chua, a small village on the shores of Lake Titicaca. I really enjoyed the trip because it not only covered a spiritual aspect, but also the physical. We worked alongside the local Adventist church, which will hopefully allow the church to be viewed in a more positive light. I helped with the dental work, which basically involved filling needles with new points and with anesthesia. I’ve never seen so many rotten teeth up close. I had to hold heads and hands because some teeth had large roots and we had to work quickly. My other job was holding heads and hands, to make sure that they didn’t poke the needles in deeper. I am looking forward to the next trip and hope to be able to pull a few teeth myself. Many children would get a tooth or two pulled and then head out to watch the puppets reenact the Good Samaritan.

Escuela de Campo

Recently, I've been changed my focus from wells to agriculture, mostly supervising "escualas de campo" (country schools) and a new tree nursery that we are starting. An escuela de campo involves teaching locals how to plant high-grade potatoes that we bring from the city. A local tradition is to plow the earth using two cows, place a potato a foots distance from each other, and on top of the seeds pour sheep manure. If there isn't enough seed then the larger potatoes will be cut in half. We want local farmers to place the manure first and then the potato, so that more nutrition will enter the roots. Also, we are encouraging farmers to seal the cut potatoes with ash, so that no diseases will enter. In theory, using our high-grade potatoes (we sell these at half-price), placing the manure first and sealing the cut potatoes with ash will increase production and quality, providing local farmers with a more competitive edge on the market. I hope it works...

I AM NOT a tourist!

"I'm not a tourist. I live here" has been this week's motto. It's kind of fun telling people (legit tourists and locals alike) that I work in La Paz. On Sunday I was looking at a sign up sheet at church for our anniversary lunch and a random person walked up to me and started explaining what it said (in English). I let him go on for a few moments before interrupting by saying, "Gacias, ¡ya pedí el pollo!" (Thanks, I already ordered the chicken!). I think the guy was quite embarrassed when he realized that my Spanish is halfway descent. Remember, when anyone every mistakes you for a tourist, turn to them and say in a calm voice, "I'm not a tourist. I live here!"

Gips Security

I think this security company could have chosen a better name to represent what kind of service they provide:

Every Once in a While...

I was in the campo this week working with Jhonny (yes, that is how they spell it here) and was visiting a small farming community when Mary, a three year-old girl, walked up to us with her mother. I'm not sure if I've enjoyed taking pictures this much in a very long time.

Names

Because of my interesting nationality situation, I have two first names (Josué and Joshua). My middle name is simple, David and David. My last name though, is apparently up for grabs:

Working with SP

It was great having my dad here for two weeks. He did a lot of work with the local churches and spoke about church growth. Many of the leaders had to walk many hours to get to these meetings. He even got to experience our school ministry and other forms of outreach.

Choro Trail

My dad is visiting from Argentina and we just finished a 70 kilometer hike. We started 5,000 meters and ended at 1,200 m. It was great seeing all of the different kinds of vegetation as we plunged from cold desert to hot jungle! We finished the 2.5 day hike with a night in a nice hotel in the town of Coroico. The hotel's food was amazing, the bed-bugs were not.

Hiking Huayna Potosi

I just got back from hiking Huayna Potosi, a mountain of 6088 meters (about 19,974 ft). I had a very enjoyablet time even though at times my feet and hands were quite frozen. We had really bad weather on the first day but things improved for when we left our base at 2 am. I´ve come to realise that I really do need to eat a lot when I´m hiking because I run out of energy so quickly.

Tithing

A few weeks ago I was able to read 2 Corinthians 8 and felt convicted by the Spirit to re-think my stinginess with money and who the money was going to. We are instructed to ease the physical pain of those in need. I started to think of those who have great needs in my immediate surroundings. Homeless people, single mothers, and others came to mind. What about children? The children in the campo have nothing for themselves and sometimes can't have a full education due to the lack of funds. I partnered with Mabel Burke (I live with the Burkes) to buy school supplies for as many children as possible. The first school that I visited had about 10 children but there are others with even less. Each child received a plastic bag which contained:

• 2 pencils
• 2 pens (black and red)
  
• a note-book
• a pack of rulers
• an eraser
• a box of colored pencils
• glue
• stickers of the human body
• a protractor
• a pencil bag

I want to share this with everyone not to prove my generosity or try to make myself feel holy, but to encourage others to give. I hope to continue making these care packages for the many kids who live in the area where I work.

Time for a cut?

I've heard rumors that it costs about 14 cents (1 Boliviano) to get a haircut here. Would you be willing to risk it?

Festival

I was able to attend a dance and music festival in Achiri this Friday. It was very fun being able to meet many of the local malkus (community leaders) and other town leaders. A lot of their dances are many centuries old and have experienced a re-birth lately due to the increased focus on ancient cultures.

Takesi

I just got back from a 1.5 day hike with a group of friends. We started our hike at around 3200 meters (10498 ft), got up to about 4600 m (15091 ft), and then plunged bellow 3000 m.
We walked about 30 kilometers in total and were able to see varius types of vegetation (from short grass to jungle). My knees just about gave out at the end of the first day and I wished I had walking sticks. Our next hikes include Huyana Potosi and Choro (about 70 kms long).

At the cumbre (4600 meters)

We camped near the river.

This river was the end of the hike and VERY cold.

This poor dog had to ride for three hours on top of the bus.

Solsito, ¿donde ´tas?

I honestly don’t have much to complain about. I’ve had the privilege of living the majority of my life in areas with very mild winters. It gets cold once in a while in Jujuy and Salta but the truth is that it comes in waves, so most of the time you can work in t-shirts or even a light jacket while everyone else in the northern United States is obligated to wear large jackets just to stay warm. The weather has been very pleasant here in La Paz. The nights can get a bit chilly but a light fleece will take care of that. It’s even warm enough to wear Chacos, a very slight change from the winters with feet of snow.

I’ve realized that I have the Greenman disease where if we don’t get enough sun our brains shut down and we get ho-hum. I faced this while in Michigan and Indiana and especially while in Lithuania where I only saw the sun a few times.

La Paz is always sunny. Extremely sunny. It’s amazing how strong the sun is here and how easy it is to get burnt. This is the first time since I’ve been here that there is some cloud cover. I’m kind of cold right now because the sun usually shines in through the window and keeps me toasty. I can’t complain too much though, I know that tomorrow will be sunny again and even now I get a burst of rays every few minutes. It really is nice having this much sun after so many dark months.

Photos from silo planning

I had a nice change this past week when I found out that I would be helping Gabriel measure out plots for the new silos that we will be building in August. It´s too cold at night and the cement freezes and falls apart, so we were helping farmers get the foundations ready.

This is the town where I stayed a week to help build silos: Caquiaviri.

This lamb´s mother died a few days ago, I think the owner is going to eat it soon (the lamb).

This is the health team´s quad, they use it to visit small villages and weigh babies (among other things).

Photos from the job

Some random photos from well digging in Bolivia...