It’s Easter Sunday. Avery has a bit of a fever, so we have been home.
When you’re home on a holiday, you think a lot.
I was on Skype with my friend, Cory, and he mentioned that, at 6:00 a.m. today, he ended his Lenten meat-fasting with a hearty Easter breakfast, including a McDonald’s breakfast sandwich. Made me think about things I’ve been missing while here in La Paz. (more…)
We had Community Group last night. Our fifth. Tons of new people. Curry chicken (which, for those few who went vegetarian for Lent, was an unforseen bummer) and tons of great fixins. We gathered, sang “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” and the Gloria by John Michael Talbot, as well as some “Hosanna-y” songs of praise. This was followed by the traditional “bring your own worship” segment (otherwise known as “stump the band”; I’m the band. They stumped me a whole bunch!). Afterward, folks broke off into small groups, discussed their walk with Christ, and lifted each other up in prayer.
I don’t have much to say about this. I just had this thought, and realized I needed to write it down, so I didn’t forget that little blessing: it’s truly been a relationally good 24 hours.
Last night, we met and worshiped as the La Paz Community Group. Anne and I made two really great new connections: one with an Anglican missionary here named Curt, who’s helping organizations with their websites and such; and Cara, whom we already sorta knew, who ministers to the poor in El Alto with an organization called Word Made Flesh. (more…)
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Yes, it’s Groundhog’s Day.
Now, if I were to – in the tradition of Bill Murray – abduct Punxsutawney Phil and bring him down to La Paz, Bolivia (a city whose rainy summer weather I would compare to Cleveland, Ohio in the spring or the fall), he might get wet, but he would not likely head back to bed for six more weeks. In fact, he might get hit by a water balloon or assaulted by a subtance very similar to shaving cream. You see, it’s summer, and it’s Carnaval weekend.
Our school staff has a tradition of celebrating a tamed-down version of Carnaval by waging a good-natured water-war on its students. Many were soaked, some were muddied, few were injured and none perished. Generally speaking, a good time was had by all.
That was yesterday. Anne and I are badly sunburned (you’d think we’d remember that we are, in fact, two miles closer to the sun!). Today, we played on a big jungle-gym and went swimming.
If you see Phil, let him know that we’re here and we’re waiting. No winter. No shadows. Just lots and lots and lots of rain.
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Yesterday evening, we had an extremely brief power outage. The whole building – presumably the whole block – went dark for most of dinnertime.
This was our first power outage here, definitely due to the thunderstorms that just keep popping up, seemingly at random, and ending just as suddenly during this time of the year (aptly named “the rainy season”).
Although our neighborhood in Davidson, NC had a power outage every three days (it seemed), we knew whom to call. We could always vent our frustrations on the fine people at Duke Energy and, presumably, speed up service by informing them of the outage.
Here, though it has only happened once in six months, it made us a tad nervous.
My friend Kerri, whose family we visited this Christmas, pointed out in a recent comment how strange it is to one day be playing Settlers of Catan at their dining room table in Ohio and then, just a few weeks later, to be chatting across two continents and to be suddenly in such a different life.
But that’s just the thing: I am noticing that both just seem to fit. Both Bolivia and the U.S. are our life.
I mean, how odd is it that we can be – literally and figuratively – back at home in North Carolina; and then, in the course of a day, pack up our lives in six duffel bags and travel halfway around the world and be… um… home?
Well, we made it. We’re here in good ol’ North Carolina. We’ve had McDonald’s Quarter Pounders and ordered food in English. We’re trying to get used to being able to drink from the faucet and drive again!
But mostly, we are just blessed by friendly faces and warm hugs.
We’ve already spent some time with both sides of the family and a enjoyed a little bit of our traditional Christmas. We’ve enjoyed a genuine, affectionate welcome from our home church, and (finally) tasted the bread and wine of Communion at long last.
Residents of La Paz seem to be new to many of the traditions we Northern Christians have taken for granted for years.
Take Advent, the wonderful time of preparation for Christmas. Frankly, many Bolivian Christians – even traditionally liturgical Christians, such as some of those in the Anglican church we attend – have never heard of it. So, being the liturgically-minded and generous folks that we are, Anne and I have taken the opportunity to share about this blessed and historic season in Christian life.
I have written more extensively about this topic on my other blog, http://blendedworship.wordpress.com, but for now, I’d like to share a fun little aspect of the whole situation. Well, we made this Advent wreath. Made, because they are not to be found anywhere. Thankfully, fake greenery and cheap candles are available in abundance. Actually, we did find a regular wreath and did some ugly-ornament-amputation surgery, stuck the candles in and – viola! – Advent wreath, made with love and great rejoicing.
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